Called and Kept

[0:00] short time to the letter of Jude. As we said, it's been a few weeks, God willing, in this letter. And then we'll go back to our Trinity and see how we've gone with that. But just a short few weeks break for us.

[0:17] Although it's a change, we're studying a text, we're studying going through the letter, as I said, it's not just a random choice. We've, if you remember, at the back of the start of our Trinity series, there was two reasons we gave for why we're studying it.

[0:36] Very obvious reasons. Of course, the main reason is to grow on our love and our worship to God. But also to remember, there was another reason we chose the Trinity specifically.

[0:48] It was a response from the POV report where some quite rightfully and helpfully said that they wanted perhaps more equipping and dealing with those of our faiths, and they wanted perhaps more help in dealing with those who would give opposition to what we believe.

[1:07] And the Trinity is the one doctrine that we said that so many of our friends from our belief systems, our Mormons, our JWs, our Muslim friends perhaps, and so on and so on and so on, they'll all take issue at the Trinity.

[1:21] Which is why we are trying to go back to basics on that and working our way through that. When we come to Jude, we see not just bare theology, we see the reality, what it is to face false teachers and false teaching.

[1:37] When we come to Jude, we see a church, a congregation of the Lord's people who are seemingly surrounded and being bombarded by these false preachers.

[1:48] And for the folks who Jude is writing to, the brothers and sisters, it's even more complicated for them. Because in general, the problem they have is those who have come into their own congregation, or at least those trying to get into a congregation.

[2:04] Those who are calling themselves Christians. Those who are teaching and preaching different shades of the gospel. So close to the true gospel. And it's disturbing them.

[2:16] It's distressing them. It's confusing many of them. So Jude writes this letter to them. Jude quite simply deals with the reality of false teachers.

[2:30] And we might be under the false illusion this evening that this is not a worry we have to worry about. We might think automatically that false teachers, that false theology, it's somewhere over there.

[2:45] It's somewhere far away. It doesn't come near to our shores. It doesn't come near to our congregation. It shouldn't worry us. It shouldn't bother us. Well, Jude reminds us that false teachers and the danger of false teaching is not out there somewhere.

[3:02] The reality is, it is here. I'm not saying, I hope any of us would be false teachers. But I'm saying, the second we think this could never apply to us, we find ourselves then very quickly in great danger.

[3:16] Very quickly in great danger. On our island, there are many who proclaim a false Jesus. In our village, there are some who proclaim a false Jesus.

[3:29] And they love him. And they serve him. And they're faithful to him. And on paper at least, and in terms of hours given over to him, they're far more faithful perhaps than I certainly am, than many of us are.

[3:41] And what they will do, in the words of Dr. James White, what the cults will do for a lie, how many of us do the same for the truth? And that's our challenge going through this letter of Jude.

[3:54] We see that false teachers are not somewhere else out there. In fact, they are very close. And if we're not careful, false teachers can descend and can integrate.

[4:05] And if we're not very, very careful, false teachers can then access and can change how we view things. Especially now, a problem at Jude, and his people do not have, is one we have.

[4:16] And one where we're all susceptible to it, many of us at least, if we're online, is the internet. There are so, so many false teachers who give out their videos and their sermons.

[4:31] I won't do it tonight, but, and it's Figaro, I believe it's right to do it. There's a list, a solid list, of the most popular false preachers and false teachers. This is not people who are different to us.

[4:42] There's not a list of people who don't worship and don't believe the exact same things we do. These are people who are popular, but who are false preachers. Many come to my mind.

[4:54] Everyone involved in Bethel. You've got Joyce Meyer, you've got Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland. They all are involved and they all pump out so much material, written and video.

[5:05] We are surrounded by false teachers, just to say that. In some ways, nothing's changed from the days of Jude. Just to help us this evening, just looking at verse 1 down to verse 4, as we begin the letter, we follow him as he introduces himself and makes the initial contact to this church.

[5:24] Just three very simple headings for us. Foundations, fight and forewarning. So, foundations, fight and forewarning. First of all, in foundations, verse 1 and verse 2, just the introduction of the letter.

