WWUTT 483 To Him Who Is Able to Keep You?

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In Jude verse 24, he writes 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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It is God who saves us and it is God who keeps us saved when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text studying

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God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Thank you for subscribing and if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. Today, we will conclude our study of the book of Jude with one of the most beautiful doxologies in scripture, verses 24 and 25.

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I'm going to start at verse 17 and read to the end of the letter. Jude says, but you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, in the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions.

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It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the 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, to the only

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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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Amen. Amen. When it comes to concluding church services in our church with some sort of a benediction or a doxology,

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I think I've used Jude verses 24 and 25 more than any other section of Scripture to conclude a service and dismiss our members.

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So I was thinking yesterday about a couple of verses that we looked at yesterday, verses 22 and 23, and have mercy on those who doubt, save others by snatching them out of the fire.

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Now the easiest way to interpret that is to assume that Jude is talking about unbelievers, because of course they're marching toward the fire and by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, they will hear it, turn from their sin, thus be saved from the fire and enter into eternal life.

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So by the preaching of the gospel, we rescue those who are perishing, those who are heading to destruction under the wrath of God.

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They repent and, believing the gospel, are in the love of God rather than under his wrath.

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So that's the easy way to interpret it, but I still think that Jude is specifically talking about believers here, not unbelievers, given the context and the nature of his entire letter.

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He has been warning the church about false teachers and telling them that it is their responsibility to warn others about these false teachers, lest they follow those false teachers into apostasy and therefore into judgment, revealing that their hearts were never saved at all.

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That is why their itching ears turned so easily toward a false teacher and followed them because they never actually had the

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Holy Spirit. Again, we have the statement that Jude made in verse 20, you beloved building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the

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Holy Spirit. It is the spirit that we have within us that keeps us from false teaching, that keeps us growing with the body of believers in the protection of the church.

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And we are safe from the wolves. But those who do not have the spirit are those who follow their own ungodly passions and cause divisions.

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And they are worldly people who will therefore follow worldly teachers.

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So they are, though they might be in our midst, like in the church, they have sat with us day in and day out and heard the teaching, yet they stray after false teachers.

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It is revealed that the spirit is not within them to keep them steadfast. So they're headed toward fire and destruction.

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They're headed toward apostasy unless they can be turned back around. And so by calling out their their sin, by pointing out that they are following false teaching rather than the truth, we are saving them by snatching them out of the fire.

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Now, I run into arguments all the time of those who wish to say, well, if if eternal security is true, once saved, always save perseverance of the saints that we have been predestined for salvation, then there's no way that this could be applying to Christians because they wouldn't even be marching toward the fire.

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They are secure in Christ. But notice again that Jude has said in verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God.

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So that is a direct command and you are expected to follow it. This is the difference between explicit and implicit teaching.

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The explicit teaching is that you need to keep yourself from sin and walk in righteousness and holiness.

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The implicit teaching is ultimately it is God who keeps you for his glory. That's what we get to when we get to verse 24.

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But this does not relieve you of the responsibility to obey the command of God to be told to repent and turn from your sin.

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OK, so then when we get to verse 23, save others by snatching them out of the fire.

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The explicit teaching is that when you see someone who professes to be a brother or a sister walking in a way that is not reflective of the righteousness of Christ, call them out on it because that's been the overarching theme of the letter, the responsibility of the church to watch out for one another and keep others from following false teachers.

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So don't let them start marching toward the precipice. Snatch them away from the fire by calling out their error so that they would repent of it.

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Repent meaning turning around, walking the complete other direction and you will have saved their soul from death.

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Had they continued in the direction that they were going in, they would have fallen under the judgment of God.

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It would have been revealed that their hearts were never actually in the spirit to begin with. So the explicit teaching is look out for your brothers and sisters, rescue them from perishing.

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Don't let them follow after false teachers to their own destruction. The implicit teaching is

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God has predestined from the foundation of the world those who are going to be saved and has reserved for destruction those who will be the objects of his wrath.

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And Jude has talked about that here as well, reserving for destruction those who are devoid of the spirit.

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When I did the what video on how to stop looking at porn, I got a few emails from some folks saying that it sounded like I was insinuating that a person can lose their salvation.

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And that's not what I was saying in that video at all. Again, this is the difference between explicit and implicit or narrative and the didactic.

