Tuesday, June 10: Isaiah 10-12, Jude 1:14-25 ~ Danae

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Isaiah 10-12, Jude 1:14-25


Jude-

22 And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives. 

Do we feel an urgency to reach those that don’t know Christ?

I find that it’s so easy to just live & enjoy life without considering eternity. However, when I stop to consider that our days on earth are only temporary & take in the reality of heaven & hell, suddenly my perspective changes. 

The “flames of judgement” are real & one day each one will face that judgement. Just being a “good” person is not going to cut it, going to church or knowing what the bible says is not enough. Even believing there is a God does not secure your eternity, “for even the demons believe, & shudder” (James 2:19). We need to reach out to those that don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus with an urgency that’s not afraid to ask the hard questions, to step out of our comfort zone for the sake of lost souls. 

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Isaiah 13-15, Matthew 1

Saturday, December 9th: Daniel 11-12; Jude ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Daniel 11-12; Jude

24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

I love doxologies, and this one is no exception!

Only Jesus is able to keep us from stumbling. We can't do it on our own strength.  We couldn't save ourselves, and we can't make it through this life on our own. We need to remember where our strength comes from.  In Christ alone. 

It reminds me of the song "In Christ Alone" by Brian Littrell....

In Christ alone will I glory
Though I could pride myself in battles won
For Ive been blessed beyond measure
And by His strength alone Ill overcome
Oh, I could stop and count successes like diamonds in my hands
But those trophies could not equal to the grace by which I stand

[chorus]
In Christ alone
I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory
Let it be said of me
My source of strength
My source of hope
Is Christ alone

In Christ alone do I glory
For only by His grace I am redeemed
For only His tender mercy
Could reach beyond my weakness to my need
And now I seek no greater honor in just to know Him more
And to count my gains but losses to the glory of my Lord

[chorus]
In Christ alone
I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory
Let it be said of me
My source of strength
My source of hope
Is Christ alone

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Hosea 1-4; Revelation 1

Friday, December 16th: Hebrews 12-13, Jude 1 ~ Conrad

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is: Hebrews 12-13. Jude 1

In today's reading, there were quite a few verses that caught my attention, but I narrowed it down to this one:

"Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."  Hebrews 12:3

Unfortunately, this verse tells us that we too will endure opposition.  When this happens, how will we react?  I have been encouraged recently by our kids for the opposition they have been enduring.  Despite receiving opposition from her school teacher, Kezia is going against the recommendation of her teacher, as she has decided to show how the Bible does relate to science.  Will she get marked fairly for the topic she chose?  Most likely not.  Will her teacher reconsider his view on Christianity?  Hopefully, but we may never know.....

The pressure that Kaden is experiencing from his school and hockey friends is bringing me back to my high school days.  The purpose of dating for most youth is for one thing only, and the idea of saving yourself for your wedding night no longer appears to be a consideration.

We should be encouraged to persevere in our faith and have our faith grow while we are dependent on the Lord.  He is the provider of our strength so that we do not lose heart.  This is a marathon that we are running, and we need to prepare ourselves as if it were a physical race, so that we can see it through to the end.

The temptations we face today are the same as they were yesterday and the same as they will be tomorrow.  Thankfully, Jesus Christ is also the same yesterday and today and forever.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: 1John 1-5

Wednesday, November 11th: 1 Chronicles 1-3, Jude ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is  1 Chronicles 1-3; Jude

1 Chronicles covers the same time period as 2 Samuel, both describing the reign of David.  1 Chronicles, possibly authored by Ezra, was written to the returning remnant who were rebuilding Jerusalem after their 70 year exile in Babylon.

The genealogies seem boring to us, yet they were important to the Jewish people, and to record the Jewish line that would eventually culminate in the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Many of the records were probably lost during the seige and exile of Jerusalem, and these records tied the pre-exile with the post-exile period.

I am thankful that, though the Jews were God's chosen people, He opened the way of salvation to everyone.

In Jude we find the truth the the Bible is the very Word of God.  The Bible is the one source we can trust for absolute truth.  There have always been and always will be people who try to twist the Word of God and to spread false teachings that are fortified with just enough truth to be believable - and, therefore, dangerous.  He charges us to contend for the faith, and to live out the love of God.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: 1 Chronicles 4-6; Luke 1:1-20

Friday, 5 April 2013 ~ Roxie

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Josh 1,2; Psalm 69; John 1

Today's scripture focus is Jude 1:24-25

Jude 1:24-25

24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

I was thinking about this verse all week, wondering what I should write. It is a beautiful benediction, a shout of praise, an affirmation of our faith...and, for this weary heart, it is a reminder that it is not through any of my own works that salvation is mine...it is all because of Jesus. 

