Judah is given a clear picture
of the judgment of God on sinners and unbelievers who, by the fruit
of their life, prove that they are unbelievers. By the fruit
of their affections, they prove that they are unbelievers. By
the fruit of their words, they prove that they are unbelievers. fruit of their doctrine, of their
theology, of their teaching of God's Word, and their twisting
thereof, they prove that they are unbelievers. And Jude argues
for the church, for their good and for their joy and for their
holiness, that these things must be exposed, must be shown, must
be revealed, so that the church would not intermingle, unaware
of these people who are looking to destroy it. And there is some prescription
that we're going to receive now on how that's supposed to look
for the Christian. There's these wicked people he calls godless,
perverts of God's grace. And yet they're in direct contrast
with the people of God. But they're among the people
of God. Judas nor has any apostle throughout the New Testament
gone and told us to look at those away from the church and think
these things. For those who are not in the
church are doing that which they are supposed to do, ungodly things. What do you mean they're supposed
to do that? I mean they do what is natural
to their nature. They do what is natural and they will be rewarded
for it in judgment. I know that's a play on words.
They will receive judgment. But oh, far worse is it those
who profess the name of Christ to live like the world lives.
We are not to modify the behavior of the world, but are to judge
and strictly press into the holiness of Christ as we are in Him that
we live not like the world, but like Christ lived. And like Christ
lives, for the power of Christ in us compels us, it drives us,
it pushes us, it convicts us. Christ living in us lives out
of us. But there are those who just
like the world, just like Paul said to the church in Ephesus,
who are objects of wrath, objects of destruction. And these will
not slip away from the justice of God. For God poured His justice,
poured His judgment for the sake of righteousness out on Jesus
Christ, the Son, who is God in the flesh, fully God, fully man. And because of that, God is just
and forgiving those who are in Christ. And now, In verse 17 through
the end, Jude begins to transition for remembrance and transition
for comparison. And he says these words, But
you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of
our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, In the last
time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It
is these who cause divisions, this is where we were last week,
worldly people devoid of the Spirit. But you, verse 20, beloved,
building yourself up in the most holy faith and praying in the
Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Have mercy on those who doubt.
Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others, show
mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Now to Him who was able to keep you from stumbling and to present
you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy,
to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and
now and forever. Amen. We've been in this letter now
ten weeks. And we've got a few more to go.
And here it is, a new year. And as we look at our new year,
all of us, we know it. And I don't know if it's like
this in other places, but I'm pretty sure just by the character
and the nature of humanity that every time there's some new beginning,
there's new start, there's always some resolution of some kind
that places in our mind, that our mind places in our life,
a boundary that we'll say we'll meet, a goal that we're trying
to reach, a taboo that we're trying to avoid. We all do it. It's the perfect time to be the
perfect Americans that we could ever be, is that the latter part
of the year, when we're looking toward the new year, we do things
in such an odd way. And I haven't had time to really
think about it and don't really want to, but it would be interesting
to figure out why we don't just start in October rather than
wait to January, especially in areas of health. Well, I know
I'm dying and I'm getting diabetes as the days go by, but January,
I'm not going to eat any more sweets. That's my New Year's
resolution. Or I really want to be healthy
and I want to get back in shape. In the last six months, I've
just sort of been out of whack and out of sorts and out of time.
And so January, I'm going to start working out. And so the
holidays come up with, oh, you know, I'm going to start working
out in January, so I'll just become a glutton through the
holidays. Or he said, well, I got four
more days. I'm going to eat that pack of
cinnamon rolls. Well, I got two more days. I
better go get me some Dairy Queen. Why do we do that to ourselves?
Why do we procrastinate so professionally? So adamantly, why do we push
to wait to get started to do what is good? Sometimes I think we do that
in such a way that not only for our health or for our finances
or for our marriage. Some people say, well, this year
I'm going to be more kind or kinder to my spouse or I'm going
to spend more time with my children or I'm going to do this or I'm
going to do that. And some of us in the faith Hopefully,
all of us in the faith are considering if we are these type of people
to try something new or to press towards certain goals. Okay,
it's a good time. We have a goal. Last January,
we developed a goal and a system and I handed out papers about
memorizing Scripture. Remember those? I pulled out
mine this last week and I looked at it and I'm like, man, I did
really good through March. And what happened? Easter. then
summer break, then it was just too hot, and then the air condition
didn't work. And you associate all that heat. So we went in the mornings, remember?
Oh, now we're up too early, so we're too tired to memorize Scripture
in the afternoon. And then it was pushing toward fall, and
it was too pretty to stay inside and memorize Scripture. We don't
want to look at the leaves, all those green pine straws turning brown.
It's really good. And then we had that little school
starting season when, you know, we were real busy there. And
then something else took place. And the next thing you know,
it's Halloween. And we may or may not care about it, but it's
a holiday. Everybody else is off. We might
as well not deal with anything else. You see what I'm saying.
