Welcome up this morning with a large sense of expectation. My little buddy Grant's going to be baptized at the end of this service there. Aren't you excited about that? Got a buddy back there named Elias, and he came to me before this service and he hugged me and he said, pastor, the first service finally gets to see a baptism, because all the baptisms have been in the second service. He's excited about that.

So we're going to baptize my buddy Grant at the end of this service. We're going to baptize my niece Maze at the end of the second. What a day this is. Celebrating new life. When God calls young people out of darkness into light.

What a fantastic opportunity we have. My name is Trevor Davis. I'm GCC's pastor. And we've been in this teaching series through the next to the last book in the Bible. It's a letter called Jude, and it only has 25 verses.

And we set aside five Sundays to teach verse by verse through it. This is part four. It's going to be Jude 14 through 19. And I have a word today about us staying faithful in a time of apostasy, staying faithful in a time of falling away. And so it's going to.

Have you been blessed by the Lord already? Look, I hope you were blessed at the Lord's table, where we remember what Jesus did for us and how he is the atoning sacrifice, the propitiation for our sins. He appeased the wrath of God so that it doesn't touch believers. What an awesome preaching of the gospel. And Blair's gospel message today was spot on, wasn't it?

So here we go. Time to get in the word. Open your Bibles to Jude. We're going to start in verse 14. I want to ask you a question.

Have you ever felt like the world is growing louder, louder with negativity, louder with selfishness, louder with deception? Have you ever felt like that? It's almost as if people are more focused on tearing others down than they are building others up. Tearing others down with things that aren't true versus building others up by personal desires to know the truth. But what I want to say to you is, none of that's new.

Do you know that Scripture reminds us that from the very beginning there have been those who lived their lives without regard for God, and they live stirring up division and leading others astray. This is all the way back to the first book of the Bible, Genesis. Well, in Jude 1, which is the only chapter, Jude verses 14 through 19, there's a powerful Contrast, on the one hand are those who follow their own desires and they stir up strife and they ignore God's call on their lives. On the other hand are those who walk by faith and stand firm in the truth. And so this is where this text of Scripture is going today.

It's just like six verses. But in these six verses, Jude gives us four truth bombs, four of them, and I'm going to outline them for us right now. Number one, judgment is not a new warning. This is the first thing Jude says to us in this text of scripture. In verses 14 and 15, judgment is not a new warning.

He writes. Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men, also saying, behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they've committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. You know what's interesting? If you read about Enoch in Genesis, he doesn't say anything. We get his quotes later, and this is one of them.

Enoch was the great grandfather of Noah. Have you ever heard of Noah? You know, the boat and the animals and the flood. Enoch was the seventh generation from the first man. What's the name of the first man?

Adam. Okay, we got that. Well, what if I told you that Enoch departed this life at the young age of 365 years? Would you think that's young? Yes or no?

No. You wouldn't think 365 is young. 365 years in the Old Testament is 365 years today. The same number of days, same number of times around the Earth. You know what's interesting, though?

Enoch left earth at age 365. And for all the men in his family, he was the young man. His lifespan was relatively short. He's one of the descendants of Seth. Seth is the third son of Adam and Eve.

And Enoch is bookended by his father and his son. His father is a guy named Jared. I have a brother named Jared spelled the same way. Jared in the Bible is the guy with the second longest lifespan in all of scripture. 962 years.

But not to be outdone by his grandfather, Enoch's son is a guy named Methuselah. Can you say Methuselah? Methuselah. Methuselah. Here's a Bible trivia question.

Oldest living person in all the scriptures, he beats his granddad by seven more years. Methuselah lives969 years. So if you have 962 on one side and 969 on the other, 365 looks like a really short life. Why was Enoch's life shorter?

Well, Enoch, we read about him in Genesis 5. 24. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. It's almost like Enoch gets up one day and he goes to meet the Lord. And they go on a walk and they talk about life and they talk about glory, and they talk about heaven and they talk about Jesus the Son.

And the time gets away from him. And the Lord turns to Enoch and he says, you know, it's closer to my house than it is to your house. Why don't you just come with me? And Enoch is the first character in the Bible to be assumed into God's dwelling place without dying first. There's another guy who did it in the Old Testament.

His name was Elijah. Those are the only two we've got. But Enoch makes the hall of fame of faith chapter in Hebrews chapter 11. Here's what Hebrews 11:5 Comments about Enoch by faith. Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, quote, and was not found because God had taken him, end quote.

For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God. You know, if you want to please God, you have to walk with God. He has to be somebody you're in a relationship with that you know, that you interact with and you don't ignore. If you walk with God, it's the pathway to pleasing him. So the seventh from Adam, everybody watch the seventh from Adam on this hand is Enoch.

