Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons:

My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly
or faint when you are reproved by Him,

But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp.

Pray for us; for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything.

Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who are from Italy greet you.

Indeed, if you keep the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.

But if you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

For He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you are a lawbreaker.

Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?

And consider ships: Though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

We praise our Lord and Father with it, and we curse men who are made in God’s likeness with it.

What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you?

Don’t criticize one another, brothers. He who criticizes a brother or judges his brother criticizes the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

Come now, you rich people! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.

Your wealth is ruined and your clothes are moth-eaten.

Your silver and gold are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You stored up treasure in the last days!

You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct;

And if you address as Father the One who judges impartially based on each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your temporary residence.

who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for His possession,
so that you may proclaim the praises
of the One who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light.

Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

For what credit is there if you sin and are punished, and you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.

just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do what is good and are not frightened by anything alarming.

because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and His ears are open to their request.
But the face of the Lord is against
those who do what is evil.

And who will harm you if you are deeply committed to what is good?

But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed,

However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame.

So they are surprised that you don’t plunge with them into the same flood of wild living—and they slander you.

For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged by men in the fleshly realm, they might live by God in the spiritual realm.

If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Resist him and be firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.

Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you have.

however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord.

suffering harm as the payment for unrighteousness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions as they feast with you.

These people are springs without water, mists driven by a whirlwind. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.

They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.

For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.

But by the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness

He speaks about these things in all his letters in which there are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.

Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stability.

We are writing these things
so that our joy may be complete.

If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.

If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands.

But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him:

I have written to you, children,
because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the One who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong,
God’s word remains in you,
and you have had victory over the evil one.

I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know Him.

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is.

This is how God’s children—and the Devil’s children—are made evident.

Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother.

This is how we will know we belong to the truth and will convince our conscience in His presence,

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.

We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world.

For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden,

For there are three that testify:

the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement.

We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true One. We are in the true One—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

For I was very glad when some brothers came and testified to your faithfulness to the truth—how you are walking in the truth.

I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Dear friend, you are showing faithfulness by whatever you do for the brothers, especially when they are strangers.

Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James:

To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ.

For some men, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into promiscuity and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.

These are the ones who are like dangerous reefs at your love feasts. They feast with you, nurturing only themselves without fear. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; trees in late autumn—fruitless, twice dead, pulled out by the roots;

These people are discontented grumblers, walking according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage.

These people create divisions and are unbelievers, not having the Spirit.

The one who reads this is blessed, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it are blessed, because the time is near!

The secret of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven gold lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.

I know your affliction and poverty, yet you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will have affliction for 10 days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

I know where you live—where Satan’s throne is! And you are holding on to My name and did not deny your faith in Me, even in the days of Antipas, My faithful witness who was killed among you, where Satan lives.

“Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira:

“The Son of God, the One whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze, says:

I know your works—your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. Your last works are greater than the first.

“Write to the angel of the church in Sardis:

“The One who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says: I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent. But if you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come against you.

But you have a few people in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes, and they will walk with Me in white, because they are worthy.

Take note! I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—note this—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot.

So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.

Because you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,

Flashes of lightning and rumblings of thunder came from the throne. Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

Our Lord and God,
You are worthy to receive
glory and honor and power,
because You have created all things,
and because of Your will
they exist and were created.

Then I saw One like a slaughtered lamb standing between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth.

When He took the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And they sang a new song:

You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because You were slaughtered,
and You redeemed people
for God by Your blood
from every tribe and language
and people and nation.

Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people robed in white, and where did they come from?”