Go with me if you would back
to Jude. Last Wednesday night we saw where
Jude strongly exhorted us, very strongly exhorted us that we
should earnestly contend for the faith. And he said in verse 3, Jude
verse 3, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you
of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto
you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints. There is not one
exhortation in this book that is unnecessary. Not one exhortation,
not one warning. We saw that last Wednesday night. Every warning is so important. Every exhortation is so important. He said this is a needful exhortation. And this is, this is a needful
exhortation. And the reason he said it was
is because in verse 4 he said, There are certain men crept in
unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness
and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, there are skilled men. These are skilled men, but he
said, these are ungodly men because they will turn your faith They'll
turn your eyes. You know how we sing that song,
turn your eyes upon Jesus. That's faith. And he said, they
will turn your eyes, turn your faith and cause you to look to
and trust in and hope in something else. and it does happen and
it will happen, calls you to trust in something other than
the blood of Christ alone. At some point, that becomes not
enough. and they'll turn your eyes to
something else. They will make an issue out of
something else to the point where they have you believing it's
worthy to take your eyes off of Christ for it. It's worthy
to look to something else. And absolute ruin comes when
we do that. Absolute ruin. So he said, watch
out for them. Don't have anything to do with
them. And earnestly contend for the faith. All right. Now that's
why we earnestly contend. That's what we looked at last
week. Why we earnestly contend. Now tonight he's going to tell
us how. How believers earnestly contend
for the faith. And before we get into this,
I want to say this. This is important. This has nothing
to do with being saved or being lost. It's very important. We understand that going into
this. This has nothing to do with us keeping ourselves all
the way to the end. The exhortation is watch and
pray and be sober. And he's about to give us some
of these seven exhortations. They have nothing to do with
us keeping ourselves all the way to the end and not being
led astray by these wicked men. Salvation is of the Lord. Period. It is totally, totally
of the Lord. We ought to be so relieved to
know that. And here's the reason why. We will be deceived. We will be led astray. You know,
God in mercy will catch us and pull us back. But we are so weak. And if this was left up to us,
I'm not going to make it. I'm just not going to make it.
But it's not left up to me. Salvation is of the Lord. Verse 24, the last two verses
down here, it says, Now unto Him that is able to keep you. Unto Him that is able to keep
you. We are truly kept by the power of God. When it comes to
salvation, we're kept by the power of God. Either we're God's
elect or we're not. Either God chose to reach down,
lay hold on us, and show mercy to us, or he didn't. One of the
two. And God's elect say amen to that. God's elect, the ones he He reached
down and grabbed and showed mercy to, they say that's right. It's
His choice. It's in His hands. Salvation
is totally of the Lord. Completely, totally in whoever
He chooses to immerse in the blood of Christ. Alright, this
has nothing to do with us being saved or lost. Jude is writing
this entire book to only those who have already been saved.
All right, that's who he's speaking to. That's who he is exhorting. In verse one, he said, this is
to them that are sanctified by God the Father, set apart by
God the Father. If a sinner has been set apart,
laid hold of, and set apart, that sinner will never be thrown
back into the cesspool. Never. If God has reached in
and pulled out, God will never throw him back in. Never. Jude
said, I'm writing to those who have been Preserved in Jesus
Christ. If a sinner has been preserved
in Jesus Christ, that sinner cannot spoil. You make preserves
so they don't spoil. If a sinner has been preserved
in Christ, he cannot be ruined. He cannot go bad. Cannot. And Jude said, I'm writing to
those who have been called by God's Holy Spirit, called. If
a sinner has been called of God, the gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. He'll never take it back. Never. So Jude is not going to give
us a how to keep yourself saved guide. That's not what this is. All right. Now, last week, We
pointed out, talking about the subject of why we earnestly contend
for the faith, that there is a danger, there is a great danger
in veering away for a time. There is a great danger falling
into a horrible state of being Distantly removed from our Lord. It's a horrible state. It's a
cold dead state. Distantly removed from his spirit. Distantly removed from his people,