Then Thanksgiving. Well, now Christmas. You know,
Christmas. Now it's New Year's. Are we going to start over or
just pick up where we left off? And see, the point is not to
feel guilty. Well, I didn't memorize 52 verses of Scripture. Did you
memorize one? Did you make it a goal, as Jesse
prayed right before we started, that God's Word would be top
priority in our lives? Because in the Lord's Intimacy,
the intimacy we have with Jesus Christ is only through His Word.
It's not through mowing the grass. It's not through painting. It's
not through meditation on some cool thing that we're thinking
about. It's only on focused thinking on His Word. Hearing the voice
of God is listening to the Word of God in our own hearts, in
our own minds, through the mouths and hearts of others as we share
this faith, this common faith together. And we have these new
years. We strive for newness. when we,
at the time of our salvation, were created anew. We don't need
a new year to begin to be new. We are new today. We're not given
tomorrow. Do we want to honor God this
year, or should we have honored Him all the last few months?
Should we have been pressing in our faith to make it the first
of all things, or do we just want to wait? Are we looking for success in
certain aspects of our lives? I want to be successful in my
job. I want to be successful. It's a good goal. It's not a lack of humility to
say I want to do well with what I've endeavored to do. I believe
it's actually God-like to say I'm going to do all that I do
for the sake of the Lord and for His glory. And I want to
do well as though I'm doing it for Him. So whether you work
for someone or work for yourself, you're working for the Lord.
So you need to work accordingly. But what are the dreams? Are
we combined, are we twisted into the dreams of James chapter 4
where he says, you have not because you ask not. And when you do
ask, you have not because you ask to spend it on your passions.
And we know what John says about the passions that are attached
to this world. They are fleeting and going. Are we doing that
which we do in this new year for the sake of the goal of growing
in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and growing together into maturing
into the head into Him who is Christ? Are we working that we
might be active in doing the work of the ministry? Maybe we have resolutions for
this new year that deal with relationships. I want to be closer
with my parents. I want to be closer with my children.
I want to be closer with my husband and closer with my wife. I want
to be closer with my brothers and closer with my sisters, closer
with my church family. I want to fix these wrongs. I
want to correct these issues. I want to do this. I want to
do that. This is what the new year... Are we doing that? And
are we thinking that that's going to bring some type of joy in
our lives? Are we working to the end of
building what we would call fond memories when really they're
nothing but just a farce? What's a memory if it's not for
the glory of God? What's a memory if it's just
a wasted life? It's called a regret. And friends, we leave what is
behind and we press on to the prize that we've been given,
the crown of righteousness, as Paul said. that we forsake all
things. But I'll tell you what we do
in our world. We live for tomorrow. We live for later. If I could
just get here, then maybe I'll get my life in order. If I could
just have this change, then things would be good. What about this
moment? Why do we do that? Why do we
live wishing things were better and pressing toward that day
when it will be better rather than making this moment for the
glory of God the best? You may not have another day.
You may not leave this building today. You may not get up from
your chair in this hour. Because whether you're four or
ninety-four, God can call you out of this world by any means
He feels necessary. heart attack, stroke, lightning,
spider bite, car accident, slipping in the shower. It's one of the
top three causes of death in America. Slipping in the bathroom.
Falling down the stairs. Or just dying. This is a gloomy type of conversation
to have. This is a reality of why the
gospel gives hope. Does it change the truth if we
just ignore it? Does it change the truth if we
just don't talk about it? I don't want to talk about that.
Have you ever prayed that way? You pray, and you just pray,
and you pray, and your consciousness continues to say in your mind,
and in some silly, silly way, you think if you just don't say
it in your consciousness, if you don't say it with your mouth,
that God's not aware of it. Friends, God is aware. Sometimes
we need to pray that God will let us pray that which we need
to pray. God, I know that I'm praying
selfishly. Please stop me. Please help me. I'm selfish. It would be better
to confess in our prayers than to pray and pretend like we're
not. Do we have goals for this new year?
Are they inclusive? Or matter of fact, are they a
part of the foundation of our faith? I often like to say, and
I've said this for years and I need to remind myself of it,
is that God and our faith in Jesus Christ and the gospel and
the body of Christ are to never be top on a priority list. Ever. Our faith should never
be on the top of a priority list. Our faith should be the list,
the paper on which the list is written. That if it's not for the faith,
it's for the world. If it's not through the faith,
it's for the world. If it's not for the sake of the
glory of God, it's worldly. If I put on socks, it needs to
be in the mindset of knowing that what I'm about to do with
my feet is for the sake of the glory of God. Even if it's raking
leaves in my yard, can we not worship God through it? Or are
we so consumed with the world in us and around us that we just
can't even think about the Father? Why does Paul say, do all things
without grumbling and complaining? Because grumbling and complaining
are evidence of a worldly heart. And do you know, I'm sick and
tired of complaining about complaining. Do you ever get that way? Lest we resolve not to complain less, but to
praise more, we will never stop complaining. lest we resolve
not to be more active in the church, but be more affectionate
with Jesus Christ, we will never have a ministry. We pray sometimes to an empty
end by praying those things which God has not promised in the Scripture. It's what we're doing in this
new year, building up for ourselves in the love of God, in our most
holy faith, or is it a wasted life? Are our relationships being built
in the most holy faith, or are they just fond, futile, fading
vapors? And sometimes we think, well,
I don't want to be doing Bible studies constantly, driving down
the road doing Bible studies. I didn't say that. But you know, sometimes when
you're pressed and the Holy Spirit of God in us pushes us and we
think of things, we should pray things. When we see things that
invade our intimacy with the Lord, with our eyes, and hear
them with our ears, we should turn them off. We should stop
looking at them. We should stop focusing so much
on feeling like we need to be entertained and we need to be
awed. Because really, what is entertainment
but escape? What is escape but self-medication? What is self-medication
but idolatry? What about our time? And I'm
preaching to you. I'm talking with you. What about
our talents, our treasures? What are we doing with our goals? What are we doing with our dreams?
