Year 2 Day 343


Pray (ACts)


Read - Mark 8:10-13


Message - Alan Burke


Normally I try to break the passage into sections so we can work our way though it, this week were going to do something different. We are going to look at these three verse and draw a few things out because these verses are all ‘A Sign Of Disbelief’. As we come to this passage think to where we were last week in Mark’s gospel, Jesus had fed the four thousand in the region of the Decapolis a Gentile region and in v10 we are told that he went to the region of Dalmanutha. We don’t know exactly were this place is, scholars have various theories but what matters is not specifically where it was but rather that it was a Jewish region and what took place there. 
  
Jesus had just fed the four thousand, they were Gentiles in a Gentile region, they were outsiders who were being included in God’s redemptive plan. But here as Jesus returns to those who should be insiders, who are the people of God, those who should know God’s plans and purposes, well don’t get it. They might have eyes but they did not have sight to see them or the perception to understand who Jesus was and is. 


We are told of the Pharisees coming to question Jesus, to test him, they ask for a sign from heaven (V11). Now were going to break down this verse, I’m going to draw a few things out of it to help us to really get the idea of what is going on here. Now I’m aware that some of you have the NIV before you, others will have the KJV others the ESV and remember these are but translations of the original Greek they all do a pretty good job, some better than others, and there are differences in how they translate this engagement with the Pharisees. 


Firstly if you have an NIV or a KJV before you what we are told is that the Pharisees, well they began to question Jesus. The ESV on the other hand puts it slightly differently, or rather very differently, they began to argue with Jesus. Here the ESV gives us a better emphasis, but it’s still a little weak. For these Pharisees, well they came out and began to, well yes they were question and yes they were arguing, but it’s much much more forceful than that. 


The greek uses two words about their coming to Jesus, ‘rule’ and the other is ‘dispute’. Rule gives us an idea of their attitude and the emphasis behind the word in greek that is to dispute is that of questioning. What we have here is these pharisees coming to Jesus, and yes they were coming to him but it wasn’t with a nice wee question, it wasn’t for a point of clarification, they were coming to Jesus not so much looking for an answer but to harangue him, to argue with him, this was one of those engagements that if you were to have seen it you would have thought this is about to kick off, if it happened out on the square, suddenly people would be scattering, or more probable today people would get their phones out and start filming it. You get the idea. 


Well here that’s what we have as  the Pharisees on what you could say is the war path, you know when you meet people and you just don’t get in their way. They are coming to harangue Jesus, to harass him, they are there to argue with him, there not there to engage with Jesus, even though it’s framed as a question its not really, not to discus and debate about matters, they are there full of hostility towards him. It wouldn’t have mattered what Jesus had done before them, their demand was a ‘A Sign Of Disbelief’. Some believe that the supernatural the extraordinary, the exciting, the experience is what will draw people to salvation but it didn’t work for the Pharisees and the scriptures teach that faith comes though hearing, we might want the experience, the wonderful story the miraculous even a sign from heaven but faith comes from hearing the word of Christ (Rom 10:17) and it is what we need, week in week out. What you need Christian is a solid diet of the word of God, it’s what I need and it’s what you need and by it God works by His Spirit, either drawing us to Himself or hardening our hearts.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q96 What is the Lord’ s supper?
The Lord’ s supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’ s appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace. (1 Cor. 11:23–26)
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Year 2 Day 341 


Pray (ACts)


Read - 1 Thessalonians 2v17-3v5  


Message - Scott Woodburn
Can you believe that this time last year we had returned to online worship only? Christmas 2020 was our last big party before the country was once again shut down from Boxing Day 2020 until Easter 2021. I'm glad that those days are over and by the grace of God we will never see a repeat of such moments. But, just like you, Covid taught me something about the condition of my own soul.


