July 12, 2020- The Church Must Not Remain Silent

Psalm 30 and God’s Care in Every Circumstance

A magnificent temple to Yahweh. They did it basically as an obedience gift. They did it according to his such obedience, and it was a suggestion. And you can almost imagine, at that point in time, sentiments like, wow, we've cut a cool temple.

You could even be thinking about the work that went in behind it. But here we have Psalm 30 that's written at a time of contemplation of the temple. And if you go through the verses, you read things that talk about committing to God and rejoicing in God as he provides his help in our time of need.

They have talking about rejoicing and thanking God for his provision in times of plenty. They talk about rejoicing and thanking God for deliverance in times of danger. Basically, it's a psalm that recognizes the questions that come from God in all circumstances.

Verse 1 says, I exalt you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up. I exalt you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up. And again, this is the point in time where the temple has just been built, and this is the dedication.

And the proclamation is, I exalt you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up. Three observations. The first is that God absolutely cares. The first is that God absolutely cares. The temple was built, but yet the people are reflecting and they're emphasizing the care of God through all circumstances.

Now, by through all circumstances, the extent of that is significant. Think about that in a minute. Think about what happens once or twice a day when Satan says, God really didn't say you would die. He knows that if you eat of the fruit of this tree, you will be like him, and they believe this lie, even then Adam.

But what does God do? He continues to pursue them in the garden in the cool of the day. Isn't that God? He cares. He cares for us. The second is that God actually has a plan and a purpose. I exalt you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up.

There is a plan and there is a purpose in the sovereignty of God that he desires to lift you and to lift me up into. John 1 .4 says, in him was life. Now, all people experience life, but his believers, his followers, get to experience life in his sovereign plan.

That's amazingly different. John 10 .10 says, I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. The third observation is that it's actually God who does the lifting, and it's not me, and it's not my deserving of anything.

It's actually God who lifts. He lifts me where he wants me to go, and he lifts me so that I can experience him. John 14 .27 says, my peace I give you. O Lord, we exalt you, for you lift me up. You give peace, and so our challenge to you is, first of all, let him lift you up.

Let him be the one that lifts you up. Expect it, rejoice in it, and so then rejoice when he does. Acknowledge it, and rejoice in the splendor of his love, and rejoice and experience life abundant and the peace that comes from him.

Church Announcements, Prayer, and Worship Songs

Some announcements. Pastor Jeff is not here with us this morning. Pastor Ben will be bringing the message to us, and so I want to take this as an opportunity, while Jeff isn't here, to remind us all, to challenge us all to be in prayer for Jeff and for his family.

Jeff truly is on the front line proclaiming scripture. Jeff truly is on the front line bringing us the word of God, and because of his willingness and his exuberance in bringing this word, Satan feels the need to be on tack against him, and so I exhort us all, continually hold our pastor, Pastor Jeff, in your prayers for his encouragement, for his strength, for the empowering of the Holy Spirit to him.

Remember to be in prayer for our pastor, which kind of gives me a second opportunity. Jeff, as you know, loves to write. He has many, many books. This is his latest. Talking with him a few weeks ago, Ben and I were talking with him, he felt a little uncomfortable about maybe promoting his own book from the front.

He just felt a little weird about that. Well, he's not here, so I get to do it, because he can't stop me. This is his latest book, and I really want to encourage it for you. There's a fee associated with the printing.

Jeff gets nothing. The church gets nothing. It's just to cover it. If you really want it and you can't cover the fee, that's fine. Take it. We'll make it happen. If you have ever wondered, the title of the book is Faith is Not Blind, Crossing the Visible Bridge to the Invisible God.

If you have ever wondered how the Bible actually shows and demonstrates and proclaims saving faith, what Pastor Jeff does in here is he takes you through the entire Old Testament, book by book by book, and every chapter shows you how the faith that God desires for us is not blind.

It's actually there. Take this book. This is a great opportunity. Second one is, the leadership of the church right now is looking at how can we be constantly, not just perhaps one time, but constantly being a source of encouragement and recognition to our local police officials.

They're under attack in so many ways, and for us as a church, we did this about six weeks ago, I think, maybe seven weeks ago. We took collections, and we had thank you cards, and we sent them over to the police station.

They were very, very well received. So we're looking at ways that we can do this. We understand that there are limits to what we can do because of federal and state laws, but watch for how this is going to unfold.

