WWUTT 466 Falling In the Wilderness?

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The Israelites were led out of slavery and Egypt, but many of them fell in the wilderness.

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And so if you come to know Christ as Savior, but do not endure to the end, you also will fall in the wilderness when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt

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.com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We continue a study of the book of Jude, a single chapter, just 25 verses long.

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And as we begin another week in this particular study, we're going to go ahead and read through the entire letter.

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So Jude begins by introducing himself, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who are called, beloved in God the

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Father and kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.

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Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

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For certain people have crept in unnoticed who were long ago designated for this destruction.

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Ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

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Now I want to remind you, although you were, you once fully knew it, that Jesus who saved a people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed those who did not believe and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling.

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He has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.

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Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

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Yet in like manner, these people also relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority and blaspheme the glorious ones.

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But when the Archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, the

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Lord rebuke you. But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they like unreasoning animals understand instinctively.

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Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.

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These are hidden reefs at your love feasts. They feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their own shame, wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

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It was also about these that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, saying,

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Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

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These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires. They are loud -mouthed boasters showing favoritism to gain advantage.

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But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you,

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In the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the

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Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the

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Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our

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Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt.

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Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

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Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.

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To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.

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Last week we did our introduction to Jude. We talked about who Jude is and went through his greeting.

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We examined verses 3 and 4 and it's there in verse 4 where Jude says, For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people.

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Jesus talking to Nicodemus in John 3 .18 says, Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only

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Son of God. So what is this condemnation that we're talking about? It is the rejection of Jesus Christ, the

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Son of God, who came to die on the cross for our sins and was resurrected from the grave, ascended into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the

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Father. But those who are designated for condemnation do not acknowledge Christ and his sacrifice or his gospel.

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They are ungodly people. If they do not know Christ, they are not godly.

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They pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

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So they use the grace of the gospel of God, the gospel message that Jesus Christ came to die on the cross for our sins.

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And so all who believe in him will be saved. They take that message and they use it to pervert the grace of God, meaning that they will continue in these sins, saying that, oh, it's okay if I sin because Jesus has died for my sin, so therefore

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I'm not going to be condemned for this sin. But the reality is that they deny their

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Lord Jesus Christ when they do not do the things that Jesus did. You know, oftentimes we think of hypocrisy as something where you don't do what you preach.

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You say one thing and then you do something else. That's not hypocrisy. Because there are plenty of hypocrites out there who do exactly what they preach.

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There are many word -faith preachers that you can listen to that will tell you to live a certain way or do a certain thing, to speak to your checkbook that it would be filled and then their checkbook is filled up with money, you know, that's what they say will happen and that's not what happens.

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Our words don't have magical powers like that. But there are plenty of word -faith preachers out there that will say that and they practice that exact thing.

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So hypocrisy is not merely saying one thing and then doing something else.

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Hypocrisy would be claiming to love God but not doing what his son says.

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That would be hypocrisy. For Jesus said that if you love me you will obey my commandments.

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He said that to his disciples in John chapter 14. We have it said to us through the Apostle John in 1st

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John that if we love God we will obey his commandments. And whoever does not obey the commands of God does not love

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God. And one of those commands is that we would love his son and do what it is that he says.

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And the person that does not worship Christ the Lord as holy as God and do the things that Jesus said to do is godless.

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They do not love God no matter how meticulous their lifestyle might be that you might refer to them as a good person, as a moral person, as an upstanding person, a person of integrity.

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If they do not obey Christ they are a hypocrite.

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And they are condemned ungodly people perverting the grace of God.

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Verse 5 Jude says now I want to remind you although you once fully knew it.

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So that seems to indicate that Jude realizes that there was at one point a time when this church probably would have been presented as an upstanding model for Christian service and practice.

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And yet because of these ungodly people who have crept into their body unnoticed and unchecked they have not been called out for their false speech and their sinful behavior.

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So they have led the others in this church astray. And some of them are falling away in the faith.

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They do not show the true faith that they once had. Remember Jude's opening statement

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I was eager to write to you about our common salvation but I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

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To some of them the faith is slipping away from them. They are starting to look more like the world and less like the body of Christ.

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So Jude says I want to remind you although you once fully knew it I'm going to remind you of something you were told before and you once followed in and you still believe but not fully.

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Like there are elements of the world that are getting in here and you're trying to marry yourself to the world and also to God but we have from James it being said that friendship with the world is enmity with God.

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The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians that you cannot dine at the table of the Lord and the table of demons. And so Jude with this understanding of the teaching the

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Apostles says to them I want to remind you although you once fully knew it that Jesus who saved a people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

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Now that's a very curious statement that Jesus saved a people out of the land of Egypt and yet that name

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Jesus is not used in the Old Testament. We don't see the name Jesus come up there. Well this is to show how the

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New Testament writers viewed the Old Testament. As I've heard Votie Bauckham say if we were to have any understanding of the

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Old Testament how should we view it? Well we view it in light of what the New Testament writers say about it.

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And so Jude says the one who led them out of slavery in Egypt was Jesus Christ specifically it was the son of the

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Trinity of God who led them out of Egypt. Now there are some various manuscripts that use a different word here than Jesus.

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There are some manuscripts that use the word Lord and so most English translations have it written that way that it was the

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Lord that led a people out of the land of Egypt. But the earliest manuscripts use the word

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Isis which is Greek for Jesus. And so it is proper and right to translate this particular verse with Jesus led a people out of the land of Egypt and this was

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Jude's understanding. You have the Apostle Paul talking to the Corinthians about how Jesus was with them as they wandered in the wilderness.

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Jesus was in the rock. Jesus was the rock according to 1st Corinthians 10 4.

