This morning I would once more like to speak to you from Jude and then go over to Numbers and to Proverbs, possibly, if we have all that time. But I'm speaking to you especially in reference to, I'll read it quickly, I've read it before, Jude 17 to 19, so we get some conception of what Jude is talking about. He 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, These be they who separate themselves, in this word, sensual, very clear what they will be like, having not the spirit. Let's make sure we distinguish these. They are seen in the church as an organization today throughout the world. You are probably shocked when you read newspapers and see different articles about what ministers are endorsing in their churches, all kinds of things that probably, well, even we have a very difficult job, but I imagine our mothers and our fathers beyond that could not even have imagined some of the things that are happening in the church. in the name of Jesus Christ. I would remind you that Paul is very clear when he says that Satan's emissaries are gobbed as the angels of light, so that we are not to have any misconception that because a man stands in a pulpit, it makes him a godly man. These men have not the spirit Only men who have been called of God to preach should be preaching. I dread saying it, but I believe that pulpits throughout this land are filled with preachers never called of God and having not the Spirit. Otherwise, we would not see happening those things that are occurring in so many different places. I've read you many, many of the articles of the different things that are happening in churches in our area. And it shocks me because it's hard for me to believe as a preacher, that even a man who might be moral, let me say that, let alone calling himself a reverend, would get involved in some of the things they're getting involved in. And so the Word of God tells us they're sensual, they separate themselves, they're mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts, but they have not the Spirit. I think that's the distinguishing mark. They have not the Spirit. Now we've been speaking over That's just the backdrop here. We've been speaking over in the 10th and 11th verses of Jude, same place. These speak evil of those things which they know not. The same group, they're all wrapped in together here. But what they know naturally as brute beasts, in 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 have perished in the gainsaying of Corre." Now, I spoke to you about Corre, and I think I've made quite clear about Korah, or Koray, Koray in the Greek, Korah in the Hebrew, quite clear about him and his desire to take the priesthood away in the Old Testament from Aaron. The priesthood is not something that you grasp. Neither is the ministry. But the priesthood specifically is not something that you grasp. The priesthood is a gift of God, just as is the grace of God. Faith is a gift. Grace is a gift. The priesthood is a gift of God. If you're a saved person here this morning, you are in the royal priesthood of God. Peter says that in his epistle. that you have access to God because you've come into the family of God, you've become a son of God, and a son of God as a brother of the high priest Jesus Christ. And I say that very carefully, and I say it very definitely in a humble way, that God has made me part of the very family of his own, and the elder brother is Jesus Christ, the high priest. And we are in the family, and we cannot be less than priests. Anyone who's saved here this morning is a priest of God. And as I said last week, you don't go out and announce it to the public, the public will never understand you, no more than they understand through their carnal minds anything about the things of God. They'll never understand that we're in the priesthood of God, royal priest, because we're in the royal family, and that we have come into this relationship through faith in Jesus Christ, the only one that understands is you, if you're a Christian this morning. And if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, you will have no comprehension of it. This was the great argument of Martin Luther. This is the reason for his great break with the church. The priesthood of all believers. Every believer has access to God. Only priests have access to God. I was a Roman Catholic. I've never changed my opinion about priests are the only ones who can get into God's presence. I have changed my mind completely about a priesthood that is made by man. Only those who are redeemed have that access to God. And so Korah thought he could take the priesthood. And he went to Moses and said, you take too much upon you. And then Moses spoke to him and said, why do you want the priesthood of Aaron? That's what you want? You can't have it. It's impossible. And he concludes the whole matter. And I'm just going to mention this and take you over then to Proverbs. He concludes the whole matter in number 1640, in which he says this, after God has judged Korah, And the 250 men of renown who rebelled with him, princes of the congregation of Israel, after God has sent fire from heaven and burned them up, and taken their shields and smoldered them down, and they've become molten metal, and he has commanded Israel, I want you to make them as plates for the altar, that they'll be there to remind Israel that I will not stand for this. After he has taken Abraham and Dathan and all of their group, and the earth has claved beneath their feet, and Moses has said to them, if you die a natural death, then God's on your side. But if God does a new thing and opens the earth and you fall in, And this was the very thing, remember? God brought his judgment down upon this whole family and they were judged. So all this group who rebelled against God received the judgments of God. And now God lays down his final judgment. Notice what he says. No stranger, 40th verse, which is not of the seed of Aaron. Notice this. You have to be of Aaron, he said. In other words, you cannot be a priest unless it is ordained of me and it's from the family of Aaron. No one who is not of the seed of Aaron shall come near to the offer incense before the Lord that he be not as Korah and as his company as the Lord said to him by the hand of Moses. Now, an amazing thing. It's hard to believe. That's the 40th verse. God brought his judgment down upon Israel. He burned up all those who were the renowned of Israel. The ground claved under all those and he swallowed them up in judgment. This had nothing to do with Moses. Moses didn't bring the fire down. Moses didn't have the earth open up. God did it. And it's an amazing thing that after God lays down this final