I'd like to speak to you this morning. If you turn to Jude with me after this Easter season, we will return to the teaching which we've been dealing with. We're coming to the Lord's Table this morning. We felt we should have the Lord's Table. It was scheduled for last Sunday, Easter Sunday. We felt that we should put it off till this Sunday. So as we come to the Lord's table, I would like to talk to you a little further from Jude about some of the blessed portions that are found here. It's a very prophetic book, as you know. I've mentioned that in the 17th to 19th verses. It declares its prophecy. I see Ken Fritcheson over here. Ken, I just saw you. Great to see you this morning. Praise the Lord. And you, Barbara and family, rejoice you down with us. Funny, I get my vision out here, I quite don't get it over to that extreme right, you know? Praise the Lord, Ken. We pray God will bless you. What are you doing away from your ministry? He ministers at a church up there, you know, in Vermont, and I guess he has a substitute up there this morning. As I mentioned, this is a prophetic book of tremendous character, and 17th verse, it says, Beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. And I would underline that. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. And I would underline having not the Spirit. It's very important because there are a lot of teachers today who are sensual. We're hearing more and more of it. We're warned in Timothy that the day would come when false teachers would come in unawares, denying that we have to get married. That's part of the teaching that's going on today, that the institution of marriage is outmoded, that it's no longer necessary. There's a new freedom which is coming into the world and we could eliminate the marriage covenant and it would be a much better thing. Well, Paul warns us that those days would come in the last days when Paul's teachers would come in and deny the necessity of marriage at all. And we're living in a day of great sensual teaching. And that from the church, unfortunately. I wish I would say that it was only in the world that I'm hearing that, but I'm hearing that from many agencies of the church. So much so that the National Council in some of its articles is ordaining premarital sex and many of these other things. This is the National Council of Churches. And things that we never would conceive. previous to this age you and I are living in. It's becoming worse and worse. There are areas that are unbelievable in the church, so-called. I call it the church because we're talking of the organized church. I'm not talking especially of the true church, which is the body of Christ, but the church universal or the organized church. And I think that we have to remember that there's not to be a great shock in our hearts since God warned us of it. Even with the warnings here, I get shocked, frankly, when I read some of the things that I have read about the type services they have, which I've mentioned previously here with pastors in you know, doing dances on the platform in leotards and trying to portray to the people what they're preaching about, and the jazz services that have become very prevalent with a lot of dancing in them, and things that I don't even care to mention at this time. Some of them are so far out that it's hard for me to believe they could happen in church buildings. And yet they are happening. And God warns that in the last days mockers should come who should walk after their own ungodly lusts, and these be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. He makes sure that we understand that. Now, if you'll go over it in the epistle of Jude, and it's just the short one chapter, I'd like to speak from beginning at the eighth verse, because you remember when we terminated about three weeks ago, I had discussed the men who had crept in unawares in the fourth verse, also that there were those who had been saved out of Egypt and those who came out of Egypt and were lost, beloved. There were many in Egypt, remember, who never, never reached the promised land. As a matter of fact, because of the sin of Israel, just Joshua and Caleb came into the promised land. The people of Israel sin terribly, and God had to chasten them time and again for their sin. And God is making sure we understand here that because we're related to an organization, it doesn't mean that this saves our souls. In other words, the Franklin Abner Baptist Church has no power to save the soul. Membership in it has no power to save the soul. It is absolutely, positively only faith in Jesus Christ as personal Savior that can save the soul. It's faith in the man, Jesus Christ, the one who's risen from the dead, the one who died for our sins. So that we understand thoroughly has nothing to do with an organizational setup. And God makes sure that we understand that when he talks about Israel. He said not all that were in Israel were saved. There were those who were disobedient, those who died, those who were contrary to the doctrine of faith and who believed in the doctrine of works, let me put it that way. There were those, it's always been faith, you know, that saves the soul, whether it was Abraham, whether it's Moses, any of these men, the law never saved anybody. It never was given for the purpose of saving anybody. The law was a ministry of condemnation and