And you think of Philemon, and you think, well, it must be Paul's epistle to Jude. But no, this is Jude's own epistle. And as it tells us, Jude was a brother of James. has written here a tremendous epistle just preceding the book of Revelation. And last week in connection with our expanded studies in Hebrews and Revelation and Jude and the second coming, I exposited on the third and fourth verses of this short epistle. But the 17th and 18th and 19th verses are really the key. in this epistle, it's just one chapter, and that says, but beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time. You shouldn't be concerned about this, it's a tragedy that minds can be so deluded of Satan that they become mockers. but it should not disturb the born-again Christian because he's been warned by God in his word that precisely these conditions would prevail. And this is a very important thing for believers to understand. God has told us there will be a falling away first before the Lord comes. God has told us that violence will fill the earth before the Lord comes. So when we see this word violence thrown all over the newspapers, it should say to you, the Lord is coming. Violence, it said, should fill the earth. It's not confined to the United States. It's happening all over the world. You can go to practically any nation and find violence is prevalent. whether it's in conflicts of war or whether it's in its internal affairs, so that these things will prevail in the last days and there will be a falling away. And here we're told. Jude says, remember, you were told so that you won't have any problems. This is important for the believer. Otherwise, your faith is going to be swayed by what you see. And faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. If what you see sways your faith, it's not faith, because it's not the things that are seen. Faith goes way beyond this, you see. Faith is believing God and his word without any reservations. that when God says here, now remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you or warned you that there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. who should walk after their own ungodly lust, and as the third verse says over here, that they are, or the fourth verse, that they are lascivious. These people right within the church, preachers in the pulpits, theologians, a new form of theology, freedom, sensuality. Isn't it tremendous how God places it before our eyes? And I want to say this, and yet the human mind and the mind of the flesh is of such a character, the carnal mind, that even when God says it, they question. That old mind there. Even Paul, you know, when he talks about it in Romans 7, he says, the mind of the flesh battles against the mind of the spirit. There's a continual war in my members, the flesh against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. The old flesh cries out and tries to bring you into bondage. For the last days, let's have a good time. It's a lot of philosophy around like that today, isn't it? What do you think the philosophy of a lot of youth is today? War, conflict, everything's going to end, have a ball. Right? Have a ball. Enjoy it to the fullest. Well, that's exactly what God is trying to warn the Christian of, you see. He says, remember, mockers are going to come. They will be within the church organized. you will hear it from pulpits. And because of your carnal nature, with still flesh, whether you're redeemed or no, you've still got the same kind of flesh, and he says that since you have a nature that is bent toward sin, be careful that you don't follow some preacher who allows you license for your sin. There are all kinds of false teachers abroad. All you'd have to do is, as I've said so many times, is read your newspapers. Someone just gave me this as I walked into the church today and said, better not read it before your message, you'll probably shock you. I said, nothing shocks me anymore. Oh, these here, you know, I was thinking of false teachers. There are the kind of false teachers you ought to be able to be conscious of without me even talking. When I was in New York a few weeks ago, in one block's time, you know these people give out those things, you know, to you. They aren't tracks. But in one block from 59th to 60th Street on Lexington Avenue, I was walking along there, and in one block I saw them giving out these things so inquisitive, you know, I figured I'm going to see what they say. Most people, you know, brush it off. I want to see what they got to say. So I went over and I took one, and then I took the next. I thought, well, maybe they're the same thing, but they're not the same thing. This one here says, Mrs. Russell, gifted reader and advisor, phrenology, card readings, guarantees results in three days, gives never failing advice on all the affairs of life, helps on matters such as love, business, marriage, et cetera. All readings are private and strictly confidential. Offers hours 9 to 9.30. Sunday by appointments. Located in her private apartment at... I won't give you the address. Parlor floor. Phone number. This one here is Sister Lisa and Pauline. Healer, reader, advisor. Listen. You know, I'd laugh at this except that I happen to know that some of the biggest financiers go to these people to know how to play the stock market. Dreadful to say. Have you read some of the men who go to these people? Their names would amaze you. Some of the men high in government are going to these palm readers to know what to do next. Boy, we're in good hands. says, will not only tell you, but will help you solve your problems. Don't classify her with others. She succeeds where others fail. She's been given power by God to heal the sick and