Would you join me in a word of prayer? Lord, we can't wait for that day. Sing and shout with victory. But until that day comes, Lord, would you continue to fill us with your Holy Spirit, Lord? Teach us, guide us, lead us. Lord, will we, especially right now, where we're at, in our seats, here in this beautiful church that you've blessed us with, Lord, would you teach us and guide us through your word? We pray, Lord, may this time not be a waste of time, Lord. So we thank You, Lord. We ask the blessing upon Pastor J.D., Lord, continue to strengthen and guide him and protect and watch over his family. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen and Amen. Good morning and welcome. You can be seated. I want to welcome those of you that are joining us online. We're so glad that you are. In the interest of time and in lieu of missions and prayer update, I just want to refer you to our Tuesday night prayer meeting video, which is online. It's on our website. It's also in its entirety on our social media platforms. So you can see that there. And with that, I'm doing that actually because I want to get right to it. Here's why. We're going to do three verses today. Yeah, I know. Yeah. I know, right? So we're making progress. One verse, one verse, two verses, three verses. We're doing this. Verses eight through 10. So I'll ask you to stand if you're able. You can follow along as I read. If not, where you're seated is just fine. We're going to pick it up at verse 8, where Jude, by the Holy Spirit, continues writing on the heels of talking about, really, better said, warning about these guys that creep in, slither in, unaware, undetected, and deny Christ, and pull people away from Christ. I referred to them as false influencers because they had undue influence on the body of Christ at that time. And so too is this true in our time. So I just kind of wanted to give you the context of what we're going to see today, beginning in verse eight, where he writes in the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority, and slander celestial beings. But, verse 9, even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, the Lord rebuke you. Yet these men, verse 10, speak abusively against whatever they do not understand, and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals. These are the very things that destroy them. Let's pray if you would please join with me. Lord, there's a reason that You inspired Jude to pen these words that we have in our Bibles well nigh 2,000 years later. So Lord, we're posturing ourselves before You this morning in order that You might reveal to us, minister to us that reason, the reason why we have a passage like this, verses like this in our Bibles. What is it that You want us to see here? What is it that You want us to hear here? And Lord, may we be numbered amongst those who have ears to hear and eyes to see what it is that the Spirit is saying to us, Your church today. So Lord, would You speak? in that still, small, refining, penetrating voice of the Holy Spirit. Please speak Lord. Your servants are listening, in Jesus' name, Amen. And Amen. You can be seated. Thank you. So I need to talk with you today about a very serious matter. concerning how someone who tries to discredit others can end up discrediting themselves. Please know that I spent a little more time than usual. Not that I don't spend a lot of time really seeking the Lord about the passage that I'm going to teach on Sunday. And such was the case with this passage. for today on this Sunday, but I really sought the Lord because at first read, I know this passage, and I kind of knew what was coming. You know, I kind of have to read ahead to stay ahead because, well, I'm the pastor, and I think God maybe called me to be a pastor because I prayed once upon a time a long time ago in a land far, far away. Oh God, I want to be a man of Your Word. And God's like, okay, I'll make you a pastor. You'll have to be in My Word. So I'm in His Word, and His Word is in me. I search the Scriptures, the Scriptures search me. And as I'm in this particular passage, I'm inquiring of the Lord. Lord, what is it and why is it that Jude, because you understand that he desired to write a letter. He started off writing this letter about the salvation that we all share in common. And he even says this much, you know, I really was excited to write a letter about salvation. And then the Lord just kind of put a stop to it. And I turned this abrupt, sharp corner. And instead of writing about the salvation we share in common, I have to write about a warning of these wolves that slip in undetected in your midst. sometimes from among you, as Paul would say and recorded in Acts chapter 20, where he very openly says that for three years he would cry day and night, knowing that after he left there would come in these wolves, not sparing the flock, drawing disciples unto themselves and away from Christ. And so Jude in effect is echoing this warning, and that's why we have this letter inspired by God from Jude. However, we've got a very interesting, and by the way, next week, and now you have to come next week after I tell you this, We're going to get even, it's going to get, well, I'm going to use a very old word, but whatever. Just if you don't like it, build a bridge and get over it. It's gnarly. There I said it. It's going to get gnarlier next week as we see what Jude now compares these men to. So But we still have to deal with what's in front of us because now what's in front of us is what Jude refers to as dreamers. What are these dreamers? Oh, these are the guys that have kind of crept in. They creep in. They're creeps. They creep in to a church, and they start talking about, you know, I had a vision. God gave me a dream, and they put stock in it, and they trust in it, and they put all this authority in it, as we're going to see. And it supersedes the authority of God's written word. You know, in the Greek New