Summary
Jimmy Clark emphasizes the importance of understanding scripture in its original context, the significance of translation, and the role of a preacher in studying the Bible. Cozort shares personal anecdotes, historical context, and practical advice for effective preaching and teaching. In this conversation, Aaron Cozort explores the profound themes of God’s love, the importance of belief in that love, and the identity of believers as chosen and called by God. He emphasizes the necessity of understanding God’s love to foster faithfulness and the multiplication of mercy, peace, and love within the church. The discussion also delves into the nature of mercy, the significance of peace, and the distinction between agape and phileo love, ultimately highlighting the call for Christians to embody these principles in their lives.
Takeaways
- Talking deliberately slow is crucial for effective communication.
- The Bible should be studied in paragraphs, not chapters and verses.
- Different translations of the Bible serve different purposes.
- Historical context is essential for understanding biblical texts.
- Great preachers are those who study the Bible deeply.
- Understanding Greek can enhance biblical interpretation.
- Word choice in scripture is intentional and significant.
- Commentaries can provide valuable insights for study.
- Dyslexia can impact communication but can be managed.
- The role of a preacher is to guide others in understanding scripture. You are loved by God the Father.
- Understanding God’s love is crucial for faith.
- Belief in God’s love influences behavior.
- The second generation doubted God’s love.
- God’s love is foundational for obedience.
- You are called and chosen by God.
- Faithfulness is essential for Christians.
- Mercy involves action, not just feelings.
- Peace means things are as they should be.
- Agape love seeks the best for others.
Titles
- Exploring the Book of Jude: Insights and Reflections
- The Art of Preaching: Lessons from Jude
- Understanding Biblical Translations: A Deep Dive
- The Role of a Great Preacher in Modern Times
- Dyslexia and Communication in Preaching
Sound Bites
- “There are accurate translations.”
- “A paraphrase is not even a translation.”
- “You need to know that too.”
- “You are loved by God the Father.”
- “God does not hate you.”
- “You are his special love people.”
- “God picked you. And you are His.”
- “To get up and do something about it.”
- “Things need to be as they should be.”
- “Agape means I will seek the best of you.”
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Personal Background
01:24 Understanding the Book of Jude
03:43 The Importance of Translation
06:12 Historical Context of Biblical Translations
09:45 Commentaries and Resources for Study
11:44 The Role of a Great Preacher
12:36 Greek Language Insights
13:34 Exploring the First Paragraphs of Jude
20:28 Understanding Greek Conjunctions
25:24 The Significance of Word Choice in Scripture
28:43 Main Themes in Jude’s Message
29:54 Understanding God’s Love
32:40 The Importance of Belief in God’s Love
34:33 The Call and Chosen: Our Identity in Christ
39:41 Faithfulness and Multiplication of Mercy, Peace, and Love
41:01 The Nature of Mercy and Compassion
45:48 Peace: Shalom and Its Significance
49:51 Agape vs. Phileo: The Pinnacle of Love
AUTOMATED TRANSCRIPTION:
Jimmy Clark (00:01.073)
And then again, I don’t know what I’m doing to be honest with you. I feel like I’m rushing to be honest with you. I’m trying to cover as much ground as I can. I’m talking like a blue street. If you ever come to Bethel and preach, you cannot talk fast because our auditorium is so large and we’ve had to put acoustical panels on the back wall. There’s a three second echo in that room. And if you talk fast, you’re gonna hear yourself over and over and over like you’re mumbling. So you literally have
to talk deliberately slow so that people can understand what you are saying. By the way, you have to train yourself to be able to do that too. Because I’m a fast talker, when I get something in my head, I wanna run with it. By the way, I’ll just give you a heads up. I also am mildly dyslexic. By the way, dyslexia is an inherited trait.
And if I get tired, and I will be tired by the end of this day, dyslexia generally means that you will flip your words. You will hear it in your head, but the word coming out of your mouth will not be what you hear in your head. So just process that, reinterpret that, you know what I meant when I said what I said. And if you don’t, just say, you said this, what did you mean by that? I’ll clarify it later. Okay, what we’re gonna cover now, I guess we’re ready to go.
cover now is the first four verses of the book of Jude. There are seven paragraphs in the book of Jude. Seven paragraphs. Brother William Woodson taught me many, years ago. He was, by the way, not just the chairman of the Bible department at Fried-Hardman and one of my teachers I took more classes under than probably anyone else. Do not study the Bible in chapters and verses. Study the Bible in paragraphs.
because the Bible is not originally written in chapters and verses. It’s written in paragraphs, just like you would write a letter. You would write it in paragraphs. And I had an English teacher right here in this city at Bremen High School. Her name is Miss Candler. Amen, Miss Candler. She was the Georgia State Star Teacher of this entire state in English.
Jimmy Clark (02:19.97)
I had her in 11th grade for English composition and in 12th grade for English writing, further writings, actually how to write term papers and also English literature. When I got to Friedhardman, English composition 101 was a kindergarten class at Friedhardman compared to Miss Candler here. Okay, because, he knows, okay. Because Miss Candler, by the way, she wasn’t a member of the church, but she was a stickler for grammar.
