Perserving In Faith

Q: What does the Bible say about persevering in faith?

The Bible teaches that believers must earnestly contend for the faith and continue in it, as warned in the book of Jude. The book of Jude highlights the importance of persevering in faith, urging believers to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. This perseverance is essential given the reality of false teachers and apostasy that the early church faced, which Jude warns his readers about. He emphasizes that true believers, those sanctified by God, are to remain steadfast amidst challenges, false teachings, and the allure of the world.

Q: How do we know perseverance of the saints is true?

Perseverance of the saints is affirmed in Scripture, revealing that those truly called by God will be preserved in their faith by His mercy. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is supported by several biblical passages that affirm God's sovereignty in salvation. Jude speaks of believers as sanctified and preserved in Christ Jesus, indicating that genuine faith is sustained by God's power rather than human effort. This notion is underlined by the assurance that God will keep His people from falling away, which is a crucial aspect of His divine grace and the assurance of salvation throughout the believer's life.

Q: Why is contending for the faith important for Christians?

Contending for the faith safeguards the truth of the gospel and protects against false teachings that can lead believers astray. Jude emphasizes the necessity of contending for the faith as a means of preserving the integrity of the gospel. This struggle is not simply for personal assurance but is vital for the larger body of Christ to maintain doctrinal purity. As false teachers rise and distort the truth, it becomes essential for believers to hold firmly to the gospel and actively defend it against any corruptions. This defense is rooted in the understanding that our faith is not just personal belief but the truth delivered to the saints, which must be protected and propagated.

Q: What does it mean to keep yourselves in the love of God?

To keep yourselves in the love of God means to continually abide in His grace, reflecting His love in your actions and relationships. Jude's exhortation to keep yourselves in the love of God involves maintaining a living relationship with Him through faith and obedience. This means recognizing God's love for us, which compels us to express that love towards Him and others. It also implies avoiding bitterness and dissent among believers, as love is fundamental to unity in the body of Christ. This keeping is active; believers must engage in worship, prayer, and acts of kindness as they foster a heart aligned with God's will, thereby ensuring they remain within the protective embrace of His love.