removed from his gospel. It's such a cold and dead state
to be in. It's spiritual misery. The Lord told Peter, Satan hath
desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. And he did
have him. And he did sift him. And I will
right now repeat that warning to every one of us here tonight. The adversary desires to have
the Lord's people that he may sift them as wheat. And the Lord
allowed him to have Peter for a while. He did sift him for
a while. And the sin that produced in
Peter, he directly denied God. I mean, he point blank denied
God. We don't want to deny God. We
just don't do it. We don't. Later on, after it
was all over, God brought him back because he was one of his
own. If he's one, if we're one of the Lord's, he'll always bring
us back. So after it was all over, God brought him back and,
and Peter said, you take my word for it. Our adversary as a roaring
lion walks about seeking whom he may devour. So the exhortation
is watch. Watch, be sober, be vigilant,
earnestly contend for the faith, earnestly contend. Okay, he's
going to tell us how to do that. how we earnestly contend for
believing and trusting and clinging to the gospel of the blood of
Christ. We all know that if God does
not lay hold on us, we will not earnestly believe and earnestly
trust and earnestly hope in the blood of Christ. We'll go off,
won't we? We will go off. This heart will
be led astray. This flesh will go after something
else. So Jude gives seven exhortations
that a believer can do to earnestly contend for the faith. He said
in verse 17, But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken
before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ HOW THAT THEY
TOLD YOU THERE SHOULD BE MOCKERS IN THE LAST TIME, WHO SHOULD
WALK AFTER THEIR OWN UNGODLY LUST. THESE BE THEY WHO SEPARATE
THEMSELVES. FLESHLY, SENSUAL, THEY'RE TAKEN
UP WITH THE FLESH AND THEY DON'T HAVE THE SPIRIT. LORD, DON'T
LET ME SEPARATE MYSELF. BECOME CONSUMED WITH THIS FLESH. and not have your spirit. Please
don't let that happen to me. Please don't let that happen
to me. Verse 20, he said, but ye beloved, but you, I have seven
exhortations for you, beloved. That's what he's about to say.
All right, here's the first one. But ye beloved, Building up yourselves
on your most holy faith. Building up on your faith. Growing in and on faith. How do we build up? How do we grow in and on faith? We say, well, faith is not of
ourselves. That's the gift of God. And that's
right. It is the gift of God. How do
we receive it? How do we receive that gift and
grow in it? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
the word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
this Word of God. Jude said, Beloved, this is your
first wall of defense. Hear the Word preached. Hear the Word preached. Hear
the Word preached. Hear the Word preached. Hear
the Word preached. Turn back a few pages to 1 Peter
chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 2 it says,
As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may
grow thereby. How do we earnestly contend for
the faith? By reading this word and hearing
this word read. I want to encourage every single
one of us. This is an exhortation. When
Jude said this, he was speaking from his heart to their hearts,
one man to other men and women. I sincerely want to encourage
every single one of us to read this. I know that is not natural
to the flesh. I know it is not the first desire
of the flesh. The flesh wants to do something
else. The flesh wants to literally read anything else. I will read anything else, but
don't make me read this. That's what the flesh says, naturally.
I want to strongly encourage every one of us here to read
this word as often as we can and hear the word read, meaning
through the preaching of the gospel. Hear it as often as we
can. It is truly our first defense,
our first defense against being led astray, having our faith led astray. contending for the
faith, okay? Number two, back in our text,
if you go back to Jude 1, he said in verse 20, But ye, beloved,
building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Ghost. Now, even though we are God's
people, We have been given the light and the life of Christ.
We have truly been, as the scripture says, plucked from the brand,
restored back to God. Spiritual inward regeneration
has taken place in here. But even though that's the case
for us, for some reason, we continually forget to pray. We continually
forget to pray and he said. Praying in the Holy Ghost not
the lip service that we do day in and day out. Praying in the
Holy Ghost. Beg the Lord to allow you, and
I beg the Lord to allow me to, when we pray, Lord, would you
cause me to enter into the closet of my heart? Enter into the closet
of your spirit. Let this not be vain jangling. Would you allow me to pray? We forget to pray all the time. Every incidence that comes up,
we forget to pray about it. We completely forget to pray.