the ailing by prayer. She can and will help you as no other can. She's helped thousands from all walks of life. You've read about her in the papers. I never have, but I mean, they say you have. Now located in this area for the first time, don't fail to see it. Listen to this. We'll advise on love, marriage, business, health, wills, lawsuits, luck, alcoholics, happiness, spells, success, and evil influences of all kinds. Tell all your friends because it tells you who your friends are and who your enemies are. Why suffer? Now, this kind of thing, I don't suppose, you know, it stands a laugh from us. But if we knew the names of some of the people who went to these for advice, our hearts would be very sharp. But this was given to me as I came in, 40 seminarians here to revolutionize the approach to theology. This is at New York Times. This is Catholics and Protestants together. Sister Kathleen Daly, Catholic sister, gives her order. Mary Knoll, dressed in a light gray jumper and a turquoise sweater, sat sipping beer at Clancy's. This is where they meet. Here's the picture, see? There they are, all the theologians. all gathered around the beer cake, going to decide now what theology we're going to have next. She philosophized about what she and her friends are going to do to theology. We're reversing the whole process, she said. We're starting with life itself and man. You might say we're going to create truth. That's a job. Methodist and Mennonite students at Union Theological Seminary, Mary Knowles Seminarians from Ossining, 31-year-old nun from the Religious of the Sacred Heart, completing a college degree in history, are going to discuss ecumenical education. Students from both traditions contend that the content of religious belief must be redefined on a basis that has little relation to any denominations. The day has passed, the Catholic nun said, when the rule of the pope or the bishop is simply to make decisions and lay out the absolutes for us. They have to become listeners and learners like the rest of us. They ought to be charismatic types who see their job as turning us on, turning us on and supporting us in doing our own things. And this is the theology that we're going to have. There shall be mockers in the last times, mockers in the last times. Now, beloved, we could repeat that over and over again. The lasciviousness, the tremendous a war against marriage, if I can say, of which there's a tremendous war, that marriage should be cast out. Even though Timothy warns of this in his epistle, Timothy says, the Spirit speaks expressly that in the last times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry. So you pick up the newspapers, Here it is, case against marriage. This from some of the theological experts. Marriage should be abolished on the grounds that it fails to meet the needs of modern society. There are now 22.5 illegitimate births in every 1,000. There is a tendency of youth in general to subscribe to the theory that you don't have to get married to engage in any marriage relationships. For centuries, we've been forcing men and women, they said, to conform to the mold of marriage when what we should be doing is changing marriage to suit the convenience and the happinesses of all people. How shall we do this? He said, he proposed that marriage becomes a non-legal voluntary association between a man and a woman and that you have a test for five years. And if it doesn't work, forget it. Children born during that five years would be given over to the state. Now I don't think you have to go far, do you, how to find this kind of thing? And here the Scripture is very clear that in the latter days these would be the very things that we would be facing. Now notice, He says here in 4th verse, there are certain men crept in unawares that were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. That's what they're doing. Throw out the grace of God, a brand new theology. Get rid of this grace. This is not our concern. A new theology, a theology in which man decides what man is going to do. and denying by doing this, notice this, if you engage in this process of lasciviousness, of all of these freedoms that man is crying out for, you do by this deny the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior. That's what it says. They engage in this and by doing it, they deny that Christ is personal savior. May I say this to any individual? If any are engaging in any lascivious relationship, you are denying that you're saved. You cannot live in it. Oh, as I've said, you may have your failure and your fall, but you will bounce back so fast because you're a child of God that it will be absolutely tremendous that comeback because of the great weight in your heart over the depth of your sin. but to live in it. Notice what it says. Don't escape the word of God. Don't try to beat around the bush. I'm sick of people trying to find loopholes in the word of God for what they do. There are no loopholes. It says if you engage in lasciviousness, you're lost. Let me be clear. It says precisely that. You say by doing it you are denying the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, then he follows with four verses that are tremendous, and in these verses he does something that might escape us unless we're very, very careful. He tells us about these people, who they are. Watch out, he says, they creep in unawares into the fellowship. You don't recognize it. You may not see them. Like the parable of the wheat and the tares, there's an admixture. In every congregation, there are those who are engaging in some sin. There's no congregation that is completely pure. Because of who we are, what we are, you can be sure that there is some defiling