Jude 14-19 "Recognizing Ungodly Influencers"

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful

that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either

by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray

for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really,

I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible,

they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will

do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a

non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't

hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the

types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

And let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father, we like being reminded about the promises in your Word for your people and

we like asking you that you would help us to believe the promises. And Father,

most of the time we like learning truth from your Word that we might know it.

And Father, we don't always like some of the commands that you give us, but you do give us

commands and we ask that you would help us to obey them. But Father, we often really don't like

hearing your warnings to us. And so Father, we ask that you would help us to hear your warnings

and to heed them, knowing, Father, who you are, that you are our Father in heaven who loves us.

And we ask these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, this is a sobering sermon today. The book of Jude is a sobering book. And I hope it'll be

obvious by the end of the sermon. But I am going to have to refer to such things as same-sex marriage,

the pride movement in general, and euthanasia and abortion. And I think you'll see by the end of

the sermon why it is that I need to say some things about this. And the things I'm going to say,

of course, go against the grain of what Canadian culture says. In fact, at the end of the eight

o'clock service, somebody said to me, don't worry, George, we'll bail you out of jail after the sermon.

There's a, you might have noticed it in my prayer, there's a very old-fashioned way to help people

with their personal Bible study, or if you're in Bible study groups, it's to ask four questions of

every text. One question to ask of the text is, is there a promise in this text that I should believe?

Good question to ask. Look for it, see if there's any promises. A second very good question is to ask,

is there some truth that God is revealing here that he wants me to know? That's, once again,

a very good question to ask while you're looking at a Bible text, trying to understand it.

A third question to ask is, is there a command in the text that I am to obey? Once again,

that's a very good thing to notice. Are there some imperatives, some commands that God is asking

you to obey? And the fourth question is the one that we're really looking at today, primarily. Is

there a warning in the text that God would want you to pay attention to and to heed? So today there is

the end of two sermons, but there's a very profound warning for us. So I invite you to turn with me in your

Bibles to the book of Jude. It's the second to last book in the Bible. It's just 25 verses,

so it's very short. So if you go to the book of Revelation and just sort of flip towards the other

side, you'll come across this, the book of Jude, which often just fits in one page of a Bible like

mine. It fits in one page. And we've been going through this. We preach through books of the Bible.

Bible. And the way that the book is sort of structured is there's a very hopeful greeting,

which describes the great promise of being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then there's

a very simple thing where he's setting forth why he's writing the letter, which is that ungodly

influencers have come into the church, and we need to contend for the faith. And then from verses 5 to

19, what Jude is doing primarily is selling the problem. And I shared two weeks ago when I last

preached on the first part of the selling the problem, how occasionally I have to go to the

council, back to the council after they've shot down a proposal of mine. And I only go back if I

afterwards think that I made a big strategic mistake with them, and I assumed they saw the problem,

but they hadn't seen the problem, and I'd failed to sell the problem to them. Sell the problem doesn't

mean inventing a problem. It's just helping them to see that there's a problem. And usually, when I've

gone back and done that, I haven't done it for quite a few years, after I sell the problem, they go,

oh, that's why you made that proposal. They might say, well, it's still a dumb, some way of solving the

problem, which is fair enough, because sometimes I'm dumb. But now that they see that there's a

problem, then they come up with a way to try to solve the problem. And really, one of the ways to

understand then verses 5 to 19 is that Jude is trying to sell the problem to believing Christians

about a problem in the church. And the way he does that is by he gives a series primarily of little

keywords to point you back to biblical stories. He also uses a couple of things from nature, and he uses a

cultural story that was common in their day. And he just gives a little snippet so that you can go

back and think about the story and get the shape of the problem, the contour of the problem, the

identity of the problem. And these verses today that we're going to look at, 14 to 19, is the second

part of trying to understand what the problem is. So that in the next two sermons, we'll look at,

in a sense, the shape of how we respond to the problem and the hope we have in responding

to the problem. So let's just look. It's verse 14. And well, let's look. It's just verse 14. And what

he's doing here is he's quoting in verse 14 from a story common to the Jewish culture at the time.

