THE POWER OF SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT (PART 2)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Jude 1:20-23

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Jude, the half brother of Jesus, gets set to close out his letter to fellow Christian believers, we find him offering seven exhortations that reveal to us the power of spiritual encouragement. In yesterday’s message, we looked at the first three of these urgings and today we will conclude this short series by examining the last four found in verses 22 and 23.

1. Be merciful to those who doubt.

Life is hard, sometimes very hard. We can find ourselves in circumstances where our foundation of faith can be rocked and we can end up in a Job-like environment, caught up in the midst of our hardship and wondering where God is and how He is working within it.

So yes, Christian believers, both weak and strong in faith, can be taken to a place where doubt might happen. When it does, those who are near them, those they may feel comfortable enough to share their feelings with, aren’t to judge or condemn them for their uncertainties within their faith. Rather, as we see in this exhortation, we are to show mercy “to those who doubt”, listening and allowing them to express their feelings and process what they are going through. For it’s there, where we create an environment of safe and open dialogue, that the power of spiritual encouragement can begin. It allows us to validate the other person’s feelings and allow the Holy Spirit to guide to lead us in the best way to provide caring and love for our brother or sister believer.

2. Seek to save others.

As we used to say in the military when I served, this is a “daily one”, simply meaning that it’s to be on our daily Christian to-do list. This is because Jesus, the One whom which we are saved through belief, tasked us as His disciples to do this:

“...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20

Note two things about this.

First, it’s not optional. Jesus didn’t say, “I think you should go and make disciples”; rather, He said to “go and make”, and that’s just what we should be doing.

Secondly, this isn’t something that is to be treated as if we should do it when convenient. We are told to “go and make disciples” and this applies to every single thing we do in the course of any one day.

At work, we should openly talk about our faith and the hope we have in Jesus with others. If we’re truly walking with Him and the Holy Spirit, we will stand out, set apart by the holiness we gain through our faith, and trust me when I say that people take notice and want to hear more about what makes you do different from the world and its ways.

You can do this at work. You can do it with conversations with your family and friends. And you can do it in chance encounters like when you are shopping in a store, especially when waiting in line to check out.

The point is that the Lord presents us with ample opportunities every day to seek to save others by pointing them to Jesus. We just need to take advantage of every one of them to His glory and the salvation of the lost.

3. Show mercy in general.

This is something I think a lot of people struggle with and it easily happens, even to the strongest believers. I say this because there are so many people in the world who seem to make it a mission to do wrong to others. Giving into sin and therefore directed by Satan, anyone can become a victim and no one likes that experience, at least no one I have ever met.

Given this and how we will almost certainly be mistreated and victimized by others through the course of life, usually many times over, the surface challenge becomes dealing with the way we have been abused but it has an underlying spiritual test attached to it and that is the matter as to how we should respond to being done wrong by someone else.

This is why this guidance mentioned in Jude as well as many other places in the scriptures is so valuable. For if we’re not careful, the same Satan that led someone to do bad to you will in turn come into your heart and lead you to do likewise, and we can’t afford to let that happen.

Jesus sure didn’t.

For when we look to the cross and see the very sinless, innocent Son of the God Most High, crucified and suffering as He bears the sins of all mankind on the way to death while being mocked and ridiculed by those on the ground who didn’t know Him, we don’t find Him beckoning legions of angels from the heavens to destroy those who were heaping derision and disrespect on Him. Rather, He makes the following merciful request to His Father:

“...forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

I have always referred to this as the measuring stick for forgiveness in the scriptures for if Jesus could do it while being murdered on the cross, asking for pardon for those who either put Him there or endorsed it, then my brothers and sisters, we can forgive and show mercy to anyone ourselves.

4. Have a sense of fear over sin and its effect on people.

Every day, the news lets us know that sin and its associated evils are alive and well. We’re bombarded with story after story of atrocious acts carried out on others, often blatantly inhumane in nature. In fact, this happens so much that I am afraid that most people, including those who are faithful Christian believers, become numb to all the atrocities they hear about.

