I Never Made A Sacrifice

“For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office.  People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa.  Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay?  Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter?  Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought!  It is emphatically no sacrifice.  Say rather it is a privilege.  Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink, but let this only be for a moment.  All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us.  I never made a sacrifice.” – David Livingstone

The Epistle of Jude, part 9

Jude 12-13

Introduction:

In these two verses, Jude gives us 5 descriptive illustrations of how these false teachers really are.

I. The Feast

A. They are spots upon the love feasts.  Imagine an invitation to a fine dinner feast.  The red carpet has been rolled out, and the fine china put in place.  The waiters are nicely dressed as the violin music begins to play.  As you sit in your seat, you begin to notice the glass in front of you – spots.  Spots on the plates, on the silverware.  All is filth!  Obviously, someone had forgotten to do the dishes!  How embarrassing for your host!  Or perhaps you’ve had the sad experience of bringing a guest or having a guest that has overstayed their welcome.  You leave, knowing you’d never been invited again, completely embarrassed.  This is how these false teachers ought to be in our minds.  They are filthy embarrassments to the Body of Christ!  They ought to be treated as such.  Not minimized or appeased, as would have us do.  I know he’s a big problem, so we’ll just give him a smaller Sunday School class.  Or perhaps we’ll think something along the lines of, I’ll have a discerning spirit and just listen to the good parts…  The Body of Christ has no place for these people.  We ought to be utterly ashamed of them.

B. But this word spots has another idea to it.  It has the word picture of jagged rocks just beneath the surface.  To a ship coming in, they are deceiving and dangerous.  Without knowledge of their presence, the situation is deadly.  That is exactly how Jude wants us to view these false teachers – deceptive and deadly. 

II. The Fruit

A. We have two illustrations here.  I put them together here because I think they are very similar, and I couldn’t think of an alliterated point for clouds.  The main theme here is disappointment.

B. The first illustration here is clouds containing no water.  The picture we are to see is of a desolate land.  A land dying of decay, drought and dehydration.  They wonder what will become of them.  At this moment we see in the sky a beautiful, large cloud.  Them perhaps a few more come in.  Soon we see a sky filled with them.  The people run from their houses, dying with anticipation to see that first drop of precious rain squeeze itself out.  Hours pass, and nothing happens.  More hours pass.  What little hope existed dies now.  A greater disappointment now descends upon the people.  These false teachers bring with them false hope. 

1. I can imagine the poor widow sending in her last few dollars as seed money to the televangelist, with the false hope her troubles will soon be over.
2. I can imagine the heart-broken parents bringing their ill child into a faith healer, only to be rejected and sent back to their seats.
3. I can imagine the truly sincere Christian, desiring more from God’s Word, sitting service after service in frustration as hear hears moral platitudes and self-esteem messages.

C.  The Second Illustration Jude uses is that of a tree with withering fruit.  We see hear what looks like good fruit growing.  We are told in the gospels that by their fruits ye shall know them.  We see what appears to be fruit, but it begins to wither.  Upon closer examination, we discover it was really no fruit at all.  Again, the disappointment settles in among the people.  I wonder how many have been sickened by eating this poison?  Perhaps Psalm 1 would give us a better health and wealth gospel.

III. The Foam

A. Continuing on in this parade of illustrations, Jude takes us to the high seas.  There we see the raging waters of heresy.  Notice first they are raging – angry.  I get tired of people who go to no lengths to promote tolerance, and then get overly upset at preachers who faithfully preach the Word of God.  You mention standards of separation, and their fists are up in the air.  Just this week a big debate was canceled in Lynchburg, VA.  The debate was to cover the topic of Calvinism, but soon the bigger debate became about the debate.  Both sides got ugly, unpleasant and could not agree on anything.  Ps 119:165 – Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.  I get upset at our crowd as well.  I’ve actually seen preachers “warm up” during the song service by shadow boxing.  They’re getting mad at the devil, or so they say.  They are just angry people looking for any avenue available to vent. 

B. Then we see they are foaming out their own shame.  How sad this is.  Eventually, at some point, sin must come to the surface.  How many seemingly good preachers have seen good wrong.  How many people followed Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart only to see their true colors?  I can remember growing up, loving to hear one local pastor – and I then remember hearing the news of how he divorced his wife and ran off with the church secretary.  And stories could go on and on and on…

IV. The Firmament

A. Here we see wondering stars floating aimlessly across the heavens.  Never to stay in one particular orbit, they wonder around.  Of course, we know at some point they will crash into something eventually.

B. Don’t we have a lot of those in our churches today?  The hop from church to church, never quite happy with what they see.  But whatever criteria they themselves have conjured up, never quite matches what they are looking for.  They have no church authority to be held accountable, and perhaps they have grown to enjoy that.  However, the crash will come.  Faithlessness always shows itself eventually. 

V. The Final Straw

A. What will be the final outcome of these false teachers?  They are reserved for the blackness of darkness forever. 

B. Notice the contrast made several times in the Bible about light and darkness.

1. Ps 18:28  For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
2. Ec 2:13  Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
3. Isa 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
4. Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
5. Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
6. 2Co 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
7. Eph 5:8  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
8. I John 1:6-7 – If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
9. Revelation 22:5 – And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

C. We see the clear distinction between light and dark.  These men have walked in the dark all their lives, and now they will spend eternity in the blackness of that darkness forever.

D. Notice that the punishment here is forever.  This not mere annihilation.  I think Jude wants to belabor that fact.  Jude describes everlasting chains and the vengeance of eternal fire.  There is no escaping this judgment.  Again, this is how serious God treats this matter of doctrine and purity.