Testament, there are two words for word, the Word of God. There's logos, that's the written word. And there's rhema, that's the spoken word. Well, what these dreamers, please don't think dreamer, oh, they're living the dream. No. These are, these are guys who have dreams apparently, or visions allegedly from God. I'm not worthy. God, and here's what it sounds like usually, God showed me in a dream. Wow. He showed you that? Yeah. Oh, I wish you would have showed me that. When I'm kind of going off, I'll bring it back. Somebody will say something like, you know, God showed me and gave me a word for you. Whoa. He told me. He told you? Yeah, this about you. He told you that about me? He showed you that about me? Why didn't He just come to me? Why is He going through you? Oh, we're going to see why. Because they posture themselves, they fancy themselves as being the final authority. Again, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself, but I want to preface this because this is by all standards, arguably one of the more difficult passages here in Jude that we really need the Holy Spirit to open up the eyes of our understanding to, lest as Capono prayed, our time together in His Word is a waste of time. And I don't think any of us want that. Now, Jude, by the Holy Spirit, speaks directly. He speaks specifically, and he speaks even bluntly. to this extremely serious matter. I hope that doesn't sound sensational. It's not meant to be, but this is very serious. What's so serious? Well, there are alive and well today as there was in Jude's day, what I'll refer to again as false influencers. They're influencers. They unduly influence Christians. And they're actually rather successful at it and very good at it. What are they good at? Oh, they're good at launching a smear campaign. You know what I mean by a smear campaign? They seek to discredit and destroy the character of others. It's a character assassination. But here's the thing, and thank you God, and thank you Jude, because it backfires. And instead, they're the ones that are discredited and destroyed in the end. This is Proverbs 26, 27. Let me read it. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him. Be very careful. I was thinking, driving here this morning, Lord and I have great conversations. I should say that the Lord has conversations with me, gives me a talking to before I get up here behind the pulpit. So I was just kind of inquiring of the Lord, talking with the Lord. He's talking with me. By the way, prayer is a dialogue, not a monologue. God speaks in and through His Word chiefly. We pray, we speak to God. He speaks to us in response. And I was thinking about how the Word of God is a double edged sword. It cuts both ways. So for those who are on the receiving end of a smear campaign, take heart. To those who are the perpetrators of the smear campaign, take heed. I'm going to leave it right there and give the Holy Spirit the elbow room. That's how serious this is. And I don't think there's a one of us here that has not been on the receiving end of said smear campaign, where somebody has falsely accused us, launched this campaign against us, trying, seeking to discredit us, wrongly And might I add hurtfully, it hurts. Forget that. What is it a rhyme? Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. Who in the world came up with that? Words can't, words devastate. I'd rather have the sticks and the stones. I can recover from that. Yeah, but words. Oh, the power of life and death is in the tongue. We lash people. We slash people. We kill people. We murder people. Ask James with this. I don't know what it weighs. I don't care. But that little flesh that's in our mouths called the tongue. There's a reason why we have teeth, if we still have teeth. It's like a fix to keep that thing in, because if it's let out, it can start a firestorm, leaving devastation in its wake. And that's what these guys were doing. Now what we're going to see is how they did it. But one more thing before we get in. One of the most graphic examples is found in the Book of Esther. where we're introduced to this demon possessed man by the name of Haman. Remember him? You know the account? So evil was this man that he sought to exterminate all of the Jews, chief of which was the Jew Morchai, for whom he built gallows to impale him on. Now don't picture a hanging. That's not even close to how evil this was. He constructed these gallows. They were sharp, I mean they were, I forget how many feet tall they were, as some Bible commentators have suggested, but they were these tall pointed spikes that you would impale someone on. Is this too much? This is what happened. This is what he built for this Mordecai, and they would take someone and they would impale them on this, what we see as gallows, sort of not a hanging, it's an impaling. And according to Esther 7 10, Haman would be the one impaled on the very gallows he built in his construction because of his failed attempt at Mordechai's destruction. And that's what Jude is writing about here. They seek to impale you on the gallows they build for you in their attempt to discredit you and destroy you. Well, they're going to be the ones that are going to be destroyed, because it's going to backfire on them. you try to discredit somebody, you in the end will be the one who is discredited. And that's what we're going to see. So enter our text today. We have three ways which the satanic Hamans of this world, or as Jude calls them, defiling dreamers, attempt to discredit and destroy others. Listen, before we go any further, I The strength of the passage before us today warrants a level of seriousness in the attention that we give it. Let me say the same thing in a different way. This rises to the level of being so serious and so important, because we live this day in and day out, every day, all day. And it's getting worse, by the way, and especially in the church, by the way. And one need look