It would sort of be as if I was to go to a Christian homeschooling convention for kids who were

12 to 14. And I want to discuss Jesus and his death upon the cross. I might refer to the Narnia

Chronicles and Aslan dying on behalf of one of the children, right? So I know I might give a Bible

passage, tell them about that Narnia story, maybe tell them another Bible passage. And Jude is doing

something similar. He's using a story and a part of the story which really captures what's going on.

In fact, actually, if one of the commentators gave a whole list of all the little allusions

and references to the Old Testament contained within the text. But here's what he says.

It was also about these, that's these ungodly influencers, that Enoch, the seventh from Adam,

prophesied, saying,

Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict

all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and

of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Now that's a mouthful.

And if you go back and you look, one of the things, last time I preached on this, I used the NIV

because it helped with one of the problem translation bits. But here, the ESV has kept

something which is very intentional. Four times he uses the word all, and four times he uses the word

ungodly. And if you read other very good translations like the NIV or the NLT, they haven't preserved the

four alls and the four ungodlies. But he's trying to communicate something very clearly about what

the ungodly are like. And at the heart of it, what he's really trying to say is that what they do is

ungodly. Why they do it is ungodly. What they're aiming for is ungodly. And then he ends with this

little bit at the end of 15, of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against

him. In some other translations, trying to capture this harsh is defiant. So harsh, defiant things that

ungodly sinners have spoken against God. Now, I mean, that actually sounds to the Canadian ears,

that's a very harsh thing to say, isn't it? Actually, sort of ironic. But it's actually,

on one level, it's very clear. But on the other hand, it's a bit confusing. Like, who exactly are

the ungodly? What are the ungodly? Like, how is it that they're actually saying, like, that sounds

really strong, defiant and harsh things against God. And this is things going on in the church.

And that's something I forgot to mention just a bit earlier. This whole letter is addressed an issue

in the church. It's not addressing issues in our culture at large. Although when I get to the

specifics, you're going to see that it's making a comment about issues in the culture at large.

But it's referring to issues going on in the church. And it's a bit confusing, but I'd like to

go through the rest of the text. And then we'll come back to verses 14 and 15. And I'll explain

how it is that you can recognize harsh and defiant speech against God and what the word ungodly means.

Now, this next bit, this next verse is something that the average Canadian would agree with

fundamentally most of it. They'd think these are things that we generally don't like.

But once again, unless you understand what ungodly is, you might not recognize it when you see it.

You might not actually be catching what Jude is talking about. So in other words, it looks like

something you agree with, but you might not agree with it if you understand what he's trying to get

at. Let's look at verse 16. It says this. They're talking about the ungodly influencers.

They are grumblers, malcontents. Another word for malcontent is fault finders. And we all know people

who find fault, and there's no fault they don't find. And there's no fault they don't ride to death.

And so generally, Canadians don't like being around people like that, fault finders. Just like we don't

really like people being around, you know, grumblers. I mean, you know, you have some people over and you

make, you go to a lot of bother to give them a really nice meal, and then they grumble about it and

say, I don't know, it's a bit too spicy, not spicy enough, too much salt, not enough salt. They don't like

the way, you know, you think, really? I put one to all this work to feed you a meal, and you're

grumbling about it, right? So, you know, and then that goes on. They're doing this grumbling and

malcontents, verse 16, following their own sinful desires. In other words, what's emerging from is a

desire which is against God. And then this next bit, they are loudmouth boasters showing favoritism

to gain advantage. This would be a whole wonderful sermon. And if you go back and look at some other

translations, they translate it as slightly different. But what the fundamental idea is

that they're getting at here is that these are people who inflate themselves and others with

emptiness and vanity. So whether you're looking at, some of the texts talk about people who flatter a

lot. Some of it says this loudmouth boasting. Some of it talks about bombastic speech. Different

translations are trying to get at this idea. But the heart of all of it at the end of this

is people who inflate themselves and others with emptiness and vanity. Another way to understand

it is they have a perception of the sins and the delusions and illusions that a person believes.