We do want to encourage the men and women in blue who stand the line for us. Last week was our baptism, and we have Ben here now. Earlier, Ariana was here. It's great, the testimony that you had. If you desire to see it again, if you desire to pass it on to family, friends, it is an amazing opportunity for the gospel to be proclaimed.

Ollie Perry made a video. Our midweek Pastor Graham that went out had a link to it. If you can't get that, please contact myself, Michael Stockland, somebody, we will get you a link to that video of our baptismal service.

For those of you who are new to the church, we are going to be starting a class. It's called Starting Point class, probably sometime in August. It introduces you to our church. It introduces you to the evangelical free denomination, and it introduces you to the concept of membership.

So if you are interested, stand by. Again, you can contact myself, Pastor Ben, Pastor Jeff when he gets back. And finally, the Tetelestai shirts, I see Heather's got hers, Ben's got his on. It is really cool to see them because it gives you the opportunity to, people say, what is this?

And it gives you the opportunity to share the gospel. If you didn't get one, that's okay, because we ordered more, and they should be coming in within a week or two. Now let's pray. Father, we do lift up Pastor Jeff and his family to you this morning.

We pray, Lord, for your very close presence. We pray for your Holy Spirit, for encouragement, for protection, for wisdom. Lord, we just lift him up. We pray, Father, that you would help us to encourage them, and we pray for your Holy Spirit to be there.

For our nation, for our nation's leaders, there are difficult times going on. We pray, Lord, for wisdom, for decisions that need to be made, whether it's businesses opening, schools, how they will be done.

Give wisdom, we pray, Lord, to our nation's leaders. Relieve the violence that's going on in our country. Heal the virus. Allow us to be a witness and testimony in all of this to your kingdom. Father, we lift up our missionaries, and specifically this morning, Ryan, Dede, Manera, who are still down in Alabama, ready to go to India, waiting for the doors to be opened so that they can return to the field.

Encourage them, open the way, prepare the path before them. Now we pray, as Pastor Ben brings us your word in the book of Jude, the church must not remain silent. There are so many obstacles and ways that Satan would attack.

The church needs not to be silent. Give him your word. Pray that your Holy Spirit would speak through him. Prepare our hearts. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to sing a few songs together.

You can stand with me.

Name above all names Blessed Redeemer Emmanuel New for sinners Ransom from heaven Jesus Messiah Lord of all. The wine bowl. The veil was torn. Love so amazing Love so amazing. Jesus Messiah. Name above all names Blessed Redeemer Emmanuel The rescue for sinners Ransom of heaven Jesus Messiah Lord of all All our hope All our hope Is in you All our hope Is in you All the glory to you Light of the world.

Jesus Messiah. Name above all names Blessed Redeemer Emmanuel New for sinners The ransom from heaven Jesus Messiah. You're the Lord Jesus you Jesus you. Forgiven Because you were forsaken I'm accepted You were condemned.

I'm alive and well. Your spirit is within me Because you died and rose again. Forgiven Because you were forsaken I'm accepted You were condemned. Your spirit is within me Because you died and rose again.

Amazing love. Amazing love. How can it be You my King would die for me. Amazing love. It's my joy to honor you In all life to honor you. Of your love There is no shadow in your presence. Would dare to stand before your throne Before the Holy One of Heaven.

Only by your blood. And it's only through your mercy. Lord I come. I bring an offering of worship to you. No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing. Jesus may you receive the honor that you're due.

Lord I bring an offering. I bring an offering to you.

Lord we come before you this morning Offering everything that we are. I pray Lord that you'll make this church A church that will not falter when times get tough But rely on you and your faithfulness as our King.

Take our lives Lord And make them an impact for this earth For this world It's a very difficult time when we live. If we give our lives to you Lord we know You will sustain us Because your promises are true.

Let's sing again that chorus. I bring an offering.

I bring an offering of worship to my King. No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing. Jesus may you receive the honor that you're due. Oh Lord I bring an offering. I bring an offering to you.

Jude’s Greeting and the Call to Contend for the Faith

Verses 1 -13. Jude the servant of Jesus Christ And brother of James. To them that are sanctified by God the Father And preserved in Jesus Christ And called Mercy unto you And peace and love be multiplied.

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 was once delivered unto the saints.

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 Our Lord Jesus Christ.

