Rev. Jusak Widjaja Hendra - WR Supratman 4 Sby
We
have learned Jude 1: 24 and 25 several times, but let us reread it so
we can get new understandings from God. Verses 24 and 25 are closing
of Jude.
Jude 1:24, 25
24 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,
25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.
Jude talks about coverings. In verse 24 and 25, it tells about covering/ shelter of the love of God to His churches so they do not stumble. The love of God also presents us faultless/ perfect. If we stumble, we will not be perfect. In contrast, if we are not stumbled, we can be perfect as Jesus.
We have learned the causes of the sin of stumbling, namely:
Therefore, now we will learn how we can keep away from being stumbling block, namely:
If we are blessed and become blessing for others, we get into the formula of Abraham's blessing that is we are blessed to be blessing for others and it is similar to repeated activities (cycle) for if it is not repeated, the blessings stops. We may not be selfish since if we are selfish, we are like goat which is going to be cursed and thrown to the hell.
This is the realization of loving others as ourselves and even loving enemy and it means there is no stumbling block. It is easy to say, yet it is difficult to do. Hence, we have to beg to God so we do not become stumbling block.
Matthew 5:43, 44
43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy = the Law of Moses
Verse 44 is the practices of loving our neighbor as ourselves, namely:
Mark 12:30-34
30 'And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.
31 "And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
32 So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.
33 "And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." But after that no one dared question Him.
If we have the two tablets of stone, we will have the perfect love. We have to struggle for the two tablets of stone unless we want to be stumbling block.
The advantages of the two tablets of stone/ the perfect love are:
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Jude 1:24, 25
24 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,
25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.
Jude talks about coverings. In verse 24 and 25, it tells about covering/ shelter of the love of God to His churches so they do not stumble. The love of God also presents us faultless/ perfect. If we stumble, we will not be perfect. In contrast, if we are not stumbled, we can be perfect as Jesus.
We have learned the causes of the sin of stumbling, namely:
- Stone
heart
- Fleshly
mind
- Outside
stumbling from the world
- Inside
stumbling from ourselves which comes from eye, foot and hand.
Therefore, now we will learn how we can keep away from being stumbling block, namely:
- We
must love the word of God = love God more than everything and with
all of our body, soul and spirit.
Psalm 119:165
165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.
Loving Your law = loving the word of God.
The process of loving God is loving the word of God is as follows:
Jeremiah 15:16
16 Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.
- Eating
the word of God
--> In short, when the word of God is delivered, one who loves
God will eat it. Eating the word of God is comparable to eating
food.
Eating the word of God starts from:
- We
hear the word of God seriously
- We
understand the word of God until believe in it. It gets into our
heart and becomes faith that brings joy and satisfaction.
If one does not feel joy with the word of God, he will look for satisfaction from this world and stumble to sins. Young people have to notice it seriously! When we serve God and we are not satisfied with the word of God (in other words, we do not get satisfaction from the word of God), we will seek any kind of satisfaction from this world so we stumble in sins.
- We
hear the word of God seriously
- Doing
the word of God
--> after being faith, the word of God has to be practiced -->
"For
I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts."
If we do the word of God, we will get the power of the name of the
Lord God of hosts.
What are the advantages of the power of the name of the Lord God of hosts?
- The
power of the name of the Lord God of hosts sanctifies/ departs us
from iniquity.
2 Timothy 2:19
19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
One who loves God/ the word of God will not stumble since he departs from sins.
- we
will be able to defeat them and we will not stumble.
Philippians 2:10
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
Those in heaven = Satan. Those on earth = false prophets. Those under the earth = antichrist. They are the source of stumbling block. However, if we have the power of the name of the Lord God of hosts/ the name of Jesus, we will be able to defeat them and we will not stumble.
- The
power of the name of the Lord God of hosts sanctifies/ departs us
from iniquity.
This is the way how to keep away from being stumbling block. We must love the word of God or love the Lord more than everything. The practice of loving God is we eat the word of God wholeheartedly until we believe in it and we will rejoice. Then, we do the word of God so we are separated from sins. Moreover, we get the power of the name of the Lord God of hosts to win upon the source of stumbling block that is Satan trinity and we will not become the stumbling-block.
- Eating
the word of God
--> In short, when the word of God is delivered, one who loves
God will eat it. Eating the word of God is comparable to eating
food.