sin somewhere. And that sin is what has held the church down over the centuries, that it has not been the great dynamic and the power it should be before man for God. And so he sets down a certain principle. He says, I want you to know this, that these men who creep in unawares and who preach these damnable heresies, who preach that free love is all right, that the marriage covenant we should cast out, he says, remember, the apostles of Jesus Christ warned you about these things, so you're not ever going to appear before my judgment seat and claim ignorance. You know it. The preacher and the Pope have told you time and time again, He warned you that this was going to happen, and you saw it all around you, and I warned you that in the last times, let me say, this never happened as it is in this day before. Oh, the pagan nations have worshipped sex and sin and all the rest, and the gods of the pagan nations had great followings because of what they worshipped. They worshipped the flesh. But the church of Jesus Christ at this time is being defiled. by preachers who say that this is perfectly all right, in high places, in high authority. in the hierarchy of the church, proclaiming that it is perfectly all right. If you were to look to the Archbishop of London, if you were to look to the men in the United States, some of the bishops in the churches, if you were to look to these men and read their statements, you would have to say, the Word of God is clear. These are the last days, and we'd better be careful. We'd better begin to discern what's right, what's wrong. And you have that discernment, and the Word of God is right before you. It's clear. Now, notice what he says in these verses. Concerning these men, he says, there are certain men crept in unawares who would be foreordained of this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice, I will therefore put you in remembrance. I was going to do something tremendous here that might escape us. I therefore would put you in remembrance." And then he puts, and I put parentheses around it, though ye once knew this, you once understood but you seem to have forgotten, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Then he says, And he makes a comparison. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, he compares them with the pagans, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh outside the marriage covenant, outside the covenant of Israel. either those in the marriage covenant defiling the marriage covenant. Remember in Hebrews it says, keep the marriage bed undefiled. This is the verdict, this is the judgment of God. The marriage bed is the marriage bed and that's it, it's complete, there's nothing else. Keep it undefiled. It's only meant for the man and the wife, that's all. And he says here, he's very clear, notice, He says that as Sodom and Gomorrah in like manner gave themselves over to fornication and went after strange flesh, sometimes the nation of Israel got involved with unbelieving nations and married wrongly. going after strange flesh are set forth as an example to you, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise, these, that he's just mentioned, these teachers, these filthy dreamers, boy, you can see them all around, defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Now, what is he saying, number one? He's saying, I want to give you an example lest you get mixed up here and have an idea you're saved and you're living in your sin. You're not. If you can habitually sin and it doesn't bother you in the least, forget it, he says. Notice what he does. He does two things. He takes an earthly people. He takes here, first of all, Israel. Here's the earthly people of God. Here are those who traveled along with Israel. There was an apparent relationship to God because they traveled with Israel. Remember Paul saying, all that say they're of Israel are not Israel, but those which have the faith of Abraham. What was Abraham's faith? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. And so he takes the nation of Israel, and he says, remember now, they were delivered out of the land of Egypt. And the travelers who went along with them looked like Israel, the people of God. They were Jews. Here's Franklin Avenue. We all look the same. Here's the parable in the New Testament, the wheat and the tale. God says, I want to remind you of something. They're in your fellowship, and they feast with you at the Lord's table. That's what he's going to say in this epistle. They feast with you at the Lord's table, but I want to warn you of something. Just because you go to Franklin Avenue or just because you're classed in with a fundamental church doesn't save yourself. He says, I remind you that they went along with Israel. They traveled with them. They received the blessings of God. There was the Shekinah glory. There was the cloud by day, pillar of fire by night. They saw it all. But what does it say? He saved the people out of the land of Egypt, all the deliverances. But what? And afterward, he destroyed them. Because what? They didn't believe. Here was the deliverance of God. He says, here's a people had an earthly relationship. I want to warn you. He says, even so, don't get any misconceptions. Those that live in lasciviousness are denying the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. I want no misconceptions. I'm going to give you an example. Israel went as a body, and if you'd have looked at them, you couldn't have told which was saved and which was not. I took them out of the land of Egypt and I delivered them and then I destroyed those that did not believe. Just the fact that we travel with the crowd that's in the church doesn't mean that we're