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Bro. Otis Fisher
The book of Jude, I hope you all have been studying it, because I need all the help I can get. Tell me if this statement is true or false. Only the saved can be blessed. Only the saved are born again.
What did you say? Well, that's true, but that's not a blessing. The only blessings that exist are spiritual. No, that's just good management. Is everyone settled? I had just asked the question, can only the saved be blessed, and blessings are spiritual.
Greg, for some reason I can't understand you this morning. That's true. Now, if you think that the physical things are a blessing, then you're keeping yourself at the center. I hate to say that, but you are.
From God's viewpoint, only blessings are spiritual. Now, I know we call other things blessings, but they're not really. Well, what kind of a will did the angels have, Greg? Right. What kind of will did the angels have?
That shouldn't be hard. Bill? They all made a willful choice. They had a free will. Angels were made with a free will, but once having made the choice, they're no longer free. Adam had a free will, but once he made a choice, he no longer was free.
Does the will control the mind, or does the mind control the will? I know we've been over this before, but tell me, does your mind control your will, or does your will control your mind? Russell? Then you say the mind controls the will.
If there suddenly appeared a rattlesnake beside you, what would you do? You'd bypass your mind. You'd just move. Your will controls your mind. Now, what controls your will? The will is exercised by the most prominent, by the strongest emotion at the moment.
Now, what controls your emotion? The situation controls the moment. The will, I mean the emotion. All right, our will is that by which we choose. Our emotion is controlled by our life. Now, God controls our life, whether we're saved or not.
If you are a born again person, you have a new life. If you're not born again, you have the old life, just one or the other. Those that are with the new life can and do at times go back to the old, but only while they commit sin.
You cannot sin while you're living for Christ. With that moment, you're gone. We have here a man whose Christian duty is a very quiet one. This type's not trying to be a soloist or the main speaker. They do not want to preside.
They do not want to be chairman of the board. They're just part of the woodwork, but they also are pillars of the church. They are the silent workers of God's kingdom. They always have a good word for those who teach God's word.
They're happy just doing what God has given them to do. The real test of a Christian life is not the applause of man. The real Christian has nothing spectacular, nothing sensational, nothing outstanding.
They just live for God. Their purpose, their direction is just to please God. They just believe God. You won't find them in the Yellow Pages, but you'll find them in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now, the writer to Jude, which is the English form of Judas, here's a brother of Jesus.
Only he doesn't say so. He says, I'm a brother of James. James, the writer of the epistle of James, and Judas, the writer of the epistle of Jude, are half brothers with our Lord Jesus Christ. Neither one of these men identified themselves as brothers of the Lord Jesus.
Now, I want to know why. All right. They did not claim him as their half brother because they were not talking about human relationships. They're spending their time writing the word of God that has nothing to do with human relationships.
James introduces himself as a servant of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jude introduces himself as a servant of Jesus the Christ, calls himself a servant. Servant here means bond slave, the word doulos.
Why didn't James and Jude capitalize on their blood relationship with Jesus? I think the reason is obvious. Neither James or Jude believed the claims of Jesus until after his resurrection. It was the resurrection that convicted them and confirmed to them that Jesus was who he claimed to be.
It'd be very hard for a brother, and I don't speak of personal experience, but if I had a brother that was Christ growing up, I would never admit that. Up until the time that they, until he was gone, the resurrection is what proved it to these men, his half brothers.
He was, as the scripture puts it, beside himself, they thought. You see, it was possible to grow up in a home with Jesus in the days of his flesh and not know who he really was. These men did. Now we come to Jude 1.
The servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James claim Jesus. To them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called servant, the only way this relationship can be broken is by the death of the master or the slave, one or the other.
Sanctified to separate from profane things and dedicated to God to purify internally by the renewing of the mind of the soul. Psalms 4 .3, but know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself.
The Lord will hear when I call unto him. It's past, passive, and perfect. Called. Preserved. Past perfect verb is passive. Things can be preserved with vinegar or sugar. There's some Christians that must have used vinegar on.
In John 10 .23, we read these words, 23, 24, and 25. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews around about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which giveth them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
And I and the Father are one. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. And I come, this is John 17 .11,. And I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are one.
Now, he called us sheep. If a sheep is kept in safety, is it a credit to the sheep? It's a credit to the shepherd. If you're thinking about your own salvation, and you're not sure of it, you're reflecting on your shepherd, because he said that he's able to keep you.
