HOLINESS, GRACE & LICENTIOUSNESS (Kent Smith (6/4/23)
HOLINESS, GRACE and LICENTIOUSNESS
Jude 1-25
(Holiness: Week 7 of 7)
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What is Holiness?
Holiness is the character of God, as separate from all else and all others.
To be holy is to be set apart by God, and unto God, and for His glory.
Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.
(1 Peter 1:15)
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What is Licentiousness?
The presumption of grace to practice unholy behavior.
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Last week we discussed the guardrails that we need to be aware of to govern our liberty and freedom in Christ.
But licentiousness is an attitude of utter disregard for any restrictions on our behavior.
We know we are forgiven, so we are free to do as we please in all regards.
Christians may sin by exercising their liberty in ways that hurt others or hurt the Kingdom of God.
But Jude warns the church that those who embrace licentiousness are subject to condemnation.
I would suggest that it is a strong possibility that they are not saved.
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The false understanding of grace
Grace is license to behave as we please without consequence.
Grace that permits us to reject the rule of Jesus in our lives as Master and Lord.
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v.3-4
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
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God’s history against unholiness
The children of Israel who failed to believe God to enter the promised land were destroyed by forty years of wilderness.
Angels who rebelled against God were cast out and eternally destined for darkness and judgment.
The people of Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in immorality and were consumed by God’s fiery judgment.
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Jude reminds us:
v.5-7
Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all,
that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6
And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7
Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, and are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
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Identifying false believers
They follow their own visions
They embrace sin
They reject authority
They are self-centered
They have ungodly deeds, ways, and words.
They arrogantly complain, accuse, and flatter.
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v.8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.
v.12a These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves;
v.15 The Lord came to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
v.16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.
v,.12b-13 Descriptive illustrations:
clouds without water, carried along by winds; a
Autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;
wild waves of the sea, casting up their own [n]shame like foam;
wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
v.18-19
The Warning to the church about these types::
In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.
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Encouraging Holy Believers
Build your lives on the foundation of holy faith.
Pray in the Holy Spirit.
Keep yourselves in the love of God.
Wait anxiously (Expectantly trusting) for God’s mercy for eternal life.
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But you,
beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Spirit,
21 keep yourselves in the love of God,
waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
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The call to holy conduct
Have mercy on those who doubt.
Evangelize to see others saved from Hell.
Have mercy with fear for some.
Hate the sin which pollutes our lives.
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22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting;
23 save others, snatching them out of the fire;
and on some have mercy with fear, (This is how we must approach those who practice Licentiousness.)
hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. (We must hate their sin and ours)
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The Work of Holiness
Is God’s work in us through Jesus Christ:
To keep us from stumbling
To make us stand blameless (Holy) before Him with great joy!
To express for all eternity:
His Glory
His Majesty
His dominion
His authority
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Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
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