And what in the world does that mean anyway? What is a dream? A dream is a
whisper of a child blowing a candle off a cake. Oh, I hope I get
a pony. That's a dream. God has not given
us wishes and dreams. God given us certain hopes that
are absolutely ours. Are we focused on those things? Well, I plan to do this. If the
Lord wills and if it doesn't work, then God has not willed
it. Hallelujah! It is well with my soul. What
should you give to me today, Lord? Help me hate sin at any
cost. Do you ever pray that? It's a
very, very, very dangerous prayer. Because most of the time God
helps us hate sin by causing us to feel and reap the consequences
in this life. And sometimes He doesn't. Sometimes
He just changes our heart toward it. Let's look at this. Judah's given
this picture of these godless people, worldly people, who are
beloved by a majority of people among the church. who have actually
been able to take and draw people out of orthodoxy, out of soundness.
We see that over in verse 22. Have mercy on those who doubt.
Have mercy. Save others by snatching them
out of the fire. To others show mercy with fear.
We're to have this attitude of knowing and understanding that
Judah's saying these godless worldly people who claim to be
in Christ, who are a part of the church, who are fearlessly
taking place at your fellowships, they are drawing people away
from the gospel. They are drawing people away
from the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
The faith for which we should contend. The faith for which
we should stand up for. Where do you see the word contender
anymore? In boxing. It's a battle. It's crazy. I'm not going to
be a part of it. I don't want to be hit in the
face, head, stomach. Nothing. It's just back up. So that's the word. We're to
stand up and go to blow sometimes. Not in violence, but in humility.
Not in aggression, but prayer. Not in anger, but fear. for the faith that was given
to the saints, for their joy, for their love, for the mercy
which is being multiplied to us as you'd started. But there
are those who have been snatched away. There are those among us,
some of you, who may very well be twisted in some of the way
that you think about certain things. A brother that I've known
online for about five years started posting some things this weekend
that is disturbing. going through a lot of proof
text and now calling people to pray for something that God has
not promised in His Word. And I won't say what it is because
he may listen to it and go, It's concerning. And I know he's
a brother. I know that the fruit of his
life has been evident in the last four or five years. But
now all of a sudden it's twisted a little. Somebody's touched
him. Something he's heard has caused him to think a little
bit. And it's relying on our dreams. It's thinking about the
world. It's giving worldly influence
to the truth of the gospel. It's allowing the culture to
dictate the truth rather than the truth being the truth. And Judah's saying, these people
are dangerous, they're divisive, they're godless, they're devoid
of the Spirit, but you, beloved, remember, don't take this as
something that's crazy. Oh, why is this happening? The
apostles have told you that it's coming, and it's not going to
change. These people will always be, there will always be tears
among the wheat, but we do not allow them to continue to blow
the wheat away. But you are not like them, he
says in verse 20, and this is where I want to be today. Most
all of this in verse 20. He says, but you. There's a contrast
there. Anytime you see but, you know,
I really wanted to go outside and watch the car today, but
what does that imply? That I didn't. My desire and my action, there's
a contrast there. Here, there is a but. And it
says, there are those who are divisive, worldly, unspiritual,
devoid of the Spirit, but you, beloved. These people act this
way, and live this way, and think this way, and teach this way,
and pray this way, and walk this way, but you, beloved. See, there's
a contrast. You, beloved. And then there's
some sort of verbs and adverbs and adjectives and all sorts
of things going on here that Jude begins to express himself.
But you, beloved, you're building yourself up in your most holy
faith and you are praying in the Holy Spirit. Here's the action
He commands. Keep yourself in the love of
God as you are waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
that leads to eternal life. And so all this stuff that goes
on, all these things that are taking place, and if you remember
in our time in Titus, there's a time and a place and an action
and a responsibility that the church and its leaders have against
those who continually become divisive and wicked and sinful
and destructive amongst the body. But we don't join them in their
actions. We don't join them in their affections.
We are different. And so what Jude is giving us
here, I believe, would be a good opportunity for us to say, wow,
if I ever resolve to do anything new today, this would be where
I began. Don't start your New Year's tomorrow.