of death, and it was given as a schoolmaster to lead Israel to Jesus Christ. That they would look at the law of commandments and see they couldn't obey it, so they would need a savior. It was to point them to the Messiah who is to come. And so the whole purpose of the law was this. So the law could not do this, and those in Israel who sought to follow the law, and not Christ, lost, you see, because they were depending upon themselves. All we have to look at is within ourselves to realize we cannot save ourselves. We have no capacity for this. All of us know that we're sinners, not only by God's edict, but by our own knowledge of ourselves. This is the most important thing to my heart. There's not a soul living that doesn't know that they are a sinner and have sinned in their lives. If they go back over the whole gamut of their lives, the amount of sin in there would amaze them. If they take in the thought life, which, of course, they'd like to cast out, people like to think of sin as only the commission of an act, as though this is it. Only when you do this have you sinned. And Jesus says, he that lusts after a woman is an adulterer, and he that hates his brother is a murderer. So he puts you right down where you belong, you see. He says, don't think that you're getting away with this because you say, well, you see, here's the law, and I've done all these things, you see. I've done all these things. And Jesus is continually saying to us, you have the capacity for sin that anyone has ever committed, therefore you are a sinner. And therefore, I have judged the whole world under sin that I might have mercy upon all. God makes sure in all of these different things in the early part of Jude that we understand that there are no special privileges. He even speaks of the angels who had a very close relationship to him and how they fell. He speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah and about Lot and how Lot escaped. Lot really wasn't worthy of escape, but because he had believed God, he was a redeemed man, he escaped. But the others, just a few of his family escaped with him. But the others lost, you see. even though they were in a beautiful land with all of the fruit and all of the lovely vegetation and everything they wanted was there, beautiful plains to live on. And sometimes we have an idea that the beautiful life, you know, we have a nice house and a nice home and we're getting along well, our clothing is nice and we look so clean and so pure and all, that this somehow has a special, special merit to God. Now, I want to say without faith, it's impossible to please God. You cannot please God without faith. The Scripture's clear on that. So let's have no idea that we're pleasing God because we're nice, because we're good mothers, because we're good fathers. If you're saved, this is important. If you're lost, it means nothing. May I say that again? If you're saved, it's most important that you're a loving, kindly, godly mother and father. But if you're, and the children I'm talking to, if you're lost, it doesn't matter how nice you are, without faith it is impossible to please God. So let's understand this, that it is an impossibility, absolutely impossible to please God. Now, down in the eighth verse he says, likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh. Speaking of these type men who come into the world, defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. And I spoke of that verse. Yet Michael the archangel When contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." Now, I don't want to pass that portion because I'm sure if I do that someone is going to ask me, you know, what is this about Satan and the Archangel Michael? And I just in passing would like to mention what it has to say. When Moses, just before they went in, now Moses died in the end of the book of Deuteronomy, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the Pentateuch, the last part, the first five books of the Bible are all that the Jews use today. They don't read any of the rest. The prophets are left out. They really have to leave the prophets out. In their calendar year, they go through those five books, then they start over the calendar year again and go through the first five books. So that the prophecies of Ezekiel and Isaiah and all these glorious things are left out because there's so much to say there about the crucified Savior in all of the prophetic utterances. But here it tells us that Michael the archangel disputed with Moses, with Satan I should say, over the body of Moses. Now, Moses died, I'm going to read the portion over in the 34th chapter of Deuteronomy, the last chapter of the Pentateuch. And here's what it says in the fifth verse. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, over against Bithpior, but no man knoweth of his sepulcher until this day. And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died." I love this. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. Tremendous. Imagine God telling us that. I was not dim, 120 years old. Some people like to say, well, he probably wasn't 120 like we are, you know, when we get to be 120. Well, I want to tell you, he was 120 years old. Well, you know, some people try to change the years to make it that Methuselah couldn't have been 969 years old. Well, I want to tell you, Methuselah was 969 years old. Moses was 120. Incidentally, I had a funeral last night, and while I was there, the funeral director was talking to me, and it made me think of it when I was reading this here. The funeral I had, of course, Mrs. Blake was 62, but the man across in the other funeral parlor, 102 years old, And I couldn't quite believe it, you know, and they said, you wouldn't believe it. He wasn't sick a day, and he just died. And right away I thought about Moses, you know, his eye was not dim, and he had that natural force was still there, not abated. But the thing to notice here is that God buried him, the servant of the Lord, he buried him in a valley, and no man knows where the sepulcher is unto this day. You know, to me this is very, very wonderful. You know how we try to say, I always think of, this is what is happening here. Satan is battling with Michael the archangel about the body of Moses. What Satan wants is, where's the body of Moses? I want to get that body. And I want Israel to take that body. And I want them to honor that body. And I would like them, this is what's going on here, this is the battle, I want them to set Moses up and to take him over into the land of promise, so God said he couldn't go in. Take him over to the land of promise and there set him up as an object of worship. And there, either that or use the relics of his bones. Let Israel keep all the relics of the bones of Moses. so they can have the relics with them. Why do you think Satan would battle about any body? Let me tell you. Why do you think? How about the body of Christ? How about the relics today? How about the number of relics? The people throughout the world, they tell me if all the pieces of the cross of Christ claim to be part of the cross of Jesus were put together, it would fill a farce. Claim to come from the cross of Christ. Claim to have special blessing because it came from the cross of Christ. Some churches have places that they have a drop of blood that they claim came from the Savior, as though this single drop of a physical blood is going to do great things for them. How about the relics of all the saints? How about all of these things? And Satan contended with Michael the archangel about the body of Moses. He wanted the body of Moses. He wanted to be specially revered. He wanted the body of Moses that one day it could be used in some relic fashion. And I want to tell you, God made sure that Moses was not going over into the land of Promo. Oh, he disobeyed God, God said it in many places, and therefore he couldn't go into the land. But I want to tell you something, there's another good reason. God was not going to allow the legalism of the law into the land of promise. And this is the great picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what it says, the law came by Moses, leave it in the wilderness, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And Christ is leading us into the great land of his promise, the joint heirs with him of his heavenly kingdom. And to Judaism, they were to leave Moses behind. He had disobeyed God, and he was the picture of the very law, that it should not be taken into the land of promise. which should be left behind. And God placed his body, it says in the 6th verse, he buried him and no man knows until this day where that sepulcher is. I want to tell you this is the way men always are. Give them something that they can look at. Give them something that they can revere. Give them something that they can worship. Look at the body of Lenin. Still preserved, what, in a glass casket? so that all the Russians, line after line, day after day, can walk past the casket of Lenin and worship the man. And if you read some of the songs of Lenin, they place them as a god that they may worship, and they have to have that physical form in front of them. And so God made sure, and God made sure with our Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, that there was nothing. How many places have they claimed? I know those who go to the land of Israel, and surely they see where Jesus walked. And there have been some who claimed, here is the place where Jesus was, here's the place he was laying. And some say that was not the place. They say it is, but it's not the place. They have many, many ideas here, or they would have loved to have kept the clothes that he wore. They would have loved to have had the robe that he wore. They would have loved to have had these things, so there could be some worship side that they might have relics and emblems of Christ Himself, as though they had some special, special benefit to mankind. The beloved God made sure that He had none of that. I can't forget Paul's words. He says, henceforth, I know no man after the flesh. Yea, henceforth, I know not Christ after his flesh, but after his Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit given to us, this is how we know him. We don't have to have any relics. We don't have to have any of these things. Satan desired to keep him ever before Israel, but God wanted them to look forward to their Messiah, who was to come. Satan would have liked to have had him placed in such a place that his sepulcher would be known, and Israel, till this day, would have been going to the sepulcher of Moses. But God says, you'll never find it. I've hidden his body. And the strange thing is, Israel makes no claim to ever knowing where