Jude vs 12-13 Description of Apostasy

So we're gonna read from verses one through 16. And I think in part that relates to kind of the outline that Roger put forth last week and I'd like to repeat that with you now. So this is warnings against false teachers that covers verses five through 16 in the first and only chapter of the epistle of Jude. And those previous failures related to the Israelites, angels, and pagans. So that's been covered before by Andrew and Roger.

And the presence failures relate to the section we're on today versus 8 through 16. I'm going to be dealing with 14 through 16 next week. But here we're talking about the nature of the error, the seriousness of the error, which is completing what Roger taught last week. And I'm going to cover 12 and 13 today, consequences of the error.

And then we deal with the scripture. So I'd like to read from the beginning. It doesn't take much time to do this. And this is important because Jude, again, has only one chapter. So verse one. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called, mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. 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, afterwards destroyed them that believed not.

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Likewise, also these dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, Durst not bring against him a railing accusation but said the Lord rebuked thee. But these speak evil those things which they know not. But what they know naturally as brute beasts in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain. and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Kor.

These are spots in your feast of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, behold, the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against them. These are murderers, complainers, walking after their own lust, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage." So a lot of text there, but I think it sets the stage for what we're going to be looking at today. All right, so verse 12, let's drill down now and look at the description that's given in verse 12 and then see what it means for us.

These are spots in your love feast while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They're clouds without water, carried along by the winds, late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots. Lots of metaphors here. So five more illustrations of really what this apostasy really looks like. And all of these come from nature. How interesting. So let's proceed.

Constable says a coral reef that lies hidden under the surface of the water can tear the bottom off of a ship. if it is, unsuspectingly, if it runs into it. So, I mean, the concept here is a shipwreck, where in fact, things hidden underneath the sea, really, and think of the Titanic, for instance, I mean, that's an iceberg, but nevertheless, could be coral reef, could be rocks, could be many other things. So what are these spots in their love feast? What do you think? Well, I was just talking about the feast I think that's the most logical explanation of this and spots as it's here.

I'm sorry. We didn't hear what what was said. Okay. Oh, okay. Yeah, Roger. Okay. Well, I just said that the love feast seemed to remind me of what we studied in first Corinthians about the gathering before the Lord's table that kind of got out of hand. I'm not sure where the end of the spot. OK, we're going to we're going to go there, Roger.

I think initially I think we can think of this as a metaphor. There are lots of metaphors here, but metaphors of men who, by their conduct, damage others morally and wreck them, as it were. I mean, that's kind of what we're speaking about here. And the Greek translation for spots is sporades, most often a rock in the sea. So I think what Constable said in terms of a coral reef or a rock or an iceberg or something like that is the metaphor that relates to a shipwreck that maybe Paul himself may have in fact experienced.

So love feasts, these are feasts expressing and fostering mutual love which used to be held by Christians before the celebration of the Lord's Supper. So Roger hit that nail on the head. And at which the poorer Christians mingled with the wealthier and partook in common with the rest of the food provided at the expense of the wealthy. So this is kind of an open opportunity of sharing the Lord's Supper. We see that very clearly outlined in 1 Corinthians 11 and we celebrate that once a month. So this love feast could in fact practically been related to the Lord's Supper. Let's look at an example of that.

1 Peter 2.13, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that counted pleasure or riot in the daytime.

Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you. You know, Peter remembers, 2 Peter particularly, and Mike's covering this now on Wednesday night, but 2 Peter and Jude are very, very similar. It's kind of like a mirror image written by a different apostle. So here's an example in 2 Peter about the type of behavior that Peter calls spots. These are blemishes really at the Lord's table is really what it is.

And while they feast with you without fear, serving or pastoring is a better term, only themselves. What do you think of when you think of pastoring rather than serving? Who pastors? Cows. What's Christmas time? What about sheep? Okay, but the sheep are being pastored. Who's doing the pastoring? Shepherds. Shepherds!