Whilst I found the whole process of preaching into a camera in an empty building thoroughly frustrating, there was something very seductive about the different pace of life. I would wake on Sunday morning with nowhere to be. I didn't have to go to church. I didn't have to keep a list of attendees. I didn't have to make sure that we had enough hand sanitizer. I could simply wake when I wanted, watch the service when I wanted and hit pause when I wanted. I quickly realised that my sinful heart was being led astray by the ease of an enforced lockdown. I had been forced to give up meeting with my brothers and sisters and slowly but surely I was growing to enjoy the distance.


I suspect I know what Paul would say to the church in our online Covid age. In today's passage Paul speaks with language saturated with love for his fellow Christians in Thessalonica. He explains that his absence from them was not by his choice. He had been "torn away" from them (v17) but still in his heart he longed with great desire to see his brothers and sisters face to face (v18). Paul understood what we often forget, that meeting together face to face is an essential part of what it is to be a Christian.


On numerous occasions Paul tried to get back to Thessalonica to share fellowship once again with the church and yet he was hindered by Satan (v18). What does Paul mean? Paul understood that in this world we wrestle against the unseen spiritual forces of evil and we can be sure that our enemy seeks night and day to hinder and harm the local church. We aren't sure what methods he used to stop Paul from getting to Thessalonica but Paul was confident that Satan was involved. My brothers and sisters never doubt the activity of the devil. He continues to rage against the church and he uses all kinds of methods to divide, hurt and harm the people of God. Be aware and resist him!


Let's be clear though, God is sovereign over evil and Satan will not win. With unbridled love, Paul spoke of the church in Thessalonica as his glory and joy (v20). He longed to be with them to encourage them in their faith. His desire was that he would be able to present them before the Lord on the final day (v19).


Such was Paul's concern for the church and the afflictions they faced, that while he was forced to stay in Athens (3v1) he sent Timothy to strengthen the faith of the Thessalonicans (3v2). Paul knew that the church was facing serious troubles and afflictions (3v4), this was and is the destiny for those who follow Christ (3v3). If we are with Christ then we cannot expect to avoid the gaze of Satan and his minions. In this world we will have trouble, Christ Himself told us it would be so.


So what should we do? Brothers and sisters, meet together. Is that it? Yes. Brothers and sisters, meet together. I know that we live in the internet age and I know that our very own sofa is a cozy and tempting place on a Sunday morning, but nothing beats the significance and importance of the church of Christ meeting together each and every Lord's Day. We are called by the Lord to gather as little outposts of heaven to sing His praise. He has given us the ordinary means of grace (the Word, the Sacraments and prayer) and we are to diligently use them. The ordinary means strengthen our faith so that we can resist the devil's schemes. Finally as we meet we look each other in the eye and help each other in the midst of affliction and as we walk through life together we grow in love for the Lord and His people.


May the Lord give us an increasing hunger to take our place in the visible church. Brothers and sisters, meet together.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q95 To whom is Baptism to be administered? Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible Church, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him; but the infants of such as are members of the visible Church are to be baptized.
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Year 2 Day 340


Pray (ACts)


Read - Mark 8:8-9


Message - Alan Burke


Once more at the end of the feeding of this multitude just like previously in Chapter 6, we learn how not only those who were there were ate and were satisfied but also that there was much left over, far more than they needed. Some would spend lots of time looking at the significance of the basket fulls that were left over, the twelve baskets for the people of God representing the twelve tribes of Isreal, the seven baskets representing the seven Gentile nations that occupied the Promised Land during the time of Moses (see Deut 7:1 for the list) so it speaks of the including of the Gentiles, or actually there are many other allegorical interpretations. 


What we should see though, when all is said and done with this miracle, what our take away message should be with the super abundant provision of the Lord Jesus Christ to the five thousand in Chapter 6 and the four thousand here in Chapter 8 is… Jesus is himself is more than sufficient to do what he had come to do, more than able to provide for the temporal needs of those who gathered round him that day and more than able to provide for the eternal need for all who repent and believe. 


