A Forecast for the New Year
Book of Jude, verses 1-25
January 2, 2011
Throughout my life, I’ve always dreamed of being a weather forecaster. Growing up, watching the news was part of my daily schedule. My favorite part of the newscast was not the sports segment, but the four to five minute weather segment. Patterns come and patterns go. Storms come and storms go. There is always a new development.
God has allowed part of the dream to come to fruition in my life. He’s allowed me to preach this morning and grant you the forecast for this church, on this date, in this new year. For some of you, you will turn off your hearing aides immediately after this introduction. For others, you will be motivated to make a difference for Jesus Christ.
Friends, the forecast is simple. For the Christian in the house – a person who has genuinely trusted Jesus Christ to be his or her Lord and Savior – your forecast is Sunny. Heaven will be your home. Thus, your ultimate forecast is a beautiful life and a beautiful eternity in Heaven. For that, you must be thankful and also, you must desire to see others go to Heaven as well. I question the salvation of individuals who do not want churches to grow or to see other people come to know Jesus. If you’re truly a Christian, you’ll want to see others come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
For the unbeliever in the house – a person who has never trusted Jesus to be their Lord and Savior – your ultimate forecast is one of Storms, eternal storms. As a matter of fact, eternal damnation in a Devil’s Hell. You may have good days – you may even have fun from time to time – but your destination is secured through your unbelief in Christ. The sad thing is this – there are church members in this room today that have never genuinely trusted Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. Pastor, how can you make that proclamation today – your actions speak louder than your words.
For the church universal – this church and every other Christian church – the forecast is not as cut and dry. You see, each church is filled with two types of people – those who are Saved, and those who are Lost. There is no in between. There are saved persons who are on the rolls of a church – there are lost persons who are on the rolls of a church. That is why so many churches struggle to maintain. We are constantly fighting over nonsensical issues, never truly concerned with what is really important – winning lost souls to Jesus Christ. For the church, the forecast is cloudy. Cloudy, with a 50% chance of Storms.
Today’s text comes from a book that is right in the vestibule of the book of Revelation, the book of Jude. Jude composed his text as a response to the Gnostic cult that was in the midst of being formed in the newborn Christian church and Christian culture. Gnosticsm was a full blown pagan cult attack on Christianity, questioning everything about Christianity. It always had excuses instead of answers. This same cultic behavior is present in our churches today – and especially in the world. Let’s go ahead and dig in this morning.
TEXT
Let’s break this down – expositionally this morning.
I. Jude is CHALLENGING believers to BE STRONG, BE FIRM, and BE COURAGEOUS.
a. “To those who are called”
b. “To those who are sanctified by God the Father”
c. “To those who are preserved in Jesus Christ”
Ephesians 1:3-14
3 aBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as bHe chose us in Him cbefore the foundation of the world, that we should dbe holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 ehaving predestined us to fadoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, gaccording to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, hby which He 1made us accepted in ithe Beloved.
7 jIn Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to kthe riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and 2prudence, 9 lhaving made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure mwhich He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of nthe fullness of the times oHe might gather together in one pall things in Christ, 3both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 qIn Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to rthe purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 sthat we twho first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard uthe word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, vyou were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 wwho 4is the 5guarantee of our inheritance xuntil the redemption of ythe purchased possession, zto the praise of His glory.
1 Peter 2:9 also refers to believers as a “Chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
TODAY – If you’ve trusted Christ Jesus to be your Lord and Savior – Simply BE – BE what God wants you to BE! Black Creek, BE the church that God wants you to be! BE the Christian that God wants you to be.
We’ve been called, set aside, and preserved in Jesus Christ – quit talking, quit complaining, quit griping, and GET TO WORK. The Kingdom of God is at hand!
II. Jude is CONCERNED at the BEHAVIOR of persons of the CHURCH
Jude is concerned to the point of quickly writing to remind believers as to where they came from and how God has put them where they are.
The terminology of “common salvation” refers to the fact that we are all saved the same way.
Ephesians 2:8-9
“We are saved by grace through faith, not of works lest any man should boast.”