no further than to social media, by the way, where this is so demonic, so divisive, and it's so evil. So here are the, there are more, but maybe I'll call them the big three, to borrow an auto metaphor. They are in order as follows. First, rejecting authority, in verse eight. Second, accusing slanderously, in verse nine. And third, bullying abusively, in verse 10. These are the big three. Let's start with the first one, rejecting authority, in verse eight. Now Jude is referring to the methods that people like this employ by using the authority of their dreams or visions. God spoke to me in a dream. Wow. God gave me a vision. Wow. The problem is it supersedes the authority of God's Word and those who teach God's Word. If you really look at it, peel back the layers off of it, what's really happening is they're rejecting the authority of God's Word. So don't take it personally. And they're using their polluted, corrupted, and even perverted dreams, so called, so as to have the final Word, and by extension, be the final authority. Is that making sense? So how am I going to be the final authority? I have to unseat the present authority. I have to reject the authority that is the established authority. In this case, God Himself, the Word of God itself. So I'm in competition now, and I've got to bring into question the authority of God's Word. So you've heard the saying, question everything, be careful. Question everything. Well, no wonder we have a whole generation now that not only doesn't respect authority, it rejects authority. They have no regard for authority. And not only do they reject authority, they question authority. And this is so evil. Keep in mind evil, E-V-I-L is live, L-I-V-E backwards. It's the opposite. And these are evil efforts. You know what's sad? They're met with a measure of success. And oftentimes they are and they become the final authority over God and instead of God. Example, they come in unduly influence those in a church, and it's very subtle, but they're questioning the authority of the church leadership. and certainly the pastoral leadership. So they bring into question, they plant a seed of doubt about the authority of the leadership. And this is God's ordained authority, by the way. And once they've got that seed planted and it's met with the supple soil of a questioning mind, it's allowed to germinate and sprout. And then what comes out of that is a bitter fruit of contention and not submission to authority. Now watch this. They reject God's ordained authority, and they then replace that authority with the person for which they have been influenced, from which, by which they have been influenced. Let me try that again. It's been a very long week. They want to establish themselves as the authority. So they get people, oh, I wonder what they have to say about that. Oh, like they're the final say? Oh, they have the final word? Wait a minute, God's Word is the final word. So you come to me and you say, yeah, you know, God showed me blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's all it is too, by the way, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then you go to God's Word and go, well, that's really interesting because that's not what God's Word says in God's Word. God's Word does not say blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, but God showed me that it's okay to have sex without getting married. Wow, He showed you that? Yeah, He just, He spoke to me. He spoke to you? He said that to you? Yeah, it wasn't him. Because this is the gauge by which everything is measured. This is the litmus test by which everything is tested. If you come to me with a dream or a vision or a, you know, I just feel like, you know, I just feel. Feel? Feelings. Sorry, that was a flashback. Oh, so we live by feelings, not faith now. No, I just feel like God. You feel like God. You feel? You might want to ask Jacob about that. Remember when Isaac and Esau, Wait, am I botching this? Who is the fraternal twin? It was Jacob. Yeah, Jacob and Esau. No, Isaac was the dad. Wow, what a long week. Be gracious to me, please. Be merciful to me. It really has been a rough week. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it anyway. So yeah, Isaac's the dad, right? And he's going to die. He's already basically blind. And now before he dies, he's going to give the blessing, which in the Middle Eastern culture, even in my culture, that's everything. That's the heir apparent. Now, when you're given the blessing before the father dies, you are now responsible for all of your siblings and all of the family, in every arena, financially in particular. So he's about to bless and give the blessing to Esau, and mom hears about it. And she says to Jacob, get over here. He's about to give the blessing to your brother. In fact, he's out as we speak, getting that venison as a hunter that your dad really likes. And I taught him how to make, by the way. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to, I'm going to make it up exactly how I know he likes it. And you're going to go in with it while he's still gone, and you're going to get the blessing before he comes back. And so, you know, here's Jacob going, well, Mom, my brother is really hairy. No, that's, I mean, he had hair all over the, I know that's too much. But so what does Mom do? She gets hair and puts it on his arms. I'm going somewhere with this. It'll come together. Just bear with me. So she makes this venison. He goes in with the hair. I don't know how she did that. That's pretty creative. She puts hair on his arms to disguise him as Esau to get the blessing. So he goes in. Now Isaac's blind, and He's like, oh, that smell. And then, wait a minute, Isaac's not stupid. I like that word. It's in the Bible, Proverbs 12, 1. Stupid. I just like saying it. I mean, he's smart, right? So he's like, wait a minute, how can you, how are you back so quick? Should have taken you longer. Now here's Jacob