Moses' body was, because this is Old Testament. God made sure Moses was placed aside. And Christ would be the end of the law to every man that believes. What? To the Jews. and also to the Gentile. So Satan disputed with Michael the Archangel, but it did nothing. Another thing it says here, Michael the Archangel did not want to bring a railing accusation, notice that, against Satan. He was very careful. It spoke before about how people are so glib today to speak evil about dignities. I want to remind you that Satan is second in power to the Holy Spirit in spiritual power. Michael the archangel, the great angel of God, said, the Lord rebuked thee. And I want to tell you that any human being, any human heart that tries to battle Satan on their own is already defeated. You cannot win the war with Satan on your own. It will always have to be the same. The Lord rebuke thee. It is only Christ in us who can give us power to defeat Satan. How do you know that? Because didn't we, are we told that in the Word? Greater is he that dwells in you than he that is in the world. There's a greater one now who's come to dwell in our breasts. Even the power of the Holy Spirit of God, so that we can know that we can have victory. God is telling us here, now listen, Michael the archangel, he did not bring a charge and railing accusation against Satan. He said, the Lord rebuke thee. We have to be most careful today because we're inclined to make fun of Satan. We're inclined to deny Satan's existence. Well, I noticed Michael the archangel didn't. I noticed Jesus didn't. I noticed Paul didn't. I noticed none of the disciples in any way denied the presence of Satan or the power of Satan. And, beloved, we better be sure that when we are faced with conflict with Him who is the great deceiver of men's souls and especially going about like a roaring lion devouring Christians wherever He will, that we call upon the Holy Spirit of God to give us victory over this great power in this world we live in. Then, beloved, notice the next portion here in Jude, and here for They speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally is brute beast, and those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Corrie. These are spots in your feast of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withers without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. I'd like to just stop there at that point, and I'm not going to try to discuss each one of these. I just want to mention, notice he picks three individuals here and he says, woe unto these people because they have gone in the way of these three men. Number one, Cain. Now God is going to show his sovereignty here. The things they knew not and thereby they spoke evil of. Cain did not know the way to God. He knew but would not follow the Lord's word. And through this, God shows forth his sovereignty. Now, may I say this very clearly? Here are Cain and Abel. Notice what it says there. Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain. Here are Cain and Abel. brothers, same parents. Notice this now in your families. Same parents, same nature, same background, same culture, yet God did not deal with them upon the basis of any of these things. God dealt with them only in one area, and that was upon the base of their sacrifice and nothing else. God did not consider their background, God did not consider they were brothers. God did not consider their culture. God did not consider that their father and mother were Adam and Eve. God didn't consider one of these things. Adam was saved. And Adam undoubtedly spoke to his sons about the coats of skins that God made for them and the sacrifice it took to cover their sins. But here, beloved, it says they went the way of Cain. Both Cain and Abel, I would remind you, believed in God. It's very important. Both Cain and Abel believed in God. How do you know that? Because they both came to God with a sacrifice. Cain never said, I don't believe in God. All Cain said was this, I believe in God, but I'm going to approach him in my own way. That's all. Abel believed God. And it tells us in Hebrews that God had respect for Abel's offering, but for Cain's offering, he had no respect. What was Cain's offering? Cain's offering was of the fruit of his hands. He brought to God the most beautiful fruit he could bring of the lands that he owned and all of the produce thereof. And undoubtedly, it looked most beautiful to present to God. Undoubtedly, his father, Adam, had spoken to both Cain and to Abel. Brothers, sisters, let me say this. Young folks, you're in the same family. I want to say this most clearly. You're in the same family, but it doesn't mean because you're in the same family you're saved. You can be brothers and you can both believe in God, But you may come the way of Cain, and that is to bring your own works and say, I'm leading a pretty good life. And it says God had no respect of Cain's offering at all. But of Abel's offering, it says, Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof, indicating that Abel had placed the sacrifice, understanding that he was a sinner, and someone had to die for sin, and he presented the fat thereof. And to God, all it said was, God, I know I'm a sinner and someone has to die for me. And I foreshadow the coming of the Messiah, the seed of the woman who shall crush the head of Satan. And so Abel was