edict, remember this. Notice the 41st verse. There's a big but, and I put a circle around it again. It's unbelievable. This shows the human heart, oh, how desperately wicked it is. Notice what they say. But on the morrow, the next day, all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Zaran again, notice, saying, ye have killed the people of the Lord. Imagine, the judgment is by fire from heaven, the judgment is by the earth opening up and swallowing them up, and they look at Moses and Aaron and say, you have killed the people of the Lord. Hardly believable, isn't it? And yet, this is exactly the human heart, also desperately wicked. We can make so many promises to God. We can, in one moment, be so close spiritually to the Lord Jesus. We can be on our knees in prayer. We can be opening our hearts to God, and within five minutes, indulging in the deepest of sins and vileness. And God says the wickedness of men's hearts is only evil continually. He says, oh, who can know the heart of man? It is desperately wicked. God says, who can know it? Thus was with Israel. Here they've seen the judgment. Imagine you standing there and you've seen all of the 250 men of renown. They've been burned up and all that's left is their shields. And God says, take the shields and have them molten and make them as plates for the altar that it may remind Israel of this judgment. And then you've seen the great crowd of Israel, they've been swallowed up in the earth. And you know Moses couldn't do it, anybody would know that. And yet, on the morrow, not even a week goes by. That's why I say we can be on our knees and we can engage in the deepest and vilest of sins within a little while. Christian, watch yourself. Watch yourself. We can become backslidden in a moment. If ever I have seen Satan working, it's in this day. I see a coldness developing in the church of Jesus Christ, and Christians are being deluded, although they know the Word of God. And although they know that God said there'll be a falling away in the last days, they're further... Hell, they know that they said it would be a coldness in the last days. The love of many shall wax cold in the last days. They're growing cold and not noticing it. Becoming the very dukes of Satan. without understanding what's happening in their own personal lives. Christian, what's your life? What's your life? Has it become cold? Are you getting indifferent? Are you indifferent to the house of God? Have you become indifferent to the Sunday school with the children? You whom often watch so carefully that they got their awards every year, you wouldn't miss for anything to make sure that they got those little things that said 100% attendance at Sunday school. Oh, remember how children used to love those badges as they ran down the lapel of their coats, you know? Are you growing cold? Are you growing indifferent? Do you let little things on Sunday morning stop you? Oh, I hope no one in this church, the beach doesn't attract you on a Sunday morning. I would pray you'll never get on a road on Sunday morning at the hour of 11 o'clock when God wants you in the house. He says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together or on the golf course. when somebody says to me, you can go out and as long as you're in the sunshine, you can worship God out there in the sun. But I've never seen a golfer worshiping the Lord while he's trying to make, you know, get around there in 80 or 85. Are you growing cold? Listen, I challenge you. You know why I challenge you? Because God has warned us. And if we don't accept the warnings, what are we going to do? I should be stirring every single heart here this morning so that no one has any doubt about it. Look into your personal life. Are you as devoted as you are? Have you now become indifferent about prayer meeting? Oh, I'm so thankful that we get such a large prayer meeting. Marvelous, it's held up so well. But all I want to say, there are some faithful ones that I can look back over the years and look at attendance records and say, I remember when you came faithfully to prayer meeting, what has happened to your life? Oh, are we careful? Do we watch ourselves? We can be so easily deluded. Look at Israel here, the next day. Could anything be more clear? How hard does God have to knock us down before we listen? Isn't it true? So often, God speaks to our hearts day by day, day by day, speaking to us, trying to win us back to Himself. We don't listen, and the judgments seem to get worse and worse. The chastening hand of the Lord falls heavier and heavier and heavier. And finally, it seems as though we have to hit near spiritual bottom before we say, cry out, Oh Lord, change it all. My family is in shreds. My children have departed from the living God, and it's my fault. And I admit it, and I admit it frankly, I have not been what I look like when I sit in the congregation. Oh, that we might see this Israel turn the next day. And the next day they argued against Moses and Aaron, though they saw the judgments of God. You know, I want to say this. If we can look in the scriptures and see the judgments of God for all the different sins and conditions that existed, and it covers everything. If you want to search the word of God, you will find how God deals with adultery. And I want to tell you, I wouldn't want to be anybody in an adulterous situation if I were a Christian. You may think you're escaping, but I want to tell you, God's long suffering toward us would, very long suffering toward us would, but whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son. If you want to look it up, you can look up in Psalm 32 and 51, and you can know exactly what's going to happen to you, and you will be so despairing you'd rather be dead. than to have ever got involved in such a situation. If you want to know how God deals with those who are backslidden, those who depart from God, those who get themselves involved in the world, those who get themselves involved in other things, you can find it in the New Testament, you can read in the epistle, epistle after epistle, and especially 1st and 2nd Corinthians, if you want to know how God deals in judgment in his chastening hand. Oh, that we would see it. Why do we wait? Why do we not understand when Corinthians tells us these things happened to Israel, happened to them, that they might be lessons to us? Because if we do the same things that they did, what makes you think you will escape the same judgment as they had? It's no logic. If God judged them, if they were His people in the Old Testament, and He brought them under chastening for sin, He'll bring us under chastening for sin. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son. And when we come to the Lord's table this morning, we're going to read the Word, which says some are weak and some are sick, and some are asleep. Why? Because we have not obeyed God. some sleep because you've come to this table unworthily. He says, you've come to this table and you knew that tomorrow or this afternoon or next week you had already planned your sinful life, whether it's in business, whether it's in your poor home life, whether it's in your inactive, spiritual life, whether it's in your terrible devotional life, you've known all along that this is just sham and hypocrisy. You've known it and yet you've done it. You've come to the Lord's table unworthily. You know to do good and you do it not. To you it is sin. Therefore, the judgment of God, his chastening hand, falls upon his children. Oh, beloved, that I might stir you up. Mothers and fathers, that I might stir you up. Where have we failed? Let us not be charging everything to the world outside. Let us not say the world has conquered our children. Let us say, rather, have we failed, Lord, in our love and in our presentation of the gospel, in our living the gospel of Jesus Christ? Have we failed? Have we been what we should be? And I wouldn't gloss over the surface. I'd really look deep within my soul. And I would see where I had failed and say, frankly, Father, I have sinned. I have failed. I admit it, but I want to change. I tell you, nothing's more appealing to a father's heart than that, is it? What would you say, Father, if your child came to you and said, I want to change, Dad? I want to be different. Just recently, I had a boy do that. And I want to tell you, that father's heart is so thrilled, it's bubbling to have that son come to him and say, Dad, I want to change. I haven't been what I should be as a son. Oh, oh, how wonderful. And so, he warns him here, on the morrow, all the congregation murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, you have killed the people of the Lord. Imagine, God's judgment falls upon them, and you blame the preacher. Well, I'm trying to make sure you never blame me. I want to tell you there's going to be a lot of preachers blamed. I want to tell you this. There's going to be a lot of preachers blamed when the Lord Jesus comes. There's going to be many a congregation that's going to go up to the preacher and say, what happened to us? Where is this wonderful salvation that we now realize existed and we really didn't have it? Imagine all Israel comes up against Moses and Aaron, all the people, they've watched the judgment of God. Here I am as a preacher for the gospel of Jesus Christ, I'm warning you. Mothers and fathers, I'm warning you. I'm asking you, I'm pleading with you in Christ's name. Not only be reconciled to God by faith in Jesus Christ, but live the life. Live it for your children and with your children. that they'll see this vast difference in your life and yearn for this living Christ. What happened to them? Well, they won't listen to Moses and Aaron, and I just pray it doesn't happen to anybody in this church. I want you to notice what happened to them. You just look down a little further. 49th verse, God sent a plague upon them. They wouldn't listen to the preacher. All right. You don't want to listen to my men. All right. Now, they that died in the plague which God sent upon them were 14,700. Besides them that died about the matter of Korah. In other words, they watched the judgment of Korah. They watched the judgment of those who were with Korah. And seeing the judgment of God, they didn't even want to listen to the preacher. They'd seen it. Now, you've known it because it's in the Old Testament. They wouldn't listen. So the plague of God fell upon them, and 14,700 of Israel were judged. Oh, beloved, how I plead that no one in this congregation will be judged. You've heard me preach. You've heard me preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. You've heard me preach the salvation in the blood of Jesus. You've heard me preach that a man is saved by grace through faith, and both grace and faith are the gifts of God. And, beloved, they are God's gifts to man. You've heard me preach it. You've heard me preach that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God before ordained that we should walk in them, and the great good work of God for a mother and father is with their children, and for the children is with their mother and father to please the Lord Jesus together. This is the call of God. Gee, it's nearly a half hour. I can't believe it. And I got to, you know, I got a lot more to say. But I'm not going to say it this morning. I'm going to say it next week, a week after, and a week after. But I just pray that you'll understand that God is saying, now listen. He's not exalting past again by saying this. There's a man in that pulpit who is preaching my word. Hear ye him, listen, for he speaks not of himself, but Christ is speaking through him to you that you escape. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? And how shall we escape his chastening hand as children unless we listen to the word of God? Oh, beloved, I plead with you this morning, mothers, fathers, children, young people, let's never say there's a generation gap, all right, between us. If we together are regenerate, born again, mothers and fathers and children, there'll be no generation gap. The generation gap is when there are the regenerate and the unregenerate. then the gap is so wide it can never be breached. But in our families, may there be regeneration so that mothers and fathers and children having a holy bond of love for each other and yearning to live for Jesus and let Christ walk in them and speak through them can have the joy of this life and the joy in the life which is yet to come. Let us pray. Now, Father, we thank Thee for Thy blessed word this morning. Lord, bless it to our hearts, and as we come now to Thy table, we pray, Lord, that we will come worthily. It doesn't mean that we've lived sinless lives. We have never preached that. But it does mean that we have come to Thee We remember 1 John tells us, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, Lord, right now, there can be that kind of confession and God's forgiveness. We remember also that thy word warns us that if we only confess our sins, And we do not forsake them. We cannot expect God to be merciful, but rather to chasten his children. Now, Lord, may there be a yearning not only for forgiveness, but a desire to forsake all that is sin, and cling to thee. Stir mothers and fathers to serve Christ as never before, and to be faithful to thee. in these last days. In Christ's name we pray, amen.