She was a huge stickler. You had to go to the board and diagram sentences. I mean, y’all remember diagramming sentences. Okay. In other words, and if you didn’t catch your mistake, she let you stay up there to figure it out until you did find your mistake. Okay. Anyway, the reason I use the King James translation is not because I think it is the most accurate. Actually, I believe the American standard is. Okay. And what I try to do,
every year is to read through the Bible by a different translation. I’m sort of a nut when it comes to wanting to know why the translators translated that way. I mean, can’t ask them, of course, unless the King James translators are all dead, right? And there are some problems with the King James translation, but they are not problems that’ll keep you out of heaven.
Okay, but Hugo McCord said, my mother, this is quote, my mother lived and died by the King James translation and I believe my mother will be in heaven. And I still believe that. Okay. But the King James translation is quite an interesting translation because I have in my hand right here, William Tyndall’s English translation of 1529. It’s predates the King James translation.
Now the reason this is news because my son and his family had been in Europe with Fried Hardeman and he went to England and he found this book in an English bookstore. And this was my gift from his trip. Okay. It is in old English, so it makes it hard to read. Okay. But I’m reading through this as best I can. And I’m finding that some of the very words Tyndall put in his translation are the very words.
Jimmy Clark (04:43.756)
you read in the KJV. So this translation had a lot to do with how the translators of the King James Version translated the Bible. Because by the way, Tyndale didn’t use the Latin Vulgate. He didn’t use Jerome’s Latin Vulgate. That’s the Catholic concept. Tyndale went to the Greek manuscripts as he had them. And he translated it from Greek into the English of that day. By the way,
that was foreign to most translators. Okay? Because if you want the Reims-Duyé version, you will have the apocrypha in there on top of these other books of the Bible. Well, the apocrypha is not in this book, not in Tyndale’s translation. By the way, this will get you strangled. And after they’ve killed you by strangling, then they burn your body. That’s how William Tyndale died, to produce an English translation.
from the Greek manuscripts as they had to the English people. That’s a history, just a small history, about all I know. The front part of this book, if you’re welcome to read it, it’s not very many pages, but it gives a history of how this translation came to be. And a lot of the King James translation is worded out of Tyndall’s translation. American Standard Translation, there were some other manuscripts that came available after 1611.
And those were the transcripts that were used. If you’ll note in your notes here, I put American Standard Translation, beloved. I don’t know what I just did, but okay. King James used the word sanctified. Okay, now sanctified means to be made holy. And we’re told to build yourself up in the most holy faith in the book of Jude. So that’s not a problem if you want to memorize Jude verse one and quote and use the word sanctified.
But of the older transcripts, of the older manuscripts, which by the way is Sinaiticus, Alexandrius, Vaticanus, which is third, fourth, and fifth centuries, and one particular papyrus called P72. P72. P72 is a papyrus, by the way, it’s paper.
Jimmy Clark (07:10.7)
And it literally had what’s called the Catholic Epistles in that manuscript. The Catholic Epistles are James to Jude. A lot of the manuscripts didn’t have Jude in them. By the way, Jude was a very controversial book. As a matter of fact, for a long time, it was considered not to be put in the Bible because their estimation was he quotes two non-inspired authors. What’s called the Assumption of Moses?
and the book of Enoch. By the way, they are uninspired. Okay? Of all the materials, I think I gave you a research list of the studies that I did, and I’m not gonna go over that. If you wanna ask me a question about that, that’s fine. Of the two books that I found most useful in this presentation for this weekend, one is Ellicott’s commentary, okay? And it’s a series. Matter of fact, my dad had to buy this from England and have it shipped here to America.
And this is what I inherited when my daddy died. Okay, by the way, it’s from the Gospels all the way to this volume, to the book of Revelation. Now, when you open up Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, and you’re looking at a citation in there, all of a sudden it’ll say, Ellicott. It’ll literally say E-L-L-C-O-T. That’s what Thayer means. This is what Thayer means right here.
Because when I looked up Thayer, because by the way, that’s my Thayers right there. And I looked up Thayer and said, and then I just turned over here to Ellicott, said, voila, Thayer is siding Ellicott.
Okay, because by way, I still use Thayer’s Greek Lexicon for everything that I pretty much do. But the best work I read, if there were one commentary I would recommend that you have in your library on the book of Jude is Guy N. Wood’s commentary of the Old Gospel Advocacy Series. This is without a doubt the easiest explanation of the book of Jude of anything that I read for the past six months.
Jimmy Clark (09:18.222)
By the way, I haven’t read everything that’s out there. I had no intention of reading everything that was out there. I was just going to read as far as I could to see if there are any variations or any takes. Where do you go here? Where do you go there? But Brother Woods literally helped me see so many statements. And actually he gives some historical references in here that I’ll share with you. I’m gonna stop every once in a while and literally read word for word to use some of the things Brother Woods put in his commentary.