scrambling, right? Oh, well, here I made the venison you like. And he starts using the senses. He smells it. Ah, Yeah. But no, wait a minute. You still, you sound like Jacob, not Esau. Why don't you come closer so I can feel you. So he comes closer. He starts feeling his arms and the hair that mom put on him to make him feel like, feel like Esau. And, and Jacob says, pardon me, Isaac says this. I mean, this should be underlined in every single one of your Bibles and indelibly written on the tablet of your heart. Isaac says, you know, this is a very loose paraphrase. The feeling I feel is that of Esau, but the word that I hear is that of Jacob. And he went by what he felt and not the word he heard. Did you see how that illustrates it by way of an example? Well, that's what they were doing. They were going on feelings. It was these visions, these dreams. It was the rhema, the spoken word. God spoke to me and it superseded the authority of the logos, God's written word. And that's how they rejected the authority of God and the authority of Scripture. Once you reject the authority of Scripture, it's game over. It's lights out. You're toast with a capital T and a capital Toast too. I don't know what that is, but I'm not going to read too much into it. It's surely not a signal to end the sermon because we're not even close. So don't want to get your hopes up. So now let's take this rejecting of authority in order to establish themselves as the final authority, and let's package it with the second one in verse nine, which is accusing slanderously. Oh my goodness. This is a character assassination. Let's be honest. We're going to judge someone as guilty until proven innocent. Come on. This hate, innocent until proven guilty. No, not in the human nature, the sin nature, the Adamic nature. All it takes is one false allegation and you will never see that person the same again. Why? Because you've already judged them as guilty. All it takes is just one slanderous accusation. And this is what Jude is emphasizing here. It's really interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that they would dare to do so. Now there's some debate about this quote from the apocryphal book, The Assumption of Moses, which Jude quotes from, but it's really not about the body of Moses that was in dispute. So why would Jude quoted or referred to it because it's about the audacious arrogance of slanderously accusing even the devil himself. Not even Michael the Archangel would do that. Have the audacity to do that. And if you think about it, accusing someone, slandering something, how arrogant is that? How audacious is that? You know what I mean by audacious? to have, to be so full of yourself, so full of pride, so arrogant as to believe that you could then bring somebody down by falsely accusing them, because that's what they do and why they do it. Right? How are they going to lift themselves up? By cutting you down. How are they going to bolster them? By the way, this is parenthetically, probably as good of a time as any to say this. But in the marriage relationship, this plays out 1000 times a day in marriages today, where you have, and we're going to see this in the last one when it comes to abuse, bullying, but they tear the wife down to bolster themselves up. I just want to say in love, That's a coward. That's an insecure coward and no man at all. Be a man and love your wife. Don't tear her down. Keep her down. Anyway, I just don't know where that came from. But I'm not, of course, speaking of my marriage because I'm the pastor. I have a perfect marriage because I'm, after all, I'm the perfect husband. you know, being the godly. How am I doing? Not very well. Yeah. Is there a lightning bolt behind me yet? There will be if I continue. So now please don't miss this because Jude is again highlighting the audacity of these accusations and this slander. And what is slander. Do you know that it rises to the level of being included on lists in the epistles by the Apostle Paul himself as being on the same level as murder? Well, James, ask James about it. Better yet, ask James half brother, the Savior of the world about it. You have hatred in your heart, and that's really what fuels the slander. You just have such animosity towards them. Sometimes you're jealous of them. So how are you going to tear them down? You're going to falsely accuse them and slander them, because you know that that person will be guilty of that which you accused them of, and probably never stand a chance of proving themselves innocent, nor is the burden of proof on them to prove themselves innocent, because you've just, you've just destroyed them. with your tongue by accusing them. I could tell you stories, true stories. I don't want to, but just as an example, how many pastors lives were ruined? And this is not self serving. I hope it doesn't come off that way. How many pastors lives are ruined because of one slanderous false accusation? And Their character had been so destroyed that they ended up having to leave the ministry, because they couldn't get up and teach the Word of God anymore, because everybody's looking at them going, you dirty, rotten, you can fill in the blank, wife beater. Oh yeah, you didn't hear? Oh, watch out for those words. especially when they're couched in spiritual terms. Oh, we need to pray for so and so. Did you hear? Did you see that? What happened? And there's that, like the Proverbs says, that delicious taste. We have a, we have a taste. We develop a taste for delicious gossip. It's like, no, what? Yeah, I heard they're having marriage problem. No, They are? Yeah, we need to pray for them. Well, now wait a minute. Next time I, don't look at the person sitting next to you when I say this. Next time I see them in church, I'm going to be like, stink eye out of the corner of my eye. You hypocrite, you dirty, rotten, stinking scoundrel, acting all spiritual like that. And that's if you're not the pastor. Can