The title of this lesson is Christ
is able to keep you from falling. You know, last week we looked
at the false teachers, the apostates, and that was probably one of
the most depressing lessons I've ever tried to bring. It was so
depressing to me when I was trying to bring it, I didn't even feel
like preaching the second one. It was that depressing to me.
But now we get to this part of it. And this is such good news. There's nothing depressing about
what I just read. How different verse 20 is to
what we've been reading. We go from apostates, false teachers,
who leave the faith, who attempt to tear down the faith to ungodliness,
to now to building up in the faith, to love, keep yourselves
in the love of God, a hope of His return, praying in the Spirit. And that's what I want us to
look at. Jude gives us here a fourfold rule to keep us from falling. He gives us a fourfold rule to
keep us from falling. Now, the first thing he says
in verse 20, he says, but ye beloved, and I believe what he's
saying is this, is but ye beloved are not apostates. You're not
apostates. You're not of them that draw
back unto perdition. but you are of them that believe
to the saving of the soul. You are chosen of God. You've
been sanctified. You've been called by the Spirit
of God. This is who you are. I'm glad
we're not in that number that Jude had just spoken to us about.
We could have just as easily been. I could have just as easily
been one of those false teachers. I remember the first time I had
made a profession, I was 20 years old, and I started going to this
Armenian, I hate to call it a church, but for lack of a better word,
I started going to that church, and I wasn't there two months,
and they put me into teaching the young people I didn't know
straight up. But they figured I would connect with the young
people, you know. And so they put me, I didn't know anything.
And God could have left me in that mess. And I could have taught
them a lot of false error on their way to hell. But beloved,
but you beloved, you're not of them. This is not you. And he
says this in verse 20, but you beloved, build it up yourselves
on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. He's telling
us here to build ourselves up in the faith. What does it mean
to build ourselves up on your most holy faith? What's he talking
about? Well, first of all, I think it
has the idea of ability. Turn over to Ephesians, and I
didn't write this one down, but I looked at it this morning.
Ephesians chapter two. Let me look at my
notes here, Ephesians chapter two. And verse 19, listen. Now, therefore,
ye are no more strangers and foreigners, Ephesians chapter
two, verse 19, but fellow citizens with the saints of the household
of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto
an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together
for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Now, turn over to
1 Peter 2. Do a little turning this morning. 1 Peter 2. Look in verse five, verse four. Let's start in verse four. To
whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God and precious, ye also as lively stones, or
living stones. You're living stones, you're
not dead stones in a building. Like the stones and the brick
on the outside of this building, that's dead. That's dead. But
you're not that way. You are living stones and are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So it has the idea of a building. And in a building, if it's being
built, it's growing. You've seen a building built,
and it starts with a foundation. You come back, and then they're
laying the blocks, and then the next thing you know, they're
framing that out. Next thing you know, they're putting a brick
on it. And then one day, you got a building. You have a building. And so here's what he's saying. We are to grow in faith. Being built up, we are to grow
in faith. We are to grow in faith and in
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the one we grow in.
When He says here that you build up your most holy faith, that
you grow in faith, He's talking about growing up in Christ. Paul
speaks of growing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, in
faith and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have,
and I thought about this yesterday as I was going over this, we
have a responsibility to grow in faith. We have a responsibility
to grow in the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has given us the means
to grow. Look over in Acts chapter 20. And we'll look at the means that
God's given us to grow. In Acts chapter 20, in verse 32, Paul says, And now, brethren,
I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, to God's Word,
which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified. The very means that God has given
us to grow in faith and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ
is His Word. I cannot express to you, I cannot
express Enough to you, the importance
of saturating yourselves in the word of God. To be saturated
with it. I want you to look over in James
chapter one. In James chapter one, show you
the importance of saturating yourself in the word of God. In James chapter 1 and verse,
I believe it's verse 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty, and continueth therein, he be not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed. in
his deed. He that looks into the perfect
law of liberty, the gospel, and you cannot look into the gospel
and not look into the word of God. You cannot know the gospel
apart from the word of God. It is impossible to know the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ apart from this book, God's word. Look over in Psalm 119. Over
here in Psalm 119. in verse 105. This is how we
grow. First of all is in the word of
God. He says, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto
my path. I do believe those who for what
I call saturated with the word of God, will always generally
know what to do and which way to go as we go down this path
of life. If you're saturated in the word
of God, it'll guide you. God will guide you with his word.
