You can have that. You know, you think you're seeing something like that. A lot of people go, yeah, that's for you. Well, good for you. You got your crutch. You know, how many people do we meet as we do evangelism? And they kind of think if you believe it, it makes it. They don't understand that what we have as believers we have by the grace of an almighty God is real. It changes our lives. We've got help they don't have, but they can have. And so praise God for that. Hope you have that today. All right, Jude, maybe you're still there. Book of Jude. Next to last book in the Bible, Jude, and then Revelation. You know, back in the old days, It could be days, weeks, years before you heard news. You know, you got letters traveling by steamer, you know, in that day, before that, I suppose, by sailing ship. You know, I don't know, I guess they sent scrolls by runners, you know. It used to be very slow to hear news from anywhere. We live in a day where it's very quick, very quick, very quick. You know, I've got ability to FaceTime with my parents and see them and hear how they're doing. By the way, pray for my dad. My dad had an infection in his ear that has taken out the hearing in his right ear, it's not going to come back. And so we'll be praying for him. But it also affected his balance. And so, I guess my wife said, I haven't had time to catch up with my parents since I got back. I knew about it before I left, but they're retraining his brain to get his equilibrium back. So pray about that. But I can catch up really quickly with them. And it's a blessing at times. You know, our church even, it used to be, if you wanted to learn the Bible, you had to get on your horse, get in your wagon, get in your carriage, get in your canoe, you know, get to the house of God and sit hopefully under good preaching. And if it wasn't good preaching, I mean, that's all you had. I mean, that was it. You didn't have a lot of options. Today, we've got the God Channel. Today, we've got an abundance of YouTube preachers. We've got an abundance of... Praise God, there's good ones like Sermon Audio. They're out there. Good resources. They're out there. As a church, it's a blessing. It's a blessing that I can preach this morning, and I get home this afternoon, and I can put it online, and we can be blessed to have some others listen in, and hopefully benefit from the preaching and teaching of the word of God. That's a blessing. It's a blessing to have a webpage. Two of you that are here today, weren't here a couple months ago, it's through the webpage, and finding us online. I know that's the spirit of God, by the grace of God, helping as well, directing in that. It's a tool, and it's a good tool. But as with all good things, there is inherently in it also a danger. Where it used to be that if, you know, a pastor in his church had the ability to control, as God desires him to, because he is a shepherd that God's given to a church, control the impact of truth coming into people's hearts and minds, all right? A pastor doesn't have that. It used to be if somebody came into your church and preached, it was something the pastor understood about, knew about, knew the person, knew their character, backed up their life, backed up. the message of preaching and teaching. That's important because Paul says that again and again in 1 Timothy 3, where we've been studying, knowing of whom thou hast received them. Timothy, you know this is good stuff. It's apostolic, it's Pauline, it's through me. You know my manner of life, purpose, charity, all these things. You know these things about me, so you can trust the message, but we don't have that today. It could just be some random person that we don't know, that we haven't heard about, okay? And so there's a danger. The danger is that false teaching. has this store, this store, this store, this store, this store to get into the house of God. And so we gotta know today what a false teacher is. We gotta know today about false teaching. And it's not a new concern. It's not, and speaking about it and saying it really affects our generation because it does. Remember we looked at it in Sunday school. Deceiving and being deceived, they're gonna get waxed worse and worse. That's gonna happen. Part of the way it's happening is this way we're talking about. But it's not a new thing. Paul is talking about it in our Sunday School lesson 2,000 years ago. Back in his day, the church has just been born already. There's a danger of false teaching, false doctrine getting in. Jude, first generation church, you know, Jude's a half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't say that, but he says he's a brother of James. James was a half-brother of Christ and probably his humility in saying that, but he's involved in the early church and he's saying, I'm concerned about this. And so he's written a letter that is great to help us understand what the false teaching is, and to challenge us to do what he says in verse three, and earnestly contend for the faith. And so it begins in verse one, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, the brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called, mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, talking to the church, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Okay, the common salvation. This is something that we all have. I went to men's camp and I prayed. Brother Tommy was in there. I knew Brother Tommy, but we had James and Adam and Eddie. I never met them. You know, but as we're praying, we talked about there's a instant companionship and identity with them as people in the body of Christ. It's like we've known each other a long time, but we haven't known each other a long time, and that's because we share the common salvation. And then Jude says, earnestly contend for the faith. We're going to talk about that more in two weeks as we get to the second part of the application of what Jude is saying. But what we're gonna look at today is more who we're contending against, who the enemy is, who we're standing up against. So we're to stand for the true faith. And so to challenge ourself today, am I standing up for God's doctrine, God's truth, God's word? This is, praise God, the very word of God. Am I standing up for that or am I even ignorantly opening myself up to allow false teaching to come in. We need to be on guard. And I know we understand that as a church this morning, but it'll help us, by the word of God, to have