saved because saved is a personal matter. Number two, says I want to tell you some more. He says, I'm going to take you to a higher stream so that you have no misconceptions. The very angels of God, whom God created and made and formed and allowed to be part of his creation and who are to respond to him in worship, These who had a relationship to God by creation, and that's what the world says today, there's a great cry today, oh, let me tell you, beloved, you're going to hear some fundamental men saying things that are going to amaze you. There are fundamental preachers today who are preaching from their pulpits universalism. Salvation is for all. Christ died for all and everybody's going to be saved regardless. And it's coming from some mighty good pulpits throughout this land. And the reason for it is that when they were in the Billy Graham conference over in Berlin, some of these men came in, contrary to Billy's wishes, and preached this thing. And the reason they preached it was this. They said the Chinese nation, which will soon be one billion people, you'll never convert them because they worship their ancestors. And if you tell them their ancestors are lost, forget it. So tell them their ancestors are saved and you can come in. Faith in Christ, not necessary. Universalism. All are saved regardless. So the first he takes the nation of Israel, earthly people. He says, I want you to notice they all travel together, but only those that believe were saved. Those that would believe not were destroyed. I want you to notice secondly that in my own economy with angels, here's what I did. I had an angelic creation before you were ever thought of or created. I didn't consider you at that moment. I knew what was coming. I knew the failure of Satan, Lucifer, the chosen archangel of God. I knew what would happen. I knew he would deceive my angelic creation and would sweep out, as the scripture says, a third of all that angelic creation. And he says, knowing that, I want you to notice that these very ones who occupied heaven's pavilions itself, when they fell and fired him, They did not believe me, and I have reserved them in chains for eternal destruction." He says, lest you get any foolish idea that my judgment is not true. It's true. And then he says, after he says that to them, he says, even as Sodom and Gomorrah, this is exactly it's going to be. He says, even as Sodom and Gomorrah, I want to remind you of that too, he says. Sodom and Gomorrah, with all of its sin, remember that the only ones redeemed were locked. His wife even wasn't redeemed. He says, I even divide families. Just because you're in the same family doesn't mean a thing. So he takes a nation, Israel, he says, now don't think that you're, you know, this United States, godly country. You're in the United States. because you're in the United States or because you're some part of some church or somebody or you're a fundamentalist or all the rest. He says, I want to tell you something. Those who engage in lasciviousness and livid are those who are the mockers who are coming in the last time. They'll teach you damnable things. I want to tell you their verdict is just. Don't let them fool you. because you remember Israel were my people. Do you think they got away with it? You know what it says in the Old Testament? In one day he slew twenty and three thousand men for their sin. They didn't get away with it, he said, I destroyed them. And I want you to notice the angels too, they thought they could get away with it, and I want to tell you, they're chained for eternal fire. Even so, Sodom and Gomorrah, they also, then what does he say in the next verse? Likewise also these filthy dreamers who have some idea, in other words, you can live in this free society, you can do as you please, you ignore the law of God completely, You say that, well, we can do anything we please. It's a new generation. It's a new approach. Everything's new now. And he warns, he says, now, likewise, I want to tell you that these filthy dreamers defile the flesh. They despise dominion, and they speak evil of dignities. Defile the flesh. I've said enough about that. Despise the dominion of God. Well, you can say God is dead, or what difference does it make? eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." So they despise dominion, and they speak evil of dignities. Oh, listen, the greatest dignity of life, if I can say so, is the glorious privilege God has given a man and a woman of procreation. This is the deepest, holiest dignity of life. Every time I remember down through the years when I labored in an office, every time, and this was before I was saved, I would hear a dirty story, a double-tongued story. I'd have in my mind, because I'd been taught there was a God by my parents, and I had that thought in my head, how can you talk about this privilege God has given man? the holiest dignity of all life is this fact that God has given us. Anybody who cracks dirty jokes about sex doesn't know what sex is. Sex is the glorious privilege God has given to man. Why did he give this to us? Because he loved us and gave us an appetite that was holy and pure and wonderful, only that we should have it guided by the Lord Jesus Christ into a glorious marriage relationship which would so picture to our heart Christ's love for his church, for that's what it's supposed to do in all of its glory, and he gave it to us for that purpose because it says in the Scriptures, you can read it in Ephesians, the fifth chapter, that marriage is a picture of Christ and his church. And then they speak evil of the dignities of the world today. You listen to men speak. It amazes me when I read the newspapers and I see the four-letter curse words. I