Christ speaks often, if my word be in you, if God's words are
in me, It'll guide them directly by the Holy Spirit using the
Word of God. Now look in verse 130 in Psalm 119. The entrance of thy words giveth
light. It giveth light. It giveth understanding
unto the simple. So if I want light, Lord give
me light, give me direction. I'm not waiting for a feeling,
I'm not waiting for a vision. I'm in his word, you go to his
word and God by his spirit will direct us by his word. I cannot
tell you how many times that I sat and I heard Henry preaching
the gospel, preaching the gospel out of God's word and questions
on my mind or direction I want to take was answered. Answered
right from the Word of God. The entrance of thy words giveth
light, it giveth understanding unto the simple. So the first rule he gives here
is to build up yourselves on your most holy faith to grow
in the Lord Jesus Christ And one other let me mention to this. In 1 Thessalonians 2. Let's turn
there. I want you to turn there. 1 Thessalonians 2. I wrote several of these things
down. I scribbled them on the sides and everywhere else. 1 Thessalonians. Chapter 2, look
in verse 13. For this cause also, thank we
God, without ceasing. Because when you received the
word of God, which ye heard of us, you received it not as the
word of men. Just like this morning, I've
read you several scriptures. That's not the word of men. Now,
God used men to write the scriptures, but this is not the word of men.
This is God's word. God's word. But as it is in truth,
the word of God. Now, listen, here's what I want
you to get, which effectually, the word of God effectually worketh
also in you that believe. The word of God works in you.
It's the living word. It's lively. It's lively, and
it works in you. And that's why it is so important. It's so important that we take
time to sit down daily. And I know what it is to be busy. But we're not too busy to die,
are we? We're not too busy to die. And that'll happen one day. But before that happens, Let's
sit down every day, set aside a time to sit down and get in
the Word of God, to read the Word of God, and pray that the
Lord bless His Word, just like I did this morning. Lord, bless
Your Word. Bless Your Word. Bless it to
my understanding. It gives light, it gives understanding.
Give me that understanding. Okay, the second rule, the second
rule. I'm not going to make it all
the way through this this morning. I thought I was going to finish this, but
we'll probably have to finish it up next week. The second rule
is this, the fourfold rule, the second one is this, praying in
the Spirit. That's the only kind of praying
that there really is, is in the Holy Spirit. It's when the Holy
Spirit guides you directs you and presses upon you to pray. Pray. And we ought to seek the
aid of the Spirit in praying. I think one of the most difficult
things to do, especially in public, the most difficult thing to do
is pray. It's to pray. It's to be sincere. It's to be energetic. is to give
thought. If I'm going to go before the
throne of God's grace, and if I'm going to use the name of
Jesus Christ, then I need to give real thought about what
I'm about to pray about, what I'm seeking the Lord about. I
need to give some real thought about that, and not just say,
well, it's time to pray. but to really genuinely pray.
And he says here, praying in the Spirit, it is regular communion
with God, it's casting on Him all our care daily. Someone said this, praying in
the Spirit is, first it's praise, it's praising God for who He
is and what He's done for us in Christ, it's thanksgiving,
and it's petition, it's casting our care upon Him. is praying
and seeking the aid of the Spirit to help us to do so. There's nothing that I think,
one of the things that I desire most, let's put it this way,
one of the things I desire most is that when I pray, I'm heard,
that God hears my prayer. When you go through, sometime
reading through the psalm, how many times has David said, Lord,
hear my prayer. Lord, give ear, give attention
to my supplication. That's praying, that's just not
saying some words. It's when you are calling on
God to give you his attention. Lord, hear what I have to say.
My heart may be heavy about a matter. Lord, hear my prayer. Is there anything any more important
than God hearing you when you call upon him? Than the God of
heaven and earth, the God of creation, to actually hear you
pray and to call on him and to give attention to what you have
to say? So it says, build up yourself on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Spirit, because you're not gonna build yourself
up apart from Him. You're not gonna know Christ more apart
from Him. Christ said that He will take the things of mine
and show them to you. When I'm in this study, I ask,
I pray and I ask the Holy Spirit, He's God. Take the things of
Christ and show them to me in a study. I prayed this morning
before coming in over here. Lord, take the things, I prayed,
Holy Spirit, take the things of Christ and show them to us
this morning. Make us to know what we have
in Him. Make us to be able to rejoice
in Him this morning. And then here's the third rule.
Keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep yourselves in the love
of God. And here's what he's saying.
Keep yourselves ever aware of God's love for you. Remember
this, the only reason You are not an apostate is God's grace. The only reason you and I do
not leave the gospel is the grace of God, the love
of God, the love of God. Keep yourselves ever mindful
of God's love. It's like standing in the warm
rays of the sun. You ever go out on a nice warm
day, you just go out there and just enjoy the sunshine, just
enjoy the warmth of it. While we read the word of God,
and while we pray with the aid of the Holy Spirit, let's seek
to know more, understand more, and experience more of God's
love for us in Jesus Christ. And never let that slip. Never,
never let that slip. There's an effort on our part.