As we see in this final exhortation and spiritual encouragement, this indifference to the wickedness of the world runs counter to the way that Jesus disciples are supposed to respond. For as we read here in Jude, Christians are to feel fear, a healthy fear grounded in respect over what sin can do to anyone. This fearful consideration for sin is intended to lead a person to despise every transgression, “hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh”, corrupted flesh that gives into ways that dishonor the God who made them, the God who reigns over them and punishes those who give into the desires of the enemy.

We’ve read about this sure judgment that can be imposed on anyone who adopts ungodly behavior throughout this letter of Jude. The question is, “How will we respond?” Will we become so desensitized to sin that we treat it as just something that happens and isn’t preventable or will we as Christian believers take a daily stand to speak out against the evil behavior we see in our world, loathing it at the same level as God Himself?

I think the answer is obvious. There’s no other option than to ensure that we are a constant adversary, partnering with our Lord against the works of the devil. For if Christians don’t do it, who will?

In today’s message, we add four more specific exhortations to the three we covered yesterday. Taken as a sum, they show Christian believers the power found in spiritual encouragement and my prayer for us all, is that we make a renewed effort to exercise all that we’re being called to do here. For when we do, we can’t help but make our homes, our communities, our workplaces, our churches, and our world overall a better place, doing so through following the lead of Christ, the Father God who sent Him to save us, and the Holy Spirit who provides us daily guidance and direction as we live this thing called life.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE POWER OF SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT (PART 1)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Jude 1:20-23

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

For most of the Jude’s letter to fellow Christian believers, we find him invested in warning against the impact of ungodly people on the church and the sure judgment of God that would come on them for choosing their own sinful desires over His. But as he finishes out his correspondence, we find him first exhorting his brothers and sisters in Christ toward behaviors that would be pleasing in the sight of their Lord and in step with the Jesus they followed, before closing with as beautiful benediction that will form the foundation for the last message from this letter.

Let’s look at the exhortations now as we see the power of spiritual encouragement at work. They are found in verses 20 through 23 of chapter 1.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Through these words, we can see seven specific recommendations that are even demands in a few places. We’ll look at across two messages, covering them one by one with three today and the other four tomorrow. And we’ll receive them today just as the believers did more than 2,000 years ago, as these exhortations translate through the ages and transcend human history.

1. Build yourselves up in your most holy faith.

I think the most important word here is “build” and I say this around the truth that every single Christian believer is a work in progress. None of us have reached the point of righteous perfection and that’s spiritually encouraging good news. It means that we have an opportunity each day to become a better version of ourselves in Christ than we were the day before.

To that end, we can start every single day with a simple prayer:

Dear Lord, thank You for the gift of life and the opportunity to live and love and learn with You leading the way through the Holy Spirit. I offer myself to you as a living sacrifice and submit myself to do whatever you would see fit to bring the Gospel to others and further advance Your kingdom here on earth. I pray this knowing you will use me for Your purposes that are always good and look forward to fulfilling them in Your precious and holy name. Amen.

When we do this, when we surrender our will for His, then we can expect that our holy faith will be built up, edified and fortified by the mighty power of our Lord Most High.

2. Pray in the Holy Spirit.

You know, the preceding prayer was a perfect lead in to this second exhortation, the invitation to pray to the Lord “in the Holy Spirit”, a Holy Spirit who will always be there to help us be heard and even give us the words when we don’t know what to say. Here’s what we read in the eighth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans:

...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Vv. 26-27

We also find Jesus telling His disciples this in the Gospel of Luke, letting them know that in a time when they are up against things and don’t know what to say, they can always count on the intercession of the Holy Spirit to enter in to help them in their time of need.

“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” 12:11-12

No matter what our circumstances, we can turn to the Holy Spirit in prayer and know He is there to help us through in accordance with God’s will.

I don’t know about you but this is a deep encouragement for me as a believer of Christ Jesus.