I must confess that this week has been really tough. My heart has become full of resentment and bitterness, defeat and doubt. Weariness clouds my judgement and colours my reactions. In my testimony, I shared that I moved from a city onto a cattle ranch. Working a full time job here on the farm as I help with calving and then working my half time job at the health centre is sapping my energy, leaving me with little enough grace for my dear husband (who is just as tired and far more stressed)...and little heart for all else.

...and then this verse... “to him who is able to keep you from falling”...

Only You, Jesus, have the ability, the strength to not only keep me from falling, but to lift me back up after I've jumped right out of Your hands into the mud and mire...only to find that I am stuck, sinking deeper with every writhing effort to get myself out...

...until I realize I can't...until I lift my hands back up to the only One who can draw me back out, brush me off and set my feet back on the solid ground. 

And even after all that, He still desires “...to present you before his glorious presence without fault”...

...without fault, blameless. All of my short-tempered outbursts; my curt, unfeeling responses; my guilt-inducing sighs and moans; my bitter thoughts; my resentments all washed away. 

I am clean. 

Clean enough to be presented before our perfect, Holy God “with great joy”!!!

All because of Jesus. His blood washed away my sins. His hands healed me. His love lifts me out of the darkness and into the light so that even in the tough, seemingly unfair, energy sapping, tension filled moments of our lives, we can still cry out:

“to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

We are saved. We are washed clean. We are lifted up by One who draws us forward into the presence of the Holy Father God and with great excitement, pleasure, joy, says, “Look here, Father, here is the one I love. Here is Your beloved child!”

All because of Jesus. 

He is our everything.

Amen. Amen.

Monday's scripture focus is Habakkuk 1:1-4

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage is Josh 3,4

Thursday, April 3 ~ Miriam

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is  Deuteronomy 33-34; Psalm 68; Luke 24.

Today's scripture focus is Jude 1:22-23.

²² And have mercy on some, who are doubting; ²³ save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

So, yesterday's verses were talking about what we need to do to protect ourselves.  Build ourselves up in faith (read the Word of God), pray in the Holy Spirit, keep ourselves in the love of God, and wait anxiously for the 2nd coming.  In today's verses, Jude moves on to what we do for those who have been led astray.  Judging by the context of the entire chapter, and according to David Legge's sermon, Jude is talking here about other believers - others who profess to share our faith or were at one time on the right path, but have gotten off into the ditch, possibly without realizing it.  From the sermon:

We are to look after one another in the household of faith - and as James says in verse 20 of chapter 5 of his epistle: 'He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins'. We are to look out for one another, we are to love one another - and to love one another is to come to one another, and to speak to one another honestly about our lives, about our problems, about our sins - and we are to draw one another back to Christ!

He goes on to divide these people into three categories, based on the verse.

Category 1 - Argumentative disputer:  Those who differ argumentatively with what we teach, with what we believe about everything concerning the Gospel. We have those who take the name of Christ that do not believe in the virgin birth, we have those who take the name of Christ that genuinely and sincerely in their own heart of hearts have come to the realisation, they feel, that it is impossible for Jesus Christ to atone for sin. They feel it is impossible for a corpse to rise from the dead, it is impossible that Jesus should ascend to heaven, and that one day there is the promise of Him coming back again - and they will argue their case sincerely before you, they are argumentative disputers of the truth of God.

And what do we do with these people?
God says, 'Convincingly refute them' - don't bury it over, don't forget about it, and in the spirit of the age of tolerance in which we live say, 'Live and let live'. But it literally means: 'Convict them while you dispute with them' - they can only be rebuked, and we ought to pray that God will change them. Can I ask you: how do you convincingly refute an argumentative disputer if you do not know the word of God? You cannot. That is why Jude tells us, build yourselves up in your most holy faith - you cannot pray that someone will come back to the faith, and the light of the Gospel will dawn upon their soul, if you do not pray in the Holy Ghost! We are to convincingly refute, not just pray, but rebuke! We must point out when wrong is wrong - and it may cause controversy, but it is necessary to be faithful to God. 

Oh, this is an answer I did not like.  This is so, so difficult for me.  I am very much one to "live and let live" or to feel that no amount of arguing will change their mind any more than their arguments will change mine, so why waste my breath?  Or I lack confidence in backing up what I believe and I keep my mouth shut for fear of sounding foolish.

Category 2 - Seriously endangered:  They are seriously endangered, they are in the fire, and we have to go actively and snatch them out of the fire! These are the seriously endangered, they are in more imminent danger, therefore they have to be snatched away before the false teaching grips their soul and kills their heart for God, before the wicked living of these apostates gets hold of them, and they go into their sensuality and their licentiousness. And if we don't save them - and I'm not talking about salvation, they're saved! - but if we don't save them from apostasy, who will?  