Yay! Good deal. We're really on to it. Everybody have an extra cup of coffee if you're not with me here this morning. Did you provide coffee, Bob? Yeah, I had plenty of it this morning. So it's serving, I think, as I just mentioned, is better translated as pastoring.

And what does this imply? I think it implies the role of the shepherd, someone who's overseeing a flock. Now, keep in mind, this behavior is in fact exemplary of this type of false teacher that may be amongst us. I mean, I don't think we have anything like that going on here. I pray we don't. but I'm sure there's plenty of churches that do. And Roger, I think last week, the example of the evangelical pastor who was out in left field, but at least people were leaving, right?

So keep your eyes and ears open for this type of teaching. What do you believe that they should fear? And I'm gonna give you a verse in Philippians that we're gonna look at in more detail. So what do you think that they should fear? the wrath of God. All right. I think that's in context, really, probably what they should fear.

But is this in contrast with Philippians 1.14, which says, And most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much bolder to speak the word without fear. So why would, what Paul's referring to in the Philippian, to the Philippian church, the term fear is the same, but now without fear. So what would give us a different approach to things that we say and do that was not present in the false teachers? So. Can we approach the Lord without fear? Absolutely. We're told to, in some scriptures, to be fearful, but that's out of the reverence of who God is and his holy righteousness. But yet we have an open door to the throne, don't we? We're positioned above. So the fear that these false teachers have to have is about, you know, ultimately being being detected, being detected and evaluated, placed into darkness forevermore.

But apparently they're not experiencing that. They're moving in. Bob actually kind of reminds me of our in our day. It seems like men do. awful things without, you know, they don't seem to care anymore. We've moved our society, we've moved to a period where people do awful things and they're proud of it. And this of course is talking about the church, but I just, our society in general has moved that direction where people do things without, you know, That's just what I do. I'm that kind of bad person.

They're often not punished. Yeah, that's right. There's no recognition, actually, for their behavior. I think that's the world that we live in, basically. Yeah, we still have a government where, in fact, major crime is identified and ultimately punished, but lots of small stuff that You know, what we're seeing too, have you seen some of these mass robberies of stores and everything with five or six guys masked and go in and take thousands and thousands of dollars and stuff? They don't know who they are and when they find them, they probably are getting something minor in the way of punishment. I have not. I don't think they've caught it yet. Well, yeah, they're certainly not easily identified by the DARB, are they?

Ironside says something interesting. He said the expression existing themselves together with you without fear shows how fully they have gained the confidence of the mass. And so we mentioned that before, you know, in the settings in which they find themselves, their deceit is really not anticipated or recognized for what it really is, right? And again, this is written to the body at the time Jude wrote the epistle.

But nevertheless, where are we today? I think this can happen equally as well. The sinful nature has not changed any since the garden, right? It's still the same. All right. How about their clouds without water carried along by the winds? You know, it's an interesting text because it took me to other scriptures about being carried about. I mean, it's not so much about the waters, but it's in terms of being carried about. We're thinking about the false teachers and how they're being carried about and how we as a mass could be carried about.

Ephesians 4.14, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. So there's in a sense, you know, carried out by the winds, the wind is cited here. By the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Boy, is that not, you know, it's not Paul talking about the same thing. to the Philippian church, or the Ephesian church, as Jude is here, to the readers of his epistle.

And then Hebrews 13.9, be not cared about with diverse and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." So this idea of being carried about or carried with really has a tremendous implication for how we're influenced by wrong doctrine or perhaps the world system and the way it operates. Any further thoughts about that? Oh, Bob. Yes. Hey, this is Andrew here. Hi, Andrew. Hi. How you doing? Oh, good. Oh. Macaulay, not not Macaulay, but who's a guy in California? I'm drawing a blank now. MacArthur? No, no, no, no. Our good friend. in California?

