Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:3-4)
Jude's letter, just like many of the other epistles articulates a great concern regarding false teachers that were being accepted in the churches. Regardless of where this church was that Jude was writing too, serious apostasy, abandonment or falling away from the Truth seems to have been prevalent. Sad to say, but we can relate to that today. Old saying, "the smarter you get the less you know"! Society is so advanced with technology and access to information, but many in authority and leadership positions outside of but also inside the homes lack wisdom, the ability to make wise decisions based on the knowledge one has.
The first test if someone's teaching is from God or not is what they believe and teach about Jesus Christ. Little children, it 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. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. (I John 2:18-19)
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. (I John 2:20-24)
We can't have One without the Other! ...endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord [Jesus Christ], one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4:3-6) And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. (I John 2:1-2)
Jesus Christ is the ONLY WAY to God! Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. (I Timothy 6:3-5)
But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. [Numbers 14:26-38] And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day [Job 4:12-21; Isaiah 14:12-15]; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. [Genesis 19:1-29] (Jude 1:5-7)
People like to say, "what about people who've never read the Bible or heard the name Jesus? How can they be saved?" Salvation is to believe and put our faith in God and His Word. Before the physical manifestation of the Word, Jesus in the flesh (John 1:1-18), people were still judged by God and either saved or destroyed, based upon the three examples above. We've studied this scripture many times, but God has revealed himself to all mankind from the beginning of creation to now.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man... (Romans 1:18-23)
God alone is able to judge all mankind because He knows the heart of man, whether they believe Him and in Him. For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. (Romans 2:12-16)
So we must avoid anyone who teaches or tries to lead us into deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And we must also deny anyone who teaches or tries to lead us into lewdness. Sexual immorality is one of the worse sins we can commit, especially homosexuality. Why? Because God gave mankind a command, So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it;... (Genesis 1:27-28) Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:24-25)
The natural creation process of being fruitful and multiplying can not occur between a man with a man or a woman with a woman. This was so important to God, that along with many other sexual relationships to avoid, He specified it in the law: You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22) But we do have freewill, and He will not make us do anything. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. (Romans 1:26-27)
We can do whatever "feels right to us" or "makes us feel good", but God is clear that what may be known of God is manifest in all of us, because God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27) We can deny the Truth all we want and behave any kind of way we choose. We can even find people to say and teach what we want to hear; For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. (II Timothy 4:3-4)
But we will also receive in ourselves the penalty of our error which was due. God doesn't have to do one more thing to prove that He is real; and for those of us who have been exposed to the Word of God and the gospel of Christ Jesus, we have NO EXCUSE! Let's not concern ourselves with the people on the planet who may not have heard. God is in control and He will rightly judge them just like He will rightly judge us, for in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.
Let us just be thankful that we are ones who have heard the Truth! And as Paul told the church in Thessalonica, But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. (II Thessalonians 2:13-15) AMEN!
No comments:
Post a Comment