- we
have to love our fellows as we love ourselves.
1 John 2:10, 11
10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
The processes of loving our fellows as ourselves are:
- Verse
11 ?there
is no hatred.
Hatred
starts from disliking others and it must be finished for if it is
not finished, it will become hatred. Hatred will increase to be
hatred without reason like what Satan has. It is written in John 15
seven times that the world will hate to seven times that is hatred
without reason (perfect hatred).
- remembering
those who are in need by giving
and visiting.
Matthew 25:34-36, 39, 40
34 "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
36 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'
39 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
It starts from marriage that maybe is in a prison of sins. We may not see our fellows as enemies, yet we have to care of them by praying for them and giving advices.
Furthermore, we have to give and visit our fellows who are in need (maybe they are ill) in the shepherding service system. Next, we must give and visit our fellows in other shepherding places which are duty from God to us. In our own shepherding place, we are in the abundance of the word of God, thus, we have to give the abundance to other shepherding places.
If we have been blessed in the abundance, but we do not want to give and visit, God will curse us.
Matthew 25:41
41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
- Verse
11 ?there
is no hatred.
Hatred
starts from disliking others and it must be finished for if it is
not finished, it will become hatred. Hatred will increase to be
hatred without reason like what Satan has. It is written in John 15
seven times that the world will hate to seven times that is hatred
without reason (perfect hatred).
If we are blessed and become blessing for others, we get into the formula of Abraham's blessing that is we are blessed to be blessing for others and it is similar to repeated activities (cycle) for if it is not repeated, the blessings stops. We may not be selfish since if we are selfish, we are like goat which is going to be cursed and thrown to the hell.
This is the realization of loving others as ourselves and even loving enemy and it means there is no stumbling block. It is easy to say, yet it is difficult to do. Hence, we have to beg to God so we do not become stumbling block.
Matthew 5:43, 44
43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy = the Law of Moses
Verse 44 is the practices of loving our neighbor as ourselves, namely:
- There
is no hatred to our neighbor
- We
can give and visit our neighbor who is in need
- We
are able to love our enemies, at least we pray for them who damage/
persecute us so God forgives them and they are able to turn from
their sins.
Mark 12:30-34
30 'And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.
31 "And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
32 So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.
33 "And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." But after that no one dared question Him.
If we have the two tablets of stone, we will have the perfect love. We have to struggle for the two tablets of stone unless we want to be stumbling block.
The advantages of the two tablets of stone/ the perfect love are:
- Setting
us free from the sin of stumbling. It
is only the perfect love that is able to release us from the sin of
stumbling.
- Giving
us the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven
--> vs. 34
If we have the love of God, we will have the wisdom which we need in confronting the condition of the end of the days.
For the young people, I am sure that the Lord is able to pour the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven, let alone the wisdom of the world which is lower than the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven. The Lord will give us the wisdom of the world if:
- We
have the two tablets of stone
- We
do not become stumbling block. If the young people become stumbling
block, your school/ study, economy and life will stumble.
Nevertheless, if you do not become stumbling block, you will get
the wonderful wisdom of the kingdom of heaven from God.
What is the advantage of the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven?
Ecclesiastes 10:10
10 If the ax is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.
Ax is dull = crisis. The formula of this world is if the ax is dull, we will have to use more strength, e.g. you have to open your shop early because of crisis and your time for God is less.
This is the way from Satan to make crisis condition so men give most of their time and attention to resolve the crisis. It is like the Israelites when they were going to go out of Egypt. In Egypt, they made bricks and the Egyptians provided the straw, but at the time Moses said that they were going to serve God, Pharaoh irritated and commanded the Israelites to seek the straw by themselves to make the bricks.
It is the fact that the condition is getting hard when we are going to serve God. For example, the Egyptians used to provide the straw so the Israelites could start to work at six o'clock, but because they had to look for the straw themselves, they had to start to work at four o'clock so they could not pray in the morning. It is the example of being in crisis condition.
Nevertheless, God has a different way --> But wisdom brings success. If we have the two tablets of stone, we will be free from stumbling so we can get the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven.
What are the benefits of the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven?
- to
guarantee success in confronting crisis condition in any field in
this world.