[5:42] First of all, in seeing the identity of Jude, how does he identify himself as he writes to this poor, struggling church? Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.

[5:55] Literally, Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. Now, if we didn't know anything else about this man, we think, well, similar to all the other apostles and writers of the day, it's standard introduction.

[6:10] It's what we see Paul saying and other people saying. It's standard writing. If we didn't know any more, we would breeze past verse 1 and say, well, great, that's who he is.

[6:21] Let's get going. He's James' brother and he serves Jesus. Because we know that this is not just a passing introduction. Jude says more about what he does not say than what he does say.

[6:36] Because who is Jude? Who is Jude? A brother of James. And who are Jude and James the brother of? Step-brothers, humanly speaking, but culturally brothers.

[6:50] Brothers of Jesus, I don't know. I mean, speaking personally, with all my humility, if I was a brother of Jesus, I might mention it in my letter, even to give myself some kudos, some backing up, say, I'm Jesus' brother.

[7:07] Listen to me. I'm about to tell you what you should believe, what you should do. No. How does he call himself? A servant, a slave of Jesus Christ. Just in passing, we might, you know, we always say we're half-brothers to Jesus, and technically that's true.

[7:24] I don't personally feel that's important for us to state too often or to think about too often. Because, again, culturally, culturally, they took adoption and they took engrafting in other members of the family much more seriously than we do.

[7:39] Even in our culture, I'm sure we know that often folks who are adopted and people who adopt children, sometimes these children struggle when those outside their family will often view them as an add-on to the family.

[7:55] Not truly a son or daughter. You're adopted. You're not really one of the family. That wasn't in the mindset of the day. In the mindset, an adopted child is just as important as a child of blood.

[8:12] And we see that even in the writers, and we've seen this before at Christmas time, where we noted that Jesus' inclusion in Joseph's family tree was surprising.

[8:23] How does that make sense? He's not of blood. That's our Western, modern mindset. To the writers and the people of this day, if you're part of a family, you're part of a family, and that was it.

[8:35] Technically, they're half-brothers. But realistically, they are full-brothers for all that matters. His close-brothers, his friends. How much has changed?

[8:48] How much has changed from one of the times we see Jesus, his family at least, being discussed. If we go to Mark chapter 3. I'll go quickly to Mark chapter 3.

[9:01] Mark chapter 3. Just a passing reference when it comes to the family of Jesus. And note just now how much has changed from then to 20 years later, perhaps, 30 years later.

[9:14] Mark chapter 3 and verse 20. Speaking of Jesus. And he went home. And the crowd gathered again. So they could not even eat.

[9:25] And when his family heard it, as the family of Jesus heard it, they went out to seize him. For they're saying, he is out of his mind. Now the Greek there, or the English there, it kind of polishes a wee bit of the Greek.

[9:39] The family weren't that kind about Jesus. It's not very politically correct how they said it. But they were saying he's mad. He has absolutely lost his mind. Quite literally, you could say.

[9:53] We've gone from that perspective, also. I'm thinking, this is our brother. Our brother, our family member. What's happened to him? He's saying crazy things.

[10:05] Miracles are being claimed to be done by him. It's not right. It's not real. And now we find Jude. He's many years later saying, I am a slave. I am a servant of Jesus Christ.

[10:17] And a brother of James. He is a servant of the servant king. What a change has taken place in this man's life. So that's his audience.

[10:28] Then we see his, that's his greeting. Then we see his audience. Who's he writing to? To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

[10:38] Beloved, kept and called. It's important that as Jude writes to his audience, it's important that he identifies them well. Because as we see throughout this letter, he often contrasts these three realities against the false teachers.

[10:58] That the Christians, that they are called, they are beloved, they are kept. And unlike the other false teachers who claim Christ but who don't know Christ, they are not like them at all.

[11:11] Called. Known before time. Known and called in love. It's the same language actually as we have in verse 4. We'll get to that later on. In verse 4 we see that these false teachers have crept in.