3. Keep yourself in God’s love.

Our final exhortation in today’s message is centered on staying within the love of the God Most High.

What’s the best way to do that?

By following this greatest commandment, spoken by Jesus when asked about it. He said:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30

Here we find that the way to keep yourself in God’s love is to love Him first with every fiber of your being.

With all your heart.

With all your soul.

With all your mind.

And with all your strength.

When we truly do this, when we love the Lord our God with every part of who we are, then we become immersed in Him and His love, saturated with a perfect devotion and compassion found nowhere else.

I don’t know about you but this is the kind of love I want so I can share that love with others.

In other words, the power of spiritual encouragement that comes from being fully invested in my Lord allows me to then extend that power to others. The perfect gift from the perfect Giver gets shared, one Christian to another, and as a result, life becomes blessed, joyful, and glory-filled, just as God intends for it to be.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

JUDGMENT REMINDERS (PART 9)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of His holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Jude 1:14-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Over the past eight messages, we have found Jude, the writer of this letter that bears his name, warning the Christian church against ungodly people who were in their midst. We have covered the character traits of the ungodly and how they are destined for God’s judgment and punishment, the latter the highlight of today’s passage and the final message in this series, Judgment Reminders. Here’s what we read in verses 14 and 15:

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of His holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Of interest here is that the quote used by Job is from a writing that isn’t in the Bible.

The First Book of Enoch was written around first century B.C. and is included in a series of writings referred to as the Apocrypha. Some bibles you may see on the market might include this as an appendix to the established 66 books of the Old and New Testaments.

But here’s the thing. Not all of what one finds in the Apocrypha is accurate or trustworthy. If it was, God would have included it within the Word He created and inspired. In fact, most Bible scholars believe that much of the letter wasn’t written by Enoch at all.

With this, then the question is, why would a quote from the First Book of Enoch find its way into the perfectly true scriptures, words that are God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17)?

The answer to the question is that although the Apocrypha which includes this First Book of Enoch are inaccurate as a whole, there was at least one statement that was valid and that’s the prophecy we find in these two verses in the Book of Jude regarding the judgment of the ungodly. If it weren’t true, God would not have permitted it in His Word.

Okay, so who was Enoch?

We definitely know he is in the scriptures and the Old Testament Book of Genesis. For in our passage today, we read where he was the seventh from Adam, a statement confirmed in Genesis, chapter 5.

There we find the genealogy line from Adam which progressed from him to Seth, then Enosh, then Kenan, Mahalalel, and Jared before we get to Enoch. Seven men in the line of Adam so we affirm and validate that Enoch is who Jude states he is.

So this brings us to the prophecy, one grounded in the sure judgment of God on those who rejected and, as a result, disrespected the Sovereign Maker and Master of all creation. Speaking on behalf of the Lord, Enoch said this:

“See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of His holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Of course, the Lord in this prophecy is none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God who sits in power at His right hand after having been given “all authority in Heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). The scriptures are clear that while He came to earth the first time to be its Savior, His second coming will be as Judge and we see this highlighted clearly in this prophecy from God through Enoch.

The imagery here is both awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time. For picture for a moment, Jesus descending from Heaven along with “thousands upon thousands” of “His holy” angels, a divine force coming to “judge everyone” and “convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness” as well as every defiant word an ungodly sinner may have “spoken against Him”.

Friends, no mere human can withstand such an onslaught and all the ungodly who have not believed in Jesus as Savior should tremble in fear over what’s to come. For after the judgment and condemnation will be a sentence of eternal darkness, torment, and damnation in Hell. That’s the future of anyone who is not in Christ at His second coming.

Now, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The saved sinner still has a past record of wrongs that more likely than not may have included ungodliness and defiant words against God.

So do they get a pass?

Not if they have failed to repent of the sins they have committed. In those instances, judgment can come but that judgment will not remove the Christian’s future destiny in Heaven. For as we are reminded in the first chapter of Romans, chapter 8, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. They are justified by the redeeming work of Jesus on the cross, a redeeming work that bore the sins of all mankind and allowed the punishment that every sinner deserved to fall on Him.