have no feelings for the police of Chicago, but when I heard some of the things those men shouted at them and called their mothers and fathers to try to anger them, you see, It really is a burden to hear evil spoken and shouted out. Even today, listen, from the time I was a boy until now, the approach even to the President of the United States is different. We say things about his family and his wife, and we fool and we kid, and we don't give them the place of dignity God called upon us to give in our government. When we begin to get back to those things that God wants us to be, where He says, don't defile the flesh, number one, and don't you despise my dominion, and don't speak evil of dignities, and live the life that God wants you to live on a holy plain, then we'll begin to see things happen in this nation. Oh yes, there'll be mockers in the last time. And God here says very clearly, I want to tell you something. Just as Israel traveled together, and a lot of them, remember, are destroyed and lost forever because they did not believe me. Even as the angels, my own creation, I had to cast out from heaven and they reserved in chains for everlasting darkness. Even like Sodom and Gomorrah, where only one man in a family was served. Because he believed and his wife was not, so shall it be. Likewise, these men who preach to you liberty of license are going the same place. Tremendous lesson. But I have to say this. God warns that in the last days, he says, if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. He says it's going to be so terrible with these vile teachers coming in in their clerical robes, in their clerical collars, or like myself, preaching from pulpits, preaching damnable heresies to you. And he says, if some of the elect were to get under that kind of teaching, it's nearly possible that they would be deceived. He says it's not possible their hearts will finally understand that what they're hearing is a lie. But oh, I warn you, beloved, this old carnal flesh loves to get a hold of something, either a man or something that will give them liberty to do what they want. That's the flesh. Recognize it. Don't try to deny it. Recognize your flesh and say, I understand it, God. I understand its yearnings. He says, in my flesh there dwells no good thing. Oh, if we'd only see this, then we'd understand the temptations, the trials, the burdens, and we'd cry out to God. We'd say we see ourselves for what we are. We realize the bent of our nature. We realize that we could be torn into shreds by what the devil wants to do. He's going about like a roaring lion, devouring whomever he will, but by the grace of God, here we stand, and we cannot be moved. Oh, I hope you can say that. Cannot be moved. I think that portion's glorious. Why? Only because I'm saved. I want to say something. If I wasn't saved, I think I'd be shuddering in my shoes. I really would. And if I was saved and having any inclinations toward liberty that is license, I would flee unto the Lord Jesus Christ immediately and get straight down. Let us pray. We thank thee for thy word this morning. Lord, you've made it so clear that we can't escape. You give us such examples. It's hard for us to believe that your own angels, which didn't keep their first estate, that estate of purity and wonderful fellowship with thee, that you've reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day, and you're just warning us to watch it, watch ourselves, that a lascivious life means we have had a false experience with Christ, that it hasn't been a true one. that lasciviousness means a continual living after the flesh and enjoying your sin. The meaning of the word, Father, we know is wantonness or lewdness. And oh, our God, how we pray this morning that heart might be touched for Christ. Lord, as I preach thy word in all of us, truth and power, we have to deal with what we deal with because it's in the word. We don't want to miss anything. We want to take it at its value of exactly what it says, and we don't want to try to throw it out. We know there are a lot of theologians today who want to throw out the book of Jude. They're trying to say, well, maybe the book wasn't written to be in this whole canon setup here of New Testament, but they're doing that, too, with Hebrews and many others. So, of course, Lord, we recognize that this is also part of the work of the devil. But this word in Jude is particular for this day. And there are lots of theologians and preachers who would like to get rid of it because it says that God knew before and ordained them to condemnation. It's a terrible word. Now, Father, give this people discernment. How I pray that wherever they go, whether they're here in this fellowship or in any other church or whether they go away on a vacation, they'll be able to discern very quickly whether the Word of God is being preached in all its power and its purity. Touch our hearts together. God help us to be clean. Give us clean minds, clean imaginations. That's where the devil works. Imaginations keep us from not looking at anything that might defile us, defile the flesh. Because we still have the old bent for sin. We have that in us which it appeals to. And lest we be careful, we can be swept up. Lord, undertake for this people, place thy love and thy seal upon them by giving them power in the Holy Spirit, as Paul says, to crucify the lusts of the flesh. Then he continues, for if We walk in the Spirit. We shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. He doesn't say they don't exist. He admits to their existence, but he says victory is yours because the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Now, Father, put thy blessing upon us in Christ's name. Amen.