[11:24] They were also known from long ago. But they were known long ago for their evil, for their deception. The Christians were known long ago. They were called long ago.

[11:36] Before time and space and reality itself to be servants. To be the Lord's people. Also those who are beloved.

[11:49] You can imagine yourself in the place of these Christians. Now, for many of us, we will not face, at least not solid persecution for our faith.

[12:03] Now, some of us, I'm sure workplaces perhaps for family members. And some in our island, I know it to be a fact. That some in our islands who are Christians have had a very hard time from family members.

[12:16] I faced physical and mental abuse from family members for becoming Christians. I don't think it doesn't happen here. It certainly does. But in general, it's easy to be a Christian for us here.

[12:28] It's easy. Even the hardest things we might face, normally speaking, compared to the wider world today. It's easy to be a Christian here. We can meet like this. No problem.

[12:39] No worries. Take our Bibles in from our cars. Have stacks of Bibles everywhere. No thinking about it. No worries. Think of the Christians in Jude's day. They are in constant fear of their lives.

[12:53] So on one hand, you've got outside influence. You've got the Roman army, the Roman state, at this point, really beginning to attack. By the time Jude is writing his letter, the Roman state is really, in the background at least, it's turning itself.

[13:11] Always just noticing that these Christians are going to be a problem. You've got the pagan area there. You've got the pagan area therein who are sacrificing and doing all sorts of orgies and everything else.

[13:22] You think the Christians are weird. You think they're one God. You think they're strange. You think they're a danger. So the outside is raging against them. And then, internally now, internally, in their own congregation, they're finding out and they're hearing these things which we're getting so confused about.

[13:40] About Jesus. About who he is. About salvation. About who they are. You can imagine them. How confused they are. How alone they must feel. And Jude reminds them.

[13:52] Apart from the persecution. Apart from their issues and worries and stresses and strains. They are beloved. They are loved in God the Father.

[14:04] That he has them. That's further emphasised for us in the third description. Kept for Jesus Christ. Christ. If you see. If you have the church Bibles.

[14:17] There's a wee two there. Where it says kept for. Down the bottom of the page. Kept by. It's the exact same word. There's no. Which word you choose.

[14:29] There's no indication. The same word as for and by in Greek. It is what it is. You choose by context. But both words are true. Both words are true. There's other words Jude could have used here.

[14:41] But he uses this one word which means two different things. We are kept by Jesus and kept for Jesus. God the Father. Beloved in God the Father.

[14:52] And kept for and kept by Jesus Christ. That contrasts the Christians against the false teachers. They are not kept. That we see later on.

[15:05] That they are wandering clouds. Wandering stars. They are this. They are that. The ocean waves. The foam. They're just nothing. They're just loose. They're just doing whatever they can do.

[15:17] There's no keeping. There's no solidness. There's no security in their existence. In their salvation. They're just wafting through. Theologically speaking.

[15:30] And worryingly enough. In terms of their eternal salvation. They are just wafting through. With no anchor. No hope. No support. No help. And we see later on in the end.

[15:41] That they are heading towards. If nothing changes in them. The false teachers are wandering. They are not kept. The false teachers. If they do not repent. Will be lost eternally.

[15:52] Sent to hell. For the words. And the actions they are doing. That they pervert. And twist. And destroy. The beautiful gospel of our Lord.

[16:03] For all that. They are not kept. The Christians are kept. For all time. Why? Because we're kept. For.

[16:14] Jesus Christ. Because he has secured us. As his own. So when he looks on us. He says. They are mine. And I am theirs. And how?

[16:26] Well we're kept by him. Because of his finished work. So as Jude begins his letter. He tries to remind. These Christians. The Lord through Jude. Does remind these Christians.

[16:37] Just who they are. Why do we need all this help? Well we see now. Verse 3. We see the reality. Beloved. Although I was very eager.

[16:49] To write to you. About our common salvation. I found it necessary. To write appealing to you. To contend for the faith. That was once for all.

[16:59] Delivered to the saints. He had plans. Poor Jude. To write what seems like. An encouraging letter to them. He wanted to write to them. Of their common salvation. He wanted to write.

