In this sermon, the speaker addresses the presence of false teachers and mockers in the last days. He warns the believers to be aware of these individuals who walk according to their own lusts and use flattering words to manipulate others. The speaker encourages the believers to build themselves up in their faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, and keep themselves in the love of God. He also reminds them of the consequences faced by those who did not believe in the past, such as the people of Egypt and the angels who left their proper domain. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of serving God out of love and gratitude, rather than seeking personal gain.

We're in the book of Jude, Jude just before the book of Revelation, the second last book in the New Testament, and we have one more book in this series that we've been going through book by book from the Old Testament right through to the New Testament. I didn't look when we began, but it's probably 18 months that we've been on this series, so we have one more to go, and this is the second last one in the series on the book of Jude. Jude is a very small book, very neglected book, most scholars regard it as the most neglected book in the Bible, simply because it is so small, it's right before Revelation, it's tucked in there between Hebrews and Revelation, and so for many reasons it's a neglected book, and yet it's a very, very important book, and a book that you may have noticed that I've quoted from quite a few times in the last few articles, particularly the verse that speaks about the fact that we need to earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. And so we're going to read the whole book together, and then I'm going to speak on verse 11. So let's begin from Jude verse 1. Now before I begin, Jude was, for those who were not in Sunday school, Jude was a brother of Jesus, but he doesn't name drop, he doesn't say that he was a brother of Jesus, he simply says he was a brother of James and a bondservant of Jesus, but he was one of Jesus's half-brothers. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James. To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ, mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 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. But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 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. 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. Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil when he disputed over the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke you. But these speak evil of whatever they do not know, and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to you, for they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds, late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame, wandering stars, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 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 have committed in an ungodly way, and all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against them. These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts, and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 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, these essential persons who cause divisions, not having the spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ and to eternal life, and on some have compassion, making a distinction, but others, save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Verse 11 says, Woe to them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. Now he is specifically dealing in that section from verse 5 through 15 with the false teachers that came in those days and that are still with us today, and in fact who are more prevalent today than ever before. And he speaks about three examples in verse 11. He speaks about Cain, about Balaam, and about Korah. And he uses these as examples of men who went astray in the Old Testament and says that they are examples of the kinds of false preachers or teachers that we'll get in the last days. Now, I'm not going to speak about false preachers very much this morning because I want us to see this and to get the message from here in terms of a personal message, in terms of what God or what Jude has or the Spirit has in mind to say to us individually. Remember that all of these scriptures, one is able to apply them in different ways. It doesn't mean that we can twist them to make them say whatever we want them to say, but they can be applied in different ways. You can apply them to the false preachers of Jude's day. You can apply them to the false preachers of today, but also you can apply them to ourselves. And I want to apply them to ourselves this morning. Now, if we go back to the gospel according to John, you remember the famous words of Jesus when he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me. So Jesus says, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. Notice that when Jesus used those words, he did not say, I am a way, I am a truth, I am a life. But he uses the definite article, meaning that there is only one way, there is only one truth, there is only one life, and he is it. There is only one way that we can get these things, and they are through Jesus. And