Therefore, the two tablets of stone/ love are very essential and we must beg to God so we get the perfect love of God. Don't let our love be dull in the crisis condition so we do not want to go to the church and serve God. It is a wrong way since if we are far from God in the crisis condition, our problems will not be solved. In contrast, if we get closer to God, we will get His love and wisdom so that our problems are finished and there is a guarantee of success. I hope we can understand it.
The crisis condition cannot be confronted by using more strength or capital that is not able to guarantee success. However, if we have love and wisdom of the Lord, there will be a guarantee of success.
- for
confronting antichrist that rules over the earth during 3.5 years.
The greatest crisis happens when antichrist rules over the earth during 3.5 years and he cannot be faced, except by wisdom.
Revelation 13:17, 18
17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
Our daily needs are important, yet the most essential thing is wisdom as the wealth or intelligence cannot defeat antichrist. It is only the perfect love of God that gives us wisdom which is able to flee us from antichrist.
In the time of antichrist, people who do not have the wisdom of God and the perfect love will be marked by antichrist with 666 and left in the earth. On the other hand, people who own the perfect love and wisdom of the Lord will be fled to the wilderness for 3.5 years and nourished directly there by the Lord.
- for
building our life to be the perfect Body of Christ
Proverbs 9:1
1 Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars;
What is defined as seven pillars? The seven pillars are the characteristics of God.
James 3:17
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
These are the seven pillars/ the wisdom of the Lord that builds us as the perfect Body of Christ and we have to possess them nowadays:
- pure
--> purity is holiness of our heart. There is a multitude of
Christians look holy, but their holiness is only like cover,
particularly the full-timer servants of God in preaching the Word.
Other people cannot see it, yet God sees everything, Satan also
knows and they look at their own holiness in heart. If our
holiness is not in heart, we will pretend to be holy.
- peaceable
--> we love to make reconciliation (keep in peace) = we do not
keep other people's sins.
- gentle,
not easy to irritate
- willing
to yield --> being obedient, does not give a lot of comments
like Sara who obeyed Abraham when he gave her to another man, but
Sara did not protest Abraham. These are the realization of love/
the two tablets of stone and wisdom. If Sara had not had these two
things, she would have been unable to yield when Abraham gave her
to other men twice.
- full
of mercy --> we do not judge others
- without
partiality --> fair = if it is wrong, we say it is wrong and if
it is true we say it is true. We do not say that one is true even
though he is false because he is our family or he is rich. The
love and wisdom of the Lord is without partiality (fair).
- without
hypocrisy.
These are the seven pillars.
Let us be free from stumbling block by having the love of the Lord which gives us the wisdom to get success and protection in the crisis condition to the era of antichrist. This world will shake to the peak that is the era of antichrist, yet we are protected and built to be the Body of Christ, not the body of Babylon. The sin of stumbling is comparable to the sin of Babylon and is for the building of the body of Babylon. Nevertheless, the wisdom and love of God build us to be the house of the Lord/ the perfect body of Christ/ the bride of heaven with seven pillars. I hope we can understand it.
- pure
--> purity is holiness of our heart. There is a multitude of
Christians look holy, but their holiness is only like cover,
particularly the full-timer servants of God in preaching the Word.
Other people cannot see it, yet God sees everything, Satan also
knows and they look at their own holiness in heart. If our
holiness is not in heart, we will pretend to be holy.
- Mark
12:34 Now
when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You
are not far from the kingdom of God." But after that no one
dared question Him.
No one dared question Jesus and it means:
- No
more doubt
- No
more problems = God finishes our problems since we give up and
trust in God and He also wipes our tears for tear is problem. God
wipes away our tears little by little until we do not have any
problem/ tear and it means we are in the city of New Jerusalem/
the kingdom of heaven --> "You
are not far from the kingdom of God."
Revelation 21:4 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
No more crying and death and we will be happy forever with God.
- No
more doubt
- We
have the two tablets of stone
- Loving
God by loving His word to practicing it and loving others as we love
ourselves. If we have these two kinds of love, we will not find
difficulties in this hard world.
- The
wisdom of the Lord that brings success and protection of God and we
are built to be the body of Christ (not the body of Babylon) with
seven pillars. We become the bride of heaven who is ready to welcome
Jesus' second coming.
- The
love of the Lord wipes away our tears and there shall be no more
crying and it means we are in the everlasting kingdom of heaven with
God.
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