I knew Brother Guy in Woods. He was a very, very close friend to my dad’s. Okay. Didn’t know him personally like I would know like Gerald. Gerald over here is my cousin, the way, first cousin. But I’ll give you a story about Brother Woods. Brother Woods was holding a meeting in Anniston, Alabama. Okay. And Brother Woods knew that dad used to preach here at Bremen. By the way, it used to be you could go in Sewell Suits factories over here.
into the actual warehouse part and buy a suit discounted if you were a preacher and a preacher knew how to get you in. Brother Woods knew that, so he calls dad. We lived in Decatur, Alabama at the time. Says, Brother Clark, can you take me to Bremen to get a suit? I’m in a meeting over here at Anderson. So my dad wants me to ride to Anderson to pick Brother Woods up. Brother Woods doesn’t want to ride in our car. He wants to drive. Okay, so Guy in Woods is driving. I’m in the back seat and my dad’s in the shotgun. Okay, and we’re headed right here to this town.
to go over here to get a seat for Brother Woods. I’m in the back seat and my daddy and Guy in Woods are talking back and forth about the Bible and the brotherhood. And I was like a kid in a candy store. Literally, kid in a candy store. And my daddy asked Brother Guy in Woods, and I brought this up at a chapel speech. I gave it to Fried Hartman in chapel one day. My daddy asked Guy in Woods this question, Brother Woods, you have traveled all over this brotherhood from coast to coast and up and down. In your estimation,
What makes a great preacher?
Jimmy Clark (11:15.374)
Here’s Guy in Woods answering. A great preacher is made in his office studying the Bible. Has nothing to do with your degrees, had nothing to do with a lot of things that people will prize you. So great preachers are not the ones with the education and they sit down and then buy people’s sermon out line books and just preach their sermons. Great preachers are in their offices and they’re really studying the Bible. They’re digging in this.
By the way, I’m not real sure if Fried Hardman wanted to hear that.
Jimmy Clark (11:51.042)
But I say it anyway, because I still believe that’s true. Out of everything that I’ve ever achieved academically, okay, and I had great teachers as far as my undergraduate and my graduate work, the greatest thing I had was men to help me know how to go get it.
Because by the way, when they’re dead and gone, you’re lost if you don’t know how to go get it. But I appreciate them helping me, help me go get it. And William Woodson helped me do Greek. Even after I graduated from Fried-Hardman in Greek, Hugo McCord spurred me on. And Greek is what I love to do. I’m learning Hebrew, okay?
I took a class in Hebrew, my teacher hadn’t taught it in many, many years and so he was sort of an adjunct failure with reference to that. But I found some classes online and I took them. actually took those classes, there’s 34 of them. I took them twice just to refresh. And now I have somewhat of a working knowledge of Hebrew, but I’m still struggling with that. By the way, it’s all chicken scratch and it’s right to left, not left to right like Greek and English. What I wanna do…
is walk you not through every word in the Greek New Testament. And by the way, this is my Greek New Testament right here. And I’ll open it up if I need to. But let’s talk about these paragraphs. Verse one and verse two is a paragraph. Verse three and verse four is a paragraph. Okay, so we’re gonna do the first two paragraphs in this session. very simply, Jews serve to Jesus Christ, brother of James to them that are sanctified King James. American Standard says beloved.
Probably beloved, this is more ancient manuscripts, have the word beloved. That would make sense because three times through the book of Jude, you’re gonna have the word beloved, beloved, beloved. Actually, I’m gonna give you a sermon outline tomorrow, own beloved, just from the book of Jude, okay? By the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. By the way, Jude, or the Holy Spirit through Jude, loved to do things in threes, which is right down my ballpark.
Jimmy Clark (14:03.586)
Tom Holland taught us at Fried-Hartman in preparation to live his sermon, make a sermon and only have three points in it. I’m like, I can make how many sermons in the book of Jude because the points are already there. I just got to literate them. By the way, that’s all I do. I literate, I learned that from my dad. My dad learned that from other guys and rest is history. Servant. The word servant there is doulos. Doulos, by the way, just out of curiosity, how many of you ever take a Greek?
How many of y’all know a good Greek restaurant? That’s about all the Greek you know. Okay, good Greek restaurant, okay. So if you know some Greek, by the way, a lot of this is gonna be just repetition, just stirring up your pure mind by way of remembrance. And again, you don’t have to know Greek to know the Bible. There are accurate translations, But doulos is the word here for servant. It means bond servant more times than not. In Galatians chapter three and verse 28, when it says there’s neither Jew nor Greek, bond.
The word bond here is this word, doulos. Okay, the opposite of a bond servant is a free man. Okay, you’ll learn that right in Thayer, by the way. Thayer brings that out. Okay, but doulos is a person who is owned by somebody else. You owe somebody something or you are a captive of this person and the relationship of this individual is he is your master.
Okay, and the Greek word is despotace. Here’s your despotace. By the way, our English word we get despot from, but it’s not an evil word like that. It literally means this man owns you. Let me ask you a question. Are you bought with a price? And therefore you glorify God with your body and your spirit which are God’s. And therefore, being a free American, you are a slave. You’re a slave of Jesus Christ. And you gladly take on that role.
Peter did that. Paul did that. Jude did that. And this is, and brother of James. Now, let’s see if I can get this to write.