of course, one of the problems we have today is that many people are saying, well, Christians are exclusive. Christians have made Christianity an exclusive thing by which we exclude other people. And we're only saying it's only us who are saved. But in fact, we are not the ones who made it exclusive. Jesus made it exclusive. And he says there is no other way except through Jesus Christ. And John chapter 10, he says that I am the door. And anyone who wants to come into the sheepfold some other way is a thief and a robber. There is only one way we can get into the church, one way we can get into heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ. He is the only way. Now, why do I mention these things? Why do I speak about the fact that Jesus spoke of saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life? Well, because here in Jude chapter 11, you find these three repeated. And in fact, it's interesting if you look at John's epistles, one John speaks about Jesus as the way, two John speaks about Jesus as the truth, and three John speaks of Jesus as the life. So you find that that pattern is repeated. And you find that that pattern is repeated here in Jude verse 11. Notice that he speaks about the way of Cain. Jesus says, I am the way, but he speaks about the way of Cain. And then he speaks about the error of Balaam. Jesus says, I am the truth. The error is the opposite to the truth. And then he speaks about the who have perished in the rebellion of Korah. Jesus says, I am the life, but in the rebellion of Korah, they perished. So he's giving us the three opposites to the claims of Jesus, to the statement of Jesus of saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And so I'm going to look at these very briefly this morning and see how that while Jesus presents us the right way, the right truth and the life, there is another message which the false preachers are preaching and which unfortunately many Christians believe. Sometimes we don't believe this openly, but we believe it surreptitiously, deep down in our hearts. Silently, we like to hold on to these things because we find them comfortable or because of various reasons. In fact, we'll look at some of these reasons. And so the first one he speaks about here is the way of Cain. They have gone in the way of Cain. Now, I'm sure you remember who Cain was. He was one of the first men who ever lived. He was Adam's son. And Adam had two boys. Well, he had many others also, but two particular that I mentioned to us and that represent two very important principles, Cain and Abel. And you remember the whole thing came down to the day when they made a sacrifice to God. Cain made a sacrifice and Abel made a sacrifice. But God accepted Abel's sacrifice and rejected Cain's sacrifice. And you remember what the problem was. The sacrifice that Abel brought, Abel was a shepherd or a herder of flocks. And so he brought an animal. And obviously, he killed that animal, shed its blood and made a sacrifice to God. Cain, on the other hand, was a farmer who tilled the ground, who tilled the soil. And so he brought that which he had produced, whether it was vegetables or whether it was fruit. It doesn't tell us whether it was grain. I don't know. But he dug in the soil and he planted seed and he produced a crop. And he took some of that crop and he offered it to God. Now, you have two ways. Both of them were saying, this is my way to get to a relationship with God. This is my way to God. Abel threw his sacrifice and Cain threw his sacrifice. And we'd say, well, that seems fair enough. How can God then reject Cain's sacrifice and accept Abel's sacrifice? Well, because of a principle, a very important principle. When Abel brought his sacrifice, he shed blood. And remember that there's this principle that runs right through the scriptures that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. That the only thing that can wash away sin is the blood of sacrifices in the Old Testament and the blood of Jesus in the New Testament, who is the ultimate sacrifice. Every sacrifice, beginning with not Abel's sacrifice. Abel's was not the first sacrifice. What was the first sacrifice that was made? When God killed an animal or animals to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness. That was the first sacrifice. And by that, God was illustrating a very important point. And that was in order to hide your guilt, you can't hide it with fig leaves. Remember, that's what they tried. They sewed fig leaves together and they thought that that would cover them. But it didn't. Maybe it did for a short while, but then they withered up and dried and fell off. But God kills an animal, sheds blood, and he's able to cover them. He's able to hide their guilt and their shame. And that's the same principle. Adam brought fig leaves. God brought an animal. Cain brought vegetables or fruit or the produce of the ground. Abel brought an animal. Same principle. And these project right forward for 4,000 years to the coming of Jesus, who would then be the ultimate sacrifice. So every one of those sacrifices were pointing to the sacrifice that Jesus would make. That would finally, once and for all, deal with a problem of sin. And be able to wash away our sin and cleanse us and make us whole and