There needs to be a spirit of urgency in our preaching, in our prayers. There needs to be that spirit, whereby the Puritan, learned and scholarly, as he would preach in his pulpit would turn his back as he was gripped and burdened with the burden of the people before him, and he would turn his back on the people and shout to God, 'Oh, Spirit do Your work!'. Is that the earnestness and the urgency that you have, believer? Preacher, is that the way you preach? As someone has said, 'We should preach as though Jesus died yesterday, rose today, and is coming tomorrow'! It is urgent, for the time is short and there are those who are in the fire of this apostasy - whether they be believers or non-believers - and they need to be plucked as brands from the burning!

Category 3 - Sinfully degraded:  They are sinfully degraded, they won't listen to arguments, they can't be convicted, they can't be snatched - but they are to be pitied by you, the children of God, but they are to be pitied cautiously. You are to pity them, conscious of their weakness, conscious of their simplicity, conscious of the sinfulness of their sin - my friend, if we could get a vision today of the sinfulness of sin! If we could see sin as God sees it! If we could see sin as Christ felt it!
...we are to cautiously pity them, we are to realise that we can be contaminated by their garments spotted with the flesh, their inner garment that's close to the flesh, contacting defilement. We need to be careful, that when we go to win the sinner, the sinner does not win us! 

So, so hard.  It is so much easier for the Christian to be pulled down into the old sinful nature than it is to pull the "sinfully degraded" person up.  I find it hard sometimes because we spend a lot more time with my husband's family and friends than with mine, and his family and friends are not Christians.  It is all too easy for me to slip into using some bad language (when the kids aren't around), or having a couple too many drinks on a Saturday night, for example.  Generally speaking, I don't, but occasionally I catch myself, and it's not always easy to take that step back and say "OK, time to call it a night," or whatever the case may be.

Anyway, this post has turned out longer than anticipated (again), but I suppose the main thrust of the whole thing is that we ARE responsible for each other in God's family.  We can't just say "let him go his way and I'll go mine" and expect that to be good enough.  But I think it is important to note the order in which Jude gives us these reminders.  First, look to our own spiritual health, as our verses yesterday said, and THEN we can rebuke or confront (in love and compassion) and have confidence in our knowledge of the truth and the foundations of our faith when it is necessary.

Happy Thursday!

Tomorrow's scripture focus:  Jude 1:24-25.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  Joshua 1-2; Psalm 69; John 1.

Wednesday, April 3rd

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Deuteronomy 31-32, Psalm 67, Luke 23

Today's scripture focus is Jude 1:20-21

²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

John MacArthur's accompanying sermon: Survival Strategy for Apostate Times Part 2
David Legge's accompanying sermon: The Great Escape

Until now Jude has been talking about the apostates - those who have crept into the church and are spiritual terrorists.  But now he turns his focus to believers and how to combat these spiritual terrorists, and how not to fall away.

Legge makes the point that this is not tips on how not to fall away from the faith because God alone is able to keep us right through to the end, and He will, if we are true and sincere believers.  But rather this is talking about how to avoid becoming a backslidden Christian, and ineffectual Christian.  Obviously espousing the once saved you can never lose your salvation viewpoint.

First, it is clear that it is our responsibility to build up our faith (through the power of the Holy Spirit, of course).  We are to test what is taught and compare those teachings to the Word of God.  We are not supposed to only open our Bible Sunday mornings as the pastor teaches and just blindly accept what he says.  And that is our responsibility.  Nobody else can study the Word for us, only we can do that.  Only we can build up our faith.  We need to read the Bible, we need to meditate on the words and truths of the Bible, we need to memorize the Bible, and we need to study the Bible.

Secondly, we need to pray in the Holy Spirit. Legge points out three ways to pray in the Spirit.
Legge: As you look throughout the whole of the word of God and the Scriptures you find that to pray in the Spirit, first of all, is to pray in the will of God upon the word of God. Taking the promises of God and claiming them, knowing that you are praying in His will, according to His sovereign plan. Secondly, it is to pray in surrender to the Spirit of God. When your life is totally given over to the Holy Spirit you can know that you are praying in the Holy Ghost. And thirdly, when you are walking in the Spirit.

Thirdly, we need to keep ourselves in the love of God.  This doesn't mean that we need to make sure God keeps on loving us, and it doesn't even mean that we need to keep loving God.  Legge says it's talking about fellowship with God - purposefully walking every moment in the enjoyment of the love of God. And we keep in fellowship by walking in the light.

Fourthly, we need to wait for the mercy of the Lord that leads to eternal life.  In other words, we need to eagerly anticipate His second coming.  Because when we walk with the end in mind, when we walk knowing that Jesus could return at any moment, we walk differently, don't we?