you sit under the teaching of a guy that's been falsely accused of something so horrific and slandered like that? No, because again, he's guilty until proven innocent. And by the way, he doesn't stand a chance again of being proven innocent, because you're already judge and jury, and you've already handed down the sentence, guilty. And here's this guy going, are you kidding me? Okay, here's one true story. I might as well. Why not? True story. Guy, this is back, this is again a long time ago in a land far, far away when they still had telephone booths. That's how long ago it was. When you would put the quarter in to make a call, true story, a pastor has to make a call. And so he gets a quarter out of his pocket. goes up to the telephone, but somehow it slips out of his hand and it rolls in front of a strip club. True story. And it just so happened that somebody from his church that he pastors drives by and sees him in front of this strip club. Why? Oh, this guy's going to strip clubs. That's why. No, he's not. He's fetching the quarter so he could make a call, probably to somebody in his church that's in the hospital. How about that? And now you've got him going to strip clubs. So now you start spreading that slander, accusing him falsely, And then he gets up, unbeknownst to him, bless his heart. Now, maybe this is a little bit self serving. I mean, he's pouring out his heart. He prepared all week to teach the Word of God. And he gets up in that pulpit and he looks out over his chest. I'm not going to look at you when I do this. And what has he met with? The body language. Really? And he's wondering why he poured his heart out trying to prepare this teaching. And he's looking at people looking at him. Why? Because they heard this slander, this accusation. This is what Jude's writing about. And I don't know how you could be any more poignant than to use, and this might be at least an explanation for him quoting the assumption of Moses, an extra biblical text and source. But apparently this actually happened, where there was this dispute over the body of Moses. You know, by the way, There was no way that God was going to allow the burial site of Moses to be known by the Israelites. You know why? This is no extra charge, by the way. They would have worshipped it. It would have become idolatry, because Moses is all they knew as their leader, their deliverer, a type of Jesus. But they would have worshiped the burial site of Moses. So God's like, yeah, no, we're not going to do that. So you're not going to ever know where he was buried. So apparently there was a dispute in the realm, the spiritual realm. And here's the Archangel Michael. Now you don't want to mess with this guy. Now Michael knows not to slander or accuse celestial beings, even the devil himself, but instead put the Lord in between him and the devil and said, the Lord rebuke you. Be careful now. There are those, and it's false teaching, where they, you know, rebuke the devil. Oh, really? You're no match for the devil. No, put the Lord in between you and the devil. The Lord rebuke you. The Lord rebuke you. Sometimes I'll pray, Lord, rebuke him. The Lord's like, got it, check. And he's rebuked. I resist him, he flees. But I don't rebuke him. The Lord rebukes him. Just the arrogance that it would take to think of yourself more highly than you ought, that you would be able to even slander someone like the devil himself. Maybe that's a word for somebody here or watching online. I want to spend the rest of our time on this third one in verse 10, because this is a very real and very serious problem, and it has to do with bullying and abuse. I don't know if it's possible to overstate the importance of how Jude writes, what Jude writes. But he just hits it head on when it comes to being an abusive bully. Now, I know that bullying is one of the characteristics marking these last days, but I think we would do well to understand why. to bully and abuse, whether verbally, physically, or God forbid, sexually, is the pinnacle of evil leading to the perpetrator's ultimate destruction. I'm very grateful that Jude was inspired to write what he wrote at the end of verse 10, because he makes it very clear in no uncertain terms that those who do this will in the end be destroyed. And there's nothing wrong with a sanctified satisfaction in knowing that, because they're going to get theirs. Now stay with me on this, because this is a very important principle. And the enemy doesn't want you to hear this, by the way. So he's going to try to get your mind to wander off onto something else. So please focus and concentrate by the Holy Spirit on what I'm about to say. See, Satan will try to get us focused on what somebody has done to us or said about us, so as to get our eyes off of what Jesus did for us, in that He died for us. In other words, it's not about what they did to me. It's about what Jesus did for me. Now, this is in no way intended to make light of bullying and abuse verbally, physically, again, God forbid, sexually. But to be on the receiving end of bullying and abuse, does it not settle your heart to know that God knows and God will settle it? I think about the psalmist in Psalm 73, and there are other Scriptures and we'll close with one of them in Isaiah. But Psalm 73 asks if the psalmist writes about, very candidly, it's, he's really honest. I'm reluctant to use the word honest. You know when people say, hey, can I be honest with you? You're like, Wait, this whole time you've not been honest with me. Now you're going to start being honest with me. So everything you said up to this point, you were not honest. Can I be honest with you? Wow, you've been lying to me the whole time. Anyway, I just, I digress. That bothers me. Can I be honest with you? I was hoping that you were already honest with me. Do you have to ask for permission to be? I'm almost done with this. I'll feel a lot better after, I hope. But wait, you have to, can