The Gospel truth is that anyone who has believed in Christ Jesus will be pardoned and gain their part of the blessed inheritance of Heaven, the very Kingdom of the God Most High.

So what is your destiny today? Where would you end up if Jesus was to return with His thousands upon thousands of holy angels to bring judgment on the ungodly?

If you’re not a Jesus believer, please do yourself a favor and surrender your life to Him today. You’ll never regret that decision, now or forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

JUDGMENT REMINDERS (PART 8)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Jude 1:17-19

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Over the past seven messages, we have found Jude, the half brother of Jesus, warning the first century Christian church about those who were ungodly in their midst, those who may be hanging out within the congregation but had no intent of surrendering their will to the way of the Lord. And as we have seen, Jude has called out many character traits of these ungodly people to make them easily identifiable to someone in Christ. He has also made it clear that the ungodly would face God’s judgment and punishment for rejecting and disrespecting Him.

Today, in the penultimate message of this series, we see that the plight of the ungodly would not stop in the early years of the Christian church but rather range all the way to the “last times”, those times preceding Jesus’ promised return to judge all creation, sending unbelievers to Hell while ushering His followers into the new Heaven and earth where they would abide with Him and His Father in the glory of a New Jerusalem. Let’s look again at these words found in verses 17 through 19:

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Here, we find Jude reminding his “dear friends, his brothers and sisters in Christ about words spoken by Jesus’ apostles. They warned about future “scoffers” who would “follow their own ungodly desires” which is a sinful quality we have already read earlier in this letter. For the ungodly have no interest in carrying out the desires of God. This is because their wants are more important to them as well as more important to Satan who breeds this mindset within their hearts and minds.

Given this, I think we can see how the ungodly can divide a church because their self centered motivations run completely counter to the self sacrificing ways of Jesus, the ways that Christians adopt and model in their own lives.

Further, while the behavior of the ungodly is driven by their “mere natural instincts”, the Christian believer is led by the power of the Holy Spirit who conveys the way and will of God to them. This Spirit is obviously absent in the lives of the ungodly because to obtain it, one must believe in Jesus and that’s something that an unbeliever has refused to do.

In saying this, we do see a glimmer of hope found in this passage. For anyone who is ungodly sits on the brink of experiencing God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love. They are right on the edge of a sure everlasting salvation that rescues them from the eternal damnation of Hell.

All they need to do is believe in Jesus as their Savior.

That’s it. The ungodly can become godly just like that.

If you’ve been reading this series and realized where you are in relation to your eternal destiny, holding a ticket to Hell by stonewalling God so you can satisfy your own whims (which are really the whims of the devil), then I urge you to change your future now because once you die, it’s too late and no one knows when their last day on earth will be.

Believe in Jesus, change your identity from being ungodly to being a Christian and child of God, and experience the peace and hope that comes in knowing you are saved and assured a place in Heaven.

This is my prayer for every single unbelieving person in our world today and I ask my brothers and sisters in Christ to join me in this prayer, not just today but every day after.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

JUDGMENT REMINDERS (PART 7)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

Jude 1:16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

What do the ungodly look like?

If we don’t know after studying the Epistle of Jude, we never will because this letter spends a lot of time warning Christian believers about being effected by those within their church who were dead in their faith and actually rejected God within their hearts.

Today, we still see this problem happening in churches around our world and this makes the words of the Lord found in Jude just as applicable now as they were when they were first written.

Over the past six days, we have closely examined this important part of the Word of God and we still have three messages remaining, beginning with today’s that centers on five other character traits found in those who willingly choose to close God out of their lives. Let’s look at each of them now.

1. Ungodly people love to complain.

These people are grumblers...

Now, we all have been guilty of complaining. There are plenty of things that we can find disfavor with.

Some of these instances are justified and right. They are protests against things that run counter to the Word of God and His expectations for living.