The onus is on us.  No one can do it for us.  Jude's given us the way to escape, to survive, to combat apostasy.  The question is, will we do it?


Tomorrow's scripture focus: Jude 1:22-23

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Deuteronomy 33-34, Psalm 68, Luke 24

tuesday april 2 2013 - Sandy

Today's scripture focus is: Jude 1:17-19

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is: Deut 29-30, Psalm 66, Luke 22

 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.  They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.



Jude 1:17-19

 I think every generation since Jesus has been *sure* we are in end times.  Every generation has had it's share of disgusting things done, embraced, and encouraged.  Trials and tribulations.

The fact is, we don't know when the end is.  We don't know when Jesus is coming back.  We do, however, know what we need to be doing.  We need to be vigilant, aware, strong in our faith.  Following the Word and faithful to God's commands.
Not that it's easy, and this verse reminds us of that.  Scoffers.  Ungodly. Oh how right.  Scoffers are abundant.  Those following their own ungodly passions.  Just look at our society!  Ungodly passions are almost more common than not now.

We are warned that these people will cause divisions, and do they ever.  Just bring up abortion, gay marriage, divorce, or anything else that's a hot button these days and see what happens, even amongst a group of Christians.  It can get ugly pretty quickly.

We must stop it!  We must stand united against sin, against the world's acceptance and encouragement of sin.  We must be on ever constant guard against those who would divide us and weaken our resolve.
Stand strong!

Monday, April 1 - Jude 1:15-16 - Tiffany

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Deuteronomy 27-28; Psalm 65; Luke 21

Today's scripture focus is Jude 1:15-16

"to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” ¹⁶ These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; ^[q]they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage."

 

I have to take these verses a little backwards in order to deal with them. 

Verse 16 hits home.  This is exactly what my husband preached about last week.  People in church, grumbling because they don't get their way, fighting over inconsequential things, demanding that church is ran their way, or no way.

I won't lie - his sermon BUGGED people.  We've had a little backlash about it. 

 

But it just brings home to me - Jude is CURRENT.  As there were false teachers in Jude's day, in Enoch's day, there are false teachers now who say "church must be this way or it isn't church" who say "God meant it this way" when really that way only benefits them.

 

Those who find fault, those who mislead people to gain advantage, will be judge.

 

In Friday's post we read about Enoch, and read the beginning of his prophecy, that thousands upon thousands of the Lord's holy ones were coming.  Today verse 15 tells us what they are coming to do.

 

They are coming to judge.  To convict the ungodly of their sins.

 

Matthew Henry's commentary on Jude says this:
Notice how often the word "ungodly" is repeated. Many now do not at all refer to the terms godly, or ungodly, unless it be to mock at even the words; but it is not so in the language taught us by the Holy Ghost. Hard speeches of one another, especially if ill-grounded, will certainly come into account at the day of judgment. These evil men and seducers are angry at every thing that happens, and never pleased with their own state and condition. Their will and their fancy, are their only rule and law. Those who please their sinful appetites, are most prone to yield to ungovernable passions. The men of God, from the beginning of the world, have declared the doom denounced on them. Such let us avoid. We are to follow men only as they follow Christ.

 

How true is it that we cower at calling a sin a sin, and yet we do.  Because when you do, people get angry, like that got angry at my husband for preaching a convicting sermon about holier-than-thou, do-it-my-way attitudes.

But Jesus is coming.  And we will all be judged.  I repeat again Matthew Henry's words "We are to follow men only as they follow Christ."

 

 

 

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Jude 1:17-19

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Deuteronomy 29-30; Psalm 66; Luke 22

Friday, March 29 ~ tammi

Today's Bible In a Year reading: Deuteronomy 21-22; Psalm 64; Luke 20
Today's scripture focus passage: Jude 1:14 - Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones...

Accompanying MacArthur sermon: The Coming Judgment on Apostates, Part 1
Accompanying Legge sermon: The Apostates' Final Fall

Happy Good Friday!  Seems kinda weird to say, since usually Good Friday is seen as a solemn remembrance, but it sure does mean good news for us, so I think it fitting to be joyful about it at the same time!!  (it also happens to be the other Friday poster's birthday ~ who happens to be my sister-in-law ~ so it's an especially good Good Friday!  Happy birthday, Roxie! :)

Okay, so today's passage is a little tricky because it isn't even a complete sentence!  But since it isn't and because Jude is beginning to quote someone we're familiar with, I'm going to focus on WHOM he's quoting.