make us right before him again. But here's the problem. When Abel brought his sacrifice, he shed blood. Cain did not shed blood. And remember the principle, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And so you can bring whatever sacrifice you like. But if it is not the sacrifice of blood, and of course, there's only one blood that is accepted today, and that is the blood of Jesus. And you bring whatever sacrifice you like. If it is not the blood of Jesus, it is not acceptable before God. The other reason why it was not accepted was because Abel, in producing the flock that he did, or the sacrifice that he did, really did nothing. Abel didn't have sheep. And I don't know if it was a sheep or a goat or whatever it was that he brought. But let's say it was a sheep. He didn't bear the sheep. He didn't produce the sheep. All he did was he looked after the sheep and they produced themselves. But Cain, on the other hand, he produced the flock. Sorry, the vegetables or the produce that he brought. He had to dig in the ground. He had to put in the seed. He had to water it. He had to weed it. He had to do all of this work. And with all of his work, he produced some kind of crop, which he presented before God. You see, the one didn't work. All he did was just enjoyed what was there. God gave the animals. The animals produced. And all he did was he took one of those and he gave that to God. And we say, well, surely Cain's sacrifice must be much more acceptable to God than the sacrifice of Abel. Abel did nothing. Cain did all this hard work. Didn't God say, by the sweat of your brow, you will eat your bread. And so surely Cain's sacrifice must be more acceptable. But God was again pointing to a very important principle. And that is that we can't save ourselves. You can work as hard as you like at trying to be religious, at trying to be a Christian, at trying to do the right things all the time, at trying to get your good deeds to outweigh your bad deeds. But we can never earn our salvation. Because the principle is, the point is simply that what we owe to God in terms of our evil deeds is so much that all the best deeds that you can do can never outweigh your evil deeds. And even the good deeds that we do are mostly tainted by bad motives. And so many of them, most of them don't count anyway. And so Cain and Abel establish a principle. God does not accept our labor, our working for our salvation, our trying to go to church, pay money, live good lives, read the Bible, pray. All of these things are good and important things. But if we think that we can do all of those things and earn our salvation, we're mistaken. The only way we can get salvation is to just receive what God has done for us at Calvary. The same way as Abel simply brought the animal that God had actually produced, and he gives it back to God. God says, that I accept. But when Cain in the pride of his own heart said, look how hard I've worked, look how, if we, let's put that in modern terms, look how religious I am. I pray. And remember, there were people in Jesus' day who did that. There were two men who came to God in the temple one day to pray. And one said, Lord, I pray twice every day. I fast twice a week. I give money to the poor. And there was another man who said, I've got nothing. He just hit himself on his chest and he said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Remember what Jesus said? He said, the man who admitted his sin, he says he will be heard before that Pharisee who was so full of what he had done. You can see the same principle from beginning with Cain and Abel. The one doing it his way, the other one doing it God's way. You see the same two people in the temple that day praying. And you see the same principle today. And so that's why this warning is given to us. Be careful of the way of Cain. It seems okay. It seems like a good way. He worked hard. He did all of these things. But God did not accept his sacrifice. And so there is a warning going right through the scriptures. And the book of Proverbs says that there is a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof is death. Cain's way looked good. And that's why Jude is warning us here. And he says, for they have gone in the way of Cain. Cain's way looked good. It was a way that seemed right unto man, but the end thereof is death. In Matthew chapter seven, Jesus speaks about a broad way and many being on that broad way. And remember, we've spoken about that before, that the broad way is not the way that is filled with sinners. The broad way that Jesus is speaking about is a religious way. People doing religious things. Remember in that context in Matthew chapter seven, they'll say, Lord, Lord, in your name, we preached. In your name, we cast out demons. In your name, we perform miracles. In your name, we did these things. We were religious. We served you. In fact, they were not just religious in the sense that they were Hindus or Muslims or Buddhists or something else. These were people who preached and prayed and did things in the name of Jesus Christ. These were Christian religious people. And Jesus says, I never knew you. It was a way. It was a good way. It looked like the right way. In fact, I'm so concerned that there are many people who grow up in Christian