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So you'll read narrative in scripture that is, I mean, it's recording events as we would observe them happening in the world.

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It's not written from a heavenly perspective. It is written from the perspective of a man. And so that's the way that we have the narrative spelled out for us.

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You'll have those critics of the doctrine of God's sovereign election who will say, see, it says here in the story that so and so chose to do this.

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It doesn't say that God chose it for them. Right. Because that's the narrative. The narrative is written from an earthly perspective, not a heavenly one.

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We don't get to see things the way that God sees them. That comes later. Paul talks about that in first Corinthians 13.

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Now we see as though through a glass darkly or through a mirror dimly. But soon we will see face to face and then we will know just as we are fully known.

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So we do not see the full picture the way that God sees it. We need to trust in his word, the didactic, the implicit teaching.

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And that is that God has predestined from the foundation of the world, those who will be his and will reserve them for his glory.

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And he has also predestined those who will be the objects of his wrath also for his glory, that we would proclaim the excellencies of God on that great day for those who he has shown mercy to and those whom he has poured out his wrath upon.

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So again, explicit and implicit teaching, narrative and didactic.

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And here in verses 22 and 23, Jude is saying that we have mercy on those who doubt, brothers and sisters in the faith who are less mature in their understanding of sound doctrine.

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Verse 23, we save others by snatching them out of the fire so that they would not walk in unrighteousness to their destruction and show mercy to others with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

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So in this process of calling one another to correction, we're not letting ourselves be tempted by the sin that we are calling out, but rather hating the very sin that God hates so that we would pursue his righteousness rather than being led astray by the sin.

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So now finally, the conclusion of Jude's letter, here we have the didactic.

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Here we have the implicit teaching, 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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So we are calling out our brothers and sisters who look as though they're stumbling into the fire, but ultimately the glory belongs to God.

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He is the one who keeps us and presents us blameless before him for his glory with great joy because that is the only possible response to the work of God done in the heart of every believer.

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Great joy. You are saved. Your sins are forgiven. Your life is hidden with Christ in God.

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When Christ who is your life appears, you also will appear with him in glory. Praise God.

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The joy of the Lord that exudes from those who have been rescued by God and preserved for his glory for that great day of the

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Lord. Praise comes from our hearts. Joy. We are filled with joy. Those who are filled with the spirit to him, to God who is able to keep you from stumbling.

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All glory belongs to him and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.

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Now Jude is kind of putting this as a contrast against those who are kept by God for judgment and he talked about this toward the beginning of the letter.

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This was in verse six. Hang on, I got to go back there. That section that we looked at where he provide various examples of those who have been kept for judgment.

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I want to remind you, I'm going to start in verse five. Now 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 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 that great day. 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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So Jude is talking about those who have been kept for judgment. And by contrast, that was at the beginning of the letter.

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Here at the end of the letter, we have those who are kept for his glory, keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before him with great joy.

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Now Peter did the same thing, but he did it in a single sentence. This is in 2 Peter 2, beginning in verse nine.

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He goes through his various examples and then he said, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.

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So Peter put it in a single sentence, Jude bookends his letter with it.

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So at the start of the letter, you have the statement of those who have been preserved for judgment.

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And at the end of the letter, you have the statement of those who have been preserved for glory and keep you from stumbling does not necessarily mean keep you from stumbling into the fire.

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It could simply mean keep you from stumbling into sin, into sin that wouldn't necessarily lead to a judgment and death and wrath, but just sin that would lead you to having to repent from.

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We should not ever excuse even the small sins as well. It's not that bad. You know,

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I won't go to hell for it because I'm saved by Christ. And so it's all right. We shouldn't have that attitude because right at the end of the previous section,

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Jude has said, hate the garment stained by the flesh. Hate it.

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Don't just excuse sin as being not that big a deal. God hates sin. Even the smallest sin separates us from God.

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So hate it. Don't try to just shrug it off or think that it's no big deal or excuse it as a little white lie or a little white sin.

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Hate that sin. Don't have anything to do with that sin. And when you are following in the spirit, which we talked about yesterday, comparing the works of the flesh with the fruit of the spirit, when you're pursuing the things of the spirit, then you're not anywhere near the stuff that would cause you to stumble.

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And so it is by our pursuit of the spirit and our being kept in the spirit that keeps us from stumbling.