Now, we don't know Enoch was necessarily a prophet, but the account of him in the Old Testament clearly indicates he was a very godly man, and while not generally recognized as a prophet, it's clear he did prophesy at least once.  Jude's tone throughout his little letter is one that presumes previous knowledge of his subject matter by his audience, so it seems safe to assume here that his readers must be familiar with this prophecy from Enoch.  And like MacArthur says in his sermon, "If Jude under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said that Enoch said that, then guess what? Enoch said that. He said it. Even though it's not recorded in the Old Testament, he said it. And the Holy Spirit inspires Jude to say he said it because he said it...Enoch prophesied." So?  Anyone wanna argue with him??  ;)

Legge points out the parallels between Enoch's day, Jude's day, and our day.  Certainly, we can see the need for Jude's reminder in our day.  And obviously, the environment and/or circumstances that necessitated Jude's letter (when he'd been planning to write something else ~ see v. 3) were very similar to the environment and/or circumstances that necessitated Enoch's prophesy.  Which, as you recall, preceded the flood in Noah's day by only one generation.  Enoch named his son Methuselah to bear testimony to the prophecy which would be fulfilled right after the end of Methuselah's life.  All this to say, nothing much has changed in human nature since God saw fit to wipe out virtually the entire human race back in Old Testament times.  They desperately needed warnings then and got them through prophecies; we desperately need them now and get them from God's Word.

One thing Legge mentions that I find kind of disturbing (but that makes perfect sense) is that the apostates, false teachers, etc. come from the Church.  I mean, it makes sense ~ how else could you preach and live a false Gospel if you didn't know the real one enough to be able to alter it?  But still, it's a little unsettling to be faced with the reality that when we're in our churches is when we're most likely to be surrounded by apostates.

Jude's letter, I believe, is not only a plea to greater discernment and a guide to recognizing apostasy, but also a reminder that if false teachers come from within the Church, we need to CONSTANTLY make sure what WE say and how WE live lines up with Scripture.  We may not be pastors or authors or Sunday school teachers or conference speakers or Bible study leaders, but our lives speak to our beliefs and interpretations of the Word nonetheless.

It is SO CRITICAL to KNOW God's Word!!

Not just so we can recognize apostasy in our churches, but so we can recognize the beginnings of apostasy in ourselves and make the necessary course corrections.








Tomorrow's Bible In a Year reading: Deuteronomy 23-24
Monday's scripture focus passage: Jude 1:15-16

Thursday, March 28 ~ Miriam

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Deuteronomy 19-20; Psalm 63; Luke 19.

Today's scripture focus is Jude 1:11-13.

Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay ^[a]they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. ¹² These are the men who are ^[b]hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water,carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, ^[c]doubly dead, uprooted; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, casting up their own^[d]shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the ^[e]black darkness has been reserved forever.

I don't know about anybody else, but I was curious about what Cain, Balaam and Korah all had to do with this.  (OK, well, it is fairly obvious in the case of Cain.  And truthfully, I actually didn't remember who Korah was.)  From David Legge's sermon, "Remember, Remember"

He tells us of three men, Cain a farmer, Balaam a prophet, and Korah a prince. Cain a working class man, a working class apostate, Balaam an ecclesiastical apostate, Korah a royal, rich apostate - and apostasy, like all disease and just like sin, is no respecter of persons. He speaks of Cain, you all know the story of Cain, that Cain offered of the fruit of the ground - he was a farmer, he tilled the ground and he brought to God that sacrifice of his vegetables and his fruit - and Abel brought the sacrifice of a little unblemished lamb, and shed its blood and gave a burnt offering to God. But to put it bluntly: Abel was true faith and God's faith, and Cain was man's faith, the faith of the flesh, the work of the flesh. The religion of mankind, the product of man's mind, the product of rationalism, where he said in the depths of his being, whether he was conscious or admitting it or not, 'My way is better and more acceptable than God's way'! And I suspect that the Holy Spirit was whispering down on planet earth, 'There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the way therefore is the way of death'. 

The religions of the world are based on man's effort - and that's why Cain's effort was rejected, it was his own works, because faith saves. And my friend I want you to see this, that this is seen in the old Philistines, in the Old Testament where God was saying: 'There is My way and no other way, I am the God, I am the only God to be worshiped, I will not share My glory with another, I will not be put in a trophy cabinet of gods and worshiped in a pluralistic religion or society'.