homes, many people who grow up in a Christian country like this, many people who are part of a church like this, who may think that they're in the right way, but in fact, they're not in the right way. There's a way that seems right. It looks like good. It looks like it's good. But it's not the right way. We need to make sure that we're on the right way. Only a few weeks ago, I spoke about the fact that, you know, you really have to be foolish. To just get in your motor car and just head somewhere and say, well, I'm going to arrive at San Francisco. But in fact, you're going in the wrong direction. You have to make sure that you're on the right way. Somewhere along the line, you have to say, well, let me find a road sign. Let me find some indicator. Let me get a map. Let me stop and ask them. But let me make sure I'm on the right way. It's pointless if after four days, you haven't hit San Francisco yet. If you say it, you keep going. Because obviously, you're going in the wrong direction. And folks, as Christians, we need to make sure. It's one thing to miss San Francisco if that's where you're heading. It's another thing to miss heaven. Because you were on a way that you thought was the right way. And in the end, it wasn't. And so there's this warning. Be careful of the way of Cain. And then the next guy he comes to is Balaam. And we've spoken about Balaam before. You remember who he was. He was a prophet in the Old Testament. He was a good man. He had a relationship with God. God spoke to him personally, which is more than most of us have. He was called to produce or pronounce a curse on the people of Israel. He was not an Israelite. He was not a Jew. We don't know where he came from. He was just out there. But he was a prophet of God. And so there was this man called Balak. And we get confused between these two. Balaam was the prophet. Balak was the king of the Midianites. And he saw the Israelites coming. And the Israelites were moving from Egypt to the Promised Land. And he saw the Israelites coming. He had heard what God had done to the Egyptians. How they were drowned in the Red Sea. And he said, we're in trouble. The Jews are coming. And they're going to kill us. And they're going to destroy us. And so he calls Balaam. And he sends the messengers to Balaam. And he says to Balaam, come and curse the Jews. Come and curse the Israelites. And Balaam says, well, hang on. Let me just ask God. And Balaam asks God. God says, don't go. But the problem was that Balak knew that this man may be a little bit reluctant. So he sent a lot of gifts and money and bribes. And so Balaam went back to God. And he says, well, I just want to go and have a look and see. Let me just go with them. And let me just hear what they have to say. Maybe I can witness to them. And so Balaam gets on his donkey. And he's going down the way. And you remember what happened. The donkey didn't want to go. Donkey saw the angel of the Lord. And a few things happened along the way. Eventually, Balaam gets off the donkey. And he pulls out his stick. And he beats up the poor donkey. And he said, if I had a sword, I would have killed you. And then the donkey spoke. And that's amazing. The donkey spoke to him. And in spite of all of these things happening, Balaam still continues his merry way. I don't know what happened to the donkey. I don't know whether he left the donkey and walked or whether the donkey then just surrendered and just carried him where he was going. But there he goes. And he eventually comes to the people of Israel. And Balak, the king, takes him to a hill. And he looks down. And he sees all of the people. And he says, OK, now make some sacrifices here. And then I'll pronounce the curse over Israel. And he opens his mouth to curse Israel. And what happens? Blessing comes out. God would not allow him to curse his people. And this happened a few times. And eventually, Balaam said, well, now I've got a problem. Because he saw the gifts. He saw the money and the gold and all of the honor and everything else that the king had promised him. And he hadn't delivered his side of the bargain. And so now what was he going to do? He wanted the stuff. He wanted the money. He wanted the bribe. And so what Balaam then did is he called the king to one side. And he said, look, I can't curse these people because God is for them. But I tell you what you do. You get your young woman to seduce their young man. And get them to worship idols. And you know what? God will then judge them. Because God will not tolerate that. What a terrible thing. And that's what he did. And so Balak, the king, got his young girls to seduce the young men. They worshiped the idols. And God's judgment fell on Israel. And this is a terrible thing. And this is recorded over and over in the New Testament. We're warned about Balaam, what he did. And so what was Balaam's problem? He was a prophet for hire. He was prepared to preach or to do whatever he had to do as long as he could get the bucks. That was what drove him. That was what motivated him. And so we have this warning. And he says, they have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit. Now remember the context. The book of Jude is warning about false preachers who are preaching for money. Whose God is their