An Interview with Evangelist Dan Souza

This week on the Delve into the Depths Podcast…

Song – Be Thou My Vision
Steve Pettit Evangelistic Team – Higher Ground
Interview – The Work of An Evangelist
Evangelist Dan Souza – Altar Call Ministries
Gospel Message – If A Man Die, Shall He Live Again?
Evangelist Dan Souza – Altar Call Ministries

Download the mp3 file here
Listen to the stream here
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Pastor Kevin Thompson with
Evangelist Dan Souza

For a complete listing of all archived podcasts,
please visit our podcast page at:

http://delveintothedepths.podomatic.com

Charity by all Means; but Honesty also.

“On all hands we hear cries for unity in this, and unity in that; but to our mind the main need of this age is not compromise, but conscientiousness. ‘First pure, then peaceable.’ It is easy to cry ‘a confederacy,’ but that union which is not based upon the truth of God is rather a conspiracy than a communion. Charity by all means; but honesty also. LOVE, OF COURSE, BUT LOVE TO GOD AS WELL AS LOVE TO MEN, AND LOVE OF TRUTH AS WELL AS LOVE OF UNION. It is exceedingly difficult in these times to preserve one’s fidelity before God and one’s fraternity among men. Should not the former be preferred to the latter if both cannot be maintained? We think so.” – Charles Spurgeon

She Said YES!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was the big day.  The day no one ever thought would come.  I know some of you were thinking I would be on the Singles Conference circuit for the rest of my days here on earth…  But that all changed when she said yes!  I flew out to Miami and popped the big question.  Jill and I are engaged!

We started off with a sunset boat cruise along the Port of Miami (which I later found out she had been several times before).  Of course the highlight of the night (besides the engagement) was seeing Vanilla Ice’s house…  After the cruise I took her to a large deck overlooking the port.  By this time the sun had gone down, the stars had come out and the moment was just right (I had to wait for the cruise boat below us to stop playing the Eminen music…).  I bent down on one knee (both knees were shaking quite a bit), and asked her to marry me.  She said, and I quote, “Yes, yes, yes…”  Praise the Lord!

Our tentative wedding date will be June 23.  I thank you for all of your prayers.

The Least of These with Attorney David Gibbs, III

This week on the Delve into the Depths Podcast…

Song – All Hail the Power
Mike Zachary - Promised Land
Message – The Least of These
David Gibbs, III – Christian Law Association

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Listen to the stream here
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Attorney David Gibbs, III

Related Links

Liberty Baptist Church
Fighting for Dear Life

For a complete listing of all archived podcasts,
please visit our podcast page at:

http://delveintothedepths.podomatic.com

Its A Grand Ole Party

Just thought I’d let you all know, it is now official – I am a registered Republican once again.  I guess this confirms my allegiance to the vast right wing conspiracy.  I’m just doing my job as a Christian to join the religious right.  I guess I made Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwel, D. James Kennedy and Jim Dobson very happy.  Wait a minute, am I sure I’ve joined the right side after all?  Oh well…

Comments and Katie

Yesterday CBS news (now with Katie Couric) aired a commentary by Brian Rohrbough in their free speech segment.   Mr. Rohrbough lost his son in the Columbine school shooting a few years back.  His comments are as follows taken from CBS website:

I’m saddened and shaken by the shooting at an Amish school today, and last week’s school murders.

When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting. Since that day, I’ve tried to answer the question, “Why did this happen?”

This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value.
We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children.

Suicide has become an acceptable action and has further emboldened these criminals. And we are seeing an epidemic increase in murder-suicide attacks on our children.

Sadly, our schools are not safe. In fact, we now witness that within our schools. Our children have become a target of terrorists from within the United States.

Read the whole story here.

As you can imagine, CBS has taken some heat on this one.  The leftists are outraged at the very notion of a religious man promoting his own agenda in the face of their own secular agendas.  Of course evolution and abortion have nothing to do with violence and the problems in society today – they are the very answer to these problems!  This guy must be a Limbaugh-listening, gun-toting, right-wing, fundamentalist bigot.   At least this is the idea you come away with…  My comments posted on the site can be found here:

Would anyone care to comment on how abortion and evolution have improved the situation in our schools? Have test scores and quality gone up as we have sought to remove religious influence from public education? Are students better behaved now that evolution is accepted as truth? Is violence on the decline as abortion rights are defended more and more?

An Evening with Evangelist Wil Rice and Galilean Baptist Church

I wonder how many of you were wondering why there was no posting yesterday…  What happened to The Epistle of Jude part 9!!!  Relax, I did not teach my usual Sunday School class yesterday.  I actually was quite sick this weekend and did not accomplish much of anything at all.  But, on Friday, I was able to travel down to Galilean Baptist Churchin Stafford Springs, CT with a group from my own church.  It was the last night of the Wil Rice revival meetings.

The meeting went very well.  There were several other churches in attendance along with local visitors.  It was a great blessing to see some old friends and acquaintances at the church I formerly had worked with.  

Brother Rice delivered an excellent message from John 17:14-20.  His main theme centered around the idea that your relationship with Christ effects your relationship with the World. Here are a few notes I jotted down from the message:

I.  You are Not of the World
     A.  You are different because of your relationship with Christ
     B.  You are different because of your relationship with the truth

II.  You are not out of the World
     A.  Don’t forget your responsibility to be a testimony where you are
     B.  People need you

III.  You are Sent Back into the World
    A.  With God’s Spirit
    B.  With God’s Word
    C.  With Your Word

For more information about Wil Rice and the ministry of the Bill Rice Ranch, log on to trhe new Fundamental Perspective blog.  Today is the big debut featuring an interview with Brother Rice.  Don’t forget to join in on the discussion using the comments section below the posting.