Do you know who Balaam was? He was a false prophet, and Balak the king of the Moabites wanted him to curse Israel in the name of the Lord, but he did it for reward that's the only reason why he went, for a reward, to get money. God told him 'You're not going!', he said, 'I am going!', and he went. And as he was on his way, the angel of the Lord rose up in the way and the ass that he was riding on saw the angel of the Lord, but he didn't see him - he was the ass! He didn't see the angel of the Lord, but he wasn't having it either. He devised a plan and he went to the king of the Moabites again and he said 'I've got a way to get Israel to sin and to get God's wrath upon them. You get Israelites to marry your daughters', now that wasn't allowed. And it says that through that - we could call it a 'sexplosion' - God reigned His wrath and anger upon His own children, because Balaam got them to sin sexually. And we have men, naming the name of Christ, who are in it for the money - and I'm talking about evangelicals - and we have men that are legitimizing sexual perversion through the word of God.

Cain, Balaam and thirdly, and finally, Korah. He's called Core, C-o-r-e, here but in the Old Testament it's translated Korah, K-o-r-a-h, and you read about it in Numbers chapter 16.  Korah was not willing to accept God's ordained leaders. He said 'Why can't we come to God? Why can't we bring the sacrifice? Why can't we offer the incense? Why can't we go before God? Why can't we call the shots and rule the people?', and they wanted to overthrow the Lord's servant. And the word of God says that this is what God said to them: 'Moses, Aaron separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment...And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation' - do you know why? Because God has told us in 1 Samuel 15 and verse 23 that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. My friend, Israel, the angels, Sodom and Gomorrah, Cain, Balaam, Korah in his rebellion, all exhort us to flee from apostasy.

I am glad we are studying Jude.  I confess, this little, one-chapter book has never seemed to me to be of great interest, but after studying it more closely, there is more to it than initially meets the eye.  If nothing else, it is a very strong warning, a wake-up call.

Happy Thursday, everybody!  And I will also take this opportunity to wish you all a very blessed and happy Easter.

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Jude 1:14.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  Deuteronomy 21-22; Psalm 64; Luke 20.

Wednesday, March 27th

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Deuteronomy 17-18, Psalm 62, Luke 18

Today's scripture focus is Jude 1:9-10

⁹ 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 Lord rebuke you.” ¹⁰ But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

MacArthur calls these deceivers that have crept into the church, spiritual terrorists.  And I thought that was an excellent analogy.

our nation, of course, is on high alert with regard to terrorism and what makes terrorists dangerous is, one, they are hidden among us and we don't know who they are, and secondly, they don't mind blowing themselves up in the process of accomplishing their goal to destroy others. That makes them very, very dangerous. And the same thing is true in terms of the church. And sad to say, while the nation takes seriously the threat of physical terrorism, the church doesn't take very seriously the threat of spiritual terrorism. The church is filled with spiritual terrorists. I read about them every time I open a newspaper, those who name the name of Christ, who were clerical garb, who claim to teach the Scriptures and represent the Scriptures and speak about God and represent Jesus and so forth and so forth, whether they're in the newspaper, whether an institution, television, radio, wherever they are, they are all over the place professing to belong to Christ and to represent Him and to have the insight on the truth and they are really spiritual terrorists, they are embedded in the church. And they are equally dangerous because one, the church doesn't take care to really discover who they are. And secondly, they don't mind blowing themselves up with the very damning error that they espouse that's so destructive to others.

These spiritual terrorists not only promote their own false spiritual insights as truth, not only do they live immorally, not only do they reject the authority of Jesus Christ and His Word, but they also blaspheme the glorious ones - the angels.

MacArthur shows, and I don't think I've ever noticed this before either, that angels have always been guardians of God's law.
In Deuteronomy 33 Moses reminds the people of how God came down at Mount Sinai to give them the law along with thousands of angels.
In Acts 7:53, Stephen says "you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."
Consider Galatians 3:19  Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
Hebrews 2:1-4 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. ² For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, ³ how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, ⁴ while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Angels have a special role in the moral order of the world! And deceivers blaspheme them.

MacArthur:  it is a rather amazing irony that these false religions very often and these mystics and these Gnostics and these who have the elevated knowledge and these who get the visions and the revelations and the dreams are talking about the fact that this stuff is coming from angels when in fact they are blaspheming the holy angels who are the guardians of the sacred Word of God and they are really in connection with demons...

False teachers do not hesitate to indulge their flesh, reject lordship and revile holy angels. Reviling holy angels is something you better be careful about. Blaspheming holy angels by rejecting the Law of which they are the guardians is serious. It is a serious thing to revile holy angels. And the point that Jude makes here is very powerful because he says Michael who is himself a holy angel would not even revile Satan who was a fallen angel. That's an amazing contrast, isn't it? Michael who is himself a holy angel would not himself blaspheme a fallen angel and yet these false teachers will blaspheme holy angels....