For example, we should be speaking out against the willful killing of unborn children through abortion. God said there is to be no murder, no exceptions despite the efforts of ungodly people to try and make you think otherwise, people who would convince you that a person has a right to do what they want to do with their body, despite God being the Maker and Master of all. That there is any debate on this at all will show you how Satan has gotten a grip on the people of God’s creation and turned them from His ways, bringing them into the ranks of the ungodly.

These God rejecting people fail to complain about what they should and instead complain about anything that disrespects and dishonors the Lord who reigns sovereign over them, the Lord who can bring judgment and destruction in a moment’s notice. They will be the first ones to not be satisfied with anything, never truly appreciating what God has done for them. Rather, they allow Satan to use dissatisfaction as a weapon to keep them away from the God they need to be faithful to, a God who always ready to forgive and welcome back the repentant sinner, restoring them to His favor and blessings.

The true children of God praise Him and live lives marked by thanksgiving. The ungodly will be the exact opposite, consistent grumblers who allow us to recognize them easily.

2. Ungodly people always can find fault in someone.

These people are...faultfinders.

We all draw up opinions on others. I don’t think anyone can truly say they haven’t.

But here’s the thing.

Who are we to judge anyone?

That right belongs to God and God alone, and we saw this punctuated earlier in this letter when God’s archangel, Michael, refused to rebuke Satan and condemn him for slander, instead proclaiming:

“The Lord rebuke you!” v.9

God, the only One who is to judge, sent His only Son Jesus to save mankind from their sins and that Son will be sent back a second time to judge all creation. Here’s what Jesus had to say about those who might decide to find fault in another:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5

The ungodly wouldn’t know about this teaching of Christ and even if they knew it, their unfaithful hearts would refuse to embrace it. For they are people who love to find fault in other people for it is easier than having to look in the mirror and see the faults in themselves.

The truth of the matter is that all are sinners who have fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). We are all inherently flawed and helpless to become the kind of people we need to be without believing in God and allowing Him to lead us, something the ungodly refuse to do. This is a perfect lead in to number 3.

3. Ungodly people follow their own evil desires.

...they follow their own evil desires.

When a person chooses to deny God in their lives, they invite Satan in and he wants nothing more than to convince someone that their desires matter more than God’s.

The devil would make someone feel it’s completely appropriate to live in whatever way they want as long as it feels good to them.

Sexual immorality?

Go for it. No limits there.

Intentionally doing things to harm others?

Do something unto them before they do something unto you.

Engaging in drunkenness or illicit drug use?

If it helps you deal with life, no problem.

Saying whatever you want whether slander, gossip, lying, or swearing?

Loosen that tongue and say whatever you want. You have total freedom of speech.

I could go on and on but you get the point. The ungodly see no restraints on what they do, fully accepting and carrying out Satan’s “anything goes” agenda.

4. Ungodly people boast about themselves.

...they boast about themselves.

This makes sense because anyone who refuses God does so in order to make their life all about themselves. And with this, anything they accomplish is followed with self glorification.

I gained a promotion. I got a new car or a new home or anything else. I won an award or some other major accomplishment like a sports championship or other competition.

I. I. I.

This is what you find with the ungodly. It’s all about me.

Conversely, the Christian believer is to boast on the Lord and on Him alone. You may recall these wonderful words spoken by the psalmist in the 48th Psalm:

In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise Your name forever. v.8

This is followed by this passage on the same matter found later in Psalm 52, words directed toward Saul, the first king of Israel who turned ungodly in the latter part of his reign:

Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?

You who practice deceit, your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor.

You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.

You love every harmful word, you deceitful tongue!

Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin. Vv. 1-5a

Two spiritual attitudes. One, an attitude centered on God which brings His favor, and the other, a sinfully self centered one which is a disgrace that leads to ruin.

5. Ungodly people are deceitful in the way they deal with others.

...they...flatter others for their own advantage.