Did you notice as I've given you these? There's an effort
on our part to follow the Lord, to grow in faith, to grow in
love. Listen to this scripture in John
15, nine. As the father has loved me, so
have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. Never let it slip away. Never
let it slip away. Turn over to John 15. John chapter 15. In verse 10, Let me go to verse nine. As the
Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye my love. If you keep my commandments,
here's the evidence, first of all, of our love to Christ. If
you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even
as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. Keep yourselves in the love of
God. Keep that ever before you. And
here's the fourth rule. Looking. Looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Looking for his mercy daily. Looking for his mercy daily to
keep me. Lord keep me from falling. I realized that by nature I'm
no better than the apostates. Peter realized he was no better
than Judas. You know he realized that. He
denied the Lord three times. And he realizes that. He realized
that he was no better than Judas. And I realize, and I know you
who believe realize, that you're no better than those who fall
away. Looking for that mercy. Lord,
have mercy. This is another one of those
things that I pray daily. Lord, have mercy on me. Have mercy on this congregation.
I pray that all the time. I pray the Lord have mercy on
my family all the time. And I know this. I know I don't
deserve what I'm asking for. I do not deserve what I'm asking. I do not deserve the mercy I'm
asking for. I know that. And that's why I asked for it.
Because mercy is undeserved. Mercy is undeserved. Looking
for his mercy. living, and also listen, living
in an attitude of eager anticipation of Christ's coming. And I realize
this is something that grows. I look now, I look now more for
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ than I did 20 years ago,
than I did when I first believed. But I look forward to that now.
more and more. I think of it now more. Even
when I read the scriptures, I read more. It catches my attention
more of the Lord's coming. I realize
that someday He's going to come back and put an end to this.
And if He doesn't come back in our time here and put an end
to all this, He is coming back to get me. Christ said, I go
and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where
I am, there you may be also. So there is a time. I don't know
when it is, but there's a time the Lord's coming for me. And
I'm gonna be able to lay down this body of sin and death and
go home. And go home. Now that's home.
That's home. You know, I talk about home being
in Ashland. And some of you remind me know that home is here now.
And home is here. But I tell you what, I'm really
going home when I go to be with my Lord. And you are too. That's
home. Home is where our Lord is. I like what Joe Terrell told
me once. He said that he apologized to
Bonnie He said, I've dragged you all over the United States.
He had preached in, he was in Kentucky and Ashland and Owensboro,
then I don't know if it was someplace else. Then now he's in Iowa.
She said, home is where you are. I said, Joe, you outmarried yourself,
buddy. You outmarried yourself. Home is where you are. Home is
where the Lord Jesus Christ is. That's home. And that's where
we will one day gather with the real family. Our real, everlasting,
eternal family is when that day comes. So he says here, live
in anticipation. Live in an attitude of the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Set your affection on things
above, where Christ sits at God's right hand. And then he says here,
and of some have compassion. Now, I just gave you the fourfold
rule that Jude gives us to help us not to fall. to grow in grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, keep ourselves in the
love of God, praying in the Spirit, looking for the Lord Jesus Christ
and seeking His mercy along the way. There it is. There it is. But then he turns here, lest
we be too hard on some who do fall. We need to realize this,
not all who fall are false. are false or apostates, not all. Some fall through infirmities.
Some fall through temptation. And Jude says here, pray for
them. Pray for them. In verse 22, and of some have
compassion, making a difference. Pray for them. Receive them with
meekness. Receive them with open arms.
Some have serious doubts. You ever have any? You ever had
a time that you doubted whether God saved you or not? Jude says you have compassion
on them. You have compassion, you receive, you show mercy.
You show mercy. However, we are to condemn their
behavior. He said we are to condemn their
behavior as one would a filthy rag. There's a garment spotted,
he said, by the flesh. I read this, I'm gonna give this
to you, and I'm gonna close. We'll finish those other two
verses. I think those other two verses deserve attention all
their own. But one person said this, we
must be careful in preaching, but we must be careful not to
be attracted by the sin of those we preach to, lest we fall. Always maintain, always maintain
a real hatred of sin. Always maintain that. Because
you know, we're still in this flesh. We're still in this flesh. And we're still attracted to
some things that we shouldn't be attracted to. We can still
be drawn to some things we shouldn't be drawn to. And that's what
he's saying here in verse 22 and 23. And if some have compassion,
show mercy to them. Not everybody falls as an apostate. And others save with fear, pulling
them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the
flesh. Always hate sin. Always hate
it. But let's remember, Let's remember this fourfold
rule that Jude gives us. Here, build yourself up in Christ,
grow in faith and in knowledge of Him, seeking the aid of God's
Spirit to help us to pray and to seek after Him, to keep ourselves
ever mindful of God's love to us in Jesus Christ, to ever be mindful of that. and
to always seek His mercy with the attitude of waiting for Him
to return. We're waiting for Him. All right.