He knew Lucifer. He knew him when he was the son of the morning, when he was the anointed cherub, when he was around the throne, when he was the heavenly choir director. He knew the other demons, all of them being created together at once. And when they fell, he knew they fell and he did battle with them and was part of the force that threw them out of heaven. He knows he has power over Satan then, he knows Satan is fallen. And yet he has respect for those angelic enemies of God and even though he is a powerful holy angel, he knows that there are limits to his power and there are limits to his knowledge. He is not omniscient, or is he omnipotent. His power as a holy angel is delegated and his function is to do whatever God tells him to do and not act independently on his own. He will not usurp divine authority. He will not exercise his own will over Satan. He will not on his own blaspheme even Satan. God has His plans for Satan and God knows what they are and Michael will carry them out but he will not act independently. He will not intrude. He will not do things on his own. And one of the things he will not do is he will not bring against the devil a railing judgment but rather he will say to the devil, "The Lord rebuke you." 

Apparently Satan wanted to fight with Michael over Moses' body - perhaps to desecrate it, perhaps to use it as an idol for Israel or some other evil plan - we don't know exactly why.  Rather than personally cursing Satan, Michael defers to the ultimate power of God - just like the Angel of the Lord (the pre-incarnate Jesus) in Zechariah 3:2, when the Angel of the Lord, Jesus Himself, says the Lord God rebuke you. The Son calls on the Father to rebuke Satan.  Michael was there, he knows that story, and he follows the very example of Jesus.

Apostates not only rebuke Satan with amazing presumption, but they teach other immature believers to do it as well. And in addition, they also blaspheme holy angels by their sinful lives which show disdain for the holy Law of God which is so precious and so sacred to the angels. They are, in a true sense, the guardians of God's holy Law. And wherever these false teachers are characterized by materialism, wherever they're characterized by pride, wherever they're characterized by insubordination to the Word of God, wherever they're characterized by anger or power-hunger, whatever it is, they are violating the holy Law of God, they are then in the truest sense blaspheming angelic majesties.

Why? Because they are ignorant.

These ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ, these who undermine the faith, these men, verse 8, these dreamers, these are those, verse 10, who revile the things which they do not understand.... They do this stuff because they are spiritually ignorant. 

They're operating not out of true knowledge but out of ignorance, out of their own blind instincts and they will end up being destroyed by their own deception.


Tomorrow's scripture focus: Jude 1:11-13

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Deuteronomy 19-20, Psalm 63, Luke 19

Tuesday March 26, 2013 - Sandy

Today's scripture focus: Jude 1:8

Today's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Deuteronomy 15-16, Psalm 61, Luke 17

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.
Jude 1:8

MacArthur's sermon here


Honestly, I found this verse hard.  It's kind of awkward when a single verse is taken alone.  Not because it's wrong to consider a verse alone, but because it's hard for my human mind to do so.

So far, throughout Jude, we are seeing the warnings against defying God, turning our backs on Him and His ways, and this verse is no different.  While we are clothed in grace, and forgiven through Christ, there are serious consequences to willfully choosing to ignore God.

The consequences are even more dire for those who claim the name of Christ, yet are liars and deceivers.

I honestly can't even say anymore, MacArthur's sermon is excellent reading on this.

Monday, March 25 - by Pamela

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Deuteronomy 13-14, Luke 16, Psalm 60

Today's scripture focus is Jude 1:6-7

Jude 1:6-7

New Living Translation (NLT)

⁶ And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. ⁷ And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.

Jude continues to warn about the consequences of disobedience and turning away from God. Jude reminds us that we have a choice, we can choose to follow God or we can move beyond the limits God sets on us and go our own way. We do have a choice. However, our decision to abandon what God desires has serious consequences: destruction.

Why do people choose to turn away? MacArthur says:
"Ignorance is one reason why people defect from the gospel. There's never really any penetrating of the truth, that's the hard ground. It just sort of bounces off them. They don't comprehend it. Persecution is another reason...people who are exposed to the gospel but do not want to pay the price of naming the name of Christ and bearing the reproach of Christ. The worries of this life, Jesus said, are another reason why the seed has a very short life and produces no fruit. And Jesus also said the deceitfulness of riches, people love wealth and materialism and prosperity in this life more than heavenly promises.
It is also true that there is another reason why people defect and that is because the teaching of Jesus is hard. John 6:60, "Many therefore of His disciples when they heard this said, 'This is a hard statement, who can listen to it?'" A few verses later as a result of this, "Many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore." The demands of Jesus were hard, that's really what I was driving at in the book Hard to Believe, which reflects the teaching we did, particularly on Luke 9, "If any man come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me." The message is hard, hard teaching. It was too hard for the rich young ruler. It was too hard for Judas Iscariot."  

Ignorance.

Persecution.

Deceitfulness of riches.

It is hard.