belly, Peter says. Who are motivated by material things. And so I said, I'm not going to speak much about the false prophets. But let me just warn you. Be careful of those preachers who are preaching for money. Whose whole message has to do with money. Be careful of those who can never say anything for 15 minutes or 20 minutes without coming to the issue of the fact that you need to be giving to their ministries. Be careful. Because it's the same issue. It's the same spirit. It's the same attitude. And he's saying, be careful of that sort of thing. But I want to apply that to ourselves. And the problem is that when you look at these false preachers, why do people follow them? Why do people give millions and millions and millions of dollars to these ministries? So that these preachers can live in absolute luxury, fly private jets and live lives of incredible extravagance. Why do people follow them? For the same reason that those preachers do what they do. For money. You've seen the appeals. You see them on television all the time. The appeal goes like this. Give. Because that's what you need to do. No, that's not what they say. Give and God will give back to you. If you need money, then you better give to God and God will give so money so you can reap money. And so what are they appealing to? The same thing that is driving them. Greed. And so the warning here is not just against the preachers who are preaching for money and preaching for greed like Balaam did, but people who are following God for what they can get out of God. In fact, the sad reality is that there are millions of people who are Christians today because of what God can do for them. Now, maybe it's maybe it's money, but maybe it is health or maybe it is blessings. But they're not serving God because they love God. They love the things that God gives them or can give them. They don't love God because of what Jesus did at the cross. They're loving God because of what Jesus will do for them today. It's about me and what I can get out of the deal. And so the warning is be careful of this error. Remember the way the truth. And here it's the error. And when our relationship with God is based on what he can do for us. You remember the the old poster was the Second World War. Who was it? Don't ask what your country was a Kennedy. Don't ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. And when we come to and of course, we need what God can do for us. We need what he did for us at the cross. We need the salvation he can he offers. But here's the right way. And we've been speaking about this in the Wednesday night Bible studies. There's just a thin line between what is the right way and the wrong way. The right way is to say, you know, God has done so much for me. He so loved me that he gave his son to die for me on the cross. And because he loved me first. I love him. Because he gave his life for me. I want to give my life to him. That's the right way. The wrong way is saying, no, there's something I can get out of this deal. God, he can bless me. He can give me money. He can fix my marriage. He can fix my relationships. He can do this. He can do that. And so I'm going to serve God so that he can do these things for me. That's the wrong way. And that's Balaam's way. That's Balaam's error. Of saying, I'm in it for what I can get out of it. And you see, you prayed this morning. We haven't come here this morning. And I trust that you haven't come here this morning to say, well, what can I get out of this? In fact, there are too many people who go to church and they go home and they say, I never got anything out of that. The point is not that we've not come to get anything. Praise God, we do get. Praise God, he does bless us and he does feed us and he does minister to us. He does encourage us. He does comfort us. He does many, many things. But our primary reason this morning for coming here is that we might worship him. After all, it's called the worship service. The worship is not about me enjoying anything. The worship is about blessing him. About coming to say, Lord, you've blessed me this week. You see, sometimes we come to the service and we say, well, Lord, you know, I need your blessing this week. I have to write exams. I have this issue. I have these problems. I need you to help me this week. And so I'll go to church so you can help me this coming week. That's the wrong way. That's Balaam's way. But when we come and we say, you know, the Lord has been good to me this week. He has kept me. He's kept me alive. I've been able to eat every day. I've had a house to stay in. I've had clothes to wear. I've had joy. I've had times of peace. The Lord has saved me. He's done so much for me. Let me go to the Lord's house and let me just say to him that I love him and I serve him and I worship him. That's the right way. It's not about what we can get out of the deal. It's about what he has already done for us. You see, but unfortunately, sometimes we're just motivated about, you know, just somehow in the future, somehow today, somehow tomorrow we'll win the jackpot. Somehow God will make me somehow God will do. And it's all about what we can get out of it. You know what? I think that many Christians, if they understood, if I had to say to them, you know, God's