Jimmy Clark (16:19.246)
Here, here, black, okay? This word, and, there are different Greek words for and, all through the New Testament. As a matter of fact, the three I’m going to give you, they’re all in the book of Jude, every one of them, but they’re all translated and.
But Greeks had different ways to say and. Okay? First one is chi, K-A-I. How many of ever heard of chi? Okay? Repent and be baptized. Believe and be baptized, shalt be saved. That’s chi. Okay, chi is conjunctive.
Jimmy Clark (17:02.54)
That’s a conjunctive conjunction. May y’all remember Schoolhouse Rock, conjunction junction. Kai, conjunctive. Then you have this word, T-E, te. Te means and. Te is adjunctive.
Adjunctive, a little bit different. I’ll explain in just a second. And then you have the word that’s translated and here. That word is de. D-E. De. This word is disjunctive.
Jimmy Clark (17:48.174)
Disjunctive. Now what does conjunctive, adjunctive, and disjunctive mean? Let’s start with conjunctive. Con literally in Latin means together.
Okay. So this is a joining, junctive is the idea of to join, okay? Join together, okay? But it means to join together two things that are equal. Doesn’t mean they’re the same, but they are equal in value.
Okay? Repent and remission of sins be preached in His name. Believe and be baptized. Okay? Repent and be baptized, Acts 2.38, et cetera. Okay? It doesn’t mean that one’s greater than the other. It means they both stand on the same level as imperative, required.
OK.
Peter and Andrew, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Well, they’re two different people, but they’re both brothers, right? And so you don’t use this word or this word, you use this word. It’s conjunctive. You’re putting two things together that are similar, okay? Now this word, adjunctive. Adjunctive and means that there is something that I’ve told you and I’m going to add something to it.
Jimmy Clark (19:20.706)
But if I left it off, by the this is my way of explaining it. If I left it off, the sentence would still make sense. I’m just giving you supplemental material.
And the Bible’s filled with this and word. Book of Acts is filled with it. In other words, this is what I want you to know, but by the way, here’s something also you couldn’t know, so I’m just gonna put it on anyway. I put it in there for a reason, but you’ll figure it out, so to. It’s not always self-explanatory. You just gotta keep on reading in the context. By the way, let me make the statement about Greek. Every word means what it means based upon the context in which it is found.
Never pull a word out and say it always means this. Because it doesn’t always mean that. It depends on what the context is talking about. And that’s where a lot of Greek students get in trouble. All of a sudden, I’ll do a Greek word study of this word, and all of a sudden, every time you find that word in the Greek New Testament, immediately it means this. Not necessarily. It on the context and its uses. It could be taken literally. It could be taken figuratively.
or it could be taken, resultive meaning. I didn’t learn that from William Woodson, I learned that from Hugo McCord, which by the way, Hugo McCord was an excellent linguist, language student, Old and New Testament, by the way. Okay, resultant means that this word doesn’t tell you the literal meaning in this translation, and it doesn’t give you a figurative meaning, it gives you what the word produces, what the result is of that.
Okay, but this is the word we want to concentrate on because this is the end in the Greek New Testament. Disjunctive. This word can also be translated, but.
Jimmy Clark (21:12.174)
Matter of fact, several times it is translated, but. But there’s also another Greek word for but. And that word is A-L-L-A. By the way, I’m not writing in English here, I’m writing in Greek, because that’s the only way my brain operates when it comes to this, A-L-L-A, okay? If you take that word comes from this word, allos. And allos means another.
Another, by the way, it’s not heteros, that also means another. Okay, but heteros means another of a different kind. Aulos is where we get the word ally. Okay, but this is a stronger word for but than this word. Okay, because this word can mean and, it’s translated and. It also can mean but. For example, on the one hand, this takes place, but this takes place on the other hand.
That’s where the but comes in and day is your word. That’s how the Greeks did that. Okay, now you said, I know you’re probably looking at me and saying, what’s the point? And I would be saying that same question. Why not put chi in here? Why not put tae in here? You’re just giving supplementary information. Why put day in there as a disjunctive conjunction?
Jimmy Clark (22:33.326)
I can’t ask Jude why, because he’s dead. How many of y’all got questions when you get to heaven you’re going to ask people? By the you’re going to get in line if I die before you do. James is not another of the same kind. Yeah, he isn’t. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Now what he’s talking about is, if you go back and study who this Jude is, by the way, there’s a lot of people think he’s apostle.
I don’t believe he’s an apostle for a reason we’ll get to in our study. I believe he’s the half-brother of Jesus, because James is also the half-brother of Jesus. But James and Jude have the same father and mother.
Okay. What does having blood can mean to being a servant of Jesus Christ? By the way, he’s my half-brother, Jude could say.
But Jesus to me, in this passage, is not my half-brother, though he is. Jesus is to me my master.
Jimmy Clark (23:45.846)
Now, James to me is my brother, by the way, in the flesh and in the faith. So when I look at James, I look at him this way. But when I talk about my half brother, Jesus Christ.
I’m Hislut.