Satan is the master of deception (John 8:44) and since the ungodly are under his direction, it only goes to figure that they will model his fraudulent nature in their dealings with others.

In this final character flaw exposure found in this passage, we learn about the insincerity of praise coming from those who don’t allow God to be a part of their way of living. For any compliment from someone ungodly comes with an underlying motive, one that will always be self serving.

A good example would be in people looking for intimacy in a relationship with someone else.

Let’s say a woman is out in a social setting and is approached by a man who spends a lot of time heaping compliment after compliment on her. She begins to feel like he truly sees her as someone of value to him, someone she is really looking for in her life. But unfortunately, she is falling prey to a man who has become a master manipulator. He has no interest in the woman beyond making her his latest sexual conquest, someone he can use for his own satisfaction and gain before dumping her and moving onto someone else.

Sound familiar?

It’s happening every single day somewhere and unfortunately, it’s been happening since biblical times.

The call here is to exercise caution when someone is flattering you in some way. We should always be wary of whether or not the commending is legitimate or counterfeit and really self serving in disguise.

In today’s message, we find the Word of God adding five more ways to identify the ungodly when they are in our midst. But they also serve as a reminder to Christian believers as to ways we shouldn’t be adopting in our own lives. For no follower of Jesus should allow themselves to live in any other way that is counter to the way He lived, ways that Satan is trying to draw us to through the work of the ungodly who are under his control, ways that ultimately will lead to God's judgment and punishment.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

JUDGMENT REMINDERS (PART 6)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.

Jude 1:12-13 NLT

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we have seen over the past five messages, a large part of the Epistle of Jude is focused on warning his readers, fellow Christian believers, about the infiltration of the ungodly into their ranks. This warning goes into great detail regarding the character traits of these people who dishonor God by not considering His will for their lives, always placing their own desires first. And given that Jude, the half brother of Jesus, uses a lot of references to events and figures in the Old Testament, it is believed that his audience was largely Jewish converts to Christianity.

As we come to today’s passage in what is the sixth message in this series titled “Judgment Reminders”, we find Jude continuing to call out the ungodly with a list of comparisons, much like we saw in yesterday’s message. The difference here is that the associations are with things and not people. Look again at his words found in verses 12 and 13.

When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.

How can one get an understanding of what the ungodly are like?

Let’s break down these words into the separate comparisons found within.

1. The ungodly are like reefs that can shipwreck.

When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you.

When ships get closer to the coastline, they need to always be wary of dangers that can lurk under the water’s surface and one of those dangers is reefs. These days, nautical charts used for navigation have reefs marked out and identified but no such resource was available in biblical times. And so unfortunately, more than a few ships found themselves striking reefs and destroying their vessels.

Here, Jude is making the point that the ungodly can often disguise themselves within a Christian body, lurking under the surface undetected while entering into fellowship with true believers. Ultimately, once a relationship is formed through fellowship, a Christian’s reputation can be damaged once the ungodly person’s sinfulness is exposed. Call it a spiritual shipwreck caused by assumed guilt through association.

2. The ungodly are like shameless shepherds who only care for themselves.

They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain.

A shepherd is solely responsible to care for the sheep in their flock. That’s it.

True shepherds are selfless, dedicating themselves to ensuring their sheep are nurtured and protected, even willing to put themselves in harm’s way in the process. And as we find Jesus sharing in one of his parables, legitimate shepherds see everyone of the sheep within the flock as important, so much so that they would be willing to leave 99 sheep behind to seek one that has gone astray (Matthew 18:12-14).

The ungodly share no qualities of these real shepherds. They shamelessly care only for themselves and their own gain so no one should ever expect that they will go out of their way to do anything of benefit for another, much like a cloud would just blow over the land and not provide the needed gift of rain.

3. At their core, the ungodly are dead in their faith.  

They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots.

