Episode Transcript
We're going to be back in the book of Jude.
We'll get everybody set up here.
You got it?
Yeah.
Back there on the string there, you know.
All right.
Little bit more.
But out there, Jude.
We're going to be on the verse 7.
Okay.
I'm going to start up here in verse 4 and read all the way back down to 7.
That'll keep some context.
All right.
So we left off at verse 7 in the book of Jude last week where Jude has been putting us in remembrance of the consequences that are suffered to undoubtedly people when it comes time to be judged.
To put us in remembrance, I'm going to start reading back in verse 4 and stop at the end of verse 7.
And the end of verse 7 is what we're going to pick up over that dialogue.
So verse 4 in the book of Jude says, "For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into the civiousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward, destroyed them that believed not.
And the angels was kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation.
He had preserved in everlasting chains under darkness and to the judgment of the great day.
Even as Solomon and the Moira," verse 7, "and the cities about them in life manner, giving themselves over to foreign occasion and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
Jude says, "Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
The word "suffering" comes from the Greek word "hu-ico," "hup-eko," "hup-eko," as in "hup-eko."
It is spelled H-U-P-E-C-H-O.
And it is actually two words, it is two, three words combined to make that one word.
And it means to hold oneself under.
That is, endure with patience.
At one time, these people, from Solomon and the Moira, from verse 4, all the way down, all the ungodly people that Jude has been talking about, at one time, these people had a choice.
They could have chosen to deny ungodliness and worldly lust.
They could have chosen to deny self and the lust of the flesh.
They could have chosen to live a godly life.
You might say, "Well, Brother Dove, they just didn't know any better."
They didn't know right from wrong, or maybe even they didn't know the difference between evil and good.
Brother Dove is going to tell you that I don't believe that for one split second.
When God creates us, there is a yearning inside of us that can only be filled by God.
It cannot be filled by anything other than God, no matter the amount of alcohol, sex, or drugs, or anything else we choose to fill that yearning with.
And yes, I said choose.
All of those things are choices we make.
And it's time we take responsibility for our choices instead of calling them addictions.
Now, I don't usually, I don't like to use myself for an example.
I would rather talk about God.
But sometimes I believe that God has spared my life so that I can use it to teach from sometimes.
You are looking at a man who chose that lifestyle for probably 40 years of my life.
When I chose to fill that yearning with what satisfies that yearning, those so-called addictions went away.
When I chose to run from God, when I chose to run to God, excuse me, instead of away from God, my life changed.
And I'm here to tell you, if you choose to seek God, you will find Him.
He was not lost.
I was.
And He will do the same for you as He has for me.
I held myself under that lifestyle.
I chose to suffer that lifestyle.
Nobody forced me to live that way.
Thank God for His patience and thank God for His loving me through all of my bad choices I have made in my life.
God could have took me out at any second.
And I wouldn't look straight to hell.
I would have been joining these people, these ungodly men that Jude is talking about.
Thank God for His patience with me.
And if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you need to thank God for His patience with you.
I'm going to tell you, folks, one day that patience will run out.
It's not forever.
Thank God for His patience and thank God for His loving me through all my bad choices that I have made in my life.
1 John 4 and 19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us."
I am so blessed to be standing here today to be able to tell you that.
And I believe every bit of it.
All of these ungodly people that Jude is writing about had a choice.
They chose to live ungodly.
They knew the difference.
I knew the difference back when I was doing all the things I should have been doing.
The problem was, like these ungodly people, I denied it.
Just like all these ungodly people, I rejected godliness.
Denying that yearning that can only be filled by God.
If you haven't accepted Christ as your Savior, you are doing the same thing and you are suffering.
You are holding yourself under.
And that is the choice that you are making.
No one is forcing you to choose to be ungodly.
The Apostle Paul asks in the second part of Galatians 5-7.
He says, "Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?"
In verse 8 he says, "This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you."
God tells us to be separate from the ungodly and to come out from among them.
Let's look at 2 Corinthians 6, verses 14-18.
2 Corinthians 6, verses 14-18.
2 Corinthians 6, verses 14-18.
"For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then we are all dead, and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but to him which died for them and rose again."
"Wherefore, henceforth know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation."