Start it right now. Don't start your new plan tomorrow. Start it right now. And do not put anything above
your faith, ever. Because friends, there is no
lack of things clawing at the edge of that faith, ready to
stand upon it and push it down. But you, beloved, there's a contrast. Not only are these people wicked
and divisive, but in contrast, But they are not loved. But you
are beloved. They are unloved. You are beloved. They are the wicked and the evil.
You are the loving and the kind. You are the one who has the love
of God keeping you. 2 Peter comes to mind. A lot during
Jude's writing. So you are the beloved. You are
those who are not divisive. You are those who are not worldly.
You are those who live by the Spirit of God and you have a
positive life in Christ, not a negative life in Christlessness.
See, that's what that but should really boil up in us. It should
give us pause to think. In no way, what does Paul say
to the Ephesians, this should not even be named among you.
No one should be able to say, oh, he's sort of, sometimes like
that. We should not be able to be named
in the measure of the worldliness, in the measure of the godless,
in the measure of those devoid of the Spirit. We should not
look like them at all. We should not think like them
at all. We should not do it because we are the beloved. We are those
who, because of God's love, because of His kindness, have been saved
by the mercy of His grace toward us in Christ Jesus. We are not
those who are walking around a prisoner of our flesh. We are
not those who are bound by the sin of the world. We are free. We are righteous. We are beloved. So what are we to be doing, beloved?
Well, let's look at this. We are, as we are beloved, we
are building ourselves up in the most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Spirit as we keep ourselves in the love of God,
waiting for His mercy that leads to everlasting life. And when
you think of this, look at this. Building yourselves up in the
most holy faith. Have you ever thought what it
means to build ourselves up? Doesn't it seem counterproductive
to think that way? How am I going to build myself
up? Isn't that God's job? Yes and no. Those of us who have
been with us on Tuesday nights, We know that in dealing with
sin, as we'll look at this Tuesday, dealing with temptation, what
is temptation? How do we deal with it? Is it sin? We'll deal
with that this Tuesday. And Paul says in Romans 8.13,
he says, For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But
if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will
live. You see? So, let's impose Paul's theology in Jude's writing,
because he actually teaches it later, but that's a few weeks
down the road. He says, keep, well, building yourselves up,
that's what we're doing, in our most holy faith, we are praying
in the Holy Spirit, it's not even a command, it's just that's
what we're doing, as we keep ourselves in the love of God,
by the power of the Holy Spirit. So God keeps us, and in turn,
because God keeps us, He enables us to continually build ourselves
up. We see in Ephesians chapter 3
and 4. We see Paul talking about the
unity of the faith, the two people becoming one. that those then
who are being prayed for, Paul says he prays that they may be
filled with all the fullness of God. He also then says that
we ought to speak the truth in love, to walk not as the world
but as Christ. He says that we ought to be doing
the things that God has empowered us to do. We ought to be holy.
We ought to walk in that manner. We ought to be imitators of God,
I think is the words that he uses there. And he says, and
then those who teach the church should do so because they are
gifts of the church. God has gifted the word of God
to the church so that the church may build itself up in love,
so that the church may be built to grow into maturity in order
to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Now that's
about six paragraphs combined into one. But all throughout
the New Testament, we see that we're to build ourselves up.
Is the church being built up? You know what's so American about
how we think about even hearing that? We're thinking, oh, what
am I going to do for me? And Paul's clear in 1 Corinthians
that the whole purpose of the church is giftedness is for the
sake of each other, not ourselves. There's no gift that God has
given me that's for me. None. Any gift that the Holy
Spirit of God empowers me to have does not benefit me at all
except the joy that I receive in honoring God through the use
of it for the sake of your growth, and vice versa. And when we think about the church
as just this herd of cattle walking in and out of programs to receive
a blessing, and we've got this elect few of people who have
service gifts and leadership, friends, we've missed the point. We've missed the point. And it
breeds a whole lot of stuff. But that's not the point today.
We're to build ourselves up in the most holy faith. This is
a contrast, as I've said 25 times today, to those who have self-focus,
who live according to the lust of their own flesh. We're to
build ourselves up. And what are some things in which
we are to build? What are some ways in which we're
to build? Well, Jude doesn't list them out, but just think
about some other places in the Scripture. We're to grow up into
Christ. We're to be built up in affection
for one another. We're to build up and grow in
the Spirit of God. We're to build up in truth. We're
to build up in prayer. We're to build up in the work
of the ministry. We're to build up in serving each other. As
a matter of fact, Scripture says we're to outdo each other. We're
to build up in... and pressing for unity and peace
as long as it is up to us, as far as it is up to us, we press
for peace, Paul says of the Roman church. We work to the end of
unity. We build up all these things
in us, and Jude corporately is saying you are building yourselves
up in the most holy faith. You all. See, they should translate
this, they should put an ESV and then an ESV south translation. They should change the plural
building yourselves, take the S, which is plural already, and
just say y'all. So that way we'll know. We'll
know that it's not me building me up, it's me and you and us
and y'all building each other up. We're building each other
up in the most holy faith. And if we're not, we're not building. We see that in Paul's writing
to the Corinthians. If we're building on any other
thing but the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, what
we're building is going to be destroyed. And you've heard me
say this. But when we build in the kingdom
of Christ, we're not building stuff, programs, ministries.