never going to do anything more for you. They'll stop serving God right there. And that has to maybe be a test. If God never did anything else for you, except what he's done up to this point. Saved you, given you his word, given you a church, given you his spirit, given you everything that you need for life and God is. But if God says, no, I've given you everything. I'm not going to give you anything anymore. Will you continue to serve him? That's a question. And if your answer is no, well, there's nothing more in it for me. Well, then maybe you're going off to the way of the error of Balaam. It was about what he could get out of the deal. He wasn't interested at all in doing what God wanted him to do. He wasn't interested in being obedient to God. He wasn't interested in God's honor or God's word or God's people. All he was interested in was what he could get out of the deal. And so the error, they ran greedily after the error of Balaam for profit. And then finally, the third one is they perished in the rebellion of Korah. Who was Korah? Now we know a little bit more about Cain and Abel and Balaam, a little bit less about Korah. Well, Korah was a Levite. You remember the Levites were the people who were set aside to serve God in the tabernacle. And Korah's family were the worship leaders. This was their particular ministry. They sang and they played musical instruments. And so they were what today we would call worship leaders in the tabernacle. But there was a little bit of a problem. Korah was not happy. And his friends and his cohorts and his associates, they were not happy with the fact that Moses and Aaron were the men that were leading the people of Israel. They said, but who's Moses and Aaron? What's so special about them? We can also lead God's people. And so they incited a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. And you remember that a test was given. And God clearly showed that he'd not called and selected them. And then in the end, what happened? God said, get away from these peoples. Don't stand near them. And when the rest of the people of Israel separated from those men, the scripture says, the earth opened up and swallowed them. And they went straight. And these are the words of the scriptures where they went straight into hell. Now, what was the problem? The problem was rebellion. In fact, it says so here, who perished in the rebellion of Korah. Now, I know many preachers like to use this verse to preach that you need to submit to the pastor. That's what that verse is used for every time it's preached from. That's not what it's about. He's dealing with the issue. Notice he doesn't say rebellion to leaders. He's dealing with the issue of rebellion. Any shape and form of rebellion. That's the problem. And so you remember, it comes right back to the beginning. God said you can eat all of the trees, but you can't eat that tree. And what did Adam and Eve say? Who's God? We want to do that. We're going to do what we want to do. And they rebelled against God's command. That's where it all began. That's where the problem began. And even you go back behind before that. Remember, Satan was cast out of heaven for what reason? Because he rebelled against the authority of God. And that's where the problem is. Is rebelling against God. And when we rebel against God, we rebel against his authority. We rebel against his word. We rebel against his spirit. We rebel against the church. We rebel against anything that represents the authority that God sets in place. And that's a serious problem. Because God says that this is a huge problem. Even here in verse 8, it says, likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority and speak evil of dignitaries. Rejecting authority. Now, I'm not going to speak to you about the authority of the police or the authority of the government or the authority of the church. I just want to speak to you about the authority of God in your life. The problem is that many of us have a problem with submitting to any kind of authority. Who's God to tell me what to do? That was Kora's problem. Who's God to choose Moses and Aaron? We can have our own democratic system and we can select our own leaders. As long as those leaders is me. A problem with God's authority. Who's God to tell me how I must live my life? And of course, there are millions of people who are like that today. Who say, the Bible, it's full of rules. And who's God to tell us how we must live our lives? Who's God to tell us how to conduct our families? Who's God to tell me how I must conduct my business? Who is God to tell me how I must do my job? Who is God to tell me what is right and what is wrong? Rebelling against the authority of God. And of course, this is a serious thing because we're saying, well, who's God after all? And we forget that it was he who made us. We forget that it was he who sent his son to die in our place. And folks, the problem is that there are many Christians, although they may not be openly in rebellion to God, are secretly in rebellion to God. Maybe God has been speaking to you about something in your life. That you need to do. Something you need to fix. Some relationship you need to repair. Something that you need to stop doing. And yet you're fighting with God. You're in rebellion