At the heart of the harvest season, trees bear wonderful fruit that nourishes and sustains the health of those who enjoy its tasty gifts. But the ungodly can’t be compared to these trees because the last thing they do is produce anything of spiritual value. Rather, they “bear no fruit” because they aren’t rooted in God and as a result are dead in their faith and disconnected from His Spirit, the Spirit that produces the fruit He desires (Galatians 5:22-23).

4. The ungodly are skilled at carrying out shameful deeds.

They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds.

Not rooted in the Lord and dead in their faith, the ungodly are guided by Satan. They carry out his will and way which always leads one down the road of sin where the accumulation of “shameful deeds” builds to a place where they are clearly evident much like the foam produced by the churning “wild waves of the sea”.

5. The ungodly essentially live a doomed existence.

They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.

Think about what we know about space and the universe beyond planet earth.

There, we find shooting stars, stars that don’t remain fixed in one place, shining brightly so to be easily located and identified. These are the “wandering stars” we read about at the end of this passage, stars that illuminate for a brief moment as they “shoot” across space, only to be “doomed forever to blackest darkness”.

Like these shooting stars, the ungodly only exist for a short time before God commits them to their destiny, the doom found in the eternal darkness and damnation of Hell.

Why did Jude spend so much time focusing on the ungodly?

I believe there are two reasons.

First, the intent is to warn Christian believers to avoid association with those who choose to partner with Satan and be dead in their faith through loving sin and wickedness more than God and His righteousness.

But the other reason this letter is important is that it exposes the judgment God will bring on the ungodly and it would be my hope and prayer that if this letter was read by someone who had previously rejected God, that they would repent of their sin and change the course of their life, not just for the present but forever.

As we’ll see in tomorrow’s message, Jude still isn’t finished on this subject and I hope you’ll come back to read the next message in the series.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

JUDGMENT REMINDERS (PART 5)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

Jude 1:11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We use comparisons all the time when we are trying to describe something or someone to another. These comparisons can be in real time, like explaining a food or a product by associating it with something the other person can relate to.

This tastes like that. This works in a similar way to that. This is really just a different version as that.

You get the point.

We can also do comparisons using historical perspectives, especially in regard to the actions or philosophies that people might have. These behaviors or thought processes can be both good and bad. We can also use an example of someone who was bad in the past to illuminate the goodness in someone else and vice versa.

In regard to this historical perspective, we can model it with a simple formula. X is related to Y with X being someone in the here and now while Y represents someone from the past. We see this hypothetical methodology present in today’s scripture verse as we continue to study from a letter written by Jude, Jesus’ half brother. In verse 11, we read this:

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

Inserting the previously mentioned formula into the framework of today’s scripture verse, we find that the ungodly are the X and they are likened to three negative figures from the Old Testament, each a Y. Let’s look at each of them and see what the Word of God is telling us about those who choose to reject Him.

1. The ungodly associated with Cain.

They have taken the way of Cain.

You may remember that Cain was one of the first two siblings in the Bible, a son of Adam and Eve and the brother of Abel. Unfortunately, the sin that the first parents brought into the world infected their children and we see the tragic impact immediately in Cain.

First, he chose to deliberately bring less than his best as an offering to God and then when he was rebuked while Abel was praised, he led his brother out into a field and murdered him there. Then afterwards, when God asked Cain where his brother was, Cain doubled down on his transgression by pretending he didn’t know, soon discovering that God knew what had happened for Abel’s blood was crying out from the ground (Genesis 4:1-12). After this confrontation with Cain, God imposed His judgment upon him.

How are the ungodly like Cain?

Well like him, they don’t see it important to dedicate their best to God because they don’t honor Him with anything in their life. And because they hold no regard for Him, then they, like Cain, will allow sin to always crouch at their door, falling prey to its temptations and satisfying the desires of the devil.

Indeed, the ungodly take the way of Cain. We also read where they are linked with “Balaam’s error”.

2. The ungodly associated with Balaam.

...they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error.

What was Balaam’s error?