Jude illumine to us what it looks like so that we're quicker at picking up and saying, you know, that's, something's wrong there. It's not quite right. And that'll help us. So let's pray. Ask God to help us this morning. Help me as I preach and help you as you listen this morning to the word of God. Father, we thank you for the book of Jude. Thank you for the time we can spend studying your word this morning. God, you're faithful. You have great power, great ability to give us grace, to see as you see, think as you think, feel as you feel. And Lord, our desire today. would be to have the Spirit of God do that very thing. We know Satan's not real excited about that today. Lord, it wouldn't be his desire to, and I'm not assuming that he's present, but to hear that there's Christians that desire to stand against false teaching. Lord, he's the king of false teaching. He's the deceiver. He's the one that adds a little bit of folly to truth, to pervert it, to take away men from what you desire them to be. And so I pray, Lord, may the Spirit of God guide me as I speak, again, direct me as I preach. I pray, Jesus said, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, not because of who I am, but because of who He is, would preach through me. Lord, please, I want what that song says, channels only, blessed Master, but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us, thou canst use us. And Father, that as a church, as we prayed already this morning, it would be our desire to say, God, help me to understand what a false teacher is. And Lord, maybe today there'll be somebody here that has been deceived by false teaching, even with regards to salvation. And if that's the case, I pray the Spirit of God would expose the false teachers that they've listened to and give them grace to understand truth. And I thank you for your help and pray for your guidance now. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so we're gonna get through two points today. Third point will be in a couple weeks. But the first one is stand against false teachers. Stand against them. It's been said, if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything. And so we need to know where this morning that we're standing to guard us from the error of these false teachers. So the first thing I wanna do is identify not their characteristics, which we'll look at secondly, but who they are, okay? Who they are as Jude begins with them. So the first thing is false teachers are infiltrators. They're infiltrators. It says in verse four, for there are certain men crept in unawares. That could be this this morning, you know, and I'm not trying to make us look around too much this morning and wonder who's here that's not, you know, godly, not God-sent, not God-given, but I mean, it's the principle of the wheat and the tares. It's that Satan gets into God's field and he sows falsehood, he sows falseness so that he can corrupt the harvest that God desires to give. That's why this morning in Sunday school we're talking about we gotta be on guard against this, we gotta discern where we stand, why we stand, continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of. Because Satan's always seeking that back door, always seeking to get in. So there's certain men crept in unawares. You know, when my wife and I were in Bible college, we traveled to Demarest, Georgia to work at a church that was a country church. And a pastor lived In fact, the pastor's study was in kind of what we call a pole barn. It's got the poles coming down, it's got the tin roof over it. In the back of it, it had a solid wall, slats of wood, and you opened the door, walked in, there was a potbelly stove, there was a bunk. And that was his study, you know, I mean he was country where in the Sunday afternoon lunch he had on bib overalls, you know, and I love the Lord, great man of God, died about seven years ago. But anyway, so we're there at the Burroughs and we're staying at his son and daughter's place and I went out in the morning to get a song, might have been that song, out of the boot of the car and I opened up the boot, and what I didn't expect to see was this big, fat, country mouse run across the back of the boot. You know, I'm thinking, this isn't good. You know, we got to go to church, got a mouse in our car, but I'm thinking at least he's in the boot. So we get in the car, Katie and I, didn't have kids then. We're driving to church, it's about 15 minutes to church, and on the way there, she whips her feet up on the dash and said, just ran between your legs. I'm like, oh, you know, hoping we're not going to wreck on the way to church. Well, all through Sunday school, you can imagine, I'm not thinking about anything else but the mouse in the car. And so after Sunday school, I go out and I'm digging through the back seat. I can see a mouse nest. And that mouse, when I saw it that morning, was very fat. And there's these brand new bald mouse babies, all right? Look like little maggots. I don't know how to describe it. They look nasty. You know, hairless little mouse babies in that nest. I pitched that in the woods. And I'm thinking, but I still haven't found the mouse. And we got to drive back to their house for lunch. So we get back to their house for lunch. And we set a trap in the boot, a death trap. And thankfully, it caught the mouse. It was skinnier, but it caught the mouse. Alright, got rid of the mouse. But you know, that night, this has nothing to do with what I'm preaching on. That night, going back, we had a two-hour drive in the dark. Do you know what that was like? You know, every time you felt something or turned the light on to see what that was. But anyway, alright, point is this. Who lets mice in their cars on purpose? Nobody. What do they have to do? They have to creep in unawares. You know, does Satan know this morning that we're not going to accept the fact that a false teacher come into our church and teach? Like, if a Satanist came in, am I going to say, hey, that's great, glad you're here, come on up to the pulpit and speak? So what's he have to do? Satan has to infiltrate. How does he do that? He gets something that looks right, seems right, and he tries to put it in as if it's right. 