Jimmy Clark (24:08.93)
So this is a disjunctive and to contrast two thoughts. This is what I believe this is reason why this is in there. Why the Holy Spirit used this word and not any other word because he is contrasting this and this, these two together. Okay, now you will not see that in an English translation. You would see that though in the Greek text if you knew what you were looking at.
Jimmy Clark (24:40.278)
That’s just one thing I learned in this book, in this Greek study. And I’m gonna tell you, I never saw that until Cliff and Dave and Keith said, we want you to do the book of Jude. It forced me, as we say, to have to look at why. Because by the way, I was taught a long time ago, the Holy Spirit never haphazardly chose any word in the Bible.
It’s all there for a reason. Now it’s up to me to figure out why that’s in there. And one of the reasons why I liked Greek so much is because it helps me to be able to judge translations.
Because how many translations are out there, guys? And how many real bad ones are there out there? And how do you know the difference?
Either you’re going to train yourself or you’re going to find someone who’s trained themself or you’re going to rely on somebody that knows this stuff to be able to help you see that is the Word of God. Let me explain something. A paraphrase is not even a translation. And if you’re going to put your faith and practice in what is not the Word of God, did your faith come by the Word of God?
Do you understand what I mean by that? Years ago, I was in New Zealand and I was preaching, I had to have a translator, because we had a lot of people from American Samoa in the audience. So I had this guy who understood English, it’s New Zealand by the way, he speaks English, but he’s gonna translate in American Samoa. We’re Samoa, okay? So I’m trying to describe heaven. And I’m describing heaven because I just came through Hawaii, you fly to Hawaii and that’s halfway and then fly from Hawaii to New Zealand, that doesn’t kill you.
Jimmy Clark (26:29.304)
By the way, instead of that Huntsville, Alabama, all the way to Auckland. So I’m describing heaven and I’m talking about Hawaii. Well, this guy’s never been to Hawaii. So he’s rattling off in American Samoa and all of a sudden I hear him say, American Samoa. And I stopped and I looked at him for I said, I didn’t say American Samoa. He said, yeah, I know you didn’t say American Samoa, but I’ve never been to Hawaii. And what you described about Hawaii sounds like American Samoa. So I just used American Samoa.
I said, I didn’t say American Samoa, I said Hawaii. He said, yeah, but I didn’t know how to translate that. So when he said American Samoa, was that a mistranslation of what I said? Shake or not, was that a mistranslation of what I said? Because I never said American Samoa. I said Hawaii.
So was American Samoa out of his mouth my words? Or was it his words?
Now how do you know that English text you got in your hands, the Word of God, or not?
I’m not here to destroy your faith in English text, understand? But I gotta know I got the Word of God, don’t you?
Jimmy Clark (27:48.226)
And I’ll assure you the people in that pew need to know that too. And if I can help a person see why, you can rely on the translation that you got. I think that goes a long way to me not only solving some problems, but also preventing some problems that could arise. So this is, this word, day, brother. By the way, this is Adelphos, Adelphos. For which you get Philadelphia, brotherly love.
Then you’ve got a triplet of three, sanctified, preserved, and called. But in the Greek New Testament, literally it means to the called, okay? Because the point he’s making is I’m writing to called people, okay? And these called people happen to be beloved and preserved, okay? Now on this…
study sheet that I’ve given you, I’ll talk about leading verbs and supportive verbs. Supporting verbs are not the main verb, Brother Woodson would say it’s not the main verb. You gotta look through this sentence and find the main verb, and then all the other verb forms are leading back to that main verb, it’s like diagramming sentences. You gotta go find the main verb, and then all these participles and infinitives, they all are branched off on this diagramming sentences. They’re all pointing back to this main verb. The main verb is in verse two.
There’s not a main verb in verse one at all. The main verb is in verse two. It is a hope and a wish that three things would be multiplied to these called people.
Okay, because this is a different mood. This is optative mood. Okay. So what Jude is writing as a bond servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, he is writing to these called people that something may be multiplied unto them. Okay. But what he’s saying is while you are called, there are two other things you need to remember. Not that you don’t already know, but there are two other things that you need to remember. Number one,
Jimmy Clark (29:54.71)
You are loved by God the Father.
Jimmy Clark (30:00.974)
Let ask you a question. How important is it for you to know that God loves you?
Jimmy Clark (30:09.09)
Let me put it another way. What if you didn’t think God did love you?
Jimmy Clark (30:18.542)
Do you know there was a time in Jewish history when they thought that? About Deuteronomy 1 verse 27, write that down and look it up. Because what Moses is saying in the second generation is the first generation that came out of Egypt said, according to Deuteronomy 1, 27, because the Lord hated us, he has brought us out here in the wilderness to die. They literally thought God hated them.
Jimmy Clark (30:50.018)
Now you tell me how that second generation acted when they thought God didn’t love them.
Is it any wonder they would act the way they did if they didn’t think God loved them? How many of have ever seen a child abused by their parent? And that parent asks that child to do something, what’s that child going to do? That child doesn’t believe that parent really loves them. You think I’m going to obey that parent when I don’t think you love me and the way you’re treating me?
and turn to Malachi chapter one in your Old Testament. And the very beginning of the book of Malachi says, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. And you know the first words that came out of their mouth? Wherein have you loved us? And that is the background of the entire book of Malachi.