I be honest with you? Is that a question? What do you think the answer is? Of course you can be honest with me. In fact, I expect you to be honest with me, because it sounds like you haven't been honest with me. Otherwise, why would you ask, can I be honest with you? Should I close the file on this now? Okay. Psalm 73, very honest, very open about this crisis of faith. Why was he having a crisis of faith? Because he's watching these evil, wicked pagans prosper. And here he is upright and righteous. And He's suffering. He even says, I've cleansed my hands in vain. I'm walking uprightly. For what? Here's this evil guy. Everything he touches prospers and everything is going smashingly well for him. I like that word smashing, by the way. And here I am. I'm going through the trial of my life, and this dude is having the time of his life. What's up with that? In fact, it was so bad and so unfair that he said, I don't even want to talk to my brothers and sisters in Christ to apply it to our time, because I would stumble them. I stopped going to church because if I'm having a conversation and I'm honest, can I be honest with you, and I'm honest with them, they're going to, they're going to hear me. Now I'm going to use the word complaining, but pastors use lamenting because it sounds so much more spiritual. I mean, he's really complaining. He's questioning God. Where's the justice in this God? How can it be that this evil man prospers and a righteous man suffers? That's just not right. That ain't right. That's just wrong. And he said, I wouldn't even talk to anybody. I didn't want to mess them up because I'm messed up over this. So what does he do? Well, you get to the end of the psalm, and you need to get to the end of the psalm as fast as you can. Don't stop reading in the middle of the psalm, because then you'll have a crisis of faith, because you're like, yeah, what's up with this? And then he says, it was until I went into the sanctuary of the Lord, that's a good place to go and be, and I saw their end. how it ends for them. Spoiler alert, it doesn't end well. And here's Asif now going from being envious of them to feeling sorry for them. Here I've been jealous of just the ease in which they live their lives in contrast to the difficulty and the pain and the suffering of my life. And then I see their end and oh wow. Do they know this? Somebody better tell them this. They may want to revisit this. I know I have. All of a sudden I come back to my senses. Okay, God, I'm sorry. So I've got a choice. I can live a life with many tribulations. It is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of heaven. We don't like that verse in Acts, do we? Jesus, John 16, 33 says, in this world you will have tribulation. I don't like that verse. At least he could have said, you know, in this world you might, yeah, it might just so happen that you might come upon some tribulation, possibly. No, you will. In this world you will have tribulation, trials, suffering, pain, wrongs, suffered, injustice, unfairness. We live in a fallen world, last time I checked. So where do we get off track and start believing that somehow this side of glory, we're going to have justice and fairness. Life isn't fair. It's been a long time since I shared this. So, and plus we have new people. Yeah, this is a set up to repeat something I repeat often. Somebody will come up to you and say, hey, how's life treating you? Answer, horrible, but God is treating me good. We, this is another one, so just full disclosure, our two boys when they were young, that's not fair. Now when you're five or six or seven or eight and you say that, okay, you're a kid. Now this is a teachable moment and we are going to have a teachable moment by the way. But if you're 48 and you're saying, yeah, it's not, oh, did I strike a chord here? Life isn't fair. So we taught them this. Well, I better take the blame or credit for this, depending on how you see it. I taught my boys a song. You ready for it? Wait for it. It goes like this. The world, it doesn't revolve around you and life. it isn't fair. But boom, boom, boom, the world, it doesn't revolve around you in life. It isn't. I'll stop there. So to this day, now they're in their 20s, and they remember that song, because every once in a while it comes leaking out. I tell my wife to stop saying that, but you know, it just comes leaking out. Wife isn't fair. They're like the world, and they go into it like just automatic. Thank You, Lord, it worked. Too bad we still go back to expecting the world to be revolving around us and life being fair. No, we are going to suffer wrongs. We're going to be on the receiving end of bullying and cyberbullying. You know how many young people have taken their lives because of cyberbullying? How many young people's lives will never be the same again because of just cyberbullying? I mean, I can, I can attest to this, and I don't want to take too long on this, but maybe I need to at least mention this. Because of our social media footprint, we have over the years garnered a number of subscribers and followers, and we have a company that takes care of all of that, thankfully. But every so often, and we have staff that goes through and combs through, and if something needs my eyes on it and attention, it's sent to me. But there was a time when I didn't have that. I didn't have a company doing our social media. I didn't have staff combing through all the stuff that comes in. When I say stuff, that's being kind, because really a lot of it is very vile and very evil. Can I give you an example? And again, I hope this doesn't, please don't misunderstand my heart. I'm I'm really wanting to echo the seriousness of what Jude writes here about these kind of people. When I went public with and announced that my wife had a very aggressive form of breast cancer, I mean, I guess God wanted me to see it, but I didn't look for it. It found me. It looked for me. There was a comment