2 Corinthians 11, 13, 14 says, Even in Paul's day, that Paul was an apostle of Christ, but there were false apostles of Christ that were putting themselves across so convincingly. And Paul says, are we surprised? Satan, I met a pagan coming up out of the glen that said to me, I saw Jesus Christ, he was robed in light, and I referred to this verse. Satan's a deceiver. And so we gotta be on our guard, because they infiltrate churches. Second thing about them, who they are, they're condemned. They're condemned. It says, "...who were before of old ordained to this condemnation." God ordained long ago that those that would do such things, teach such false doctrines, so anti-Christ, that they are damned. They're damned. And so God has told us about their condemnation. It reminds me of the story of Haman and Esther. You know the story as Haman hates Mordecai, and he wants to see Mordecai hung on the gallows. And so he's gonna ask the king to kill Mordecai. But Esther has a banquet, you know, has the king in, because Mordecai, or Haman, has also gotten the king to sign a decree that says all the Jews are gonna be killed. And so they had this banquet, they're sitting there, they eat, everything's fine, Haman goes home all proud, Queen Esther had us in, and things are going great. The next day he comes in to the same banquet, because she asked them back, and she says to the king, somebody is seeking the life of my people, the king asks who it is, and she goes, it's him, Haman. Remember what Haman does? The king goes out, Haman falls on the bed to beg Esther for his life. The king comes in and goes, what, is he going to force the queen? Is he going to abuse the queen? And it says they covered Haman's face. As soon as the words went out of the king's mouth, they covered his face, why he was a dead man. Do you know today, this church that we have here, it's the body of Christ. And biblically, it's the bride of Christ. This is something that Jesus Christ is very concerned about. I will build my church. And so the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ is like The king, when it came to Esther, defend the queen, defend his church. Ephesians 5.25 says, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it should be holy and without blemish. We ought to think long and hard before we would do anything that would hurt God's church. We ought to carefully consider that. My dad in California, when dad was pastoring a church there, and it's a good church, God's blessed that church, it's still a good church. It was a good church when he came, but there were some battles that were taking place that I believe God had my dad there for those times because there were battles that he was able to take the church through. We weren't there a long time. We were there 18 months. I remember as a child it was really hard because for the next about a year, we were not in a ministry. We were between ministries and my dad was driving a rider truck, transporting moving trucks from place to place. We were in a public school. We didn't have a Christian school nearby. We were staying with my grandparents in Des Moines, Iowa. But the reason we were in that situation as a family is because my dad honored the Lord And rather than split the church, which he could have done, and the good people would have gone with him, in the situation that the church was facing, they would have stood with my dad. But it would have hurt the body of Christ, and my dad, rather than hurt the body of Christ, chose to let his family go through a tough time. You know, I respect that of my dad. The next ministry God gave my dad was 27 years, or close to that, or over that. And so, praise God for that. Those that attack the Bride of Christ, they're condemned. I mean, that ought to give somebody pause to think, you know, should I really promote this? Should I really say this? Should I really be schismatic? Should I really get on with heresy? Should I really stand against the church? There ought to be a caution in our hearts. But these men are condemned. Their infiltrators are condemned, and they're permissive. It says, ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. Lasciviousness is fleshly desire. It might be the idea of antinomianism that was taking place back then. It was somewhat like what we talked about in Sunday school, that I'm under grace. I've been saved by grace. Under the law, the law has no authority over me anymore. The law has no power over me. Christ has set me free. I'm saved by grace, and so I have liberty, therefore, to do whatever I want to do. We know that's not Pauline. We know that's not the Apostles' Doctrine. Paul said, Romans 6, 1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? See, the grace of God is not permissive. The grace of God doesn't come into our life and say, you don't have to think about the law anymore, you're fine, you're under grace and so you're safe, so just stay in your sin. The grace that God gives, as we talked about in Sunday school, is a grace that sets us free from our sin so that we can keep the law in obedience to Christ, so that we can live the life that God desires us to live. Another false teaching along those lines would be easy believism. We've talked about this recently, that it's the idea that you just pray a prayer. You know, someone on the street, hey, you're a sinner, you need Jesus Christ as your Savior, and pray this prayer and God will forgive you. But we neglect to mention that the Bible says, except you should repent, you shall all likewise perish. that there is a biblical teaching, even in the book of Acts, where Paul says in Acts 19 or 20, bring forth fruit, meat for repentance, that those men and women in that city, when they got saved and revival came, that they took the books of witchcraft, they brought them out and they burned them because they wanted to honor God. See, the Christianity that God desires of us today, just like Sunday school, we're talking about in Sunday school, is a wholly separate Christianity that is sanctified by the grace of God, to the glory of God, by the power of God, to go on for God. That's where the power is, that's where the salt and the light is. Satan doesn't want that, so what's he have? Teachers of permissiveness. He has false teachers that say, you can have grace and keep your sin. You can stay the same, and God accepts you. You know, did God change his mind about his moral law when Jesus came? Did he say, it's okay now to take my name in vain? It's okay to commit adultery? Jesus strengthened the law. Jesus said, not only is it not okay to commit adultery, but fornication, looking on a woman to lust after her, is a sin of adultery. Getting angry with somebody is a sin of murder. Jesus