Jimmy Clark (31:41.578)
in my judgment. They literally had lost sight that God loved them. And Malachi explains, because you feel this way and think this way, here’s how you’ve been acting. Because by the way, if you deep down inside believe that God loves you, how are you going to respond to anything and everything he asks you? It all starts with our brethren believing.
that God really does love them. How many of ever had a member of the church question whether God loved them or not? In other words, they have a major tragedy in their life. Childs got cancer, sudden car wreck, where was God, right? Brother Clark, what does God mean by this? How many of y’all try to answer those kinds of questions? That’s tough, We’re not God, we’re not gonna have those kinds of answers. But what do we have to remind these people? God does not hate you.
because this happened in your life. God loves you and he will take care of you. And you need to keep on believing that. There are false teachers that have crept into this church and in this brotherhood. And the church is in turmoil. And the first thing Jude does is God still loves you. You are beloved.
You are one of his, you are one of the called, and God the Father still loves you.” Now that’s not his main point. His main point is that they be multiplied in mercy, peace, and love. Okay, but if God loves you, may your love be multiplied. But if they thought God hated them, how do you command this?
Jimmy Clark (33:34.368)
I can’t command people to love God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength if I can’t teach people that God loves them first. By the way, it’s in denominational teaching I’m giving you. This is Bible. What does 1 John 4.19 teach? We love him because he commanded us to love him with all heart, soul, mind, and strength. And since he commanded us, that’s why I’m loving him. What does 1 John 4.19 say why we love God? And because he first loved us, he can command me all he wants to.
because I trust in him and I believe he’s the best for me. By the way, how did he show me he loves me? God so loved the world, he did what? God commends his love for us and that while we were what? What did Christ do? And not only did Christ love us and show us that, he preserved us and the word there means to keep. It carries with the idea of what you would put in a safety deposit box so the bank would keep it preserved to protect it.
As long as you stay in the call, as long as you stay faithful, Christ will keep on protecting you. By the way, God loves you whether you’re faithful or not, but you are his special love people. You are his people of a chosen position. 1 Peter 2.9 says, a peculiar treasure in the King James translation. Okay, other words, you’re special people. Okay, by the way, all of creation is God’s.
but the redeemed people are his special people. Okay? And that goes all the way back, by the way, even in the Old Testament. Okay? By the way, beloved and preserved are in perfect tense in the Greek. Perfect tense, what does that mean? Perfect tense means there’s something that happened in the past of the relationship of the Father and the Son to you, the Christ to you, and it keeps on lingering.
As soon as you became one of the called, okay, you became this special loved person and you immediately came into Christ who’s going to protect his own and that keeps on lingering. The effect of that keeps on going even to the time that I’m writing you this book, do you have to be saying it? That’s what great perfect meant in basic meaning, okay? So the called, okay? Let go to my notes here, see if I can find.
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what I’m looking for.
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Turn to Revelation 17 and verse 14. Here’s a three-point sermon by itself. I got this out of theater.
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These shall make war with the Lamb. The Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. And they that are with Him. Who are the they that are with Him, that are with the Lamb? They are called and chosen and faithful. By the way, can you be called and not be chosen? Many are called, but few are chosen. Yeah, you can be called.
and not be a part of the chosen. By the way, are you ever a part of the chosen when you were never called?
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No, you gotta be called to be a part of the chosen. Okay, so how is man called according to 2 Thessalonians? By the gospel. Paul said by our gospel. Okay, so you were called by the gospel, you accepted the gospel, and now you are picked. You are chosen. In 1 Peter 2 and verse 9 it says, you are a chosen generation.
Okay? So the idea here is you have been called by the gospel and you are chosen. By the way, you picked God, so God picked you. How many of y’all remember recess and P.E.? I remember when I was in school, when I was in elementary school, by the way, didn’t have organized P.E. The teachers just basically threw the equipment out there on the ground and said, y’all play. Okay?
And all of sudden, here’s two guys, they’re pretty good athletes, and it’s kickball or whatever, you name it. And so they became arbitrary team captains, right? We’re gonna pick teams, okay? By the way, what’s the rest of us do? We’re all standing against the wall, right? We’re all standing in line. Y’all got this picture, right? How many of y’all ever lived this, what I’m about to say? Y’all having flashbacks right now, aren’t you? Okay? All of a sudden, okay, picking them between one and 10. Okay, Joe, you get first pick, okay?
So Joe gets first pick, and he picks this kid against the wall, by the way, it’s not me, picks this kid against the wall. Question, what does everybody against the wall think about Joe’s pick? What does everybody against the wall think about Joe’s pick? Well, it better be good, right? First pick, right? He better not be a klutz. Okay, so Sam over here, he gets next pick. Sam picks his pick, that’s his first pick. By the way, what does everybody against the wall think about that? Well, it could be better than Joe’s first pick, right?