[17:10] What seems to be a. Encouraging and supportive letter. For these Christians. But Jude has either heard. Or he's been told. Or the Lord's revealed to him.

[17:21] That this congregation. Of the Lord's people. For what we need. Is not just. Joy and encouragement. What we need. Is very specific. Help. Very specific.

[17:32] Help. The reality is. The Christians here. And. Are Jude's writing to. There's always. This darkness. That seems to be. Hovering over them. The false teachers. Again. And again.

[17:44] And again. Jude has to change. His plans. He planned to write to them. About joyous things. But now instead. He writes to them. About duty. Now we've spent.

[17:54] A good chunk of time. Before looking. Together. At spiritual warfare. And we'll do more of that. In the future. Now lest you think. I'm. I'm. Pushing. Was a hobby horse.

[18:05] For myself. I promise you. It's certainly not. We'll say things carefully. Not too many things. Need to be shared. From the pulpit. But. In general.

[18:15] Every time. We preach. On spiritual warfare. You can guarantee. It's a pretty spiritually. Heavy week. For myself. Behind the scenes. The devil hates. When we discuss.

[18:26] How weak he is. The devil hates. When we talk about. The victory of Jesus. Over him. Of course he does. He hates these things. And here we see. Satan. Here we see Satan.

[18:37] Working. And bringing in. False. Teachers. To the midst of these believers. And perhaps. We're at times. Tempted to imagine. That spiritual warfare. Is only ever.

[18:48] Out there. It's only ever. Up there. In the other. Spiritual realm. And that is very much. Israel. We'll see that in a second. But the reality is. Just as our Lord.

[18:59] Uses. Holy means. Us. To share. His gospel. Satan also. Uses means. He uses. As aware. His people. To share. His false gospel. We know.

[19:10] To be true. The opposition. They face here. Are from real people. With real. Thoughts. Real theology. Sharing real things. To these people.

[19:24] What call. What call. Does. Jude give. These Christians. In the face. Of this ongoing. Spiritual attack. By these false preachers. The call. From the Lord.

[19:35] To his people. Through Jude. Is. Contend. For the faith. That was once. For all. Delivered. To the saints. Contend. For the faith. For every one of us.

[19:46] This is the call. That we face. In the face. Of spiritual warfare. Of false teachers. We are also called. To contend. For the faith. To grab a quote.

[19:57] From someone else. It's not me. The call. To contend. Is not a call. To be contentious. And sometimes. To our shame. We get these two things. Mixed up. We think. The call.

[20:07] To be bold. And to fight. For the faith. Is a call. To be contentious. On purpose. Just to be. Annoying. To be arch. On purpose.

[20:18] And to be. Contrarian. On purpose. And that wins no one. To the gospel cause. We are to be gentle. As God's words. Reminds us. Are we not? Wise as serpents. Yes. But also with that.

[20:29] Gentle as doves. We are to contend. And yes. At times. Our contending. Our fighting. It is fierce. But in our conduct. Of those around us.

[20:39] Even whilst. Tooth and claw. Discussing. The deeper theology. With say. A Mormon. Or JW. Or Muslim. We do so. With gentleness.

[20:50] And respect. That does not mean. For a second. We are not clear. And concise. And precise. In all we say. But it is a way. Of doing things. But it is winsome.

[21:00] And Christ like. Without losing. The truth. We are trying to convey. There is plenty of. If you want resources for that. Then we will cover it in time. Plenty of good Christian.

[21:10] Debaters in this world. Who do both. Who maintain a gospel. Gentleness. Whilst losing none. Of the contending. For the faith. That we are told.

[21:22] To do. But every one of us. Brothers and sisters. We are told. To contend. We must be ready. To as it were. Defend. And contend. For the faith. Against false teachers.

[21:33] Against false preaching. Wherever we see it. Ephesians 6. Verse 12. Does come into play here. A reminder for us.

[21:45] Concerning spiritual warfare. For we wrestle not. What? We wrestle not. Against flesh and blood. But against principalities. Powers. Rulers.