Yeah, yeah. Well, anyway, he said that the water is the word. So these are clouds, or men without the words in their heart to like pastors who refer to the scripture. So they're pregnant with a storm, but when they when they give a sermon, no water comes out, you know. Well, I think that's a metaphor you could apply here. The idea of clouds without water are not ones that bring any fruit, right? Yeah. Yeah. So it's good. I'm glad you mentioned that. That's another metaphor.

Everybody's everyone's anticipating the clouds will bring the water, but they don't. And that's I think that's what we see a lot of times you anticipate A brother who's bringing the word to you will bring some water with it, but sometimes it never happens. I mean, we've seen it once. We've seen it thousands and thousands of times. Clouds get blown by the winds and they have no water. There's no rain coming from them. And so that's the metaphor in terms of relating maybe the word of God, good Andrew, without any context, without any understanding. And it's McGee, J. Vernon McGee. Oh, J. Vernon, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, I think I've heard more from the South, although much of his career was in Southern California. Yeah, well, in Los Angeles. Pasadena, right? Yeah, right. I love J. Vernon saying, I never wanted to be a missionary in the field, but maybe the Lord's gonna work through me in some way by doing through the Bible. Anyway, he's worked through him in a major way for yours truly, for sure. Amen. Okay. All right, let's continue.

Late autumn trees without fruit. twice dead and pulled up by the roots. So here's another metaphor, late autumn trees without fruit being unfruitful. The analogy here is the unworthy or worthless men providing quote doctrine unquote, which is not scriptural. So and why does Jude need to stay twice dead? How might we interpret the role of the false prophets and the apostate environment in which they exist as being twice dead?

Well, I've heard people talk, I just can't remember, recall that people have tried to explain that. Well, obviously, I don't know. I'm not going to venture to say it. Well, let's see what Strong says, because I looked at a series like we all do when we teach commentators. And Strong, I think, cut to the chase here.

Men are represented as twice dead in a moral sense. First is not having yet been regenerated. And secondly, is having fallen from a state of grace. So take it for what it's worth. They're dead in two ways. They're not saved. And and the grace pathway, which we've all been saved by, has not been one which has been implemented in their lives.

So whatever. I mean, take it or take it or leave it. But that's that's what Strong said. I thought it fit pretty well. Most others don't really give us any additional insight into that. All right, let's continue. What do you what do you make of being pulled up by the roots? Well, when the plant doesn't do anything, you pull it up by the roots.

Very practical, Roger. Are there other thoughts about this? Yeah, that's true. Do you think there's any scriptural relevance to this? Well, we have the tares and the weed, right? Well, the fact that I asked the question means there must be, right? I was thinking of John 14. No, not John 14, John 15 about the vine. Okay. That's one. I didn't cite that one, but I did cite some gospel accounts and also something from the Old Testament that implies divine judgment.

So Matthew 13, 27, 29 is a little bit long, but so the servant of the owner came and said to him, sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? He said to them, an enemy has done this. And the servant said to him, do you want us then to go and gather them up? But he said, no, lest while you gather up the tares, you also uproot the wheat with them. So tares and wheat, we know they're in the same field. And what's uprooted is the tares, not the wheat, said by our Lord, Jesus Christ. Then in Matthew 15, 13, but he answered and said, every plant which my heavenly father has not planted will be uprooted. Yeah, uproot, right?

And then an uprooted tree in the Old Testament potentially could be a symbol of divine judgment. I could find about five or six verses that said this, but I'm giving you one today. Psalm 52, 5. God shall likewise destroy you forever. He shall take you away and pluck you up out of your dwelling place and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah. Amen. So. I think this being uprooted really relates to the destiny of those who are carrying out such a wrong interpretation of the Word of God.

I think, you know, Kospel said something very interesting, and it allowed me to kind of put this in context with the epistle and what it's saying to us. He says, autumn is literally late autumn in the Greek text. a detail that shows that Jude believed he and his readers were living in the last days before the Lord's return. And again, I think, you know, Second Peter remembers a parallel here.