John 17 .12,. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled.
John 18 .9,. That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake of them which thou gavest me, I have lost none. Philippians 1 .6,. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Another check is this. Have you learned even one spiritual truth? Is there anybody in the audience that has not learned one thing? Then I take it all of you have learned at least one thing. Then you're a child of God, because God will not reveal the truth of his word to the unsaved.
Neither did Satan come to you before you were saved and chide you about not being saved. We're preserved in Jesus Christ. How much better could we have it than to be in Jesus? He is not just holding our hand.
The word called. John 6 .44,. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father.
You have not chosen me, John 15 .16, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you ask in the Father's name, he may give it you.
The only called, only rest only, on only his only people only. He didn't call the seed of Satan. Matthew 4 .21,. And going on from thence, he saw another, saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.
And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner. Now, what is an effectual call? Ever since Jesus has it, what is it?
An effectual call. Bill, what does effectual mean? That that acquires a purpose for which it was intended. The word servant is dulos, a bond slave. Sanctified, we find Romans 8 .31,. What shall we say then to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? Hebrews 13 .6,. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what men shall do unto me. Psalms 27 .1, a Psalm of David, The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, come upon me to eat my flesh, they stumble and fall. Though an host should encamp about me, my heart shall not fear.
Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. There are those that say, Well, we have a free will. Well, I disagree with that. If we had a free will, while in this world of sin, we could choose salvation outside of Jesus Christ.
Sanctification is not of ourselves. A person cannot sanctify himself. We're living in the age of apostasy. We know that. The Baptist denomination is systematically removing the Bible from all church functions.
I'm so glad I'm not messed up in that anymore. Preserved to maintain in safety from injury, peril, or harm. To protect. To keep in perfect or unaltered condition. Maintained, unchanged. To keep or maintain intact.
Something considered as being the exclusive province of a certain person. You can preserve or keep, as I said, with sugar or vinegar or salt. Jude 2. Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. Now, to stop this kind of love would be like you putting the sun out.
Can you do that, Joy? Wouldn't even think about it, would you? Well, that's how impossible it is to stop his love for us. Beloved, 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 once was delivered unto the saints.
Jude took pen and paper and he was setting out to write the book of Jude. He wanted to write about something that he didn't write about. Jude says here that he was planning on writing some facet of our salvation.
It could have been the redemption on a person, Jesus the Christ, on sanctification, or any number of themes. But he didn't write on any of those things because 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.
The thought here is that the Holy Spirit detoured Jude. He didn't get to write about what he wanted. From writing on the theme of faith in order that he might sound a warning concerning the impending apostasy, Jude's going to write about the apostasy and all the dangers of it.
Jude 4,. For there are certain men, crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and Lord Jesus Christ.
There are certain men, crept in unawares. They're creeps. Yes, that's so true. So very, very true and pertinent today.
What the President is talking about,.
You don't even know what is happening. It's very tough on us to buy some money and if you're not true, you don't know what they're preaching or what their belief is. If that happens now, all the people that are still praying are sure that it is all true.
That's right.
They crept in the most interesting phrase in the English language for ice the old. The old means to enter. The preposition ice means into and para means besides. It means to enter alongside. They crept in to.
To get in by the side door. To slip in a side door. This is the way the apostates have come into the church and they're in the church. I've seen how these men are able to take over a church. They come in the side door.
They came in by professing one thing and believe in another. They did not come in the front door. That is, they did not declare their doctrinal position. Outstanding churches, strong churches across America fall into the hands of liberalism by this method.
It is the most deceitful method in the world. Right at this moment I know of two or three churches which are being ruined by men who pretend to be what they ain't. Poor English, but good theology. Yes.
Remember the Jews said they were before ordained to this condemnation. What does that mean, Bill? That's right. It really means here in Jude that they were written about before. They were ordained to that.
He says, I'm not telling you something new. You already know. And you know that which is coming. Although Paul warned them, the apostates, that they came when the Ephesian church yielded to them, Paul also warned the young preacher Timothy having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away.
For of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. Then Peter says, but they were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
I think we perhaps look for that destruction instead of looking for them. Yeah. Yes, that's so true. So very true. False teachers, prophets, may have one or more of these. I'm going to list some things for you to check people out.
One, one that knowingly misleads others that may not be so visual. One that gives a little truth and the rest is a lie. One that leads by tradition. One that demands total control contrary to the word.