didn't tone down the law. He strengthened the law. It's not permissive. And so we ought to be cautious as we're thinking about teaching that somebody is giving. Is it permissive? Is it coming from somebody that has taken a lower stand than God desires them to take upon the Word of God because they are ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. And then there are professors. Professors. It says, in denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now again, they're not gonna openly deny the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not that at any point we're gonna have somebody come into our church and they're gonna just clearly say, you know what, I don't really believe in Jesus. I really struggle with the idea of the Trinity. It's not that. It's that in reality, though they profess Christ, in reality, by what they're doing in their lifestyle, that they're denying Christ. They deny the only Lord Jesus Christ. You know, do all Christian religions say that they follow the Bible? That's what they say. Now, do they follow the Bible? No, we know they don't. But don't they say, don't they all say, all these false religions, they say about the Bible, I follow that. Let me give you the illustration of theistic evolutionists. They say they add evolution to the Bible. You know, in the beginning God created, they say day age. They say how long was a day back in that day, you know? Was it, perhaps it was millions of years. I like what Ken Ham says about that. You know, it says in those verses, four terms that refer to the fact that it's a normal 24 hour literal day. And he said about those people, they don't go to the book of Jonah and say he was in the belly of the whale for three million years, you know? And I understand they don't really believe the story. Did I say Noah? Jonah. Good, I'm glad I did. I'm tired. Camp made me tired, but I hope I didn't. Alright, theistic evolutionists. Liberals. Same idea. Liberals deny the miracles, the creation. They'd say they didn't cross the Red Sea, they crossed the Reed Sea, it was knee-deep. And again, believers say, well, that's more of a miracle, God drowned them in a knee-deep sea, you know? They deny walking on water, they deny water into wine, they deny the virgin birth. They say there's hidden truth there. Have you heard that? It's mystical. Yes, it has meaning. It means one thing to you, it means something else to me. I interpret it however I... It gets really fuzzy. But they'd say, I believe the Bible. If you confront them and say, you don't really believe the Bible, and that's why I do say to them, what do they say? They say, of course I believe the Bible. Of course I believe the Bible. The deity of Jesus, so many religions stand against that. He's a good person. He's a God. He's a prophet. Do you believe He is God? Of course I don't. But I believe in Jesus. And so, what do we know about false teachers? They're going to profess that they know Jesus Christ. But in reality, if you study out what they're teaching, what they're teaching is antichrist. Antichrist. And so they're professors. And then we find as well about these false teachers that they're endangered. They're endangered. Verse five through seven says, I will therefore put you in remembrance though you once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people 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. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, sexual sin, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. And so God gives three illustrations. The unbelieving Israelites back in the day, the wilderness journeys, those that were unbelievers, they were destroyed by God. He gives a second example, the fallen angels, the angels that went with Satan as Satan fell, that God has them bound in chains waiting for the judgment that's gonna take place after the millennium as Satan is bound and cast into the pit for all eternity with the angels. Sodom and Gomorrah, those cities destroyed by fire, facing the great white throne judgment of God. But what are they for? They're set forth for an example. Of what? How God deals with false teachers and false teaching. God's gonna destroy them, so again, we look at them, they're under the wrath of God. You know, back in the day, and this still happens, but back in the day, if you saw a child laughing and running from their parents, like, you know, hey Johnny, come here. The kid's laughing, he's running, he's playing, you know, keep away from mom in the store or shop, whatever they're in. You watch that, back in the day, you'd watch that, you'd think, little Johnny's laughing right now, but little Johnny's not gonna be laughing pretty soon. Why? Because little Johnny's gonna suffer the vengeance of a mom that was just embarrassed in front of a whole lot of people in the shop. Rightly so, right? I say we don't see it today because that correction doesn't happen as it ought to, and the child just thinks, oh, this is great. They never get caught. False teachers today, they're running around, they're laughing. See, God's blessing, they say. See, look at my big church, look at my congregation, it's so big, you know, and it's prosperous, and ha, ha, ha, and we can just stay this way, it doesn't matter. But God says they're in danger. Just like a sinner today might think today, I'm fine, I don't feel the heat of hell, I don't feel the warmth, I don't feel the conviction, I don't feel the bother, I'm not bothered, I can go to hell and be damned and I don't care. The fact is, that will not be the tune they're singing in hell. Just like that, these false teachers are gonna face the wrath of God. Ecclesiastes 8.11, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. They think, ah, I'm getting away with it. And yet God says, that sentence will be executed. See, today, unsaved man has the sentence of damned, but that's not been executed. See, those instructions come later, after that person dies and they're facing the great white throne of judgment, they stand before God. The Bible says it's appointed to man once to die, after that, the judgment. See, judgment doesn't come in life. God in His mercy might correct, God in His mercy might try to awaken, but judgment comes later. Let's be warned, they're endangered. Okay, so that gives us an idea of who they are this morning as far as identifying them. Their characteristics help us even more. That's the second thing. And these things kind of run together a little bit