And Mike is covering this in 12 different sessions on Wednesday night. So I encourage you to sign up for those. He gives about a half hour video that he experienced in the Duluth experience that he had a month ago, but then the second half is time for discussion. So we're going to try to get on it whenever we can, but the feeling there, and I'm going to go on a rabbit trail for a second. The feeling of the teaching that occurred in Duluth was that we're close to the end times now. I'm not sure I believe this, and that's why I want to attend Wednesday night.

I mean, I think we could go on centuries and millennia yet, but maybe not, whatever. It's not ours to really understand perfectly. So yes, go ahead. Well, close is relative. Well, yeah, that's what I say. When we say, you know, soon means often interpreted as quickly.

I mean, it would happen just like that when we're raptured. We're here. We're not here anymore. Anyway, of course, we're talking about kingdom age a lot when we're talking about the end times. So it depends in context how you interpret it. Okay, a little scripture here.

Romans 13, 11, do this, knowing the time, Paul said, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now our salvation is nearer. than when we first believe. So that is the eternal presence of us with the Lord Jesus Christ. First Peter, I don't think it's 45, 7 for sure, but I think it's 4, 7. But the end of all things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And then even in John's epistle, 1 John 2, 8, little children is the last hour. And as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come by which we know that it is the last hour. So, I mean, the perception many have of scripture is that, well, why wasn't it, you know, in the first century? But it's not.

But again, relating what we have here in Jude to what Second Peter is talking about there. Any other thoughts about the end times, whether we're kind of living in that atmosphere or not? Think about all the things that have occurred historically, that what people were thinking they're living in the end times. Well, whatever, the Lord's in control. We can't answer that one for sure. All right, let's go on to verse 13 then.

Raging waves of the sea foaming up their own shame, wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Remember, these five metaphors, if you will, all relate to nature. And we're still in the natural environment by which Jude is writing about the role of the apostates or the false teachers in the mix of the saints. So another question in the group, why do raging waves of the sea foam up their own shame? What do you think of when you think of waves of the sea that foam up in their own shame? Well, let's look at the term raging. It means fierce or untamed, OK? How many people get into the sea when the waves are like 15 feet high?

And they really do foam up. And what's interesting is they're foaming up, if you watch them, they're foaming up whatever is down below. I mean, and a lot of times it's not like a pure white foam. It's dirty. It's junk. Yeah. It's foaming up from those waves. Well, and the wave, once it ends, is no longer a wave, right? Other thoughts? Well, back to scripture, Isaiah 5720, but the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Good, Margaret. I didn't share that with her before. So the result of the wave is it terminates, and it's junk or it's foam. The wave is no longer functional. So in a sense, that's what these false teachers are teaching, something that has no value.

Is this always the way the apostate appears, you think? Well, I think he appears, he appears, you know, from earlier passages, he appears like a good guy sometimes. Okay, we're doing well here. So Matthew 715, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. And then second Corinthians, for Satan himself transforms himself into the angel of light. So this can be very subtle. And sometimes it's very obvious, like the example you gave last week.

At least it was obvious to some, but not all. Some stayed. I think that's a great, great example. Thank you. Do you have trouble finding that? No, actually, Bonnie had an experience. Oh, really? Well, let's not go into that. It's a long story. Well, let's hear it. We've got time. Just tell them the short version.

Well, it's just that I was in Whole Foods one time. I saw this magazine. I think it was a New Age one. Oh, I'm sorry, I think it was a New Age magazine. I can't remember. You're reading New Age magazine? Well, I just happened to see the cover and it was about this bishop who had some, I don't know, new ideas or whatever. And then I read the article and he didn't believe any of the doctrines of Christianity at all. He's a bishop here in the Episcopal Church. And he did stay there for many years, but he didn't believe any of the doctrines.