One that is fearful of another teaching the pure truth of the word. One that always needs to be the center of all things, especially attention. One that is always finding fault with others. One that thinks he is the only one with the truth.
One that never allows others to grow. One that spends more time talking about things than about Jesus Christ. One that thinks the world will stop when he dies. One that uses the holy word and you to profit for himself.
One while supposedly filling the duties of one office tries to run all of the other offices. Folks, in my 80 years, I have seen this to be true. I have been in churches where it's rampant. Not in this church.
And it will never be as long as I'm a member of this church. The people that believed not among the Israelites, there was a mixed multitude. People that had married a Jew, they themselves were not a Jew.
People that were Jewish married those that were not Jew. Those for business reasons tagged along. All of their interest was to keep from getting killed and thinking they would get rich in this new land.
We have in our churches the same self-centered mixed multitude. And they're the ones causing the problem. The Lord calls them tares, false teachers, dogs, clouds, without water. They have crept in unnoticed.
The first thing they do is to establish friendship with the pastor. Then they gain some importance and leadership. And little by little, their beliefs are infused into the minds of the spiritually ignorant.
After this, it is only a matter of time until they have full-blown church of the world. In reality, it is a church of Satan. God destroyed the one out of Egypt, so will he do the same today. What did Israel use as an excuse?
They had used their children as an excuse for not going into the land. So God said, But your little ones which you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.
In our own lives, we sometimes use our children's welfare as an excuse for not serving the Lord. I hope none of you do that. I don't think you do. While this sounds very noble, it infers that God isn't thinking of the children.
God will take care of them and us if we will just have to obey him. Denying. Now they were disowning God. Be aware that all things are from God. All things belong to God. All things were made by God for himself.
That's hard for us to swallow sometimes. All of this belongs to him. We have the same self-centered mixed multitude in our churches today. The Lord calls them tares. Jude 1, 6. 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.
He locked them up. Let's talk about angels for a little while. In Genesis 1, 6. And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and took them wives of all which they desired.
Again in Job 1, 6. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. Was there a mistake and I didn't know it? Well, I was just checking.
In both of these verses, the word son is bane. B-A-N-E. Grandson, son, child, member of a group of male children. Too long we have listened to men explain that this, as angels, were cohabited with earthly women.
This isn't true. These same men say that the angels that kept not their first estate are those that are found in the book of Genesis and Job. That's not true. They didn't keep their first estate all right.
But they didn't come down and cohabit with women. The ones Jude is speaking about are those that rebelled along with Lucifer. And besides this, if they were angels, they would not have done such a thing.
And if they did such a thing, they would not be called angels. Sons of God, God had locked them away in the pit, bound them with chains, and will not let them loose until the time of tribulation. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
And he opened the pit, and there arose smoke out of the pit as the smoke of the great furnace and the sun and the air were darkened by reasons of the smoke of the pit. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on that dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he would deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he should be loosed a little season.
Did you ever wonder what kind of chains were used to bind the spirit? This, he opens up to us the truth that we didn't clear up in the word of God. Although we're told that there will be a judgment of angels, sometime in the past they didn't keep their first estate.
Angels do not reproduce humans as humans do. Therefore, they do not inherit a sinful nature as humans do. Each angel is created by God with a free will. Now some of these spirits, creatures, were caught up in the rebellion, and now they are reserved in chains.
Apparently the fallen angels are divided into two groups. The group whose rebellion was so great, it is evidently locked up, incarcerated, has no freedom of movement any longer. The other group of fallen angels apparently has freedom of movement, and is under the leadership of Satan.
It seems evident that these are the demons mentioned in scripture, and that they are coming into prominence even today. For many years the liberal wing of the church has denied the supernatural and denied that there were any such creatures as angels.
We are living in a materialistic age, and the viewpoint was that God and the idea of angels was superstitious, that we no longer needed, and I believe it was Huxley who said that the belief in God was like the fading smile of a Cheshire cat, that it was disappearing in this scientific age.
Back in 1963, Ben Hitch wrote an article under the title, New God for the Space Age. Let me quote you the first few paragraphs. The most amazing event to enter modern history has been generally snubbed by our preachers.
It is the declining of Christianity. We'll start with verse 7 next week. Now, is there any word from anybody? Are those scientists that this just happened? There are those scientists that know it didn't.
We know it didn't. But I think you're right in that the scientific world as a whole is coming closer to the truth. Is there anything else? Burge, would you stand and dismiss us please?