And they have a sense of what that, you know, you think of, you know, you look at Bob and you have a sense

of the type of delusions and illusions and sin that Bob sort of actually thinks that they're true and you tell

them they are true. And that's what it's trying to get at. Things which are ultimately empty and vain means

you're not going to accomplish what you want. And it's self-seeking. So once again, these are things that Canadians can

say, I can understand that these are problems. But we don't actually get what he's trying to get at as a problem

within the church. So the next thing that Jude does is after this cultural story, he brings the selling the

problem to an end by giving a short little phrase where he just summarizes in a sense what the New Testament

teaches. Look at what he says in verse 17. 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. And just pause here for a second. The Bible has an overarching story. And in this

overarching story, we right now are living in the last days. God begins when Jesus dies upon the cross

and rises from the dead, the last days begin. And those last days will end when Jesus returns.

As Enoch was talking about, he'll return with tens and tens of thousands of angels. And there will be a

judging of the living and the dead. And then there will be the new heaven and the new earth. So we live in

that in-between time between these things. And just go back to verse 18 again. They said to you,

in the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passion. And just what is a scoffer?

Actually, a lot of discourse on Twitter and a lot of what we call commentary in our newspapers,

even elite newspapers, is actually just scoffing. And it's another version of mocking. And the Bible

says it's a way that will never lead you to wisdom. It will never lead you to truth. And what scoffing

does is scoffing never gives reason and evidence, or rarely gives reason or evidence. What scoffing does

is demean, demean, diminish, disdain, and deride. It just basically tries to belittle you. And you use

your tongue to intimidate and belittle somebody who holds a different position than you. And you just

do it by, whether you're conscious or unconsciously, just calling them names. There's a columnist in The

Citizen that I read regularly, because basically I think she's wrong about everything. I actually

think that if she said it was going to be a sunny day tomorrow, I would bring an umbrella. Like,

she's just so consistently wrong. And one of the things which is just fascinating about reading her

is she's just filled constantly with scoffing. She's always calling people names, like constantly,

just putting people down and calling them names. And then after she'd been doing that for a month,

she wrote a column on how we have to have more civil discourse. And I go, really? That's what I

think. But all you do is call people names. I'm not going to tell you the person's name. But the

problem is, that's what scoffers do. And obviously, we can be prone to it as well. We can just, you know,

use our tongue to diminish people. We don't give actually any evidence or any reason for what we

believe. We just try to intimidate people with our tongue. And that's what scoffing is. And so once again,

Canadians might look at that and say, you know, that's actually, we agree with that. But the

problem is, do we agree with it in the places where Jude means? That's really the fundamental.

You'll see why I mean it's a bit of a problem in a second. So go back to verse 18. They said to you,

this is all of the, basically, the New Testament. In the last time, there will be scoffers following

their own ungodly passions. And once again, you get that word ungodly. When Jude gives you

this thing, there are ungodly people in the church, you need to contend for the faith.

And now towards the end of his selling the problem, he gives you these four words of ungodly.

And then here, just before he finishes selling the problem, he uses ungodly again.

And then finally, it is these who cause divisions. And now here it says worldly people devoid of the

spirit. Now, if we have anybody online watching who's come from an Islamic background, and not just

Islamic backgrounds, maybe Hindu backgrounds or Buddhist backgrounds, one of the things that's

very hard for people, especially coming from outside of Canada, is that many people from a Muslim

or Hindu or Buddhist background think that Canada is Christian. Now, it is, in fact, case that Canada

has a Christendom heritage and was formed by Christendom. But in fact, what this text is saying

here is that there's, first of all, as you know, the majority of Christians never go to, the Canadians

never go to church at all. They might put on the census that they're Christians. And so they call

themselves Christians. But what this text is showing is that there's lots of people, even in churches,

that call themselves Christians. But in fact, when it says here that they're worldly people and devoid

of the Holy Spirit, it means that what they really are is from the world, not from Christ. And when it

says they're devoid of the Spirit, it means they aren't Christians. Because when you give your life to

Christ, when you call out to him that he will be your Savior and your Lord, the Holy Spirit, not only are

your sins forgiven, not only are you made right with God, but the Holy Spirit is given to you and

indwells you. And now you're his. Like, if you go back and look at the very, very beginning,

and it's not going to be there, you just have to listen. Or if you have your own Bible,

the second part of verse 1, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus

Christ. There's this idea that once you give your life to Christ, you're enwrapped in the love of God,

you're kept for Jesus, and implied later on as well, is that the Holy Spirit actually indwells you.