redeemed and Cain was lost. God says, notice, they're going away of Cain. The great body of the world is going away of Cain. But the big thing I want you to notice is that both children believed in God, and the only difference in the two is that one presented the sacrifice that said, Christ died for me. Death is the penalty for sin. Remember God, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. And I have given the blood upon the altar as an atonement for your soul." And all Abel was saying, yes, God, I believe that with all my heart I'm a sinner. My father Adam was a sinner, and you redeemed him. And I believe the way my father believed, and you redeemed me. And Cain said, I don't care how my father believed. I don't like that gory religion. I don't want the blood. I'm going to work hard. I'm going to work the hardest I've ever worked on my lands. I'm going to bring the best produce I have, and that will be acceptable to God." And God says, I respected Abel's offering, but I had no respect of Cain's offering. Could anything be simpler? Isn't it wonderful? You know, I often think, isn't it so wonderful that God, in the very beginning with the first children, brothers, makes us understand that even in a family relationship, the faith must be in that way which God ordained. Notice Jesus. I am the way, the truth, and the life. What's the rest? No matter. You see? Why? Because this is Abel's way that God ordained. What does it say in Hebrews after he says this? Abel, though dead, yet speaks. You see? He speaks. How does he speak to us? He speaks to us that there's only one offering that God can accept. He says, why do you try to come to me with your good works? Why do you come to me and tell me, look at my charities, Lord? I am a good husband. I'm a good wife. Look at my lovely children. Aren't they nice, God? Haven't I done such a good job with my family? Take a look at them, God. These are the fruit of my hands. And another mother and dad come and say, oh Lord, our children are fine children, but Will you redeem them? They're sinners like we are. We know ourselves. They need salvation. Lord, give us the privilege of leading them to Jesus at our own knee, that they might be saved. You see the difference? Just the difference, you see? Exactly what? Abel's religion, Cain's religion. Now, you have one of the two this morning, you see. Everyone here has one of the two this morning. You either are, you see, that's what he says. They have, they're the way of Cain, he says. They woe unto them, for they've gone the way of Cain, trying to produce something to get into heaven. Woe unto them! And then if you read the rest, it really should shake your heart when he says what happens to them, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, spewing out their shame. Oh, terrible. May the Lord make it so that this morning you're all have that sacrifice of which Abel spoke when he presented the first sling of his flock and the blood thereof, the fat thereof. And God says, that's the offering. You're acknowledging you're a sinner. And we offer Christ this morning as our sacrifice. He died for us. Once for all, never need be repeated. It tells us, by one offering he made perfect forever them that are saved. Praise the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we thank thee for thy word. Now we come to thy table. We remember we just read in thy word that there are those within the church who are spots in your feasts of love. When they feast with you, they feed themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about with winds. Trees whose fruit withers without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame. Wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And these are those who follow Cain's salvation by works. For it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he hath saved us. Now, Father, touch our hearts together, and as we come to the table, we pray that Thou wouldst bless us as we come to this feast of love left to us by our Savior Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen. Father, we would thank Thee for this fellowship we have had around Thy feast of love for us this morning. And Father, we are so thankful for Thy precious Word. We're thankful that it deals with every heart individually. And that as the Word of God let us know this morning, both Cain and Abel believed in God, And this is our burden in the world today. If we were to go out into the highways and byways and say, do you believe in God? The great answer is yes. But when we come to Christ and the blood and the sacrifice for our sins, this is what divides. And so, Father, we're thankful this morning that we really believe on Jesus. Oh, how we look to his coming. He's alive from the dead. He's cleansed us from sin. He tasted death for every man that He might bring us to God. And so, Father, we praise Thee. that thou hast accepted his sacrifice as thou did accept Abel's offering of bones. And Abel's offering was just a picture of that final sacrifice that should come for sin, even our Savior Jesus Christ. Now, Father, as we leave this place, we would pray that we might go forth more determined than ever to serve Jesus, to live a life of faith, and to yearn for the souls of loved ones, neighbors, and friends. Lord, touch our hearts and fill us with thy Holy Spirit this morning. In Christ's name, amen.