Notice in verse 4 – “For certain men have crept in unnoticed”
Satan has a perfect attendance pen in every church. If you look around this morning, he may be sitting next to you this morning. He creeps in unnoticed. Within this particular context, it refers to doctrinal issues. Within other contexts, Satan creeps in through other avenues – senseless avenues which paralyze the ability of any church to win the lost to Jesus Christ.
So, Jude REMINDS the people who is really in charge and who really isn’t!
a. God doesn’t play games
1. Sodom and Gomorrah
2. Satan
3. Cain
4. Baalam
5. Korah
b. We shouldn’t play around with God either.
It breaks my heart and grieves me and my family to the point of no return to see “Christians” and I do place that word in quotations, take their eyes off of the cross and place them on their own desires and wants. Friends, when we all become more concerned with our name and our desires than His Name and His Will – doomsday is ahead for our families and ultimately this and any other church that chooses to disobey God’s Will.
Notice how Jude describes the Apostates (unbelievers/fraudulent individuals)
• Spots in your love feasts
• Serve only themselves
• “Clouds without water”
• Carried about by the winds
• Trees without fruit
• Raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame
• Wandering stars, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever
Enoch, yes remember that God said “Enoch was a good man” says:
“Behold the Lord comes with 10000 of his saints to execute judgment on all” Bottom line, to convict.
So, Jude DESCRIBES the BEHAVIOR flaws
• Persons are Grumblers
• Persons are Complainers
• Persons are more concerned about self and selfish desires
• Persons who speak swelling words – try to make themselves look good
• Persons who try to look good to take advantage of others
• Persons who are sensual – they cause divisions
• Persons who are without the Holy Spirit
Now we can truly see why the forecast is CLOUDY with a chance of Storms in the church.
III. Jude COMMANDS the Church to look to CHRIST JESUS
a. “Build yourselves up on your most holy faith”
* Get into the Word of God – study
2 Timothy 2:15 – Study to shew thyself approved. An approved workman is not ashamed.
* Get into the Word of God – memorize Scripture
Psalm 119:105 – Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path
Psalm 23:1 – The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
Joshua 1:9 – Be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust n the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding: In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths
b. Pray in the Holy Spirit
* Look Up to God
2 Corinthians 10:4-6 - 4 dFor the weapons eof our warfare are not 1carnal but fmighty in God gfor pulling down strongholds, 5 hcasting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 iand being ready to punish all disobedience when jyour obedience is fulfilled.
c. Keep yourselves in the Love of God
* When dealing with ignorance, instead of getting angry, remember that the person or person(s) that you are dealing with are simply tools of Satan who need Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
* Jen and I have a set of rules that we have put into place in our lives. When a moment of anger, wrath, bitterness comes into our hearts – we grab each other’s hands and begin to pray.
* When you hear of people saying the following:
“Our church has grown way too much” or “Our church has grown way too fast” or “We are seeing way too many new people in church” – don’t get mad at ‘em for saying such foolishness – pray for them that God will save their souls or pray for them that God will restore the joy of His salvation again in their lives.
• Don’t get mad – give God a chance to make a difference
d. Look unto the mercy of Christ unto Eternal Life
* The words of John Newton say it all:
“Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound, that SAVED a WRETCH like me, I once was lost, but now am found. Twas blind, but now I see.”
Jude doesn’t say fight – Jude says LOOK TO JESUS.
Jesus was not liked among His fellow countrymen. Jesus was not respected among the religious right. See, Jesus brought about change. People don’t like change. Churches don’t like change. I wonder if churches are filled with followers of Christ or are just filled with Pharisees, Saducees, and Scribes – all of which nailed Jesus to the cross.
• LOOK TO JESUS
o He’s able to keep you from stumbling
o He’s able to present you faultless before His presence with exceeding joy
o He is wise
o To Him be the glory and honor and majesty forever and ever AMEN
CONCLUSION
What is your eternal forecast this morning? Have you ever trusted Jesus to be your Lord and Savior?
Matthew 7:21 says –21 “Not everyone who says to Me, r‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who sdoes the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we tnot prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And uthen I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; vdepart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Don’t be caught up in that boat. LOOK TO JESUS – LOOK TO JESUS. He can and will find you, save you, change you, rearrange you and make life worth living.