So what's going on here in the text? I have a very good friend who was a minister for a long time,

and he was a very, very, very, very fine man. And we used to have coffee together regularly.

And one of the things he would tell me, he was very gentle, and very soft-spoken, and very caring.

And sometimes those things got in his way when he had to tell somebody off.

Maybe there was somebody in a small group that were acting rudely, or somebody causing trouble

in the church, and it came time for him to tell them off. And because he was so consistently gentle,

and caring, and soft-spoken, he would come afterwards to me and say, you know, George,

I realized after I was driving home, I don't think they realized I was telling them off.

I think they thought I was talking about somebody else, or maybe even affirming them.

And he'd have to talk to them again. Sometimes he'd have to talk to them more than once,

for him finally to overcome his natural tendencies to be gentle and soft-spoken, and actually say,

actually, you're being a jerk, and you have to stop a little bit with the book of Jude.

Lots of people could read it. Many people could even think they agree with big parts of it.

But we're actually not really getting what's going on. So here's the first problem,

why it's hard for Canadians maybe to recognize what Jude is talking about.

If you go back and you look at, earlier on, six of the Old Testament examples that he gave.

Well, if you look at them, and you look at them from a Canadian's eyes,

so the Bible actually uses all of these six things as a way to understand what the problem is.

But you go back and you look at what happens to the Israelites after they are delivered from Egypt by God

and enter into the Promised Land.

Well, the problem they have, from God's point of view,

is they don't believe what he tells them, and then they worship idols.

Well, just think about it for a second here.

How do we as Canadians look at that?

What we actually see here is that they're very spiritual.

And they're very open-minded.

And they're very diverse.

And they're equitable.

And they're learning to think for themselves.

Well, that's actually not what Jude's trying to communicate.

And then if you look at the next story about angels who've become demons,

well, I mean, the problem is that these angelic beings see God perfectly.

And you could say, well, isn't that what you want to have is to see God perfectly?

And isn't it not, like, isn't, for our point of view, from a Canadian point of view,

a good thing to sort of ask some questions?

Okay, well, that's not what Jude's trying to get at in this story.

And then you look at the next story, which is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

And for the average Canadian, you'd want to say, well, actually, isn't the goal for people

to be able to choose their own sexualities and their own identity and to be sexually liberated

and free, to be their authentic sexual self and live that out, not only in private but in public?

Like, isn't that a good thing?

Well, okay, that's not exactly the point of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Or these aren't good examples.

They're supposed to be bad examples.

And then you go on and you use the example of Cain, which Jude does.

But once again, if you go and look at the story from a Canadian perspective and Canadian eyes,

Cain is a person who worships God.

He sacrificially gives of the fruit of the earth to worship God.

But then when God says that that's not the way to worship me, Cain gets mad.

But from a Canadian point of view, isn't that like a reasonable thing?

Like, here we are.

Like, don't you want to be spiritual?

Don't you want to worship?

Like, really?

You think it's all right just to be narrow-minded and say that your way of worshiping isn't right?

Like, we sort of sympathize with Cain.

Well, once again, that's not what Jude intended by using the story.

Very, very good example is Balaam.

Like, Balaam is like the Canadian.

If he was living today, he would have millions and millions and millions of followers.

He is like exactly what Canadians want to be like, many of them.

Because Balaam was a non-judgmental expert in many spiritualities.

That's what he was.

He was a guy you'd go to because he could navigate.

Okay, you have your system of understanding gods and goddesses and everything like that.

Like, I'm with you.

I'm with you, friend.

And you're having a problem.

And I can help you navigate what's going on with that system.

And then he meets another person.

And he has a different system of gods and goddesses and spells and spiritualities.

He says, I'm with you, friend.

And here's how you navigate those things to get what you want.

And then he meets another person with different sets of spells and spiritualities and idols and gods and goddesses.

And he says, I'm with you, friend.

And this is how you navigate all of these types of things.

And it doesn't even hurt that at the end of the day it's a ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

Because what isn't more popular to Canadians than be open-minded, spiritual, and make a whole pile of dough?

We've just described the Canadian spirit.