What this miracle does is that it shows us the compassion of Jesus but what is more, this miracle is here to show us the inclusion of the Gentiles in the plans and purposes of God. If you want to know who the Gentiles are, that’s us all those who by their birth are not Jewish. The feeding of the five thousand took place among the jews but here we are among the Gentiles, what we have seen throughout Mark is the include of the outsiders, think about it, the man with leprosy he was an outsider (1:40-45), the women with the discharge she was an outsider (5:24-34), the man possessed with legion an outsider he gets it (5:1-20). These four thousand people who had been with Jesus under His teaching they were outsiders but they too get. The people of God on the other hand who we would expect to be there, to have got it, the religious leaders, the Pharisees, teachers of the law, they don’t. And the disciples who are with Jesus, there is the danger that those closest are the ones who least have the eyes to see. 


We can face times that we doubt his goodness, that we focus on ourselves and our limitations, that we forget His grace towards us. But what we need to ever do is to look to the Lord our God, for the God that we come before though Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit is able, even though to us what may ahead seem insurmountable, what we need to do is to look to Jesus. Let us think and look more and more to the compassion of our Saviour looking to Him, knowing that He is more than sufficient to rescue us from our greatest need, the sin that effects all of us. For he will bring us though all that we face all because of His great love for us seen in Christ Jesus to came to include us, the outsiders in the plans and purposes of God. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q94 What is baptism?
Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, (Matt. 28:19) doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’ s. (Rom. 6:4, Gal. 3:27)
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Year 2 Day 338


Pray (ACts)


Read - Mark 8:4-7


Message - Alan Burke 


Let’s be honest, there are times that we are all a bit slow on the uptake. We can all likely remember many days in school when something was taught to us by our teacher and we had to put our hand up and admit it. These disciples are no different, they were just like us and time and time again I at least am reassured by their portrayal in the gospels. For they are not super spiritual followers who get everything and get it right all the time instead they are just like us. It’s now been a while since these disciples were called to be with Jesus, they had seen some amazing things, they had witnessed first hand the miracles of Jesus, they were there when Jesus had fed the five thousand and they still can only see and state the obvious. Look there in v4 “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”


Remember back in Chapter 6, how they were there with Jesus as he preformed this miracle before them? They shouldn’t even have had to think twice, they should have known but at the same time they were fallen, sinful people just like us who can all be slow on the uptake. Well here just like before they were in the situation they faced they didn’t understand who they were with, not really.
The reason that the disciples don’t understand, they don’t shout out with their Sunday school answer “Jesus, the answer is Jesus” (because in Sunday school at least for me the answer nearly always was Jesus). Is because they haven’t yet perceived and don’t yet understand that Jesus is the answer, because witnessing a miracle isn’t enough. It is what we have seen in the gospels, people see the most astounding things but they do not believe. 


We might suppose that that’s what we need, we need signs and miracles, wonders today but the heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim his handiwork (Ps 19:1), God’s invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made, so that are without excuse (Rom 1:20). We see every day, but we do not understand until the Spirit works in us. These disciples had seen so much, they had seen Jesus heal the sick, calm the storm, feed the five thousand, but they simply do not yet understand who Jesus was and is. Yet Jesus once more teaches them, look what He asks in v5, simply how many loaves do you have, and a few small fish. These things may seem insignificant especially with the crowd before Jesus but again thanking God in communion with the Father, Jesus breaks these loaves given them to the disciples. Another object lesson for these disciples of who they were with, an object lesson in trust, in the need of prayer, in the need to stop looking to themselves but to look to Jesus. 