I will therefore put you in remembrance Though ye once knew this. How that the Lord Having saved the people out 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 Unto 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 and going under After strange flesh Are set forth for an example Suffering the vengeance Of eternal fire.

Likewise also these filthy dreamers Defile the flesh Despise dominion And speak evil of dignity. Yet Michael the archangel When contending with the devil He disputed about the body of Moses Dost not bring against him A railing of accusation but said The Lord rebuketh thee.

But these speak evil Of those things which they know not But what they know naturally As brute beasts In those things they corrupt themselves Woe unto them. For they have gone in the way of Cain And run greedily after the heir of Balaam For reward And perished in the gainsaying of Korah.

These are spirits in your feasts Or charity When they feast with you Feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water Carried about of wind. Trees whose fruit withereth without fruit Twice dead Plucked up by their roots.

Raging waves of the sea Foaming out their own shame Wandering stars To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness Forever. Amen.

Let's pray together Father we come to you now in Jesus name And we thank you That you have enabled us To come in this your house To worship you In spirit and truth And to open your word And to receive from you.

So we pray as we do so That you would speak Holy Spirit That you would come in power And grace To equip us To encourage us To challenge us To strengthen us Bless the time that we have together. And we pray it in the name of Jesus Amen.

The silent majority. It's an interesting phrase If you look it up in the dictionary. It's the largest part of the country That consists of people that Aren't actively involved in politics. They don't express their opinions publicly.

It goes even deeper Looking at President Nixon Those that weren't politically vocal Or outspoken or active. Now let me be clear I'm not here to persuade you To vote for one candidate over the other. But I am here to declare to you What the Bible teaches.

And the reason I bring up The silent majority Is that I think there's a principle here That works well in application Of our text. And the main idea is this. The idea is this What happens when the church Remains silent.

I believe the text tells us three things. And it's false teachers Come in unnoticed. Number two Sin becomes normalized. And number three God's judgment Becomes ever more the reality. Here's the main point For our time together today The church must not Remain silent.

And here's what we must do. We have to number one Defend the truth Confront sin And warn people of the coming judgment. And none of these things Can be done unless we first understand Who we are in Christ What God says about us And what we need from God.

So that we can go forward And accomplish this task. Which is quite honestly Intimidating Challenging, impossible Defend truth, confront sin Warn people of God's coming judgment. I'm not signing up for that.

Sorry. You know It's that passive approach That we take to life. Oh everything will work out. God's in control. I don't need to be too active in my faith. I don't want to offend somebody. It's just too difficult to engage the culture Too stressful.

I have enough going on in my life. How could I possibly Concern myself with lost people. I say these things Not in accusation of you But in confession of me. See I want to make my life As comfortable as possible.

I want to avoid pain Confrontation. I want to get along with people. I want to enjoy the pleasures of life. But as most of you know Who have been walking with the Lord For any amount of time. That's not how it works.

The Christian life is marked by tremendous Blessing and joy. But it's also Disappointment, grief, sorrow Sacrifice, suffering. But the gospel The picture of the gospel. We look at Jesus. Do you think that he really lived a perfect life Suffered, died on that Old rugged cross so that you could Live your best life now.

Do you think he would have gone to such Pains and anguish, such grief So that you could live a comfortable life. Of course not. And as we turn this morning To the letter of Jude We're going to study the scripture.

That's going to do anything But make you feel comfortable. And as I read The text I was challenged deeply. And my prayer is that the same Would be for you That the Holy Spirit would work in your heart And challenge you.

See Jude comes right before the book of Revelation. It's the book Revelation we've been studying Since January 5th, can you believe it. What an awesome journey Through the book of Revelation. So thankful for Pastor Jeff His faithfulness to exposit the scripture To rightly divide the word of truth.

So let's look at this Book. This one chapter book. Let's look at some background. Jude the half brother of Jesus Writes this letter around 65, 67 A .D. Maybe even as early As the 50's. We don't know who exactly it was written to.

Could have been a Jewish Christian audience. It could have been a letter that was distributed To the churches abroad. And of course We want to ask the question What was the reason that Jude wrote this book.

What did the Holy Spirit Want to communicate. If we were to distill it into one point To confront False teachers. But not only Does Jude go on the offensive But he also urges his readers To number one, grow in their faith Verse 20.