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So fill yourself up with the word of God. Fill yourself up with the things of God. Remember that you have been justified by Christ and you no longer stand under the judgment of God.

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On the day of the Lord, you will hear from him, well done, good and faithful servant. Now great is your reward and that fills you with joy.

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And so it is in the joy of the Lord. And it is in the perseverance of the Holy Spirit that you are kept from stumbling, not even middling around in the little sins that wouldn't result in having you thrown into hellfire.

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But you are, you want righteousness. You want to be like Christ. You want to follow in the path of your savior.

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And so it is in that, that being filled up in the spirit of God, that you are kept from stumbling.

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The Holy Spirit does that work. He keeps you from judgment. He keeps you from even the small sins, from stumbling in this walk of sanctification that we are all on and we are doing together.

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Sanctification is a community project. It is something that we as Christians do together, admonishing and encouraging one another as we walk.

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Verse 25, to the only God, our savior. And once again, this is in a contrast with, against some of the things that the false teachers are saying, presenting a false version of God in the things that they say, because this is, this is heresy that we're talking about.

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So they are presenting a version of God or Christ that would lead a person to destruction, not lead them to salvation.

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Remember the statement that we had read before about how ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

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So the things that they have taught, even if they've used the name of God or they've used the name of Christ, or they've even referenced the teaching of the apostles, yet they twist it in such a way to mean something that presents a false version of God.

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They have spoken against him, not for him. They would lead a person to death rather than lead them to life.

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So in contrast to this false God that the heretics represent, we worship the only

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God, our savior, the one that comes from the testimony of the apostles.

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Remember beloved the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They spoke of the only

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God, our savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. We are, he is our savior through Jesus Christ.

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It is through Christ and his death on the cross that God has accomplished the work of atonement to save the wicked from perishing, to have their sins forgiven, their record of debt paid and justified before God for his glory with great joy.

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God has done this through Christ. So he is our savior through Jesus Christ, our

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Lord, and to him belong glory. And we've already stated that in verse 24, he presents us blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, which by the way, is the only way that you can be presented before the glory of God, blameless.

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Because we've been justified by Christ, we're able to stand in God's presence. If we did not have

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Christ, you would, you would melt in an instant standing in God's presence.

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You would be turned to dust. There would be nothing left of you because God's glory is that great.

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And we are so insignificant and finite and worthless because of our sin, quoting directly from Romans three, together we have become worthless.

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So because of that, because we are unholy and unworthy to stand in the presence of God, we'd be obliterated into nothing in the presence of his glory.

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So because we've been justified by Christ, we are able to be in his presence with great joy, the presence of his glory.

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So to him belongs all the glory. He gets all the glory. We get none.

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It is his work, not ours, that we have been saved through Jesus Christ. To him belongs majesty.

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He is the great King who sits enthroned in heaven and does as he pleases to quote from the

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Psalms. To him belongs dominion. He is God over all and authority.

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We submit to him and his word. We do not twist the word to mean what we want it to say, which is what the false teachers do before all time and now and forever.

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God has been God from before the foundation of the world. He will be God when the world has passed away.

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He is God now. He will be God for all time. Amen. A word that means, so be it, in case you weren't aware.

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So that is our conclusion to the study of Jude. And I hope you've enjoyed it.

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I hope it's been a great study for you as well. And as mentioned on Monday, well,

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I mentioned it this past Monday and coming up this coming Monday, I'll be in 1st and 2nd

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Thessalonians. That's where it is that we will go next. Let's conclude with prayer. Our great God, I thank you for the instructions that we have received from Jude.

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This call to correction and that we must be diligent to correct those who teach falsely, not letting them teach falsely in our church and rescuing those who would potentially follow those false teachers to destruction.

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Help us to do this with mercy. Help us to follow the instructions that Jude gave to have mercy on those who doubt, to save others by snatching them out of the fire, to show mercy with fear and to hate sin that we would not be led into that temptation also.

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So we would not find ourselves vulnerable to those same temptations because any one of us is perfectly capable of falling into false teaching if not being kept by the spirit from stumbling.

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Lord, present us blameless before you, before the presence of your glory with great joy.

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On that day that we are with the Lord, we will not have perfectly repented of every single sin and yet you will receive us as justified anyway.

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But while we are here walking this earth, help us to hate those sins and walk in righteousness.

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

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Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a

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New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.