Well, once again, that's not actually why Jude uses it.

It's supposed to be a bad example, not a good example.

And then you look at the very, very final example.

And the final example he uses from the Old Testament is the example of Korah.

Well, okay, George, what's the problem with that?

Good grief.

He's Jewish.

He's a Levite.

He's involved with temple worship.

Like, aren't those good things from the Old Testament's point of view?

Like being an expert in his own tradition?

I don't understand why God got mad at him.

Okay, well, one moment.

You sort of missed the point.

Jude's not trying to make those types of points.

There's another problem.

And I can illustrate this.

If I was to hand out, we were all to turn this into a bit of a retreat day,

and I was to hand out a piece of paper,

and I said, just take 10 minutes, just 10 minutes of quiet,

and I want you to write down, don't show anybody else,

just show down, write down some of the things that you've done wrong

since last Sunday.

Okay.

And then maybe, you know, one of the people talks to me,

he said, well, actually, George,

I couldn't think of anything to put down on the paper.

But when we think of that person, we'd say, come on, really?

In fact, I could just imagine if I did that,

and Louise said, listen, I can put five things on,

write easily without even thinking about it.

And any one of your kids or your neighbors

could put down a couple of things, right?

We wouldn't believe that, that there's nothing from last week.

So here's the other problem.

When we hear this word of ungodly,

one of the problems is that people who are godly,

and I'm going to define what godly means in a moment,

every single person who's godly

lives an imperfect Christian life.

And if you are that one

that you don't think you could put a single thing down

that you've done wrong,

or a good that you failed to do from last week,

in fact, we would probably wonder

whether you're in fact a Christian,

or if you're just a raging narcissist

who likes to use Christian language.

So the problem is, there's a second problem,

is it's hard to look at these examples,

and even thinking of what scoffing means,

and all of that type of stuff,

and how to recognize it.

And the worry is that we think

it's talking about us in some ways,

because, you know, one of the things

the Holy Spirit does is not only

start to move you to believe the promises of God,

and have the gospel become more real to your heart,

but also to convict you of sin.

And so you're aware of your imperfections,

your lack of following Christ.

So, what is he saying about the ungodly?

And what does he mean by talking about,

if you go back to verses 14 and 15,

15 in particular,

about them talking harshly,

or defiantly,

and what does scoffing,

and all of those things mean?

Well, here's what ungodly means,

and I should have put it down as a point,

I apologize for not doing that.

The ungodly lead you away

from the person, presence, power,

words, and finished work of Christ.

The ungodly are leading you away,

influencing you away

from the person of Jesus,

Jesus' presence,

Jesus' power,

Jesus' words,

and Jesus' finished work upon the cross.

That's what the ungodly influencers do.

And they can do it

with profound mystical experiences,

with profound,

with what we think of superficially

as profound insights from depth psychology,

with being able to articulate

the wisdom of the world

in the Canadian cultural story

with great persuasiveness.

But at the end of the day,

what's happening is

you're less concerned with who Jesus is,

you're less concerned

with his presence in your life,

you're less concerned

with his power,

his grace,

his power in your life,

you're less concerned

with his actual words that he said,

and you're actually less concerned

with his finished work

upon the cross.

So what is the godly?

What's implied then?

If that's what the ungodly influences are,

then who are the godly?

What is the godly?

The godly are pressing into

and becoming grounded in

and being drawn to

and being led into

the person,

presence,

power,

words,

and finished work of Christ.

By Jude's definition,

I am godly.

And it's not a contradiction

for me to say,

in Jude's definition here,

I am trying to be a godly pastor.

And I'm also here to tell you,

I'm not going to tell you

what they are,

but when it comes time

in the service

to confess my sins,

I have things to confess.

That I have to take

the top three.

The top three

that hit my conscience.

Right?

The godly,

contending for the faith,

is going to be,

in fact,

that's what you're going to see

when you look at the end

when he talks about

the shape of responding

to the problem

and the promise of responding

to the problem,

is that you understand

that you're pressing into

and you're becoming

grounded in

and you're becoming

drawn by

and you're being led

into

who Jesus is,

his presence,

his power,

his words,

and his finished work.

So here, friends,

are where I have to say

some sobering words.