Ministry is not the object or the practice. Ministry is the
product. Ministry is the people who come
out of our giftedness, who come from our graciousness, who come
from God's power. Ministry is the people. So a
ministry are those faces, are those names, are those individual
lives, are those hearts and are those souls who matter. You can't stop a ministry. You
can't shut down a ministry. You can't stop some type of...
You can stop stuff. You can't stop people. We're to build ourselves up in
our most holy faith because if we're not doing it, we are disobedient
to God. If we're not doing it, if we're
not being built, we're not building anyone else. I like to remind
myself that I cannot give anyone what I do not have myself. I cannot give to anybody what
I do not possess. If I do not possess spiritual
growth in my own life, I cannot give it to you. If I do not possess
a prayer life of my own, I cannot pray for you. I didn't say for
myself. If I do not have a foundation
of the gospel, I can't preach it to you. If I do not have a
love for you, I can't love you. And if we build, think of building.
Think of all the allusions and illustrations of building throughout
the entire Scripture and the entire Bible, Old Testament and
New Testament. We see many things about building. We see the tabernacle
and the detail that was required of Aaron. We see Solomon and
the detail that was required of his temple. We see the rebuilding
of the walls of Jerusalem through Nehemiah. We see all the details. We see
all the stuff. But yet, all that is just temporal. There's an
intricacy with the body of Christ, as Paul very clearly teaches,
that we all, though each different and each a part of the body,
we're part of the same body and each essential. Do you know what
happens if you don't have a nail on your finger or toe? You can't
do some things. And the sensitivity of that digit
and the safety of that digit is compromised. One of the most excruciating
things that could ever happen to you is for someone to pull
your toenails off or your fingernails off. You ever kick something
and accidentally bent one up? You may not know how to dance,
but you find one. You find a dance, whether it
be the Cabbage Patch, the Running Man, the Hop and Stop. Whatever
it might be, you find it. Because that nail is necessary
and it doesn't want to be torn off. You are necessary. And if you aren't building up,
then the whole body stays where you are. The old adage, I don't even know
if it's theological, I haven't thought through it far enough,
but the old adage that a chain's weakest link is the strength
of its chain. It's the maximum strength. Every
other link could be awesome. We can pull, but this link and
this link with a bad link in the middle, it's just broken. And you might think, well, I'm
just a broken link. Well, guess what? We're all broken links
in some areas. That's why we've got to have
each other to build each other up. And building requires a foundation.
We see the imagery of John's writing in the Apocalypse. Revelation. And we see that we are the pillars
in the temple of God. Christ is the foundation. Christ
is the temple. And we are the pillars. So think about what it means
to build ourselves up in the most holy faith. Do you see the
image of that there's a need for a foundation? What do we
see in the Scripture? The teaching of building our
house on the sand or building our house on the rock. Are we
building ourselves up in the most holy faith with a secure
foundation? Jude is reminding the church,
not instructing the church, reminding the church that they are building
themselves up in the most holy faith as they commanded to keep
themselves in the love of God. So what is it? Well, the foundation
is very simple. The foundation, we're building
ourselves up in the most holy faith. So let's look at that.
Why the hyperbole? What do you mean? Well, the most
holy faith, that's really over the top. Why not just say, you
know, the faith, like you said over there in verse 3, I find
it necessary to write a penalty to you to contend for the faith.
The faith. It's strong enough, isn't it?
The holy faith. I mean, that puts an emphasis
on the severity and the gravity of the faith. But it is the most
holy faith. It's sort of like Jude is expressing
himself in that Semitic way of going, the holy, holy, holy faith
to which only God is ascribed, to which only is ascribed to
Christ. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty. Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb.
Holy, holy, holy is the faith of Jesus Christ. You say, well,
Jesus has faith? It's not subjective, it's objective
faith. The doctrines, the teaching,
the truth, Jesus Himself is the Logos, the Word that became flesh
and tabernacled among us, dwelt among us. And so we see this Jude is saying
as he started this letter, I want to write to you about our common
salvation, but I find it necessary to write to you to contend for
the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. And
he closes his letter out with the same emphasis. That you've
got to contend for the faith and you've got to keep yourself
in the faith. You've got to hold yourself in
the faith. You've got to build yourself up. And the foundation
of your building, the foundation of your praying, the foundation
of your mercy, the foundation of your hope is the faith of
God and His faithfulness. It's the truth. It's the gospel. It's the doctrines. It's the
theology. You've got to contend for this
faith. And so as you contend, you're building up in it. You've
got to do it in a corporate way. It's not about my... I'm not
building my personal trust in Jesus. I'm being built upon the
truth of Jesus. There's a big difference. Jude's
not talking about strengthening our trust in Christ. He's saying
that we build on the faith that was delivered, the faith, objectively,
the object. not subjectively with each of
us believing. That's a given. He doesn't have
to go there. That's why He says, Beloved.