[21:56] Of the darkness. Of this world. Against spiritual wickedness. In high places. Now yes. The false teachers. Are physically in this church. And physically. Attacking this church.

[22:07] With their theology. But the reminder for us is. That those. Who are against the gospel cause. Those. Who try and pervert.

[22:17] The gospel cause. They are simply serving. Their master. Our battle is not with. The families. Or individuals. Our battle is with.

[22:28] The evil one. Who is leading them. And guiding them. And in that battle. We have a saviour. Who has already won. For us. As we engage.

[22:42] Ourselves. Perhaps. With. Those who have. Our thoughts about Jesus. Those who have. False teachings about Jesus. We do so. Remembering. It is not a battle. Of intelligence. It is not a battle.

[22:52] Of wits. It is one. Of spiritual power. One of spiritual. Significance. Imagine. A JW. I'm sure we've. It is one thing.

[23:04] Living in a manse. At least in Graver. The JWs. Always come to our door. Because it is another house. They won't go near. They haven't yet come near the manse. Or the Graver manse.

[23:14] And it is one of them. The same thing. Because always a day. They come to your house. You could talk to them for ages. They wouldn't leave for a while. And you could. At least vaguely talk them through. And chat with them. So.

[23:25] But a JW comes to your door. I know they do. And. And. You. Manish. Somehow. To totally triumph over them.

[23:35] With your biblical knowledge. And your wisdom. And you. Leave them. Dumbfounded. And you leave them. Confused. And they walk out of the house. And you've managed to triumph over them.

[23:47] You've managed to show them. How they're wrong. And so wrong. In every single way. And they are. And they are wrong. But what about their souls?

[24:02] What about their souls? Yes. We must contend to the faith. But it's not about winning arguments. It's not about winning arguments. Yes.

[24:13] We must know our scriptures. Yes. We must know what we believe. And why we believe it. Yes. We must know. And in time. We hope we will learn. Why they are wrong. And what they believe. And wrong. And why they believe it. Behind all of that.

[24:25] And more importantly than all of that. It's never about winning the argument. It's always about winning the person. And we do that how? By being Christ-like towards them.

[24:39] My own personal interest is in JWs. And I've got a whole pile of books. I've got some pieces of them. And I've watched plenty of videos of ex-JWs who become Christians. And there's a whole thing online of it all.

[24:52] A whole list of videos. Modern videos. Recent ones. Last two, three years. And there's one young man. In his early 30s. An ardent JW. Very, very strong.

[25:03] Very accomplished. And there's videos of him before he was saved. Out in the field. Out in the streets. And you can see him. And he is doing an incredible job. I don't think there's one argument of his that I could offhand defeat.

[25:20] I just couldn't. He's an amazing mover and shaker. He just was amazing. Anyway. He grabs a minister. And his wife.

[25:32] Down in England. Starts talking to him. Shooting a thing. And he's beating them in every single aspect. He is completely trying anything over them. And this minister is a degree level teacher at a theological college.

[25:46] One at ETS has connections with. An accomplished man. Incredible man. Anyway. This young man is absolutely destroying every argument. He's absolutely triumphing over it. And on paper.

[25:57] If you're watching. The young Mormon man. JW man. Has just won the argument completely. That man met four or five or whatever it is more times.

[26:08] With that couple. That minister and his wife. And he'll see himself. It wasn't the arguments. That won him over. It was what? It was their Christ-likeness.

[26:19] It was their constant reminder to him. That their hope is in a risen saviour. Who has done all the work for them. That they know they're going to glory. And with that.

[26:30] How they talked and shared the gospel with him. Whilst he was berating and arguing back. Yes. They held their own. But they also were more concerned about sharing the gospel. And they were winning the argument.

[26:43] Our battle is not with flesh and blood. Brothers and sisters. And often engaging in our own village. You think. What would I have right words to say? What if someone asked me a question. I don't want to say.

[26:53] I get confused. I get mixed up. It's not about being perfect. As a debater. As a theologian. It's about being Christ-like in their presence.