Joe just misunderstood. That’s not the best player over there. That’s the guy. And Sam got the best guy, right? You’re following me. And all of a sudden it’s back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth until it’s me and one other kid against that wall. How many of y’all been there? How many of y’all been there? It’s me or another kid against that wall. What am I thinking while all of a sudden everybody else is either on either side? What am I thinking? Please pick me. Please don’t make me the absolute.
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worst person on the whole wall to get picked on a team. Do you understand what I’m saying?
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Let tell you something, guys. If you’re a Christian and nobody knows who you are, it don’t matter whether anybody else knows you. God picked you. And you are His.
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You now understand what I’m talking about, right?
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God called you through the gospel like he called everybody else. And you chose him. And God says, as far as I’m concerned, you are my number one pick.
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I have preached that, I can’t tell you how many places.
all over the southeast. Because I believe people need to know that.
But the third word in Revelation 17, 14 says, and faithful. What does a called, chosen person who’s going to heaven also have?
I am going to be multiplied in this mercy and peace and love because I am going to be faithful. You let the false teachers come all you want to. I will not follow that. I will not follow that.
Be thou faithful unto death, I will give you crown of life. Revelation 2 10, you put Revelation 17 14 next to Revelation 2 10 and fellows that’ll preach.
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I’ll give up my life before I’ll give up my face.
Okay? So what you’ve got here is you are loved by God, you are kept, preserved by Jesus Christ, and now, verse 2, mercy, peace, love be multiplied. Mercy. There are two great words for mercy. There’s one that’s found in Romans 12 and verse 1, and it literally means the feelings of pity that you have for an object of pity.
How many of you been seeing some of the television footage of some of this devastation in the Carolinas and Tennessee and Florida and so forth, and you literally are upset at your stomach at what you’re looking at? And by the way, some of our brethren are struggling and suffering through all of that. To be honest with you, I cannot watch that footage for this reason. On April 27, 2011, an F5 tornado came through our neck of the woods and utterly destroyed the church building where I preached and took my office.
It’s like you took a chainsaw and cut half the wall with the roof off and threw it in the yard. And for days, by the way, the first three days when the television cameras are on, those are called the glory days. You know what these people are gonna need like next week and the week after when the television cameras are all gone? They’re gonna be by themselves.
I live that. And that is gut wrenching. It’s gut wrenching. What you need is this word, elios. That’s the Greek word, elios. I’ll write it up here. E-L-E-O-S. This is a different Greek word. This doesn’t mean just to feel pity or sorrow for someone who is an object of pity. It means
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to get up and do something about it.
We’ll give you an illustration. In the 10th chapter of the book of Luke, there was a man that went from Jerusalem down to Jericho and he fell among thieves. Left for dead. He wasn’t dead, but he was literally dying. Probably would have died. A priest and a Levi passed by and what did both of them do? Did they see him on the side of the road? Did they probably feel bad for him? What did they do? Absolutely nothing, just kept on walking.
A Samaritan that doesn’t even have what the priest and the Levi have. But he is a man full of compassion. When he sees that man on side of the road, what does he do?
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Literally takes the man, pours oil and wine, minds up his wounds, puts him on his beast of burden, takes him to an end. I’ve got to go. I’m come back. If he owes anything, I’ll pay the debt. Here’s what Jesus’ question was. Tell me therefore, which of them was neighboring to him that fell among thieves? You know what their answer was? In Luke 10? He that showed Elios.
That’s the Greek word. In my estimation, that is the best Bible illustration I know of to explain this word, mercy. Brother Hugo McCord’s sermon is Psalm 103.
As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him. 103 verse 13, he remembers our frame, he knows we are dust. Verse 14, I heard Brother Hugo McCord preach that sermon at the Landmark Church building in Montgomery, Alabama at the Alabama Christian School of Religion lectures when I was a graduate student. I’ll never forget that sermon. As long as I live, I’ll never forget Brother McCord’s sermon.
I y’all ever heard a sermon that you will never forget? I mean, literally, I heard this guy preach and I heard this sermon and I have preached that over and over and over because I will never be able to get that out of my head. That was Hugo McCord’s sermon at Landmark when I was in grad school, when he preached Psalm 103. It made me feel like I’m being on top of the world to be a Christian when he got through with it. What’s Jude wishing for these people?
that you have this mercy. Then there’s the word, Irenae, peace, Irenae. The word peace here literally cares with the idea of the Old Testament word, shalom. Have you ever heard of shalom? I was told by my Hebrew teacher that when you meet people on the street in Jerusalem or in Israel, you don’t say, howdy, how you doing?
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The words are shalom ala chem. Shalom ala chem. What shalom ala chem means is peace be unto you. Peace be to you. The word peace literally can be translated in the Old Testament, shalom, it is well with you. When Absalom was fighting against David and then report comes back that Absalom is dead, when the messenger comes, David asks, is it peace with Absalom?
King James translation translated, is it whale with absolute?
But the Hebrew word is shalom. Is it shalom with absinth? Is he safe and sound? Is he alive and well? By the way, the report is, may all of David’s enemies be as absinth. That is not what David wanted to hear.
That’s the man after God’s own heart. So what does iraine means? Iraine means that things are as they should be.