He doesn't have to revisit that. Beloved. That requires that everybody
in the sound of His voice who is the Beloved has a personal
subjective faith in Jesus Christ. He's talking about The pure truth. Jesus says, I am the way and
the truth and the life. The life that is eternal is the
faith. The gospel is the faith. The
truth of God is the faith. So any quack who tries to say
that there is no need for study of God's Word, that there is
no need for, quote, doctrine or, quote, theology, are fools
and they're on a devil's errand. Then what are we learning? Yes,
there are heady people who know a lot of truth who are devoid
of the Spirit. We see that, don't you? But if
we're going to grow, there has to be a foundation. And we're
contending for that faith, for the gospel. And that gospel is
corporate. The Word of God comes. The Word
of God gives ears. Those ears hear. That hearing
produces faith, knowing, and life. John 17. This is eternal
life, Jesus says, that you know God and Jesus. That's it. How do we know that? The faith that was delivered
once for all to the saints. So as we grow and are being built
up in our most holy faith, we see this expression of being
most holy in that it is a gift of God. Do you see what comes
with that? It is God's faithful gift to His people. There is
truth that comes to the ears of those who have been given
the ears to hear. And truth for the eyes of those
who have been given eyes to see. And truth for the heart of those
who have been given a heart to love. And a truth to the mind
of those who have been given a mind to understand. That's
called rebirth. And this faith is holy, that
it is of God and from God and for God. It is holy, therefore
if it is defiled, it is mockery. That's why Jude said it's blasphemy
for people to speak ill of the grace of God and to produce a
license for lucidiousness and debauchery and sin and selfishness
and esteem. It's a sin. It's blasphemy. Well,
friends, here's the reality. Anyone who continues in blasphemy
is not purchased of Christ. They're not purchased of God.
For Jesus says the only unpardonable sin is blasphemy. What in the
world does that mean? That means to know the truth
of the gospel with your mind and to seal it out with your
heart and your life. It's unbelief. Blasphemy of the
Holy Spirit is to see the work of God in the gospel, clearly
acknowledging that it is what it is, and rejecting it thereof.
And you just take it, and you do it, and you know it, and even
you pave it out the way you want it, and you paste it on the toast,
and you get your little spatula, and you put icing on it, and
it looks so good, and you say, that's the gospel I believe in.
It's blasphemy. It's taking the truth of God
and it's ascribing it in a different way. It's thwarting it. It's
twisting it. Jude's word says it's perverting
it. And it can come out in how we
teach it, and how we think about it, and most importantly, what
Jude is saying, it's in how we live it. How we live it. We pervert it
by how we live it. And when someone calls us on
it, oh, you know, God's forgiving. He's got me on this. It's okay. It's not okay. It's not okay. Do not be at peace, beloved,
if you think you're okay in your sin. You're not okay. I'm not okay. Make war with it. Hate it. Despise it. And pray
until God helps you hate it and despise it. Sometimes we all think that we
get the idea when I talk to people, I won't say we all think, but
I get the idea sometimes when I talk to people who supposedly
live in the faith and they talk about how awesome it's going
to be to be in heaven and they can just relax and just rest. The rest comes through the peace
of the immutability of God and His creating us anew in glorification. But we are going to be active
in learning and knowing and worshiping Christ forever. Imagine that
eternity is going to be like the longest church service you've
ever been in that never quits. And some people go, oh my goodness. Thankfully, I won't be teaching. But Christ will be teaching. Sometimes we can see the heart
of ourselves when we think boring that which is divine. And we
think divine that which is dead. We need to stand up for the most
holy faith. See about him. Stand up for the
most holy faith. Building and growing and maturing. There's some crucial elements
of knowing what is good and profitable. If we're to grow in our most
holy faith, we need to know what growing looks like. What is profitable? What is good? what is holy. See, the world says, in some
respects, these sort of came to me, and I don't necessarily
want to impose this, but they may be different for you. There
may be some things where you say, well, is this good for me?
Is this good in my life? Is this profitable for my worship
of God? Is this profitable for my fellow
brothers and sisters in the faith? Is it profitable? For example, some people like
to say, well, I do what's called relationship evangelism. And
I sort of get to know people and shake their hands. And two
or three years later, we've been having coffee. And then I start,
when they open a door, I just sort of jump right in there.
But I wait till the door's open. Really? Where's that? Well, I want them to know I love
them so then I can give them what they need. Well, what is
love but giving people what they need? I mean, John says, if we
see our brother in need and we have the world's goods, we close
our heart to him, we are a liar, and the truth is not in him,
we don't love him, we don't have the love of God. So, if what we need to give to
people is the gospel of hope, and we close our hearts because
the time hasn't just sort of opened itself. I'm not talking
about being wise. I'm not talking about being shrewd. I'm not talking about being sensitive
to the Holy Spirit. There is no such thing as relationship
evangelism. When evangelism is as we go about
our daily lives, we share the hope of the gospel. The gospel
is not a presentation, never has been, never will be. Anybody
who says, I'm going to give a gospel presentation, I have lost sight
of what the Bible teaches about anything, anything, anything.