Number two, according to Verse 3 of Jude, bear witness to the truth. And number three According to verses 22 and 23 To be on rescue mission For the lost. Now these things we cannot do In our own strength.

What I'd like to do today Is focus on the spiritual reality That we live in today. Which I think Jude Does a great job at pointing directly To us, speaking directly To the time, to the season To the culture.

As we read verses 1 and 2 this morning We're going to point out how Jude Describes himself and who he is Talking to, so let's read that together. Jude 1 and 2. Again Jude comes Right before the book of Revelation The last book in the Bible of the New Testament.

Jude A servant of Jesus Christ And brother of James. To those who are called Beloved in God The Father And kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy and peace And love be multiplied To you. If the church of Jesus Christ Is to stop remaining silent We must number one Understand who we are in Christ.

See Jude understood Himself. Jude is first a servant. What we realize is Jude is the half brother Of Jesus, wouldn't that be the first thing That you said, man I grew up with Jesus. I spend time with him.

I know him really well, don't you understand That I have authority because I've been With Jesus, no he doesn't go there. He says I Am a servant of Jesus. And a servant is somebody That has no rights. Somebody that does What the master says to do.

Someone that doesn't have anything to boast about. I'm reminded of this fact. We are servants of Jesus First. How does that change the way We think as Christians. Well I think it does a great deal. Number one it makes us Puts us in a state of humility.

We think of ourselves less. It's perspective Having a master who knows What is best for me And peace. I don't want to worry about my life. I feel like I'm In control because I'm not. The master is leading me.

The master knows what's best for me. The master is guiding me. This word for servant is doulos In the Greek. In the context it literally means Those whose service Is used by Jesus in extending And advancing his cause Among men.

And it's used of the apostles. Wouldn't you agree That as a Christian Your role is to be used Of Jesus. God use me. I don't want to know and do What I want to do. I want your will be done. So use me for your kingdom.

Isn't that the best place to be In that passive Approach. God use me. Use me for your service For your kingdom. Of course we all want to do that. But what's the problem. We'll get to that. So number one if the church is to stop remaining silent We must understand who we are.

And number two if the church Is to stop remaining silent We must understand what God Says about us. See Jude is writing to you Christian this morning. That's right. You call yourself a Christian. You identify with Jesus' death Burial and resurrection.

Last week we had baptisms. Ben and Ariana Stood before the church And publicly declared Their identity in Jesus' death Burial and resurrection. It's what baptism symbolizes. How do they do that. Who comes to the place where they go.

I want to be baptized. Do you wake up one morning and go. I want to become a Christian. Because deep within me there's something that says That I want to do that. It comes from within. No God works in you.

God is the one that causes you to repent And believe in the one Whom he sent. John 6 29 says. This is the work of God That you believe in him Who he sent. It's the work of God That we believe. I can't convince you with all kind of proof And all kind of wisdom And all kind of eloquence.

The Holy Spirit of God must convict you Of sin and righteousness and judgment. The Holy Spirit of God must move In your life to change the disposition Of your heart From one of death and destruction To life and peace.

You can't find those things in the world In all the ways that the world Offers it to you. You can only find it in the person of Jesus In the power of his Holy Spirit. It is the work of God To believe In Jesus.

How do we know Jude is writing to you Christian. Well check out the second half of verse 1 Says to those who are Called, beloved Kept. Maybe you need to be reminded of that this morning That God has called you That God Loves you And that God keeps you.

Am I speaking to anyone this morning? Anyone? Do you know what it means to be called? It's literally invited Invited by God in the proclamation of the gospel To obtain eternal salvation In the kingdom of God Through Christ.

It means when you hear the gospel And respond in repentance and faith. You can have full assurance That you are called, chosen Elected, predestined To eternal life, praise God. The bible says That God knew you Before you were born.

That he thought about you Even before the foundation of the world. How encouraging is that? How about this word Beloved. Well it speaks to the benevolence of God The goodness of God That he would send his only begotten son To suffer and die For you.

Is there a greater picture of love? Do you think about the gospel much? Do you preach the gospel to yourself? I'll tell you what. If we preach the gospel to ourselves Every day, I think we would live differently.

What do you mean? Well if we really took Understanding of what the gospel is. Jesus dying on the cross For our sin, suffering, going through agony And pain, he didn't have to. He didn't deserve it. So when we go through suffering, we go through agony.