So I wrote to the editor and just kind of mentioned all these things and talked about Jude and stuff. And then there was a unity pastor who really kind of gave it to me about being so mean or whatever. But then I responded back and the editor kept publishing my letters. So it was kind of neat. I was able to put the gospel in there. But it was just because it was like, he said, well, I like to read the magazine for ideas about living or whatever. But anyway, that was it. But he just died recently, this bishop. But he was there for many, many years. Was that here in Denver? No, he was in New Jersey. New Jersey. New Jersey, yeah.

I wasn't intending this, but I'm sure there's maybe have some more. Yeah, there's many examples out there, but they're not even being subtle about it. They're just and he has wrote several books and people seem to like it. Some people. Okay. It relates to the hungry heart today, which I think really fits this.

And I'm gonna read just a small part of it. Because the thing is in the Bible does not warrant the conclusion that it is God's will for the Christian. We must seek rightly to divide the word of truth. What was formerly right for the Jews is for us nothing but the elements of the world.

These forms pointed to a reality that is now come. The body is of Christ. The blessed position of a Christian is that he's died even to the best things in the world, religious and otherwise, and he is alive to the highest things in the presence of the Father. For the Lord Jesus Christ is his life in whom he is hidden. The gospels are complex, almost beyond any other portion of scripture, since they are a composite of the teachings of the law, of grace, and of the coming kingdom.

So, you know, the only reason I build that on what Bonnie just said is, you know, people can, they want to deny certain things, but they don't rightly divide the word of truth. And that's why we're here. We want to rightly divide the, you know, God's principles are from Genesis and Revelation. His principles never changed. But what is for the Jew is not for us today as the body of believers.

And I think that's where people criticize the Bible is because, first of all, they may not be saved, but even if they are, they're critical of the fact that they're trying to live the life that God calls them to by spending most of their time in the gospel account and not realizing that Christ himself is talking about The law, he's living the law. He's talking about the kingdom to come, but also in John, particularly, he's talking to the church. So again, back to what Bonnie said, I mean, people who don't rightly divide the word of truth start to become skeptical because they say, well, this doesn't seem to apply. Do I, you know, slug my neighbor if he hits me first? I mean, how do you apply that to the believer today? I mean, anyway, I think it was good that The Hungry Heart today tied into exactly what she was exemplifying there.

All right, foaming up or out implies that wasted ways are identified as the godless and graceless as impelled by their restless passions, and they unblushingly exhibit in word and deed their base and abandoned spirit. So that's Weiss' interpretation. Let me read that again.

Foaming up or out implies wasted waves and identifies the godless and graceless as impelled by their restless passions. And they unblushingly exhibit, in word and deed, their base and abandoned spirits. So foaming up and out, it's the end of the wave. It's mire and dirt and foam and has no meaning whatsoever. Now, shame. Shame relates to disgrace, doesn't it? So let's look at it again, a text.

2 Corinthians 4.2, but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, back to what we just mentioned in the hungry heart, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. So we avoid shame. If we use the word of God to dictate our life and ultimately guide this platform of grace we live in by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have no shame. And Galatians has a verse that has shame in it too.

I don't know that I looked at that one. So we have no shame as believers in believing what we believe. I think how we ultimately express ourselves does relate to whether or not we are potentially being shamed by that. I mean, I'm just gonna throw out an idea that if in fact the flesh is trying to deal with someone who's an unbeliever, we may be shamed by the way we present the message. But it's, again, how we walk by the spirit, bringing glory to God that really is never shameful.

And also Philippians 3.19. And it states, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belling, whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. So this, again, relates to, I think, the false teaching that we're potentially experiencing from the time the church was formed, but today. But how about this? Do these apostate individuals ultimately?

I think you had a question. Yeah, okay, go ahead. No, I think you're wrong. Maybe not. So the question is, do these individuals feel shame? No. No. I don't think so. They've never experienced this. They don't even know they're ashamed. They don't even know they should be ashamed. That's right. Yeah, they don't even know. Shame's probably poorly defined by this individual, right? No, they think they're right. So they're not ashamed.