What I want to leave you with is this. There are times that I am slow to learn, there are probably more times that I am slow to learn than learn and we are all the same. Yet we can look back years later and see how God has been at work in us. We should thank God for his compassion and his patients with us how God has been teaching us and transforming us in the midst of it all. In the future these disciples would be able to look back and understand, the object lesson they had that day, to trust, to pray, to stop looking to themselves and look to Jesus. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q92 What is a sacrament?
A sacrament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ, wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers. (Gen. 17:7,10, Exod. 12, 1 Cor. 11:23,26)
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Year 2 Day 337


Pray (ACts)

Read - 1 Thessalonians 1v1-10

Message - Scott Woodburn
Today sees us begin a new journey through the books of 1&2 Thessalonians. The city of Thessalonica was named after Alexander the Great's half-sister, it was a natural port and was situated on the main route between Rome and the Eastern provinces. The church in Thessalonica had been founded during Paul's second missionary journey with the full story recorded in Acts 17.


Paul might be forgiven for putting Thessalonica out of his memory for it was there that a crowd of jealous Jews sought to hand him over to an angry crowd. The crowd would surely would have taken the Apostles' life. Thankfully Paul and Silas managed to escape by night to Berea where their preaching was received more eagerly. Yet the Thessalonian church had not left Paul's thoughts, indeed he writes in the name of Christ to extend to them both grace and peace (v1).


Despite the actions of the angry crowd, Paul remembered the Thessalonian church with pure affection. He told them that he thanked God for them constantly in his prayers (v2). He had discovered true Christian fellowship in Thessalonica and witnessed faith, love and hope in his brothers & sisters (v3). The Thessalonicans had trusted in Christ, they had put their faith in Jesus. They had loved the Lord and loved each other, they had worked hard and laboured in this love. They stood firm in the hope that they had in Christ, He had saved them and was surely coming back.


None of these attributes were by chance - they were an outworking of the Spirit's work in the city. The Apostle had come to Thessalonica and preached the Gospel with power both in word and deed (v5a). As the Gospel was proclaimed the Spirit worked and He brought many Thessalonians to a "full conviction" of their sin and their desperate need of Christ (v5b). They had come to saving faith in Jesus and had witnessed in Paul and his companions a legitimate ministry (v5c). Paul and Silas weren't travelling hucksters attempting to deceive, instead they were travelling preachers who wanted sinners to believe.


As the church in Thessalonica was founded and grew the new concerts understood much affliction (v6). In Acts 17 we are told that a Thessalonican Christian by the name of Jason and some other brothers were dragged before the city authorities. Finally they were realesed on bond but we can imagine that this wasn't the last trouble that they faced. Regardless of their troubles, their faith caused them to have great joy in the Holy Spirit (v6). They had been called and chosen by God (v4) and as a result their earthly afflictions did not compare to their heavely hope.


Amazingly the example of the Thessalonian Christians had caused Gospel ripples in Macedonia and Achaia (v7). Paul didn't even have to say a word in these regions (v8) because they had already heard the reports from Thessalonica. The Thessalonians had turned from idols to serve the Lord (v9) and now were patiently waiting for Christ's return. They had received the Apostle with receptive hearts and now the Gospel they had believed and the faith that the Spirit had worked in them was being shared around the world. What an amazing work had taken place in Thessalonica! No wonder Paul remembered them with joy and prayed for them without ceasing.


My brothers and sisters I would urge you to pray for your own church today. Perhaps we are remembered for our disputes or our good music or the fact that we've lots of young people or the fact that we've no young people or that our minister is fair to average or that we're vacant or that our Boy's Brigade is great or for a thousand other reasons. Put all of this to one side and instead pray for your own church that she would be known and remembered for her unstinting faith in Christ which has been worked by the Gospel and the Spirit and has resulted in faith, love, hope and perseverance. Pray that our fellowships are so saturated by the Gospel that it spills out from us into the surrounding districts - not for our fame or good name but for the sake and further glory of Christ our Lord.   