We go through pain, we can say Jesus, I remember you. I remember what you did on the cross. Change the way I think. Change my selfish attitude. My focus on what I want. And what I think is right for me.

God help me to repent. Preach the gospel To yourself. How about kept? I love this one. Anybody that's a grammar fan That loves all the tenses. The dative, the ablative. The accusative, the nominative.

Anybody? Am I speaking to anybody? No teachers here? No English teachers? One hand. The word for kept is used In the dative tense. And I'm going to tell you what that is. Dative just means Used to indicate The recipient or beneficiary Of an action.

So it's sort of a passive. You are the beneficiary Recipient of Jesus' action. Of keeping you. What do we know about Jesus? He is true, he is faithful If he is keeping you. Can anything unkeep you? Bad English, but I use it because it works for theology.

Unkeep you, can anyone do that? Can life or death. Or angels or principalities. Or things present or things to come. Can anything separate us From the love of Jesus Christ? The answer is no. He is keeping you.

You recall the scripture John 10, 28. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. Ephesians 1 Verse 13. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

If God seals something Can anything unseal it? No. So number one If the church is to stop remaining silent We must understand who we are. Call Beloved, kept. Number two If the church is to stop remaining silent We must understand what God says about us.

You see the progression? Jude doesn't just come at you and say You need to do better Christian. You're not speaking up. No, he encourages us With our identity. And what God says about us. Number three If the church is to stop remaining silent We must understand What we need From God.

What do we need from God? Jude tells us in verse two. Mercy, peace, love. And not only that. But Jude prays this and I would pray this over you. And I believe this is a promise for us today. Mercy and peace And love be multiplied To you.

It's not like we go out to people and say Man I'm praying for you, you are a mess. You need to get it together. What is wrong with you? It's not like wow, God have mercy on your soul. You heathen. No.

Or Man I hope somebody loves you because I certainly don't. No. It's none of that. Jude prays in full conviction And anointing of the Holy Spirit. He says may mercy And peace and love. Be multiplied to you.

Now do we have any math fans here today? Anyone that loves math. I'm not great at math. It's not a strength of mine. But I'll just say that multiplication Does a better job than addition In making things, numbers bigger.

I can add numbers up. And it will take me a while To get to a large number. But if I multiply. Whoa man look at that curve. That thing is crazy shooting up. Jude prays may mercy And peace and love. Be multiplied to you.

That's something that we all want In our lives. No one would disagree with that. I want a ton of mercy and peace And love. And so God in his mercy Gives us Jesus Who guarantees to us Mercy and peace and love.

So now we've introduced the letter Verses 1 and 2. We understand who we are. We understand what God says about us. We understand what we need from God Mercy, peace and love. So now And it sounds easy right.

Okay I'll just check those and get them done. And we'll move on and we'll start to do the hard stuff. No this is not easy. The Bible challenges us. But we must then defend the truth Confront sin And warn people of the coming judgment.

And you say I don't think so I don't want to warn Anybody of God's judgment. I think I'm going to lose friends. I think people will unfollow me on Facebook. I think there will be problems in my social life If I tell people about the coming judgment of God.

I wish that wasn't the case. But God is calling us To defend the truth To confront sin And to warn people of the coming judgment. When we don't do those things There's problems. And Jude tells us To the church that he wrote to To the churches or the Jewish Christian church.

Jewish Christians. He tells us What happens when we don't Stand up and speak. And I think it describes our day in which we live. Number one. Because false teachers have come in We must contend For the faith.

Let's read verses three and four. 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.

For certain people Have crept in unnoticed Who long ago were designated For this condemnation. Ungodly people Who pervert the grace of God Into sensuality And deny our only master And Lord Jesus Christ.

See what Jude wants to do. Is he says guys I really just wanted to write To you a nice letter About our common salvation. How awesome it is that we share This gift from God That we can walk according to the spirit That we're one in the spirit That we have all this amazing blessings From God.

He says I wanted to just Write a nice note to you. And that's a good thing. Write a note to encourage somebody. Say man it's great let me hear your testimony. Let me hear what God is doing And encourage you and talk.

And we need that in the faith. But what he does here Is a little different. He says I wanted to do that. But the Holy Spirit compelled me. The Holy Spirit compelled me To write to you To speak to you About these issues That are facing the church.