from somebody on social media that God is judging Pastor JD. Wow, that kind of hurts a little bit. When our daughter Noel died, this wasn't online, this was in my face. I had somebody say to me, actually, the reason why your daughter Noel died is because you didn't have enough faith. If he had had enough faith, God would have healed her and she'd be alive. Oh, that really hurt. And here I am writhing in pain and grief and sorrow after our daughter died. That's, that's abusive. That's, that's demonic. That is so wrong. And so, you know, being again the godly man that I am, you know, just Lord forgive them for they know not what they say. No, I didn't. I didn't pray that. I'm not going to tell you what I prayed. Just I'll leave it to your imagination. It was, well anyway, it was honest. God, did you hear what they said? Did you see what they posted? Here's God going, yeah, I'm all knowing. I know the end from the beginning. I knew they were going to post that before they posted it. I knew they were going to say that before they said it. You did? Yeah. Well, God, aren't you going to do anything about it? Oh, I will. I will. Well, when? In my time. You'll see. No, I want you to do it now. wasn't it James and the Sons of Thunder? Remember when they go to Jesus after He's snubbed and they're like, Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and scorch them? Now, before you're too hard on them, like I would never say, yes, you would have. See, you always, I always, I'll speak for myself, I always shed myself in the most favorable light. You know, in the Old Testament, when the Israelites are constantly murmuring and complaining against God, I'm like, how could they do that? How could they do that? You would do that. No, but I would, I would never. Yes, you would. Fast forward, the New Testament, Peter denies. I would have never denied the Lord three times. Yeah, you would have denied Him probably 10. How about that? We always shed ourselves. The Proverbs, the contrasting Proverbs, as I like to call them in the teens, you know, the chapters in 13, 14, etc. Where you have these contrasting Proverbs where the righteous do this, but the wicked do this. And I'm like, yeah, those wicked, because I'm so righteous. No, you're the wicked. You do that. I had no idea where I was going with this, but it was, it was so deeply profound. I'll get it back. Don't worry. Give me a moment. Again, it was deeply profound. Oh yeah. So we're on the receiving end of this bullying, this abuse, and God says, I'm keeping a record of every word, every post. You know, sometimes when our social media team deletes a vile post, I almost think they're doing the guy who posted it a favor, because there's a part of me that says, no, leave it up, man. Yeah, because You know what, by deleting it, it's almost like now it's not there, so it can't do the damage for which God will have the final word on. I kind of want, again, in a sanctified way, a sanctified satisfaction. I just, God's going to have the final word on what you just said and what you just posted. It was so vile, so abusive. You're a bully. And is that not what these people do? And why do they do it? They bully you to bolster themselves. They demean you. They verbally abuse you. Why? Because they fancy themselves as being the final authority. They're so full of themselves. And is that not true that, I mean, doesn't that not explain how somebody could do that to another person or say that about another person? It's the height of haughtiness. We talked about haughtiness and arrogance and pride. They're not all synonymous. They live in the same home, but they don't share the same room. They're in the same family, but they have very different meanings. And they're so haughty, so full of themselves, because they have given themselves license and a permit, if you prefer, to do that to somebody. And God has Jude right at the end. It will lead to their destruction. Isaiah, let's close. Some of you are going, thank you, Jesus. He's going to close. I want to read verses 20 and 21 with the hopes that it will just encourage your weary heart, your bullied heart, your slandered reputation, your falsely accused upright life. Listen to what Isaiah writes. God, through the prophet Isaiah, verse 20, the ruthless will vanish. The ruthless, merciless, heartless bully gone. The mockers will disappear. Bye bye. And all who have an eye for evil will be cut down. Translated, I'll take care of that. That ruthless, abusive bully is going to vanish. that mocking, slandering, falsely accusing, mocker is going to disappear. And this is interesting. All who have an eye for evil. You know how we say they have an eye for that. You just have an eye for that. Usually it's in a good context. Well, let's flip it around. They have an eye, not for good, but evil. They have an eye for it. Now, verse 21, it gets into more specificity of these ruthless, mocking, evil people. Who are they? They are those who with a, listen, word, make a man out to be guilty. False accusation. guilty till proven innocent, with one word. You know that you can, you can destroy somebody with one word, one word. You can destroy their life, their ministry, their family, their marriage, their Children, one word, with a word, make a man out to be guilty. That's who there's more. It's also those who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice. Oh my goodness, this is full circle back to the double edged sword of God's Word cutting both ways. You're on the receiving end of this. Take heart. You're the perpetrator of this. Take heed. God records everything, and you will have to give an account for everything, and you will be recompensed for everything you did. And before you start thinking about, because right now I know what's happening. People are coming to mind. Yeah. You know who they are. I'm not going to look at anybody again. They're coming to mind. Yeah. They're going to have to give an account. Now, wait