We are reconciled to God.
We are no more enemies through Christ Jesus.
That yearning to know God was there in all these ungodly people that Jude has been telling us about.
It is in me, and it is in you too.
Let's look at Titus 2, verses 11-14.
That's going to be the other one we have tomorrow, John.
Titus 2, 11-14.
"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men."
I'm going to read that again.
"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men."
Now ladies, that includes you too.
These folks knew right from wrong.
They knew evil from good.
"Teaching us that," verse 12, "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
When I didn't know Jesus Christ as my Savior, I denied godliness.
I partook in worldly lust.
I did not live soberly.
I did not live righteously.
I did not live godly in this present world.
It was the exact opposite.
Why?
Because I didn't know Christ as my Savior.
Folks, I'm telling you, once you put your faith in Christ, you change.
Things change.
Your life changes.
Your attitude changes.
Everything changes.
The Holy Spirit teaches us that denying, teaches us how to deny ungodliness and worldly lust.
And it teaches us how to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world.
This present world is going this way.
I was going with it.
Once I put my faith in Christ, the world keeps going that way.
Why?
Because it doesn't put its faith in Christ.
I put my faith in Christ.
Now I'm going against the world.
Woo!
I'm swimming this way.
Where the world's going that way, down that current, and it's going to an end, a bitter end.
I'm swimming upstream, fighting that stream every minute.
I'm going against it.
But I can do it thanks to God.
I can do it now.
All those years that I spent doing all those things that I was doing, that I shouldn't be doing, that people call addictions.
You know why they call addictions?
So you can give them some money to get this stuff treated.
God gives this for free.
God treats that stuff for free.
But it's a matter of you seeking the treatment.
I wasn't seeking the treatment.
When I came to the great position, I got to you.
So now I'm swimming against that current.
And verse 13 says, "Looking for that blessed hope, come Lord Jesus, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purifies Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
That's the difference right there.
When you're looking for that blessed hope, Jesus Christ, He changes everything.
He changes that want to go out and do all the things you were doing wrong before.
He changes that.
It makes you want to live Godly.
It's just a miracle.
It's one of God's miracles.
Now back in Jude, we said the word suffering meant to hold oneself under.
That is endure patience.
These people that Jude has been telling us about could have chosen to suffer the consequences of living filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
And when this life is over, go and live with our Creator for eternity.
But they chose to suffer the consequences to eternally suffer the vengeance of eternal fire.
You see folks, it's about the choice you make.
It's about the choice you make.
Where do you want to spend eternity?
Jude says that this is set forth for an example.
One of the definitions of the word example is an instance of something to be avoided, a warning.
You can either learn from this example or choose to deny it, but either way, Romans 14 verses 11-12 says, "For it is written, as I live, sayeth the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God, so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God."
I choose to bow my knee now, and I choose my advocate, Jesus the Christ, God's Son, to go between and give account for me when that time comes.
I have already chosen and my name is already written in the Lamb's Book of Life, setting me free from the wrath of God and eternal suffering from the vengeance of eternal fire.
Are you going to choose to give account to God, or are you going to choose to let Christ do all the talking?
One last version of the verse.
Joshua 24-15 says, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land he dwelled.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Thank you all for coming.
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this lesson, Lord, that you blessed us with, Father.
Lord, I just pray, Lord, that the saints were ever-fied, Father, and that the laws were pointed to you, Lord.
We just want them to know Christ, Father, we want them to know you, Father, and we pray, Lord, that they'll seek ye first in your kingdom, Lord, in your righteousness, Father.
Lord, we pray for those who are sick here today, that they're not here today to do the illness, Father.
Lord, we just thank you so much, Lord, for all that you do, Lord.
Thank you for another wonderful day that you blessed us with, Father.
We pray that you will be done in our lives, Lord.
You're perfect will be done in our lives.
Lord, we sure thank you for your word, Lord.
Thank you so much for your word, Father.
Lord, we pray, Lord, that people will read it, and that they will seek you, Lord.
What a blessing it is to know you, Lord.
Thank you for Jesus so much, Lord, to one who died for our sins, Father, Lord, that we might be saved.
In Jesus' name we pray, Lord, amen.