He lived a holy life and God took him onto heaven. He's meant to be contrasted, on the other hand, with the seventh generation from Cain, the first murderer and the first seed of the serpent. In the Bible, the seventh generation from Cain is a man named Lamech. Lamech took two wives. He's the first one to break that commandment.

In that situation. He killed a man and he boasted about it all. In Genesis 4, 23 and 24, you got the man that walks with God, the seventh from Adam, and the man that defies God, the seventh from Cain. And Moses means for you to see that and make that contrast. Enoch's name means something like to introduce or to initiate.

That's what his name means. And in Jude, our text today, Jude has Enoch introducing to all of history the coming judgment of God against ungodly men who've walked away from the truth. Enoch introduces to everyone who will ever live that God holds men and women accountable for their lives, whether they believe in him or not.

If anyone had the moral authority to confidently predict that God would indict and pass sentence on the ungodly, it was Enoch, the godly man. And I want to remind you, he's the seventh from Adam. He made this prophecy early in human history and it's still relevant today. Yes, judgment is not a new warning. You know what Enoch prophesies?

He prophesies that the Lord will come with countless numbers of his holy ones, his saints, to execute judgment on something called, quote, ungodly, end quote. I don't know if you noticed it when I was reading Jude 14:15. The term ungodly is repeated four times in those two verses. That means we need to know what is the ungodliness of someone who walks away from God? Like, what is the ungodliness of an apostate?

Like, well, they have no place for God in their lives, and because of that, they can't control themselves. So their lives are irreverent, chaotic, they are morally corrupt and they cannot hide it.

Repeating the word ungodly emphasizes that God's judgment is not random, neither is it new. But it's always been a clear warning. Saints like Enoch clearly articulated this. And may I say to us, since ancient times, God has declared that those who live as if he does not exist, those who speak, those who act, those who think in ungodly ways, will ultimately face his holy wrath if they ignore Jesus and step on his blood. You know, the Bible says the fool has said in his heart there is no God.

I just don't have enough faith to be an atheist. You know, there's still two choices. There's a Christian worldview. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then there's the atheist worldview.

In the beginning there was nothing, and then nothing exploded.

I just don't have enough faith to believe that there's no God. The Puritan John Owen wrote, be killing sin or it will be killing you. Judgment is not a new warning. How did we do? Did we make it through that first Truth bomb, you can live.

Truth bomb number two. Ungodly attitudes leave a trail of victims.

This is verse 16. Now remember, the whole letter of Jude is short and most of it is describing people who walk away from God, who have a said faith but not a real faith. They become apostate. So that's who the these are in verse 16. These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts.

And they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain an advantage. Ungodly attitudes leave a trail of victims. And what Jude wants you to know is that apostates, people that walk away from God, often sin with their words. It's right there in the verse. Jude 16 describes the ungodly as grumblers, complainers, boasters.

The boasters are they mouth great swelling words and they use these words to manipulate others for personal gain. Not only that, you know what Jude adds? He says that they walk according to their own lusts. Let me just say that you shouldn't skate by that warning. And I want to say something to the men in the room.

If you look back on last week and if you inventoried your thoughts and maybe even your actions, and certainly where your eyes landed, and your week consisted of just lusting after women over and over again in however many ways you can fig, figure out how to do that, you're in danger of being those that walk away from God, who walking according to their own lusts. The great Bible commentator of 400 years ago, Matthew Henry, wrote in his English commentary of the Bible, those who please their sinful appetites are most prone to yield to their ungovernable power passions. In other words, you can give yourself over to your own flesh enough and often enough that you can get where you are out of control and you can't get it back. Apart from the miraculous touch from God, your ungovernable passions. You know, when someone walks away from the Lord, they do so often explaining how dissatisfied they are.

He said they're complainers. I didn't like this about the church. I don't like this about the pastor and it was too hot or it was too cold or those folks weren't nice to me or I'm just not being fed, or it's just too young. I need older, more sophisticated church stuff. Whatever it is, these apostates will vocalize and verbalize their dissatisfaction.

And once they register it, they feel free to indulge their carnal desires. Well, look, church is not all that for me anymore. So really, why have any rules? He's emboldened to act arrogantly and to say things that aren't true. Let me say it like this.

Those that walk away from the Lord, their grumbling spreads discontent. Their selfishness breeds division, and their manipulative words deceive the unsuspecting. Look, if you got friends that all they do to you when they're around you is complain about life and abuse Others, you realize you're now the dumpster for all of their garbage. Does that make sense? So if you take inventory of your relationships and you have any where you're just the person that they just complain to, they don't complain to you about you, they complain to you about others.