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q91 How do the Sacraments become effectual means of salvation? The Sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in them, or in him that doth administer them; but only by the blessing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit in them that by faith receive them.
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Year 2 Day 336


Pray (ACts)


Read - Mark 8:1-3


Message - Alan Burke 


"You’ve told me that story before!” Ever said something like that? Or maybe you’re just to polite to say anything and listen to it all over again in order to not cause offence. Well today we come to Mark’s gospel and we think of another feeding of a multitude, some have argued that Mark just got a little confused and this is just a repeated the stories, or rather recycled what happened, reworking it into this setting, in what is called a doublet. Yes there are similarities between the feeding of the five thousand and this feeding of the four thousand but there are also differences. 


Mark’s intention by including another account of Jesus feeding a multitude, is to help us understand something significant. We have already learn and we know of Jesus power over creation and his creative power so that’s not the thrust of what we are to take away, rather it it is here to help us to understand that Jesus has come for those who by birth are the people of God, but those who are not. He has come to redeem all who will repent and believe, it doesn’t matter if they were part of God’s covenant people are those who were not. For God is the God of the Jews but also the God of the Gentiles to (Rom 3:29) and all who received him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (Jn. 1:12).


Jesus still in the Decapolis, and once more we have Jesus surrounded by a large crowd, there’s nothing new in this, but once more, to see the compassion of Jesus. The word that is used here for the compassion of Jesus means to be moved deeply within from the seat of emotions. The greek word for compassion is derived from entrails or vital organs, like you feel it in your belly being so moved with what you see or hear. This compassion of Jesus as he looks at the crowed is of a gut-wrenching emotion on their plight. 


Here with this crowd, Jesus looks at them and has compassion. We might think sure that’s not really a big deal but a word that could possibly help us, a word that we have been all to familiar with is that of ‘sectarian’. There was prejudice, discrimination and hatred all in a big mixing pot in various measures between Jews and Gentiles. To the first readers and hearers of this gospel, when told of the compassion of Jesus towards a crowd such as this would have been earth shattering. It would have been so striking, a Jew, but not only a Jew, the Son of God, the long awaited Messiah of God’s people having compassion on such as these. 


They were those who were outsiders, those who were not part of the people of God. So is our compassion confined to ‘us’? On a purely practical and temporal sense do we just have compassion on those who are like ‘us’? Do we try to love our neighbour as ourselves as long as they are like ‘us’? If that’s the case then we need to repent, plain and simple we need to repent. The example of Jesus here confronts us with the extent of what our compassion should be like, even for those who are not like ‘us’!


Next, the God that we come before this day is one of compassion. His compassionate character is revealed to us in that we are needy and He gives us aid. It is not that our bellies our empty this day although yours might be rumbling, but it is that his compassion is show towards us in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ, the compassion of God incarnate, who has provided for us eternally though the salvation He achieved as He atoned for the sin of all who will repent and believe on the cross. The compassion of God is that we might be saved from our sin! 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q90 How is the Word to be read and heard, that it may become effectual to salvation?
That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, (Prov. 8:34) preparation, (1 Pet. 2:1–2) and prayer; (Ps. 119:18) receive it with faith and love, (Heb. 4:2, 2 Thess. 2:10) lay it up in our hearts, (Ps. 119:11) and practice it in our lives. (Luke 8:15, James 1:25)

Year 2 Day 334 


Pray (ACts)


Read - Jude 1v24-25


Message - Scott Woodburn
We have reached the end of Jude's short letter and it finishes in quite a surprising way. Jude has given us multiple warnings about the ministry and character of the false teachers. He has told us that we are in for a fight until the day Christ comes. He has taken us on a Bible study and reminded us of Enoch, Balaam, Korah and Cain. He has even given us a little glimpse of books outside of the canon of Holy Scripture. So how does he finish? By singing!


There's plenty in Jude to trouble us and to make us scratch our heads but nevertheless Jude finishes his letter with a song. You may have heard the final two verses of Jude used as a benediction at the end of a worship service but that is a mistake. A benediction is a word of blessing from God to His people. That's why it's the final thing you hear before you leave worship and head back out into the world. The final verses in Jude are not a benediction but instead a doxology - they are a song of praise from you to God.