[27:05] Being Christ-like in their presence. And saying to them. I'm not sure. Bringing them back to Jesus. Again and again.

[27:16] To who he is. Because the cults all have Jesus wrong. Every single cult you'll encounter. They have a Jesus who says. I'll do this much for you. And the rest you do yourself.

[27:29] And we say no. As Hugh was saying. And reminding us. It's Jesus plus nothing. Isn't it? That's our gospel. Jesus plus nothing. The cults have Jesus plus works.

[27:41] Jesus plus us. Jesus plus the cult teaching. We say no. It's Jesus and nothing else. And no one else. Brothers and sisters.

[27:51] Are we ready to contend? Not ready to debate. And not ready to destroy any argument. But are we ready to contend to the faith. And be Christ-like in every single encounter?

[28:04] Finally and briefly then. Forewarning. Who's he warning them about? These in verse 4. These certain people who have crept in unnoticed.

[28:17] They creep in. They crept in then. And they creep in now. The devil is smart. The devil is far smarter than you and I combined. The devil is far smarter than the best of theologians in this world.

[28:30] The devil knows his stuff. And I hate to praise him. And we don't praise him. We don't give him too much glory at all. But being realistic. And being honest. He is an expert in his craft.

[28:41] He's been practicing it since the start till now. So don't for a second think we will outwit him or outsmart him. We won't. He will find ways in. He will find ways of bringing false teaching in.

[28:53] He did it then. He does it now. And often we don't notice it. The cults and false teachers. They take the simple gospel. And they change it just the smallest amount.

[29:07] Smallest amount. And before you know it. Jesus is now inferior. He is less. They crept in unbeknownst.

[29:22] They twist the truth of who Jesus is. But note what these people are described as being. Yes, they crept in. But long ago.

[29:33] These false teachers. Were designated for this condemnation. They did not, as it were, creep past God. Yes, the Christians are suffering.

[29:44] The Christians didn't catch them. For they crept in. The Lord saw. The church belongs to the Lord. The church of Jude's day. North Tolstead.

[29:55] A free church. Belongs to the Lord. And yes, at times. Who knows what may happen in the future. At times, perhaps. To our own shame. We allow false teaching.

[30:06] And false preaching to creep in. And we pray the Lord. It won't happen. But it could happen. The Lord keeps his church. The Lord saw this. The Lord knew this.

[30:16] Before time itself. And the solemn. It is solemn. The solemn encouragement. These two things. They can even go together. That the Lord gives his church through Jesus.

[30:29] Long ago. I knew about them. And long ago. They were condemned. Yes, for a while they will win now. For a while they will distress you. And distract you now.

[30:39] But like their father. They will be sent. To hell. They will be condemned forever. For twisting.

[30:51] And destroying. And perverting. And making a horror. The beauty of who Jesus is. And what he has done. A solemn reality.

[31:02] A heavy reality. But said to remind. Both those in Jude's day. But also ourselves. Not to fear. Even though we see.

[31:13] Perhaps. These other. So-called. Faiths. Grow. In our power. And grow in our. For attraction. Supposing we see. In the future. A huge church.

[31:26] Being built in storm. For our. Our Mormon friends. Supposing it happened. Our Muslim friends. A bigger mosque. Supposing it happened. So on and so on and so on. We are those.

[31:37] Who know for certain. That the Lord knows. The end from the beginning. And the beginning from the end. And our job. Is not to get distressed. And distracted. And distraught.

[31:48] As we see these. Things happening. We say. Not on our island. How could this happen to us? We live in the world. Our job. As with those in Jude's day.

[31:59] We live in the world. We live in the world. To contend for the faith. To be Christ-like. In our interactions. And at every single chance. Take the opportunity. To share. The glorious gospel truth.

[32:13] Our faith. Might well be shaken. Those false teachers. Might well come. And seek. To distress. And distract. And destroy us. But the Lord has won. And because we belong to him.

[32:24] We have won. Through him. Brothers and sisters. We need not fear. Even as aware. The earth gives way. We have a saviour. Who has gone before us.