Now, just before I read

this list of four things,

I want to especially

assure those

who are watching online

that my things

I'm about to say

are not political points.

and they're definitely

not an us for them,

us versus them points,

which I'll explain

why in a moment.

So here's what

I want to tell you.

A church

which does

same-sex marriages

or flies pride flags

or describes themselves

as gay positive

or walks in prayer

in pride parades

are ungodly influencers.

influencers.

A church

which celebrates

trans

gender

movement

and changes

are ungodly

influencers.

A church

which supports

abortion on demand

are ungodly

influencers.

A church

which supports

medically assisted

dying

or euthanasia.

They are

ungodly

influencers.

That's

what Jude

is getting at.

I could give

other examples.

I'll pick

the four

biggest ones

which are relevant

for Ottawa

in 2024.

Why is this

not an us

versus them

thing?

I'm not saying

necessarily

every single

part,

but you

think of

our church

and the

people

who have

been part

of our

church

over the

years.

There have

been people

who are

same-sex

attracted.

There are

people who

are same-sex

attracted.

And there are

people in our

congregation

who have had

abortions or

supported abortions

and probably

have been

supportive of

euthanasia.

and our

people who

struggle with

thinking that

they are in

the wrong

body.

That's why

it's not an

us versus

them issue.

It's not a

political issue.

Jude's not

talking politics.

Why are

these ungodly

influencers?

It's because of

the clarity of

the Bible.

the Bible is

very clear in

its teaching

that God is

the creator of

human beings

and he created

human beings as

biological males

and biological

females.

And part of

our very design

and part of

the very

structure of

reality is

that some

who are

biologically male

and some

who are

biologically female

would enter

into holy

matrimony.

and that

sexual knowing

and sexual

stimulation is

reserved for

a biological

male married

to a

biological female.

And we

believe as a

freeing truth.

I am not

embarrassed about

this.

I'll tell you

more about it

in a second.

But because

God has

designed us

and created

us to either

be biologically

male or

biologically female,

he's also

made biological

males to

learn to be

men and

biological females

to learn to be

women.

And there is

no lasting

peace for

those who

have a hard

time fitting

into the

cultural stereotypes

of man and

woman in

Canada.

That's not

always a bad

thing.

There can be

very disordered

ways of

understanding

those things.

But there is

no peace for

any person who

doesn't feel at

home in their

body unless

that peace is

moving towards

being at

peace, at

peace and

at home with

the body

that you

have.

And the

Bible is

very clear

that you

do not

take innocent

human life.

And we

can't give

up on this

because, you

see, God

designed us

for this.

It is our

destiny.

It is all

part of us

appreciating that

we are creatures

who are made to

know our

creator.

And the same

things which you

use to support

these teachings

are the same

basis for

human rights

and human

integrity and

human glory.

Science and

the world and

evolution does

not teach you

that human

beings are

equal, does

not teach you

that human

beings have a

particular glory.

Those are

theological ideas

and they're

completely

interwoven with

what I just

said.

And you

cannot give

those things

up about the

sexuality issues

and about the

protection and

the dignity of

human life

without also

undermining human

rights and human

dignity and the

glory of what it

can mean to be a

human being.

And so we need

to take a stand

on these types of

things.

And for a

church, a

church to

deny these

things is a

church, they

might be way

nicer than us.

they might seem

to be way more

gentle, but

they are a

church which is

defying God and

speaking harshly

against him.

You see,

brothers and

sisters, you

see my friends,

a Christian

church cannot

bless what God

calls sin.

A Christian

church cannot

bless what God

calls sin.

you cannot

have a

blessed

euthanasia.

We are

called to

humbly

proclaim, you

know, Spurgeon

wonderfully said

about the

gospel, but it's

true of these

truths as well,

that all we

are is one

beggar telling

another beggar

where to find

bread and where

to find life.

God

is our

vocation in

Canada.

And if you

cannot bless

what God

calls sin,

then why is

Jude trying to

sell the problem

to us?

The problem is

for we as

Canadians, we

want to say,

well, you

know, just

want to get

along and

shrug our

shoulders and

you know, to

each their

own and we

don't want to

be divisive and

we don't want to

do all of those

types of things.