this morning. But we looked at, they're infiltrators, they're condemned, they're permissive professors, they're endangered. The wrath of God is right there. But let's consider Now the characteristics, and I want to point this out. As we look at the characteristics, and Jude gives us a list, that a false teacher doesn't have to have every characteristic to be a false teacher. You know, they don't have to have A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and if they have A, B, C, D, E, F, G, then they're a false teacher. If they have A, they're a false teacher. If they have B, they're a false teacher. If they have C, they're a false teacher. Just one of these things could be evidence enough to say, you know what, I really shouldn't listen to that person because there's a problem there. But all of them lumped together makes us go, wow, okay, I can pretty well see a problem with this. First thing, they disrespect government. They disrespect government, verse eight and nine. And can I say this? I think in the context of where Judah's writing, it might've been also that those religious groups that believed the Messiah was gonna come back and was gonna reign. And so they're seeking to overthrow Rome. So they don't respect the authority that's there. They're against that. They say, not so. This shouldn't be. We're going to set up the Messiah's kingdom. We're going to do it ourselves. And they think, my motive is good. I'm casting off restraint. And it could be somebody living today saying, same thing. Christians are going to rule. God's going to be on the throne. And so I'm going to cast off restraint today. And God says, not so. Because that's what Jude says. Jude says in verse 8, likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh. They despise dominion. They speak evil of dignities. 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. But these speak evil of those things which they know not. But what they know naturally as brute beasts, and those things they corrupt themselves." You might be wondering, where's the story? Where's the story of Moses' body and Michael the archangel contending with Satan about that? And the answer is, it's not in the Bible. Is it apocryphal? Maybe. Was it a well-known story? Maybe. Was it a story that was passed down? Maybe. Is it inspired? Yes. Because it's in the Word of God. So if we don't have it from anything else, we have it from Jude, and Jude giving us understanding of something that we don't know about. But the point is this, Michael the archangel, even though the devil is wrong in whatever it has to do with the body of Moses, I believe Moses is going to be one of the prophets that come back in the book of Revelation, okay? So there is reason we could understand why there'd be a dispute about what's taking place. We don't fully understand that. But he didn't bring reeling accusation. What did he say to Satan? He said, the Lord rebuked thee. It bothers me to hear somebody be flippant about Satan. Say something very casually about the devil. God help me not to do that ever when I'm preaching, because Satan is a great adversary. The only victory that we have is through Christ. I praise God I have victory, but I don't boast about it. I don't get cheeky about it. I thank God for it, but I call on God to bind the devil, because God is stronger, I'm not, okay? And so, he is, in that case, not even going against that, but how much more our generation, and he applies it to government, these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally is brute beast, and these things, they corrupt themselves. And it goes back to the previous verse as well. They despise dignities. See, I grew up in the generation of President Bill Clinton. We all know what an ungodly president he was. And this is just how God was working my heart as a teenager. I would hear in the pulpit, I would hear in churches, I would hear it said very flippant, very casual, very disrespectful things about the president of the United States. But I have a question for you, and this applies to today, because obviously, President Trump. Who put them there? Who gave them their authority? We've got here the SMP, Nicholas Sturgeon, the most homosexual, as I understand, Parliament in Europe. Who put them there? God did. You say, but it's a democracy. Men put them there. No, God did. See, God's not up in heaven worried about democracy saying, I've lost control, now it's in the hands of the people. God's the authority. God's the one. He sets up one. He takes down another. Daniel 4.17, King Nebuchadnezzar said, this happened to me. or it might be Daniel telling him about what's gonna happen, okay? That he's gonna become a crazy man for seven years, his nails are gonna get long, his hair's gonna grow, and he's gonna be wild, so that his heart is humbled, so that he understands that his kingdom is not his kingdom, because he's great and he's glorious, but his kingdom is great, because God is great, and God put him there. And so the Bible says in that verse, It happened to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. Does God say because they're base, we could treat them like rubbish, that we could just be rude and unkind and just disrespectful? No, because they represent who? They're representatives of God. They stand as the authority that God has allowed, that God has put in, that God is in control. Proverbs 21.1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water, he turneth it withersoever he will. I don't have to worry today and say, but oh, you know, this president, this prime minister, this government, this parliament. I say, no, God's in control. And to be honest, do we deserve good government? No. We don't. How does the Bible say to follow authority? Romans 13.1, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. See, without exception, we looked at that verse this morning about that all statement. Without exception, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. The powers that be are ordained of God. And so I can't stand up here this morning and blaspheme our nation and blaspheme our people and blaspheme who God's put over us. Why? Because God has put them there. What is a false teacher? A false teacher is somebody that is anti-government, anti-restraint. It's like there's a man in the United States that said, don't pay your taxes. Don't pay your taxes, the government has no right to your money. Listen, that's not biblical. Jesus, render unto