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So even Paul illustrates this understanding and Jude does the same that this is

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Jesus who led the people out of the land of Egypt the same Jesus that came to us and preached the news of the kingdom who laid his life down for our sins shed his blood as an atoning sacrifice this sinless man the only sinless man who was buried in a borrowed tomb as was prophesied by the scriptures risen again from the grave and was witnessed by so many people ascended again into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of God this

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Jesus this is the Jesus who led the the slaves out of Egypt and into the promised land and same

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Jesus in the Old Testament is the name that we have been proclaiming now as the gospel is spreading throughout the world

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Jesus saved a people out of the land of Egypt and so just as the people of Israel were saved out of slavery so we who are enslaved to our sins have been delivered from that slavery we've been released from the bondage of our sins if we are in Christ Jesus if the son has set you free you are free indeed and what does that mean freedom in Christ it means we've been freed from the bonds of sin and the wages of sin which is death paid in full tetelestai it is finished which

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Christ proclaimed from the cross and the apostle Paul says in Colossians chapter 2 that that God took our sins our debts that we owed and nailed them to the cross we have been fully paid for ransomed by the blood of Jesus Christ so Jesus is the one that freed the slaves from Egypt he is the one who frees us from our bondage to sin and then after the slaves in Egypt were released he destroyed those who did not believe in the desert and so the warning that Jude is giving by pointing that out is to show that there are some who've crept in among you unnoticed

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I understand they're chameleons they use the right language they say the right things they might even in some form or practice in their lives display some amount of holiness sure they heard the gospel sure they proclaim to believe it sure they were baptized and sure they gather with you at the same table and partake in the same food but there is not a genuine trust in the

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Lord God in their lives for if you were discerning and you recognized it you would see that they are not truly worshiping and honoring our master our

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but instead they're perverting the grace of God into sensuality and you should be able to recognize this there are those among you who are more discerning than others and they should be warning the rest of the flock and that's not what's going on so because because these are in your midst there is that risk of you leaving the faith that was once for all delivered to the

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Saints and following in the same sensuality that they are demonstrating among you and so then you would be like those who were freed from slavery in Egypt but then died in the wilderness they never actually reach the promised land so therefore they never were actually delivered from Egypt they perished in the wilderness it is the same as if they had perished in Egypt there is no difference they may have showed and displayed and were led out with the rest of the slaves just as you might see a group of people being baptized and there are some there are going to be some genuine baptisms in that group and they're going to be some that are disingenuous but we won't know for sure those whose hearts have not truly been transformed until we see the way that they live their life and they evidence the faith that they have by the fruit that is in their hearts or they will produce bad fruit because there is no change that has occurred in their hearts and so so that though it appears as though they have been led out they do not actually come to the promised land because in their heart they don't really trust

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God they don't really do the things that God said for them to do so this happened among the

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Israelites exiting Egypt and heading toward the promised land and so it happens in the church even today there are those who are going to show that they have some sense of conversion that they have some sense of belief or practice in the faith but there are other aspects where they try to unite themselves with the world or dine at the table of demons and therefore they display in their hearts that their conversion was not genuine and they're not true followers of Christ and so Jude is warning those who have ears to hear let those who have ears hear and understand the word that is being spoken to them that if you are not careful you likewise will be led astray with them and you will not be delivered into the promised land just as those

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Israelites were not delivered into the promised land but were destroyed in the desert if you do not watch yourself and keep the faith and contend for the faith now remember that's what it is that Jude has said at the start of the letter

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I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith there are those in the midst of this church that Jude is writing to that are not defending the faith the way that they should they should be standing up against these false teachers those who are practicing sensuality among them but they're not saying anything and so therefore there are sheep who are being led astray and being devoured by the wolves and so by not contending for the faith you are at risk of becoming like those who were destroyed in the desert is that who you're with are you among the unbelievers in the ungodly or are you among the godly and the followers of Christ because if the latter is true you must warn those about the false teachers and by not warning them you do not imitate

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Christ for Jesus himself warned us in the Sermon on the Mount beware wolves in sheep's clothing who look like sheep on the outside inside they are ravenous wolves these are the false teachers they look like they have some semblance of being a

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Christian or being a person in the faith or being a follower of Jesus Christ but they're they're wearing us they're wearing the clothing of the sheep of Christ inside they're not really sheep they do not know the voice of the shepherd instead they're there to devour the sheep and so it is necessary for the people of God to warn one another about the wolves and this is what

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Jude is pleading with this church to do contend for the faith do not be ranked with those who will be destroyed in the wilderness unable to reach the promised land but hold firm steadfast in the faith and may the

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God of mercy and grace keep you from stumbling verse 24 and present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy

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Jesus said to his disciples he who endures to the end will be saved it's not enough that you had at one point showed something in your life of being a follower of Christ that you were baptized that you took in the table of the

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Lord that you use the right words and language or even that you shared the gospel with other people if you do not endure to the end if you don't make it from slavery to the promised land and fall in the wilderness then it was as if you were never set free at all let's pray our

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Lord and God we pray that you would give us ears to hear and eyes to see and give us a passion for the body of Christ that they would be warned and protected against those who mean to lead them astray that we don't have this attitude of of well only the the true genuine hearers are going to know anyway but you have commanded of us that we give an answer for the hope that lies within us but do this with gentleness and respect first Peter 315 so teach us more what it means to do that and give us discerning hearts to recognize the true teachers from the false ones and to warn those against to warn others against those who mean to malign the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ once for all delivered to the

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Saints it is in this gospel that we have been saved and in this gospel that we now stand so keep us steadfast by the great power of the name of our

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in whom we pray amen Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City Kansas find out more online at www .tt