How many of ever heard of the Cold War? The Cold War. Russia, United States. Can you still be in hostility mode even when the bombs stop dropping?
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And you’re telling me that’s peace?
That’s not that word in the Bible.
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That word in the Bible means things are as they should be.
when a husband and wife have stopped talking to one another for three weeks because they’re tired of fighting and they’re still living under the same roof. They’re not at peace. They’re just not throwing the barbs at one another anymore. They need to know what that word is right there.
Things need to be as they should be. By the way, who made peace between us and God? The one who’s preserving us.
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Okay, we ought to never forget that. I’m at odds with my brother. I need to forgive my brother. So how am I to forgive my brother? As God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you. Get the picture? Here is the model of peace. Here’s how things ought to be. Christ made things as they ought to be. He is your peace. He’s my peace.
He’s everybody’s peace, it’s a Christian. And I would, as Jew would said to God, that this be multiplied unto you. That your state of mind, your state of well-being in the church be at peace. You remember when I said Acts 9.31, after Saul was converted, what all of a sudden did the church have?
Rest. Rest, okay? And this concept here, the church literally was at ease because the chief persecutors are Christian. He’s on our side now. He’s not against us, he’s for us. And of course, love is agape. I heard a great professor at polishing the pulpit this year went into his class to see just exactly some of the things he taught. Taught a lot of great things, the one thing I disagree with.
The thing I disagree with is he made the point that Filao is greater than Agape. I don’t believe that.
Don’t know where he got the way he taught that, but no, I don’t. He still believes in agape, by the way. And the reason I believe that agape is greater than phileo is this. Beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, knowledge temperance, temperance patience, patience godless. Godless.
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Brotherly kindness, is, phileo ad del fos.
and to brotherly kindness, agape. So where do you start? You start with phileo and you add to phileo agape. When you get to agape, that’s the pinnacle of the Christian life. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you, you should be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord, Savior, Jesus Christ. He that lacks these things, is blind, cannot see afar off, forgotten his purge from his old sins.
Wherefore, the rather brethren give diligence, make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. For so an interest shall be ministered unto you abundantly in the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” That’s heaven, folks. Verse 11, 2 Peter 1. Phileo is very important.
that it don’t trump agape. Agape means I will seek the best of you in spite of you. Fileo means I will be your friend. I will actually like you. Agape, I don’t have to like you to love you, but I will do the best for you because I love you.
I mean, you ever love somebody in spite of the fact that they hated you and they were mistreating you?
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How do you love your enemies? By the way, the word is not phileo. What is the word? Tagape. He used the word agape. By the way, that’s the pinnacle of love is the ability to love your enemies. Because when you can love your enemies, you’ve arrived. By the way, I hadn’t arrived. I hadn’t met anybody has either. Because by the way, I got even enemies in the church. Y’all know that?
I’ve had people try to get me fired in the church. I’ve had people read me my pedigree in the church. I’ve had people write me up in bulletins in the church. And those are my brethren. What do you think this world’s gonna do to me? And you know what my Lord tells me to do? Love the brotherhood. Love your enemies. By the way, my dad used to say, Jimmy, it’s a whole lot easier to preach this stuff than it is to practice it. Amen to that. Amen to that.
Okay, so why do I want this and this and this multiplied? By the way, the word multiply here is not add. There are words in the Bible for add. prostitamy is the word for to add. They were added unto the church about 3,000 souls. It’s not this word here, multiply. This is from the word planaeo. Okay, how many of ever heard of verbal planary inspiration?
Plenary is a Greek word. It means the fullness, all of it. You believe that every word in the Bible is from God. Plenary of inspiration. That’s just word multiply. By the way, I don’t want God’s mercy and peace and love just a little bit, do you? I want it to the fullest extent that I possibly can get. And that word has in its background the word of fullness. As full as you can get. How many of ever eat so much at Thanksgiving and says, I’m so full.
If you stuck your finger down my mouth, you could touch it. By the way, that’s a Monfordism there. All my folks from Talladega County, we got all kinds of weird expressions. In other words, I’m full up to the goozle. That’s another word, right? That’s not Greek, by the way. That’s just Alabama language. B multiplied. So what’s the point in this first paragraph? Does he start out talking about problems?
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How many of y’all ever say, I just need to mount the pulpit and start talking about problems? Is that how they did it in the Bible? Refilement. Is that what how Paul did in filement? He didn’t do it that way in filement. You know what Paul did in filement? He started talking about the good things that filement had. And the next thing you know what to do. Well, he say he’s buttering him up to get now to the real point. No, he’s not buttering him up. He’s telling the truth. And now brother, I need you to help me solve this problem. That’s what grace does.
Don’t mouth the pulpit and immediately say.
Did you say such and such on such and such a term? Because we’re fact checking you and we believe you did that. By the way, nobody would do a presidential candidate that way at the first question of a debate, right? Or anybody else for that matter. In other words, this is what I want multiplied to you. Now, let me get out of here and see if I can move this. Look at this. You can teach an old dog meat trick. Y’all want a break? I can stop at this point because this is a totally paragraph.
Let me take a break. So I can whip my whistle. Let me take a break.