It's a sure sign of the Christian's confidence that even in the face of false teachers and church difficulties it is still possible to praise the Lord. Jude wanted to write about salvation and instead was forced to write to urge his brothers and sisters to contend for the faith. It was a difficult message but Jude finishes by singing "now to Him" (v24) and why not? God is the One who will keep us from stumbling. My brothers and sisters we are called to enter the battle and we can be certain it will be bruising. Nevertheless the Lord will keep us to the end. We will not lose our salvation. The Lord will not delete us from His book. The one who has received Christ by faith will persevere to the end - God Himself is able and He will make it so!


The preservation of the believer will lead to that person being presented blameless before the Lord Himself. My brothers and sisters this is our glorious destiny. The Lord will keep us from stumbling and by His immeasurable power we will stand holy and blameless before Him on the last day. When that day comes our joy will be great. We may feel like we are struggling inch by inch through this life but a day of abundant joy is coming. Really, really, really...a day of abundant joy is coming! You will stand in the presence of the glory of Almighty God. Really.


No wonder Jude broke into song. Only the Lord will keep us. Only the Lord has the power to present us blameless. It is only the Lord who deserves all the glory, majesty, dominion and authority. It's always been this way, before all time and now and forever more. There is no one like the Lord. No one surpasses Him. There's no one close to Him. Great is the Lord and worthy of all praise!


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q89 How is the Word made effectual to salvation? The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching, of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.

Year 2 Day 333


Pray (ACts)


Read - Mark 7:36-37


Message - Alan Burke 


At times I fell that I may as well talk to the wall for the good it will do me. I’ll not share any specific examples, it is best not to but we all from time to time can fell that way. Well here we have Jesus telling those, or rather commanding those who were there not to tell anyone of how he had healed this man but the more he did so the more they kept talking about it. Why though, why did Jesus command them not to tell anyone? 


Well think though back to Mark 1 when Jesus healed the man with Leprosy, he sent him away with a strong warning “See that you don’t tell anyone” (1:43). Well there we see the result of the man ignoring this warning of Jesus and as a result we are told that Jesus could no longer enter a two openly all because news of who he was and what he was doing was spreading. Then in Mark 5 in a Gentile region Jesus cast out many demons from the demon possessed man, there Jesus sent him away saying  “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” (Mk 5:19). There Jesus told him to tell his family but this man told everyone, presumably Tom, Dick and Harry too. Then here once more Jesus tells those who were there not to tell anyone, but the more he told them the more they kept talking about it. 


We might find it perplexing but Jesus did not want to gain the reputation of being a miracle-worker. Here he commanded these onlookers, who were overwhelmed with amazement to, likewise not to tell anyone, to avoid the situation that was waiting for him in Galilee to be repeated here in the Decapolis, where He could no longer enter a town openly but was forced to stay outside in the lonely places (Mk 1:45), with the people coming in their droves to be healed, for he came that they too, these Gentiles might know the good news of God, how the time has come, the kingdom of God is near, the need for repentance and to believe in the good news. The more people heard of this miracle the more they would be looking misunderstanding his purpose, they would have came to seek their physical needs met but he came for another purpose to atone for the sin of his people (10:45). 


They missed the real point of his coming, they had missed the magnitude of who Jesus was and is and what this miracle that he had done was pointing to, Jesus does what only God can do. The Lord had responded to Moses’ excuses, with these words: “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Ex. 4:11). Jesus’ actions here show that he has that same divine power for he is God. The people in a sense saw and believed, they were overwhelmed and amazed but it is the message of the gospel that we must hear and respond to.