Going back to the story of Balaam in the Old Testament Book of Numbers (chapters 22 through 25), you find that the King of Moab recruited the prophet to place a curse on the Israelite people with the promise of a hefty financial reward if he did. Balaam knew that he didn’t have the power to impose such a curse but he knew God could and if He would, then Balaam could collect the riches from Balak. The scriptures tell is that God commands Balaam not to curse the Israelites because they were blessed. And so Balaam turned down Balak’s offer.

Unfortunately, Balak wouldn’t give up. He continued to send groups of his distinguished officials to try and convince Balaam to change his mind. After multiple pleas, God finally tells Balaam to go to Moab but only to say what He wanted.

And so Balaam started journeying to Moab and it was on this journey that the renowned encounters with an angel of God happened, encounters that at first were only seen by Balaam’s donkey who bore the brunt of his owner’s abuse even though he was only trying to protect him. Finally, God opened Balaam’s eyes to see the threat before him and the angel reinforced God’s order to Balaam to only speak what his Lord wanted.

Once in Moab, King Balak took Balaam to a high place called Bamoth Baal where there was a good vantage point to see the Israelite encampment. After offering sacrifices, Balaam spoke words of blessing on the Israelites, an act that angered Balak who then took the prophet to the top of Pisgah. Again, Balaam offered up sacrifices and just as he did at Bamoth Baal, he pronounced another blessing on the Israelites.

Even more upset than the first time, Balak wouldn’t give up and so he took Balaam to the top of Peor where still more sacrifices were offered followed by the announcement of yet another blessing on the Israelite people. Infuriated, Balak sent Balaam home and refused to give him any reward.

Now, this account would leave someone thinking about how any of this might have been viewed as an error on Balaam’s account. It wasn’t but what happened afterwards was. For as we continue to follow Balaam’s story, we find out that he advised Balak and the Moabites to create an environment where they could cause the Israelites to sin against God. The plan involved enticing the Israelite people with prostitutes and the prospect of idol worshiping. In other words, Balaam created a plan where the Israelite people would bring a curse upon themselves through their sinful behavior.

Well, Balaam’s plan was a success as the Israelites began to worship Baal and committed sexual sin with the Moabite women. Punishing His people, God sent a plague upon them, killing 24,000. Meanwhile, Balaam collected his reward from Balak.

In Jude’s letter, we find him comparing the ungodly to Balaam’s error, seeking ways to profit off of encouraging sinful behavior while opposing the righteousness God desires.

And then, there was Korah.

3. The ungodly associated with Korah.  

...they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

During the wilderness journey of the Israelites, trouble brewed when Korah, a Levite, led a rebellion of 250 men who the scriptures tell us were community leaders who had been appointed to the council. The brought their opposition to Moses and his brother Aaron and refused to follow their authority, which was really another way of saying they refused to follow God’s authority since it was God who appointed Moses to lead His people. Further, Korah decided to insert himself in a place similar to Aaron, the high priest, even though he wasn’t appointed as such by God.

We read in God’s Word that Moses ordered Korah and his rebellious force to appear before God the next day and when the group appeared at the entrance of the tent of meeting, God commanded Moses and Aaron to separate from them before sending judgment as the ground opened up and swallowed every one of them. Fire also rained down from Heaven and consumed Korah’s followers who were offering up incense (Numbers 16). Indeed, God sent His judgment on those rebelling against Him in a bog way.

The ungodly in Jude’s time (and in ours) were as insolent as Korah and those who foolishly aligned themselves with him. They openly rebel and disrespect God’s ultimate authority over all things. And like Korah and his followers discovered, God can and will send His judgment on anyone who blatantly opposes Him.

No regard for giving God their best and allowing sin to be their master like Cain.

Ever seeking to win personal gain through encouraging the sinfulness of others like Balaam.

Willing to rebel against God’s sovereignty and treat Him with dishonor like Korah and his rebellious band of Israelites.

Through this message, we indeed find the scriptures showing us how the ungodly (X) are directly comparable to the sinful acts of others in the Old Testament (Y). And in those Y circumstances, we know that God’s judgment will come as a result.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.