You're the dumpster and they give you their trash. And then what do you think they're doing when they around their other friends? They're talking about you. Does that make sense? Complainers, grumblers.

This shows how ungodly attitudes don't just stay hidden. They hurt people. They leave behind a trail of wounded and deceived victims. And their sinful words reveal their corrupt hearts. Let me say that again.

Their sinful words reveal their corrupt hearts. How do you know that, Pastor? Because of what Jesus said in Luke 6:45. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good. And an evil man, out of the evil treasures of his heart brings forth evil.

For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. What Jesus says is what's in your heart eventually comes out of your mouth. If you're new, you don't know. I'm a pastor in my main life, but in another life, I work in pro basketball. So I work at Grizzlies games and at the Memphis Hustle games in South Haven at the Lander Center.

And I've had two Hustle games this week, and they're the two most entertaining basketball games I've been to in far too long. And both of them were blowout victories. They weren't close, but the drama involved in these games was the most. It was like going to a movie and sitting in the best seats and hearing everything. So in the first game, and they it's the same two teams played each other with one day in between.

And the first game, the visiting team just whipped us all over the court, beat us by 30 points and told us about it. And the reason I know is There were about 24 fans at the game. And so I really needed them to keep their voices down so that I could hear. I mean, it was just quiet in the gym. And the coach for the other team was an interesting guy.

You see, he played most of his professional career in Italy, so he's fluent in Italian. Two of his three daughters were born in Italy. He knows Italy and he knows Italian. And so he realizes, hey, I'm in this room. I'm probably the only one who knows this language.

And I've got some few thoughts about these referees over here. And so when things got really, really chippy, he starts speaking at and to the refs in Italian right in front of me. This is so glorious. He's rolling his R's and he's growling and he's just. It's just coming out and.

And the referee, because, remember, it's quiet in there. There was hardly anybody. The referee turns and says, no, we're not doing that. I know what you're doing. And the coach says, oh, really?

You see, I don't think you know a thing about what I just said. And he says, if you. One more time, and I'm going to give you a technical. And the coach says, in English, go ahead. I would love to take that to the.

To the league office, because you have no idea what I said. And the ref said, I may not know what you said, but I know what you meant.

It was awesome last night. Last night there were so many fans. We had a big crowd. And I was like, doggone it, we got a big crowd. I want this guy to go Italian version 2.0.

I wanted to see. Because it was the same referee. That hardly ever happens.

See, what's in your heart comes out of your mouth and you'll figure out a way to say it and maybe not even get in trouble like that guy did. It was so glorious. I got another one of those games this afternoon. I can't. Oh, I hope the next coach knows another language.

Please, Lord, Apostates sin with their words.

Truth bomb number three. Mockers are a sign of the times.

These are. This is found in verses 17 and 18. Jude writes, but you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.

In your Bible, especially in your Old Testament, depending on your English translation, you're either going to see the word mocker or the word scoffer. I call them scoffermockers. It's the same. They're just interchangeable. So I'm going to say scoffer marker.

Okay? They're the same person. In the wisdom literature of the Bible, Jude reminds believers that people who reject God and follow their own desires will scoff at the truth. And I want you to know that because of these verses, it's clear that mockers are not a new problem. They've been around for centuries, even millennia.

And the scoffer. Mocker is a term in the Hebrew. Leitz is the word and proverbs frequently warns about scoffer mockers. Proverbs in your Bible describes the scoffer mockers as the worst kind of fools. They are hardened rebels against truth.

By the way, scoffers mock God and Christ's gospel so that they can walk in lust. They would be mockers in the last time who walk according to their own ungodly lusts. The great Bible scholar Bruce Waltke even suggests that scoffer mockers are lower than the nabal, the stupid fool. And what is the defining trait of the scoffer mocker in the Bible? It is pride.

Scoffer mockers are filled with it. Proverbs 21:24. A proud and haughty man. Scoffer is his name. He acts with arrogant pride.

You see, it's not that scoffer mockers reject wisdom, it's that they take pleasure in rejecting it. They're proud that they have set wisdom aside. Isaiah even places them alongside the ruthless. Isaiah 29:20 for the ruthless. And there's an English translation that calls it evil ones.

For the ruthless shall come to nothing, and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off. I'm trying to give you an idea or a profile of these scoffer mockers so that you can make sure that you're not one. And if you are, you can repent. And so that you can make sure that if these are in your orbit, you can kind of distance yourself from them. The commentator William McCain wrote about them.

No man earns more universal detestation or deserves it more than he who wears a perpetual sneer, who is himself incapable of deep loyalty and reverence, and who supposes that it is his mission in life to promote the corrosion of values by which individuals and society lives. May I say to you that the United States of America were founded on the Judeo Christian ethic. Do you believe this? We're the only nation in the world that's ever happened. It didn't make us a Christian nation, it just made us one with a biblical worldview to begin with.