Caesar. the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God. We've already talked about it in our church many times. The only time we defy government, and we do so meekly, we do so graciously, we do so kindly, the only time is when the government commands us to sin against God. If the government ever says we can't assemble, we assemble. If the government says we have to allow homosexuals into our church as members, And our Constitution says they have to be saved by grace through faith to be a born-again Christian, and the Bible teaches a new life in Christ that has victory over sin. And we have to admit them without repentance, without forgiveness, then what do we do? We stand, and we take the punishment that will come under the government that God has allowed. But in every other case, as a citizen of our society, we say, God, you are God. But even in the area that I just mentioned, I don't mock the government, I don't despise the government, because God put him there. God put him there. A religion that's anti-government. Paul said to Timothy 1, Timothy 2, 1, I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications and prayers, intercession, giving of thanks be made for all men. for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." You know what God wants us to do for our government today? If it's a faithful preacher of the Word of God, He'd get on His knees and say, Oh God, save the Queen! Oh God, save the Prime Minister! Oh God, save the Parliament! Because that's what God says to do. He wouldn't say, oh God, damn this person, damn this person, damn this person. That's unbiblical. But there are people today that preach that and it's no wonder our world looks at it and says that's a religion of hate because it is a religion of hate. Why? Because they're a false prophet. The Word of God says that. They disrespect government. And then they reject the way of the cross. We'll end here this morning for sake of time. I want us to take time to digest this as we go through it. And so we'll just split it up. But they reject the way of the cross. Verse 11. It says, Woe unto them, for they've gone in the way of Cain. You know, woe is an expression of intense grief. It is you on the worst day, at the worst time, at the worst moment, at the lowest point of your life saying, woe is me. And God says, woe, they've gone the way of Cain. The way of Cain is this, it's Cain and Abel and they're out and they're getting ready to worship God and Abel is offering a blood sacrifice. And Abel has that lamb that pictures the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that lamb that is the blood that washes away our sin, that lamb that God said is what he accepts. Cain, on the other hand, he's going, well, I'm a farmer. I raise crops. I didn't go to his brother to get an animal. He thinks, well, I'm just going to give God what I think God deserves. I'm just gonna worship God as I desire to. Cain and Abel is a great picture, get it, of faith and works. Faith religion, the blood, and works religion. By the way, and we'll talk, I mean, think about it. What did Cain do to Abel? He killed him. What does works religion do to faith religion? Kills it. Still happening. Islam? Right? Still happening. That there is persecution this way to those that identify with the way of the blood. But it's all through the Old Testament. I enjoyed yesterday on the plane. I mentioned I had a great witnessing opportunity. A guy, Ian, sat beside me. But you know, he asked me, he's Catholic. He said, what testament do you follow? You know, old, new? I said, you know, both, both. I said, Christ is all through the Bible. And I started talking to him about what I got somewhere in my notes today. It's not right here, but the fact that you've got the Adam and Eve, Garden of Eden, they're sinning against God, they're ashamed. God kills an animal to provide an atonement, a blood covering. That's the lamb, the rock that was struck, the water flowed out, it's the lamb. the arc of safety, the one way of salvation, picture of Christ. I just started talking to about, no, it's all through the Bible. It's all through the Bible, just like we looked at last week, that we're not preaching a new truth. We talk about the resurrection, the suffering of Christ. It's an old truth, an old truth. And so you've got Cain and Abel. And Cain tries to worship God as he see fit, and the Lord, mercifully, comes to Cain and says, Cain, it's a blood sacrifice. If you wanna do what's right, blessing. If you wanna have your own way, sin lies at the door, and you're gonna reap the fruit of it. Remember Cain, think about Cain's life, he was cursed. He had a mark upon him. He was afraid the rest of his life because he followed his own way instead of God's way. False teaching. They reject the way of the cross. That's extreme false teaching. Now listen, it can creep in to our church. It creeps in through liberalism. It creeps into evangelical churches today. The Church of Scotland used to stand strongly upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. but it crept in unawares. This morning, are you putting your faith in the one way? See, you might be sincere. There's no doubt that many people that stand where Cain stood are very sincere. I have no doubt the man beside me on the plane, he's very sincere. The problem is he's trusting in his works and it's not gonna work. I spoke to him freely about it. As I said to him, the only thing the law's gonna do when the law comes is gonna condemn us. If the law stood by me before God, and I said to God, God, I'm a good person, and God said, all right, let's check it out in the law, what's the law say? And the law says, liar, angry man, fornicator, materialistic, and the law condemns. It's only grace that answers the law and says, mercy, I have the blood, I've been cleansed, I'm forgiven, it was paid on the cross. Yes, I'm guilty of those things, but it fell on Jesus Christ at Calvary. And then we say to somebody that's born again, praise God. There's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh. See, the flesh goes, I'll do it myself, I'll do it myself, I'll do it myself. I lust for that, I want that, I'll have that. The flesh is messed up, the flesh is against God. Walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The Spirit of God, by the way, I praised God this morning. as a preacher for the Spirit of God. I praise Him for His ability, as we talked about last Sunday, to get into the heart of somebody and say, look, this is the one way. It's the only hope they have because of woe. Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain. Jesus said, John 14, 6, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. no man cometh unto the Father but by me. If anyone stands up and ever says, like, and by the way, evangelicals have said it. Look at, you know, look at Billy Graham. Billy Graham had joint meetings with Catholics. Billy Graham turned people back over to Jehovah's Witnesses. Billy Graham You look at this passage and say, Billy Graham, at the very least, he might have been saved, but he's a false teacher. He got away from the way of the cross. You know, I heard Billy Graham say something, they showed a video, that he regretted some of the things that he had done in his life. I hope that was one. I hope he regretted not taking a stand for the Lord, not taking a stand for the cross. It's not that he didn't preach it, it's that by ecumenism, holding hands with those that did not believe in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he sold out his Savior. because he didn't stand as he ought to stand. And so we look at it this morning and say, dear God, and I pray as a pastor, pray for your pastor, it's only the grace of God that keeps us on track. It's only the mercy of God that guards us from false teaching. But we gotta be able to identify it because our church, we're seeing it build a church. What's the easiest way for Satan to mess it up? Come in, hammer out the foundation, wreck it. What's gonna protect us? Truth, truth. This morning, are you saved by the blood? Are you standing for the way of the cross? Do you respect government? Do you speak graciously about those that are in authority that God has put there? Are we on guard against infiltration? Do we understand the judgment of God upon those that would hurt the body of Christ? God help us. This is an important truth. I pray God continues to use this in our hearts as we pick this up again in a couple weeks. Let's pray. Father, I pray that your Spirit would speak to our hearts this morning. Father, the entrance of thy Word giveth light. It could be that we came into this service with a false idea in our heart and our mind. And Father, we might hold to it dearly. It might be something we embrace. It might be something that we would say, I'm right, I'm right about that. But Father, the Word of God has just told us we're wrong. that it's not right, that we gotta be on guard, that we can't let it in. And Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit would illumine truth. And Father, I ask right now in the quietness of our hearts as we bow before you, for those that are lost in this room, Father, just like Cain, they're going to be so sad someday to stand before God. If they have any idea that God's going to let them into His heaven, I pray they'd understand right now they can't come in because they rejected the way of life through the Lord Jesus Christ. But oh, I pray they get saved today. Father, why do they tarry? Father, why do they wait when hell is so close? Why do they wait when they could die in a car accident, they could die from disease, they could die in other ways, and they could perish for all eternity? Why do they wait, Lord, when they've got family that need to get saved, and they can tell them about Jesus Christ? Lord, I just pray. I pray the Spirit of God will plead with them to obey. Father, as a church, we've got to be very careful. Satan is sly. I can't as pastor say this morning, we can't watch the God channel or YouTube or all these things. I mean I can preach against that. There's a lot. I would say there would be very little that we should watch and if we do watch it we ought to very much know what we're watching. Father it would be better if people would just be faithful to the house of God. Be here for Sunday School. Be here Sunday morning. Be here Sunday night. Be here Thursday night if they can. so that, Lord, we can build up our faith, build us up in the truth of the word of God. Help us to know the right things and encourage one another and edify one another and lead each other to right righteousness and right living. Lord, it'd be great if we could just be a church that this is the truth that we hold as a church. We hold it together and we come together around it. So if we're gonna listen to things outside this ministry, Help us not to deceive ourselves and think, Lord, if we don't have absolute confidence, we're making a grave mistake that can really hurt us in our walk with you and hurt our church. So I pray, Spirit of God, protect us. And as we continue this message the following Sundays, I pray, God, use Jude to change our lives. Use Jude to make us what we ought to be. Lord, I pray tonight as we come together for choir, I pray the kids that just really know the presence of God helping them sing. Father, that they could worship You in spirit and in truth. Father, I pray that our hearts would just long to meet with You tonight as we hear George Clayson preach Your Word. I pray, Spirit of God, guide him this afternoon. Help him, Lord. I know, Lord, we so need the grace of God. We so need the help of the Holy Spirit. I praise You, Lord. I know you're leading him in what to speak on. I know that. We've been praying with him about it. I just pray tonight we'd be faithful to the house of God to get here and encourage him, Lord, as a young man willing to serve you, willing to be faithful to God and to use his talents and abilities for you. Lord, it ought to rejoice our hearts to encourage a young man like that by being here, sitting in the house of God, listening to the Word of God tonight. And so I pray, Spirit of God, that we come back with desire to meet with you. Father, I want you to have your way. I'm tired of ritualistic religion. Father, I'm tired of powerless Christianity. I'm discouraged by infancy and believers when we ought to be growing in grace, the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would change us. Lord, we're bowed before you right now, and I know your presence, and it's the kind of thing, Lord, if everyone was content, I'd just say, hey, let's stay right here before God because God is here. Because Father, we need God. If we had to cancel everything in our calendar and stop what we're doing and say, you know what, I'm just going to continue in prayer because God is there. I don't want to leave that place. I don't want to go away. God, they used to do that. I'm not saying