All reasons to abandon what God has promised. All reasons to decline Jesus' invitation for salvation. All reasons to stay on the road to destruction. It's easy to stay ignorant. It's much easier to conform and avoid persecution. It's easy to be swayed by the pursuit of stuff. It's easy to follow the way of the world and ignore the way of God.

Matthew 7:13 says:

New Living Translation (©2007) "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.

Easy is popular. Hard is not.

MacArthur says:

There's just so much potential for apostasy, that's what I'm trying to tell you. Is it any wonder that many get on the broad road and few find the narrow way? Is it any wonder that many, many say, "Lord, Lord," but really don't know the truth and few really find the door? There are just so many potential ways to apostatize and it's so normal and so natural to the human heart. I would go so far as to say that it is not a surprise to me that the majority of people exposed to the gospel turn away from it. Is that not obvious? The majority of people exposed to the gospel turn away from it. And it seems to me that clearly there are far more people in the visible church than in the invisible church, many, many more. But some of these people that defect and some of these people that turn away remain in the church as the instruments of Satan to teach their demon doctrines and to build the visible church with its corrupt theology. Now all of this takes us back to Jude, we can go back there now. And people who have been drawn into this apostasy, this departing from the faith, apostasia, defection, revolt. Used in the New Testament always of religious apostasy. A variation of the word means divorce. And here in Jude, Jude is concerned with those who remain in the church to corrupt it with their false teaching and try to do so unrecognized, try to do so in clerical garb calling themselves preachers and pastors and reverends and fathers and priests and whatever else.

So not only are people choosing to turn from God, they are pulling people along with them for the ride. They are creeping in and corrupting and Jude is warning about the destruction that will surely follow this. He reminds them about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:

There...In don't think there's an incident in the history of the Old Testament that made a stronger impression on the Jewish people than that of Sodom and Gomorrah because as you study the Old Testament, it is brought up again and again and again in Deuteronomy, in Amos, in Isaiah, in Jeremiah, in Zephaniah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, it's brought up again in Matthew and in Luke and in Romans and in Peter and in Revelation...of course in Jude. Two angelic visitors come to visit Lot. The men surround the house. They want to rape these men. And you know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, what happened? God incinerated them. The other cities in that same area, according to Genesis 19, were also consumed. Some archeologists have said there is evidence of a great rupture in the earth's strata in that place. Terrific explosion in some subterranean pool of oil near the south shore of the Dead Sea where these cities were located. The gas becomes ignited and the resulting blast lifted a whole section of the valley floor into the air and dropped it down burying them all so that these cities were literally buried immediately in burning oil and sulphur. In one hour they were all gone.

And back in Jude, we know where they were going. They were undergoing the punishment of eternal fire...the punishment of eternal fire. This is hell. This is God's final, everlasting judgment on sinners, and in particular those who defect from the truth. Revelation 19 and verse 20 describes it as a Lake of Fire which burns with brimstone, very much like that which fell on them that day. Revelation 20 verse 10 it says, "The devil who deceived them was thrown into the Lake of Fire and brimstone where the Beast and the false prophet are also and they'll be tormented night and day forever." And Revelation 21:8 says, "The cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable murderers, immoral persons, sorcerers, idolaters, all liars, their part will be in the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone." That's where it all ends.

So God has given us in this little epistle of Jude three dramatic, unforgetable, historical illustrations of apostasy and how it ends. It is a warning. It is a warning to any who are on the edge of turning away from the gospel. But it is a reminder to us of how important it is to fight for the faith, to contend for the truth because God will punish with everlasting fire those who defect from His truth and stay in His church to corrupt it. He destroyed the very people He took out of Egypt. He destroyed the very angels who once were around His throne. He destroyed the people in Sodom and Gomorrah who were exposed to Him and perverted themselves.

Yesterday, in our Adult Sunday School class, we concluded the video portion of the series "Not a Fan" and the analogy from today's lesson really hit home for me. The pastor talked about going on vacation for a month and leaving people a notebook about all the important things to know about the house: which day was garbage day, when to water and feed the pets, the details about how to work the appliances and so on. Now imagine coming home to find your house in shambles and full of garbage and dead pets and plants because none of the directions were followed. The house sitters, super glad and excited to see you home from your trip, greet you with a smile and gush about how valuable the notebook was...how they read it every night, how they highlighted their favourite parts, and how they even had friends over to study the notebook together. As the home owner, how impressed would you be to see the mess left behind and that your instructions you left behind were not followed at all.

We have our notebook about God's expectations about how we are to live our lives while he is away. It is our job to know them, do them, and to know what is expected so we can choose wisely when confronted by false instructions not in the book. It won't be easy, it won't be popular, and it will cost us. How do we want to greet Jesus when he comes back?

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Jude 1:8

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Deuteronomy 15-16, Psalm 61, Luke 17