And you have watched most of your lifetime, for even the oldest person in the room, quietly the first half of your life. But in the last 20 years, you've watched this loudly happen. Your elected leaders and your trusted media correspondents. You've watched them tear down Christian culture at every turn, injecting it into your schools. This is the work of the scoffer mocker.

Proverbs 24:9. The devising of foolishness is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to men. Abomination. That's the word for detestable. God detests child sacrifice.

God detests homosexuality. God. God detests scoffing and mocking. He puts it in the same category. How about that?

Mockers are easily led by their own desires. Their passions rule over them. Their glands are their operating system. It's whatever feels good. Let me try this one out.

Did you know that Proverbs, the wisdom literature in your Bible warns that drinking alcohol irresponsibly can turn someone into a violent mocker. Do you know this? Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 1. Wine is a mocker. It's a scoffer mocker.

Strong drink is a brawler. You go from mocking to fighting. And whoever is led astray by them, by it is not wise. Everybody say led astray.

Listen. In the Bible, impaired judgment is the opposite of discernment. Let me say that again. In the Bible, impaired judgment is the opposite of discernment. The great English preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote, discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong.

It's knowing the difference between right and almost right. You need discernment to know the difference between right and almost right. The Hebrew term for led astray in our verse means to be swallowed up. It's also translated staggered. Whoever is swallowed up by alcohol or whoever staggered by it, is not wise.

You guys following this line of reasoning? Do you see it in your Scriptures? Right and almost right. I knew it. If I came to church, they would tell me I couldn't drink alcohol.

I didn't tell you that at all. I said that the Bible says, be discerning between what's right and what's almost right. And to make sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're not led astray or swallowed up by things that impair your judgment. It is imperative that you think clearly.

And isn't that what we see today? A culture staggering, swallowed up under the weight of unchecked desires and mockery of truth. Mockery mockers are a sign of the times. Fourth and final truth bomb. And I'm done.

Jude says division is the fruit of a spiritless life.

Verse 19. These are sensual persons who cause divisions and don't miss it, not having the, say it capital S. Spirit. So Jude 19 paints a stark picture. Those who don't have the Holy Spirit live by their own desires, and they cause division and strife.

They operate in the flesh, not in faith. But Galatians 5 shows us the opposite. When we have the Spirit. Our lives bear fruit. Do you know the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5, 22 and 23?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such there is no law. Nobody makes rules against those things. And I want to go further. Romans 8 makes it clear that belonging to God means having his spirit.

Romans 8:9. You should underline it in your Bible somewhere. Probably at Romans 8:9.

Constantly testing you to see if you're paying attention.

Romans 8:9. Paul writes, but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. How do I know that I have eternal life.

I have the Spirit of God living in me. And he communicates to me about the Scriptures and about God. That is my assurance of salvation. If I don't have the Spirit, I'm not His. It's pretty clear.

You see, instead of tearing apart the Spirit, filled life builds up. And while apostates, those who walk away, create division. Those led by the Spirit cultivate unity and peace. One path leads to chaos, the other path leads to Christlike character. And you get to choose.

The difference is the presence or the absence of the Holy Spirit. Now I want to give you four application points quickly from the four truth bombs we just heard. What do we do with all this? Number one, Christian. Take God's warnings seriously.

The Lord has always held the ungodly accountable and he will again. So stay alert. Watch your own heart. Don't let grumbling pride or selfish desires take root. Take God's warning seriously.

Number two, guard your words. What comes out of your mouth reflects what's in your heart. So speak life, not deception. Yes, speak encouragement. Don't manipulate.

Guard your words. Number three, Expect the truth to be mocked. Can I say, don't think When I become a Christian, everybody's going to think I'm cool and I joined the best club. It's been happening for centuries. Instead of getting discouraged, stand firm.

Live with conviction. That's not possible outside of a local church. You need one. And number four, finally, walk by the Spirit. Division and destruction.

Follow those who reject God. But love and peace and faithfulness follow those who belong to Him. So choose to live in step with His Spirit today and make sure that you belong to Jesus Christ. Do you receive this word? Let's bow for prayer.

Some of you have heard the gospel today and you want to call on God and become one of those Christians. May I suggest that you say the two sinner's prayers are in the Bible. There is the sinner's prayer of repentance. God have mercy on me, a sinner. Would you just say that to God right now?

There's also the sinner's prayer of faith. Lord, remember me. When you come into your kingdom, just read those words to God. And if that's you for the first time, calling on Christ to be your Lord and your savior, mark that ministry card there in your seat. Make sure we can get back to you, talk to you about those things.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.

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