we should try to make that happen. But Father, why would we walk away from the fountain when the fountain's flowing? and then cry for thirst later. Why would we go away when the blessing begins to flow, when revival begins to be evident, when the Spirit of God begins to stir, when the Spirit of God is doing a work? Father, we ought to be in the presence of God in our faith before you're saying, God, I don't want to leave that. Father, the tangible presence of God when felt is something that is to be desired more than anything. Father, more than the entertainment, and there's some here perhaps that think they're just going to watch a telly all afternoon and waste the Lord's day. And Lord, I'm just sharing our hearts before you. We're flesh. And Father, it's no wonder. Not just that, but so many other things. Our hearts are so easily led astray. That's why the blessing of being here right now in this prayer time is so important, Lord, that we understand there's nothing more important than meeting with God. There's nothing more important than revival. We have eternity at stake in this prayer time, even just now as a Bow Before Him prayer, of our neighbor, our family member, Father, they're going to perish in a fire far worse than that tower that burned in London. And I just look to You and I ask, Father, that You change us. Lord, that wouldn't just be, well, I'm a Christian. I do my time. I get there. I never evangelize. I never live godly. I never really want to be there. I'm just there. And I'm not judging men's hearts this morning. Lord, I'm just putting it out before you. The fact is, we need revival. Father, we need to be quickened by your Spirit. We need the Spirit-filled preaching of the Word of God. And I ask you as pastor, Lord, I just bow before you. Please help me in my preaching. Father, help David O'Gorman this week. Father, we don't want just another week. We want revival. Father, how long can we just go on and just be content without a real move of Your Spirit? And so, Father, by Your grace, I pray, awaken us. I pray the Spirit of God would have His way. And so, Lord, if there's a heart right now that's doing battle against You, in any way resisting You, Father, I pray that they know that. Yet I pray that they see Your mercy right now reaching out to them, loving them, letting them know they can get saved. Letting them know they can surrender. Letting them know they can repent. Letting them know that You have grace to give them victory. Father, letting them know that no matter how opposed to You they've been, that by Your grace they can be forgiven. Letting them know that there's a great life ahead of them in serving God, pleasing God. Father, pray too for our young people. I pray that You'd use them. I pray that You'd lower the harvest, raise up mighty laborers from the harvest field. I pray that You'd pour out of Your Spirit upon our young people. Father, that the blessing of God would come down. Father, I pray, shame us with our young people. I pray, Spirit of God, show us as adults how much we need of the grace of God, even by what You do in their lives. Father, I pray for Callum, Luce's tongue. Father, he stammers and he struggles, but I praise you, Callum's got a great spirit. He's so excited about setting up chairs, taking down chairs, doing things. Lord, I know Callum's not perfect, but Callum's gotten saved. He took a stand for you at his school and sang Jesus Loves Me. I pray God set his tongue free so that he could declare plainly the truth of the gospel. Father, pray for others of our young people. I pray, God, that you raise them up to speak loudly and speak clearly the truth of the Word of God. I pray for the blessing of God. I pray for the blessing, Father, that Father's patriarchs gave to their sons. Father, would you give us the same blessing, even this morning? Father, to change us. Father, change our families. Father, change our hearts. Father, give us grace to lift our heart up to you, like David said, search me, oh God, know me, try me, see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. And so Father, we're here, and Lord, it's extra time, I know. But Father, isn't it worth it to get a blessing from heaven? Isn't it worth it to have the grace of God poured out? Isn't it worth it to say, hey, we're a little serious about this today? Father, we may not always be serious when we come to the house of God. We may not always be serious when we get there, but Lord, we're serious today. We really desire the blessing of God. We can't continue as we are. Lord, it's not fair to Lonehead. It's not fair to Gilmerton. It's not fair to Liberton. It's not fair to Bonnie, Rick, Poulton, Laswade, Bilston, Roslyn, all these cities, villages that need the gospel. Father, they need revival. We can't help them if we don't have it. Father, when the poor and needy seek water and there is none, their tongue fills with thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. And Father, I pray today would you please give us a blessing that we'll look back at and say, you know, that's really when a great change came to our church. That's really where the power of God came down. Father, not because I'm praying, but because the Lord Jesus Christ is real, the power of the Spirit of God is real, we have the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ inside of us. And Father, you told them to tarry in Jerusalem until they'd be endued with power from on high. Too often, Father, I guess we just run out without the power, and we're just happy enough to have been in the house of God and not really meet with God, not really having to change our lives, not really having to do anything. Lord, we are on a schedule. We're on a time frame. And Lord, we go into our fast food mode, and we're going to get it down, get out, and not think about it too much, not care about it too much, not be changed by it too much, not let it really impact our hearts, not really impact our lives. And Father, I just pray that you change us. Father, give us a church, and I praise God for church this morning. The attendance is good, the attention was great this morning. But Father, I pray give us a church full of people that are hungry for God, that are disappointed if they come to church and they don't feel like they've met with God. Father, I just pray give us a hunger that is insatiable and Lord use us, bless us as we go our way now. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. Amen, we're dismissed.