to God. You're saying, who's God? Maybe you don't say that openly. And you know, Jude verse 12 says that these are spots on your love feast while they feast with you without fear. Serving only themselves. They feast without fear, serving only themselves. They don't want to serve God. They just want to do what they want to do. They want to do their own thing. And they have no fear. They have no respect for God. They don't understand that God is God. That he is powerful. That he is all powerful. That he does have the power of life and death. And that if we don't obey him and if we don't do what he tells us to do, we can end up in serious, serious trouble. And in fact, Jude begins right at the beginning of the section and he speaks about the fact, he says, I want to remind you, verse 5, even though you once knew this, that the Lord having saved the people out of Egypt afterward destroyed those who did not believe. Hebrews chapter 3 says that he destroyed them because of disobedience. And so there's this thing that we struggle with because we say, well, God brought them out of Egypt. He saved them. So how can he destroy them again? If God has saved us, if he's brought us out of the world, how can he destroy us? How can he judge us? But if he did it to Israel, that's what he's saying. He can do it to us. And so we need to serve him with fear. Fear, with reverence, with respect. In Romans chapter 6, he speaks about the two masters that we can have. Obeying sin, that leads to death. Obeying God or the spirit leads to life. Now notice what he is saying here in verse 11. They perished in the rebellion of Korah. So they did not obey God and that resulted in death. Obey God and life. Remember right at the beginning when God brought Israel out of Egypt, he brought them to Mount Sinai and then he brought them to two other mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Jerusalem. And he says, now, here are the two options. All of God's blessings, all of God's judgments. He says, you choose. Choose life or choose death. That's your choice. And so it's coming, we come right to the end of the Bible and we have the same message again here. Choose life. How do we choose life? By submitting to God. We sang that hymn, trust and obey. Because there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and to obey. And so there is a way, but it's the way of Cain. And you may say, well, I have my religion, I'm a Christian. But is it the right way? There is a truth or there's the error of Balaam. Serving God for what you can get out of it. Serving God so that he can bless you or help you fix your issues or your problems. And then there's the death that comes as a result of rebellion against God. But Jesus said, remember, I am the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other way. Cain's way is not a way. I am the truth. There is no other truth. I am the life. There is life in no other than in Jesus Christ. And so let's not think that we can find some other way, some other alternative. Except Jesus's way. So why don't you submit to him today? And say, Lord, I recognize that you are the only way. Yeah, I'm trying to get into heaven on my terms, on my conditions. And I'm serving you because of what I can get out of it. But Lord, today I want to come your way. I just want to be grateful for what you've done for me by saving me, dying for me on that cross. And because you've loved me first, I want to love you. Because you surrendered your life for me, I want to surrender my life to you. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, for the tremendous confirmation in your word that there are these patterns and these messages that appear over and over and over. And Father, again, this morning, as we see right at the end of the book, we find again this warning that there is a way that seems right, but it's not. That there is a error that is not the truth. And that there is death in rebellion, but life in submission to you. And so, Lord, whatever it is that you're speaking to each one of us about, we pray that you'd help us to submit to you this morning, to stop like Paul kicking against the pricks and fighting you. But Lord, help us just to give in and say, Lord, have it your way. And Lord, help us to surrender to you this morning, that we may experience the life and the fullness and the joy that you've come to give. Thank you that you've not just come to give us eternal life, but you've come to give us life more abundantly. And so, Lord, as we come on your conditions and on your terms, we thank you for your goodness and your grace and your mercy. Thank you, Lord, that you brought us here this morning, that you've once again exposed us to your word, that your spirit has once again spoken to us. And Lord, if we feel uncomfortable this morning, we thank you for that because you're speaking to us. Your spirit is convicting us. And now help us, Lord, to be doers of your word. We ask this in Jesus' name. Part us with your blessing, Lord. Go with us as we go home and as we go into this world. Protect us, not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally and every other way. Bring us together again this evening, that we may hear your word and worship you again. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.