And I know I just put a bunch of people in the toilet. There's
no such thing as a gospel presentation. The gospel presentation is when
Jesus was lifted from the earth on the cross and destroyed and was subject to the wrath
of God the Father. That's the presentation of the gospel. That's
why Paul said, I come and have decided to know nothing but Christ
and Him crucified. That's a gospel presentation.
It's not about what we do, what we say, how we follow. This is
not good for us. As we grow up in our most holy
faith, we are to share our lives as God has given our lives. We
are to share our faith in knowing that it's about teaching people
to obey the Gospel of Jesus, teaching people to obey the Word
of God. And I was taught the prior. You get along with folks,
you're kind with folks, you do this, you do that, and when the
time is right, you hook them like pirates. You know what you need to do
to go to hell? That's really catchy. I love
that track. There's one over there. It's got a bunch of flames
on it. What must you do to go to hell? You open it up, it's
blank. I love it. It's so witty. And it won't lead anybody to
Christ. And I like them. But without
the Word of God, without growing up in our most holy faith, we're
not going to see good and profitable growth in our world. Why do so
many people see so many choices for some kind of Jesus, only
to see a year later for those same people to go out the back
door? Well, if just one comes, if one
comes it's in spite of the garbage, not because of it. I mean, I
can throw a bag of salt out there and there might be a horse stop
to lick it. might. But it wasn't because I put a
salt out there to draw the horse. It happened to be because the
horse was in the sight of the salt. The same thing if the sheep
are in the shot of the gospel. No matter what's added around
it, God will save them. Some people say the world likes
to say, you know, is it profitable? The world says it's profitable
to draw people, to go after seekers. The world says it's profitable
to assimilate people as a into the church, you know, into the
church. How do we assimilate people into
the church if they're not born as the church? Are we growing
up in our most holy faith by thinking that we're drawing the
masses in? Oh, don't get me wrong. Preaching
to a thousand people is exhilarating. Makes you want to throw up. It
feels awesome. Preaching, period, makes you want to throw up. It's
nerve-wracking. It's fear. Fear. Worry. People say, well, the world said,
well, you know, we need to finish fellowship. Let's just hang out.
Let's just hang out. That's what the church should be doing. Is
it? What is fellowship? The word fellowship in the New
Testament is the word koinonia. It means all things in common. What does he say? I was very
eager to write to you about our common salvation. So if our faith
isn't what's gotten us, because I'll be straight with you, there's
very few things, even the stuff that I really enjoy and love
a lot, it gets boring really fast, doesn't it? If it's not
the Word, have you ever stayed up all night talking about cards?
Or a TV show? Or a movie? You may have 30 minutes,
maybe an hour. Have you ever stayed up all night
and go, my gosh, we got to go to bed. The sun's coming up.
We ought to just stay up. Have you ever stayed up all night
talking about a picture that you took? Have you ever stayed
up all night not even knowing you were, not even feeling like
you were tired? Dealing with I don't know, the
house you just remodeled, or the car you just bought, or the
shoes you just got, or the dog that you just trained, or baby
picked. I mean, no, probably not. And if you did, you probably
never did it again. You're like, I've got to be more disciplined
than that. But friends, when the Word of God becomes alive
to His church, all those things just sort of go away. We engage
in such a way that we lose ourselves. Our common faith. Growing in
our faith is about growing in the gospel. It's about growing
in the Word of God. It's really what it is. It's
about growing in the truths of God's Word unto salvation, unto
sanctification, unto glorification. A new buzzword right now that's
going on is, oh, you know what we've got to do in our churches
in order for them to grow, in order for them to be more solid?
We've got to find affinity groups. affinity groups. In other words,
you've got to find somebody that has an affinity with something
that you like to do and then you embark on this relational
evangelism type thing and, you know, a month or a year or ten
years later, I mean, you'll see that person stick around because,
you know, if If every Sunday morning you gather for eggs and
you've got these egg lovers, they'll be there. Every Sunday
morning you get your motorcycles and you ride to church together,
they'll be there. Every Sunday morning you get the kite flyers
and you fly your kites into the church, you'll be there. Every
Sunday morning you get your knitters in there and you knit on the
front row, they'll be there. Every Sunday morning. You know
what happened? I mean, oh yeah, so and so, they're having marriage
problems. You know what she likes to do? She likes to garden. Let's get her in a garden ministry.
That's what she needs. She needs to be around people
and do things she likes to do. That's a lie. Why don't we get in the garden
and lay on our face and weep over the Word of God and cry
for God to heal her heart, to heal her marriage, dig up the
plants and burn them as an offering, if we needed to. We don't need
that anymore, thank God. Fast from what we love. Fast
from our affinities. Sell it all off and get rid of
it so that we can just do something else with our time. See, the Word is teaching us
here. We build ourselves up in our most holy faith. That means, Jude, he says, we
start with the truth of God and we stay with the truth of God.