All right, so at the end of verse 13, we have wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Well, that's pretty harsh. What do you make of wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever? So what's the wandering star relate to?

Do stars wander? Well, they appear to wander. Don't you look at the sun as non-wandering? I mean, no, but I think astronomers have observed that. Now planets do wander. We wander around the sun. And here's what the Greek word behind the English wandering star is planetis, which is the word for the heavenly bodies which behave other than the stars, their course being very perplexing until it becomes evident that they are circling the sun. Their orientation is not fixed in the heavens nor fixed according to the Earth. But I don't think that's the best description. Wandering stars, the planets, as far as we can tell, are going to continue to circulate around the sun until there's a new heaven and new Earth.

But how about this? I like this. However, I like what Vincent says. He says possibly referring to comets or shooting stars, which I'm putting in, which shine a while and then pass into darkness. Doesn't that fit this better? A comet or a shooting star that has light for a bit and then wanders and fades and doesn't exist anymore?

I don't know. I mean, we're not going to die for the accurate interpretation here. The Greek word suggests planet. Remember, the Greek word was defined before any understanding that actually these planets were circulating around the sun to my understanding. Hey, Bob? Yes, hi, Brian.

Yeah, I haven't said much here, but I've been thinking along with you and agreeing 100%. The allegories here, the pictures that each one of these things that the Holy Spirit has used is for individuals who are walking solely, you know, they're soul-centered versus spirit-centered. And what lasts forever is those who are born again walking in God's power and not in the earthly power. But these people that are being described, they have a glory here on the earth that is recognized by others who are solely colossal.

I don't know how to say it better than that. If we think of spiritual versus soulical, it helps me to see this. I don't know. Well, I think you hit the nail on the head there, Roy, because what I'm going to cite here is they belong not to the system.

They stray at random and without law and must at last be severed from the lights, which rule which which rule while they are ruled. And that's Lumbee. And Lumbee is somebody who was part of, I think, Ironside's common opinion. So anyway, you said it wonderfully, I think. I think Lumbee said it similarly, but they belong not to our system, to a different system where their light is only transient and then fades away.

The verb tense here is perfect passive indicative. And how do we interpret that? This is reserved, reserved for the blackness of darkness forever. Passive Perfect, indicative. Indicative, factual, perfect, have ongoing influence from past. They were reserved in the past and they continued. They didn't change their state. They kept just doing what they're doing. But their outcome is what they deserve. It's placed on them by someone other than God Almighty, right? Lord Jesus Christ. And that takes us back to Jude 6 a little bit.

And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, he has reserved an everlasting change under darkness. We read that this morning for the judgment of the great day. Darkness. Do you envision that those who die unsaved are in darkness now? How do you visualize that? until the day of judgment. This is for the angels here in Jude 6. But are the unsaved, once their bodies die, their spirit and soul, is it in darkness?

I guess. It was certainly spiritual darkness, but yeah. Boy, it's tough to think about that, isn't it? I mean, how many people we've known, my family or friends who go to the Lord, as far as we know, die without the Lord? I mean, that doesn't save many, it saves a few, maybe, thinking about what the eternal damnation's gonna be like. But darkness, just, none of us like darkness, do we?

All right, time to conclude here. I like what Meyer said, and I think he said it very well. In the succession of terrible metaphors in Jude 1, 12 through 13, notice that in each case, there is a promise without fulfillment and appearance without reality, such as much of the Christian profession of the present day. And if you will, a wolf in sheep's clothing. Oh, yeah. That's good. That's cute.

Any other thoughts before we close? Okay, let's close in prayer. Father, we're thankful for the scripture. It's always a great challenge and fun to allow the spirit to interpret your words accurately and put them into perspective in terms of your eternal plan for those who are without the great grace and salvation you so readily offer those that are saved. We're thankful that in the church, We need to rightly divide the word of truth, and to you the glory is given. We're thankful for the scripture today, and may the service to follow bring glory to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.