a minute. So are we, because after all, remember, it's not have I been wronged? It's have I wronged? I will have to give an account for what I've done, every word I've spoken, everything I've done. But here's the good news. Be encouraged, because I don't know how this is going to play out. I know I've heard people describe it as, you know, there's going to be a projector with everything. I hope you're not there when mine plays. I don't want to be there when yours play either. My only consolation is knowing, as John says, that in heaven we'll know no man after the flesh. Aren't you glad? And by the way, that also means we're going to know who people are, because oftentimes I'll get asked the question of, are we going to know each other in heaven? I like how one, this is not my answer. So, but one pastor answered it this way. Of course we are. We're not going to be more stupid in heaven. I just had to get one more in there. But of course we're going to know each other, but we're not going to know them as they were here on earth in the flesh. We aren't going to. This is, and I'm really dumb, but I just think about things like this, like how are we going to know who everyone is? Like I want to, there's some people I want to meet and I, are they going to have name tags? Hi, my name is Noah. No, we're going to Noah. Who's Noah? That's Noah. You Noah? You know the sermon's over when it's, but we're going to know. I mean, Paul, Peter. I'm sure Peter's going to have a very long line. You know, I'll wait in line because I, you know, I think everybody in line is going to owe him an apology, especially pastors for being the object of many sermons you know, about Peter. We actually talked about Peter Tuesday night. I think he gets a lot of unnecessary, you know, he's on the wrong end of many a sermon. I've been just as guilty of it myself. Identify with Peter, a man after my own heart, foot and mouth, that guy. So take heart, but take heed, because God is going to hold all of us to an account. And every single thing that we're going to be held to an account, Jesus is going to be there, whether it's on the screen or not. Maybe it doesn't need to be. If it is, mine's going to be very long. It's going to be like a series, you know, several seasons and episodes and to get through it. But every single one of them, Jesus is going to say, paid for, paid for, paid for, paid for, not guilty. not guilty. Thank you. But some, Jesus is not going to say that. Guilty is charged. Guilty is charged. Guilty is charged. Okay, I'm done. Can I just say one last thing? Capone, come on up, stand up. So it has to be the last thing. And again, I hope this doesn't come off self serving, but I have God, I shouldn't say I have, God has really been doing a work in my heart in this regard, because you know, I'm out there and so I'm going to be, I've got kind of a target, especially when it comes to the prophecy updates, and especially when the prophecy updates are the truth. which are so unbelievable that they're unbelievable, which is why people believe a lie, because the truth is so unbelievable. So I have to get up here and speak the truth, even though it's unbelievable. And that's not popular, especially these days. So I've been called everything and then some. I mean, his cheese gone slid off his cracker was one. Uh, that one was because I like cheese and crackers. So I didn't, I took really offense to that one. When you, when you start dealing with food, that's a problem. So, you know, he's, he's whacked. I'm whacked for Christ, I guess. Now he's crazy. He's lost it. Well, that's probably, there's probably some truth to that. But, but so then here comes the discrediting. He's lost all credibility. Oh, okay. So I just, my go to is Jude, Isaiah, Psalm 73, all the above. God, I know I'm on the right side of this. And it is the truth. And I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I'm going to be on the receiving end of this. And it is so encouraging to me to know that in the end, those who have sought to assassinate my character themselves will be exposed for their lack of character. And those who have the audacity to try to discredit especially a fellow pastor, which I don't do that. You know that, right? Have you ever heard me do that where I just bashed another pastor? I've never done that. If I have, please forgive me. But I've never deliberately attempted to discredit someone else to bolster myself. I go to great lengths to depreciate myself. I'm so self deprecating. Sometimes it's uncomfortable for people. I've had people say to me, you're too hard on yourself. To which I respond, you have no idea. Oh, you don't be so hard on yourself. No, you, I need to be hard on myself because I'm overcompensating for what I know I am fully capable of becoming puffed up and then In so doing, I'm condescending in my arrogance towards others. In the end, you will be the one that will be impaled on that gallow. You will be the one that will fall into that pit that you dug for somebody else. And you will be the one to have that rock, that stone roll onto you that you were trying to roll on somebody else. So take heed. I don't want to end on that note. I said I would end, so let's end. Be encouraged. Take heart on the receiving end of this. God will have the final word. God's got this. You be encouraged. Don't take it to heart. Just take heart. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank You. This was a tough one, a little bit personal, but much needed, Lord. I thank you for inspiring again Jude to pen these words. These are words fitly spoken for us in our day, especially with this world as it is today. Just the slander is bullying and abusive, false accusations, just the division within the body of Christ as a whole. Oh, how that must grieve your heart so. Please Lord forgive us and forgive them. And thank You Lord. Thank You for having the final word as the final authority in Jesus' name, Amen.