Prayer is a vital component of a believer's life. It is a vital
component of a believer's well-being and spiritual health just like
water. Just like water. Water is not
a luxury. Water is a necessity. Does it
ever occur to you all of a sudden, you just realize, I don't know
when the last time it was that I drank a glass of water. Has
that ever happened to you? A vital component of my life. I don't know when was the last
time I entered into a vital component of my life. I want to show us
something over in Ezekiel 36. Turn with me over there. Ezekiel 36, our Lord here is
giving the good news of the gospel. He's telling his people wonderful
news, everything he's going to do for them. Verse 24, he said,
I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of
all countries and we'll bring you into your own land. Verse
25, then will I sprinkle clean water upon you. Verse 26, a new
heart also will I give you. Verse 27, I'll put my spirit
within you. Verse 28, you shall dwell in
the land that I gave to your fathers. Verse 29, I will also
save you from all your uncleanness. Now verse 36. THEN THE HEATHEN
THAT ARE LEFT ROUND ABOUT YOU SHALL KNOW THAT I THE LORD BUILT
THE RUINED PLACES AND PLANT THAT THAT WAS DESOLATE. I THE LORD
HAVE SPOKEN IT AND I WILL DO IT. IF GOD SAYS HE WILL DO SOMETHING,
HE WILL DO SOMETHING. HE IS GOING TO DO IT. HE WILL
DO IT. Alright, but watch verse 37.
Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by
the house of Israel to do it for them. I will do it, but they
are going to ask me first. They're going to ask me first.
Now I want to give you a little example. Sad to say it's very sad to say
but quite often I will go to my study and Open up the word. I'll start reading the word And
I'll start reading as hard as I can And I'll try to start finding
an outline. That's what I'm doing. I'm looking
for an outline Okay, so I'm in it. I'm going I'm trying and
I'll write some things and And I'll wad papers up and I'll throw
papers away and I'll keep going and I'll keep trying and I'll
start feeling like these scriptures are absolutely closed to me. The most precious passages that
we have. And I feel like they're closed
and I feel like God is not speaking to me. And I feel like I am not
getting anything out of this. I'm not getting anything out
of this. And then all of a sudden it dawns on me. I can't tell
you how often this happens to me. It dawns on me, I haven't
even prayed. I haven't even prayed. I haven't even asked Him to give
me something. He's not giving me anything.
I haven't even asked for it. I haven't even asked for it. So I put all my stuff down. And I do. And he does. He's done it every single time.
I've yet to have to stand up and have no message. He said,
ask and you will receive. Whatever it is you're going through,
I want to strongly encourage you to pray to Him about it. And
I don't just mean with lip service, I mean in the Holy Ghost. I mean really pray to Him about
it. Let's all acknowledge His hand
in everything. Everything. Let's ask him to
give us the ability and give us the remembrance to pray without
ceasing. Pray without ceasing. When we
come in to hear the word, let's ask, Lord, would you feed me? Would you feed me? Lord, would
you feed me? Here I am. I'm empty. I'm spiritually
hungry. And I know that the only person
who can is you. All right? You told your servant,
if you love me, you feed my sheep. But all I'm doing is slinging
it. He made the food. He blesses the food. He applies
the food. Lord, would you please bless
the word to my heart if we will do that? I will very confidently
say I don't believe we'll ever walk out of those doors saying,
I didn't get anything out of that. I believe that with all
my heart. I don't know of one account in
the scripture where a beggar came to the Lord begging for
bread and he didn't give it to him. I don't know of one account.
I don't know of one account in the scripture where a sinner
came begging for mercy and he didn't give it to him. That woman
who came to him begging on behalf of her daughter, the Lord said,
it is not meat to take the children's bread and give it to dogs. And
she said, truth, Lord, but even the dogs get the crumbs that
fall from the master's table. I'm just asking for crumbs. You know what he said to her?
He said, Oh, woman, great is thy faith. What he's saying is
you have earnestly contended for the faith. And then he said,
be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. And she didn't go away
empty. Let's stay in the word every
way that we can. Read it, hear it, and let's constantly,
constantly cry out to our God in prayer. Alright, go with me
back to Jude. Number 3, verse 21. He said, keep yourselves in the
love of God. Now, again, I won't repeat the
intro to this message. I believe we have well established
that he is not saying, keep yourselves. He's not saying that. He's saying,
keep yourselves in the love of God. Stay focused on the fact that
it was God's love that started this and God's love that finished
this. We love him because he first
loved us. Dwell on that. That's what he's
saying. Keep dwelling on the love of
God. Stay right there. When things
come our way, you just stay right there. You just keep dwelling
on the love of God. Keep dwelling on the fact that
it's God's love that keeps you. I can't keep myself, but God's
love will. It was God's love that caused
him to lay down his life in the first place. And it's God's love
that will keep me to the end. Number four, verse 21 says, Keep yourselves in the love of
God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. Just keep looking for mercy. Keep looking for mercy. Stay
fixed on mercy. Preach it, hear it, cry out for
it. Keep looking to the one who gives
it. Keep looking to how He gave it. He emptied Himself, didn't He?