And like the time this letter was written We're seeing the need to move from Holy huddles To offensive engagement. Now some of you are thinking Wait a minute what are you saying. As soon as I get home as soon as I go out To the parking lot I'm going to wrestle somebody Over the gospel and we're going to arm wrestle.

And we're going to do all kinds of debates. And we're going to get into fights And all these. No. But what I am saying is that we need to step up From the passive and move to the active. This is for me This is for you.

We just watch As the culture goes its way And we stand silent. And we just let it go. I saw a billboard of a church Said a strong church Is a strong nation. What's the state of our church. The state of the church in America.

Is it strong. I'll leave that for you to decide. The word contend Means to speak To struggle or engage In something that seems impossible. Did you know That you can't convince someone to be a Christian.

Did you know that you can't make somebody repent. Did you know that you're not going to make them believe. You can't do it. It's impossible. But God you're calling me to something impossible. You say contend for the faith.

How can I contend With someone who's far from God Who hates God. Everything that I stand for. How can I speak to them with the gospel. God says speak. And I will use the message to change the heart. You see the synergistic work of God.

We work. God works Alongside together. We proclaim the gospel. God uses the word He changes hearts. We can't trust in our own ability. We have no ability to change people. But God does. And he uses us for that purpose To change others.

Our culture Today. Which includes those that identify as Christians But have changed the meaning of the gospel. They say If you're not speaking out against social injustice You support it. They say Your silence is violence.

What's that all about. So God is calling us To contend for the faith. It's to assert The position regarding the faith. It's what Christians believe And why they believe it. What's man's relationship to God.

How is your faith working itself out In your life. That is contending To just tell people To share the gospel. But that's an active thing That requires faith. We can't do that in our own strength. We gotta pray.

We gotta ask God to fill us. See God is calling us to boldly proclaim What the Bible teaches. And then what man needs to do about it. It's a big deal. And Jude tells us why it's a big deal. He says this gospel This truth.

This faith has been handed down From generation to generation For a couple thousand years. And now here we stand In America today. And we have the privilege to pass it down To the next generation. But in order to pass something You have to speak it.

You can't remain silent. Here's what Jude lays out for us. He explains why we must contend. Verse 4. Jude talks about these certain people. Who are these certain people. Well they've crept into the church Unnoticed.

Unnoticed. How did that happen? Well it certainly wasn't overnight. But there's a process. Satan certainly uses His tactics of patience In his schemes. So our churches in America And throughout the world Use the banner of inclusivity.

Because in a good way We just want to reach more people. So we invite everyone As we should As all Christians should invite Others to the gospel To repentance and faith. And so what we do though In doing so is we lower the bar To sin, to holy living To absolute truth.

We say those things. Aren't that big of a deal. Yeah just come. Because I know that you have all kinds. Yeah sin yeah but just come. Don't worry about it. Holy living yeah you'll get there. But don't worry about it.

Absolute truth. Well you know whatever you want to believe today. And we sort of adjust To the culture. And we depart From what the bible teaches. And then anything goes. So as the tide of the culture goes So does the tide of the church All with the hope That if we keep in step with culture We'll win more people to Christ.

When the reality is That the church becomes And acts like everything in the world. And what have these certain People done that have crept Into the church unnoticed. Number one they turn the grace of God Into sensuality.

And number two they deny Jesus Christ. Wait a minute. These teachers are coming into the church Denying this Turning the grace of God into sensuality. What's that all about. Well another translation calls That sensuality licentiousness.

In other words license to do Whatever you want. Which speaks to this doctrine called Antinomianism. And that just means if you break it down Into two words is anti and nomian. Anti is against And nomian is the law.

So an antinomian says I'm a Christian. There's no law. I can do whatever I want Sleep around Do drugs Commit shameless acts. I'm covered by the grace of Jesus. It's okay. And the other side of that is legalism.

It says you gotta do In order to be loved By God and if you don't do These things and obey these rules And wear certain clothes and abstain From doing certain things. Then you may even lose your salvation.

You gotta be afraid of that. So those obviously are wrong. Antinomianism on one side Legalism on another By perverting The grace of God They deny the antinomian The legalist. They deny the one true God Jesus Christ.

How do they do that. Because in their view They're taking a belief system That says well I don't believe Exactly that God's grace is enough For me. I gotta do something about it. Or I have a False view of grace that says I can Do whatever I want because God's grace Is enough for me.