[32:36] Who prepares the way. Who will never leave us. And more importantly. Who will not forsake us. Who will not lose. A single one of his own people. As we carry on then.

[32:47] Through the letter of Jude. In the weeks to come. We see just how insidious. Just how. Devious. The devil is. But also. And we'll skip ahead.

[32:59] Just how glorious. The ending of the letter is. Where Jude reminds. These people. That the Lord wins. The Lord wins. Let's bow our heads now.

[33:10] A word of prayer. Lord we thank you for the. Gift of your word. Help us Lord. As we engage then. With this letter. That honestly. And at times. Painfully.

[33:20] It shows us. The reality we live in. Help us to be confident. As we approach it. Knowing that. Yes. We live in a world. With so much evil. And so much false teaching. Where we see.

[33:31] The evil one. Seeming to gain. So much ground. Yet you. Tell us not to fear. For though he. As it were. May prosper now. His end is sure.

[33:42] And though false teaching. May prosper now. Without repentance. Lord. They will be lost. For all eternity. I've always seen. Perhaps the decline.

[33:52] Of the gospel cause. For now. We know Lord. That you have your people. And you are building. Your church. Help us then. To be faithful. As we engage ourselves. In North Tolstain.

[34:03] Our places of work perhaps. Help us to be faithful witnesses. As we come face to face. With atheists. With those of other. Again so called faiths. Those who say. Jesus was not real.

[34:15] Those who say. He was real. But he was this. Or he was that. Those who twist. And pervert. The true beauty. Of the gospel. Help us Lord. Then to be steadfast. Help us Lord.

[34:25] To be dutiful. And diligent. And disciplined. In our own study. That we would know. What is right. And what is wrong. And who is right. And who is wrong. Help us then Lord. To be more faithful. In attendance.

[34:36] And study. And prayer. More faithful then. In discipling ourselves. Through your word. So that together. We would stand strong. Knowing. That you are through. And everyone else.

[34:47] Are liars. Lord help us then. Encourage us. We thank you for placing us. In North Tolstice. Do pray just now. For those in our village. Who are. Worshipping false gods. This evening. Who are worshipping.

[34:57] As it were idols. Idols. Which are. We know ultimately. Connected to the fact. That they are worshipping. Demons and devils. Those who. Love. The praise. Because it takes away.

[35:08] Praise from you. We ask Lord. For a time of renewal. And revival. In North Tolstice. There would be no foreign god. As it were. Found amongst us. And like ourselves. Like our own island.

[35:20] Just shortly. It just feels. 300 or so years ago. We were once worshipping. A mix of pagan gods. We were once worshipping. A mix of everything. And yet your gospel shone.

[35:33] Its glorious light. Into our island. Help us Lord. Then. As we pray once again. For that gospel light. To be seen. In our village. In our own homes perhaps. You be glorified. Pray Lord.

[35:44] For the destruction. Ongoing destruction. Of the evil one. Pray for that destruction. In particular. As he works in North Tolstice. For all the schemes. And plans. And plants.

[35:54] That he has in this place. For those who. Whether knowing or not. Serve him in this place. Lord. You would destroy. That plan. Destroy that work.

[36:05] That he would be abased. And that you would be glorified. Ask all these things. Relying fully. And totally. On the finished work. Of our Lord Saviour. Jesus Christ.

[36:16] In his name. And for his sake. Amen. Let's conclude with. Just more verses. From Psalm 103. A few more verses. From Psalm 103. We can sing verse 5.

[36:27] Down to verse 10. Psalm 103. Verse 5. Down to verse 10. Psalm 103. Verse 5.

[36:38] Who if abundance. Of good things. Do have satisfied. Thy mouth. So that. Even as the eagle's age. Renewed is thy youth. God righteous judgment. Executes. For all oppressed ones.

[36:50] His ways to Moses. He has acts. Made known. To Israel's sons. Psalm 103. Verses 5 to 10. To God's praise. Amen. Pastor God.

[37:09] Oh Oh Oh

[38:39] Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, with you now and forevermore.

[39:40] Amen.