We don't want to

be sort of like

St. Albans,

I mean, about

a church like

us that was

very, very

divisive.

You know, you

left the Anglican

Church of Canada

and all of those

types of things

in George, like,

you shouldn't be

talking about

other people, you

should be talking

about yourself,

you're very, very

divisive.

No, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no,

no, no.

If God

pronounces woe,

which he does

just before this,

the part we read

today, you cannot

shrug your

shoulders.

If God, just

as you can't

bless what God

calls sin, if

God pronounces

woe, you

cannot shrug your

shoulders, you

cannot say it's

not important, you

need to act.

Just to be

clear, we are

not divisive.

Very simple

analogy.

If you have a

close friend and

she's married to

her husband and

she finds out that

the husband has

been sleeping

around with many

different women,

and if she

divorces him, who

broke the

marriage?

not the

woman who

called for the

divorce, but

for the man

who had the

affairs.

And if the

Anglican Church

of Canada wanted

to defy God,

bless what he

said was sin,

they divided

the church,

but we had to

take action.

But here's the

thing which this

opens up the

door to the

godly, about

what it means to

be godly, and

just the

wonderful, why

why we, the

gospel humbles

us, doesn't make

us proud, and we

need to deal with

these things, but

here's what is so

implicit in all of

this, and it's

going to be made

clear when we go

to the, how to

begin to deal with

the problem in

the next sermon,

and then the

hope of dealing

with the problem

in the final

sermon, which

I'll have to do

after Easter.

Becoming godly is

not my

accomplishment.

Becoming godly is

not my

accomplishment, and

it's not yours.

From first to

last, it's an

accomplishment by

God.

God died for the

ungodly, that he

might godly make

us be.

Sort of

paraphrasing an

old hymn.

God himself died

for the ungodly,

that you and I,

that sort of he

might godly make

us be.

The creator died

for his fallen

creation, that we

might be reconciled

to our creator, and

to begin to be at

home in the real

creation.

creation.

The images of the

gospel of Jesus

being a ransom for

us is an image of

Jesus doing something

for us and

transferring us from

slavery to freedom

in his kingdom.

If you go back and

you read Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, there's

the image of you

put your faith and

trust in Jesus, and

he transfers you from

the kingdom of

darkness, the kingdom

of the ungodly, and

transfers you into his

kingdom of light and of

godliness, he does

that work.

He does that work, and

only he can do it.

And every single human

being needs to hear this

profound, liberating

truth.

And we don't, we

shouldn't be, the world

will want us to be

embarrassed and ashamed

about it.

brothers and sisters,

this gospel is the

hope of the world.

It is the hope of the

world.

Christ is your hope for

glory.

There is no other hope.

His finished work is

your only hope.

If you hope in your

own finished work, there

is no hope.

In a couple of weeks,

we're going to have the

seven last words from the

cross, and I'll say this

in closing.

And in John's second

to last word, Jesus

pronounces, it is

finished.

And as you probably

know, that can also be

translated as, it is

accomplished.

And I take hold of

that.

I invite you to stand.

Victor is going to, in a

moment, lead us in

intercession.

I think Victor is the

one to be doing that.

And as he makes his way

up here, let's just bow

our heads in prayer.

Father,

it can be hard for us to

recognize what the book

of Jude is talking

about.

We can go to a church

and a minister.

He doesn't seem like he's

a scoffer or a grumbler

until we realize that he's

scoffing at your word.

He's grumbling against

your word.

He is to find your word.

And it can be hard to see

and hard to recognize.

And Father, we ask that you

help us to take these

warnings of Jude to heart.

And help us to hunger,

Father, to hear what he

says next, your word says

next about the shape of our

dealing with those, Father,

who are ungodly influencers

in the church.

And the hope of dealing

with them and the hope of

being in your church, Father.

Father, just Father, we ask

that you would so ground us in

who Jesus is and so draw us by

who he is and that we would so

stand in this and be so open

to the Holy Spirit that we

might bring you glory.

We might be unashamed of the

gospel.

We can speak winsomely and

clearly and when necessary,

take courageous stands.

But Father, we ask that you would

help these words to deeply form

us.

And we ask these things in the

name of Jesus, your Son and our

Savior.

Amen.