Of all but love. And bled for Adam's helpless
race. He poured out His blood. Keep
looking to Christ crucified. Keep looking to Christ crucified.
Look to, hope in, the blood that's in Emmanuel's veins. He said,
This is how we earnestly contend for the faith. We do it building,
praying, keeping, looking. Number five, verse 22. And of some have compassion,
making a difference. You know what compassion ultimately
means? It means pity. It means mercy.
It means a desire to help. But ultimately, compassion means
love. That's what it means. Love. Love
each other. That's what he's saying. Love
each other. If we want to earnestly contend
for the faith, then let's make a conscious decision to love
each other. I want to repeat that. All right. If we want to earnestly contend
for the faith, then let's make a conscious decision to love each other. To love each
other. Choose love. Choose love. That's it. I'm just sick and
tired of being upset with this person. I'm just tired of being
put out with them. I'm just going to love them.
I'm going to leave them in God's hands. I'm going to let God be
the judge. I'm just going to love them. Does that apply to
every single person without exception? No, it does not. He was very
clear on these false prophets who were stealing the affection
of men and women, bringing them away from Christ. He said, don't
have anything to do with them. Cut them off. Be done with them. But he said of some have compassion
making a difference. What makes a difference? Whether
a person bows in need of Christ, whether a person is willing to
hear the gospel. Ephesians 4 talks about doing
everything for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all
come in the unity of the faith. We contend for that by having
compassion on each other. Our Lord said, by this shall
all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one
to another. The compassion that Christ had
for us, that same compassion is in us. And we have that same
compassion for each other. All right, number six, verse
23. and others, save with fear, pulling
them out of the fire. Point men and women to Christ. Let's go to all the world and
preach this gospel. Let's go to all the world and
preach this gospel. I cannot pull anybody out of
the fire. I can't even pull myself out of the fire. But I can point
you to the one who can. Christ alone. And this right
here is important to know. I think this is wonderful to
know. Jude said this is a needful exhortation. Well, this is. This
is needful to know. We earnestly contend for our
own faith when we contend for the faith of others. We earnestly
contend for our own faith when we contend for the faith of others. If I desire for God to hear me
and look on me and consider me, the best thing for me to do is
hear and look on and consider my brethren. That's the best
thing for me to do. Let me show you something quickly
in Job 42. Job 42 verse 10. And the Lord turned the captivity
of Job when he prayed for his friends. He turned the captivity
of Job. when he prayed for his friends. Jude has given us some absolute
wisdom here. He said, it is so needful that
I tell you these things. So needful. Go one more time
back to our text. This is the last thing. He said,
earnestly contend for the faith, building, praying, keeping, looking,
loving, pulling, Number seven, the end of verse 23 says, hating
even the garment spotted by the flesh, hating the garment that's
spotted by the flesh. What is that garment? That is the robe of our own self-righteous
works. That is everything I do in this
sinful, spotted flesh. Everything this flesh desires,
everything this flesh craves, He said, hate it. Just hate it. Everything that comes natural
to this flesh, hate it. Don't indulge it. We so easily
indulge things. Don't indulge it. Don't defend
it. Well, you know, I'm just a sinner.
Don't defend it. Don't give in to it. He said,
hate it and love and desire and indulge and give in to the righteous,
holy, spotless garment of the Lord Jesus Christ. What he's
saying is put on the new man. Put on the new man. If we'll
do that, if we will continue in this word, the reading of
it, the hearing of it, if we will pray earnestly from the
heart, if we will keep ourselves stayed on the love of God, the
love of God towards sinners, if we'll just keep looking for
mercy, if we'll never get away from God's mercy, that's Christ
crucified, never get away from his mercy. And if we'll love
one another, truly love one another, Point men and women to Christ
and absolutely abhor everything about this flesh. then he said
we will be earnestly contending for this wonderful faith. It's
the faith that cries in verse 24, now unto him that is able
to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise
God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and
forever. Amen. May the Lord help us to
contend.