Here in this account of the healing of a deaf and mute man, it is Jesus who works bringing this man healing. The depth of Helplessness that this man faced are really the depths of our Helplessness, for this man gives us a picture of our natural condition, the plight we face, for we are by nature deaf to spiritual truths. The extent of Christ’s salvation is that He gives us the ability to hear and speak, by the power of the word preached and the Holy Spirits work amongst us that brings us from death to life, that enables us who are deaf to hear so that we not only are those who hear but also those who speak. Some times that takes time, some times it happens dramatically, but no matter who we are it is the work of God within us that we are able to hear. We can not do it ourselves, but Christ does, for he does what only God can do for he is the son of God who came to atone for the sin of his people (10:45)


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q88 What are the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?
The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption, are his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation. (Matt. 28:19–20, Acts 2:42,46–47)
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Year 2 Day 332 


Pray (ACts)


Read - Jude 1v17-23


Message - Scott Woodburn
Nothing Jude has told us should be a surprise. As his letter comes to a close he reminds his readers that the Apostles had predicted the arrival of the false teachers. Jude quotes Peter directly from 2 Peter 3v3 “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” These are the people who cause divisions in local churches. They live according to the world and are devoid of the Holy Spirit (v19).


Peter and Jude agree that such individuals will be active in the period known as "the last time" (v18). When is this period of time? My brothers and sisters we are living in it. The period between Christ's Ascension and His return is known by many names. We can describe it as the "inter-advental period", the Apostle John describes it as the "millennium" and here it is called "the last time"


Regardless of how we describe this period we can be sure that we are living in the last days. Therefore we must be alert and on guard for in these days there will be scoffers inside the church. The Christian is to understand this and to respond by building ourselves up in the most holy faith (v20). How do we do this? By getting into the Word of God. The Scriptures are our meat and drink. The Word is faithful and true and the answer to the unbelief and scoffing of many in this evil age.


We are to pray in the Holy Spirit - we are God's children and by faith in Christ we have access to the Father. Let us pray to our heavenly Father in the strength of the Spirit and in the name of Christ. We are to keep ourselves in the love of God - this doesn't mean that we can lose our salvation unless we work hard to keep it - perish the thought! Instead we are to ruminate and meditate upon the love that God has for us. The scale of His love is beyond our full comprehension. Christ willingly lowered Himself and came to suffer and die for sinners. To keep this love constantly in our gaze is to rob the false teachers of any argument. What is greater than the love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord? Nothing! Therefore keep yourself in the love of God. 


Additionally we are to be hopeful people. Jude counsels us to wait for the mercy of Christ that leads to eternal life (v21). We are to wait expectantly and hopefully for the return of Christ. On that great day His monumental mercy to sinners will ring out throughout the universe. What a day it will be for the one who has received Christ's mercy!


As we wait for Christ's return we also have a responsibility to others. In these last days there will be those who know doubt fuelled by the lies of the false teachers. Will Christ return? Did Jesus die for me? Will I stand on the last day? To those wrestling with such questions of doubt we are to show mercy. Others will have bought into the lies of the enemy that we are to snatch them from the fire (v23a). In other words they are in great spiritual danger and we are to do our best to pluck from the flames of hell. Finally we may encounter those who seem far from the grace of God. They have believed the lies and live in direct opposition to the Gospel. We are to be merciful to such individuals whilst at the same time "hating even the garment stained by the flesh" (v23b). What does Jude mean? Show mercy to the sinner but hate sin. Be careful that you too are not enticed by the schemes of the enemy. Show mercy but keep your guard up!


It is clear that Jude doesn't believe the last times to be an era of peace and happiness for the Christian church. I suspect we have been lulled into a false sense of security over the past 100 years or so. Christianity seemed to be in a prominent position in the Western world and we probably believed that it would never be any different. We have been fools. Satan continues to rage against the church for he knows his time is short. Brothers and sisters may we wake from our slumber. These are not days of peace but days of war. Put on the full armour of God and contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.   


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q87 What is repentance unto life? Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.
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