We don't start with anything else and we don't go to anything
else. We don't come back. We should
never have to come back to the heart of worship if we stay with the Word of God. Because, friends, the music will
fade. The world is fading. Our eyes are fading. I'm going
to have to upgrade this Bible. I cannot see it. That arm will get me a monocle.
Our bodies are fading. Our hopes are fading. Our dreams
are fading. Our lives are fading. What is
not fading? Our most holy faith. We start with the truth of God's
Word and we stay with the truth of God's Word. You want to know
a lazy, wicked servant? A lazy, wicked servant is a preacher
who feeds his church hors d'oeuvres of the most exquisite palate. A lazy, wicked servant is a Christian who gardens with somebody over
guarding that person's life with prayer. A wicked, lazy servant does everything
in their power to maintain their status quo or their life without
failing in their own life for the sake of success in someone
else's. Paul says to young Timothy, guard
the good deposit. and fan into flame the passion
of that deposit. Fan into flame the power of that
deposit by holding fast and preaching the Word and being ready at every
time. I really do hate Mondays. It's terrible. because it's such a draw away
from this moment. Remind us in closing these things. To those who are called, to those
who are beloved in God the Father, and to those who are kept for
Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. What is the truth? What is the
power of building ourselves up? It is the love. Or the mercy
of God, it is the peace of God, and it is the love of God multiplied
to us. And this is our common salvation.
This is the common doctrine. This is our common theology.
This is the faith, once and for all, delivered to the saints.
That God, in His love, in His mercy, in His peace-giving heart,
gave us these things through Christ. And as we build ourselves up
in our most holy faith, the question is, are we really growing in
our faith, or are we wasting our lives? Are we contending
in our own minds and hearts for the Most Holy Faith? How do we do it? We'll look at
it in more detail next week, but look at what he says. We build ourselves up in the
Most Holy Faith. We pray in the Holy Spirit. We keep ourselves in the love
of God and we wait for the mercy of our Lord, which leads to eternal
life, which is hope. So we see that we build up ourselves
with and in the truth of the gospel. That's how we do it. There's no magic pill. There's
no magic counsel. It's the truth of the gospel
found only through His Word. As we're doing that, we are doing
so with full understanding that if it is not God's Holy Spirit
doing it, it's not going to be done. So we pray in the Holy
Spirit. We'll look at that very clearly
next week. We're praying in the Holy Spirit
as we're building ourselves up in our most holy faith. And we're
doing so by staying in God's love. That means not in love
with God, but in the love God has given us. And we rest in the hope of Christ. We rest in the hope of Christ. All that comes from our most
holy faith. All that comes from the clear
teaching of the Word of God. All that comes only, only through
the Word. Which is why it is so fitting
every year to resolve to be in the Word more. But I think our resolution needs
to be every moment, not every year. I think our resolve as
a people that we need to constantly be reminded and reminding ourselves
so that we may remind each other of whose we are and why we're
here. And our responsibility to each
other and our responsibility to the communities in which we
live and our responsibility to our relationship with each other
and for those who are hurting and those who are healed. For
those who are holy and those who are a little bit heathen.
We need to pray that God would give us that kind of resolve.
We need to pray that God would give us not a year, but this
moment, today, right now, for the sake of His name, that we
would live this moment in Him. Let's pray. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us, Lord, for just being so blind so often. Forgive us, Lord, that we fail to even remember things
that we need to remember. We fail to put out the trash
sometimes. Lord, we should not forget those
heavy, weighty, glorious, divine things. But we do. And so as we grow
in our most holy faith, Lord, that you've given us, that you've
gifted us. May we stir each other up to
work and to love and to good deeds which you created beforehand
for us to walk in. Lord, as we grow and build ourselves
up, may we realize that we're doing it for the sake of our
brothers and sisters in the faith. Father, give us the boldness
for those in our lives that we come across to speak the truth
in love, to express what really is good. And that though there is a year
gone and it might have been trying, it was a good year because you
gave it to us. Let us not speak ill of that
which is a gift from you. And let us not waste our suffering because it was hard or burdensome. But let us embrace
it. We endure it. for your namesake,
so that the world may see as we fill up what is lacking in
the suffering of Christ. God, let us look at this day
as our final hour, not looking for grandness and great vision,
but, Father, being content in the place You've placed us, being
obedient in the moment You've gifted us for the sake of doing
and seeing the glorious nature of You, working even in the small
and the mundane and the, what the world would call boring. Father, give us a breath to rise
above the world's ways. and give us the hope to stand
when we go back to the dredge of life. And let us count it all as loss
for you. Lord, plant the gospel in our
hearts every day anew. Plant it in the hearts of those
around us as we share it. how opportunity does come and
we wait. Let us be ready at the moment
when it comes. If a man look at us with craziness,
let it be said that we are out of our minds for Jesus. But at least the Word has gone
forth. Father, hold us and keep us in
your most holy faith, in your most holy love, in your most
holy mercy. Help us and keep us in prayer
with the Holy Spirit as we wait perfectly for that day of hope. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you, Church.