I appreciate your identification
with me this morning in my trouble and distresses, in my weak voice. I could tell by your singing
that you were identifying with me. You weren't singing as loud
as you usually do. Strange how we are affected by
things like this. speaking softly, and everybody
speaks softly. I remember when I was a boy about 14, 15 years of age, we had a little pick-up basketball
team played at the YMCA. And one day we were over there
practicing and playing basketball and the door opened and in came
five fellas about our age or a little older from the School
of the Deaf. And they motioned that they'd
like to play a game. They couldn't hear and they couldn't
speak. They let us know that they wanted to play us in basketball.
Well, you know how boys scream and yell and pass the ball, and
during a basketball scrimmage game, well, we started out that
way, but after a while, you could have heard a pin drop in there.
Of course, they weren't saying anything, and we quit. We started
signaling with our hands, you know. And we called a timeout and went
over there, and one of the fellas says, why are we whispering? Why aren't we talking? Because
they aren't. And I thought about that, took
me back a long ways, when you all were singing and I could
tell my hoarseness and inability to speak affected you. I hope
it doesn't all the way through the message. Anyway, they beat
us. I know you're wondering. I knew somebody at the service
would ask me, well, did you win or did they win? They skinned
us alive. Maybe we talked too much, you
know, and they played. But I'm going to try to preach
this morning. Brother Bob's going to preach for us tonight. But I wanted to be here this
morning. I'm so reluctant to go through a Lord's Day without
meeting with his people, calling on his name and worshiping him.
I just find it very, very difficult, whatever the circumstances. I
want you to open your Bibles to the book of Jude. My subject is persevering, persevering or continuing in
faith. Now knowing the awesome power
of Satan, who caused Peter and Job such great anguish, and knowing
the deceitfulness of the human heart, at least something of
the deceitfulness of the human heart, the scripture says, the
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Who can really know it? And sadly, knowing of many who have seemingly
turned from the way, the way of God, the way of grace,
the way of truth, and who no longer have an interest in the
gospel of God's grace, knowing those things, the power of Satan,
the deceitfulness of the human And those who like Demas have
left us, having loved this present world. There isn't a serious-minded
believer in here today who's not concerned about this subject,
persevering in Christ, continuing in the faith. Will I continue
in the faith, or will I lose interest one day in this gospel. Will I prove to be a stony ground
hero with no root? I hope not. Will the cares of
this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the blessed gospel
out of my heart and out of my mind? I hope not. Will I forsake
the body of Christ? And I know these thoughts are
not pleasant. This is not pleasant. But I do believe that presumption
is much more deadly. And it's better for me to be
concerned about my spiritual state than to be careless about
it. And one day find that I've missed
the sure mercies of David. Now Jude deals with this subject,
the book of Jude. Just a little epistle. It's called
the General Epistle of Jude because it's written not to any one church
or one individual, but to all believers. And Jude, in these
25 verses, deals with the subject of falling away. Apostasy. So I want us to look at it, try
to go through this book this morning, 25 verses. Now first
he says, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, that's a bond slave. He's not an unwilling servant.
He's not an unwilling disciple. He's a willing, loving bond slave. One who has had his ear bored
to the master's door, and he loves to serve his master, the
only freedom he wants. is the freedom to serve Christ. And he calls himself the brother
of James. He's distinguishing himself from
Judas Iscariot. He's saying, I'm the bond slave
of Jesus Christ, and I'm the brother of James. Now, you read
about James in Galatians 2. I won't turn over there, but
you can read it later. James, who was the pastor in
Jerusalem. James, to which the apostles
went. James, of whom Paul spake in
Galatians 1. I saw none other but James, the
brother of our Lord. So that's who this man Judas
is. Jude, Judas, or Judah, or Jude. He says, I'm the bond slave of
Jesus Christ, and I'm the brother of James. And here's the people
to whom he's writing. He's not writing to those who
have fallen away. He's writing to those who are
believers. He's writing to us. He says,
I'm writing to those who are sanctified by God the Father.
They've been set apart in covenant mercies. They've been chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. They've been loved
with an everlasting love, sanctified, set apart by God the Father. The Father chose them out of
Adam's race and says, these are mine, my sheep, my jewels, my
church, my bride, sanctified by God the Father and preserved,
preserved in Christ Jesus. That is secure in Christ. And
called, called by the Holy Spirit, divinely called, miraculously
called. He called to faith, called to
Christ. That's what he's writing to.
And in verse 2, he wishes for all of them, mercy, God's mercy,
mercy from the Father, and peace. Where is that peace found? Only
in Christ Jesus. Our Lord said, My peace I give
unto you, not as the world giveth. The world can't give peace. My
peace, I wish for you mercy from God, non-justice mercy, and peace
from Christ Jesus. And watch this, and love. May
these graces be multiplied. May the love of God be shed abroad
in your hearts by the Holy Spirit. May all of these graces be multiplied
to you daily. Mercy, peace. That's the kingdom of God. The
kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's not in laws and rules
and ceremonies. It's in mercy and peace and love. Now, Beloved, he then gets to
his subject matter. He says, Beloved, you see to
whom he's writing? He's writing to those who are
believers, and he calls them Beloved. When I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation," that's what we're
talking about, there's one salvation. There's one God who is the Father
of us all, there's one Lord, there's one faith, there's one
baptism, there's one gospel, there's one Savior, there's one
way to God. It's the common faith, it's the
common salvation, it's the common way. I gave all diligence to write
unto you about this common salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I'm
the way, I'm the truth, and I'm the light. No man cometh to the
Father but by me. I preached a message recently
about that great multitude in heaven which no man could number.
And John said there's two things about them all. They washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And they
came through great trouble, trial, and fibrillation. That's the
mark of it. It's a common salvation. There
are no two ways or three ways or four ways to God. There's
one way to God. That's Christ. And it's a common
salvation. Now read on. It was needful for
me to write to you, verse 3, and exhort you, you believers,
that you should earnestly contend For the faith, the faith, which
was once delivered unto the saints, we must earnestly, diligently
contend for and continue in that faith that once for all was delivered
unto the saints, spoken unto us by God's Son. Turn with me
to Hebrews chapter 1. This is what Jude is talking
about here in Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1 verse 1, God, who at
sundry times and in different manners spake in times past to
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
to us by son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom he
made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and
the express image of his person, and upholdeth all things by the
word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of God." That's the faith for which we
contend and in which we continue. Now watch verse 4, "...because
there are certain men I write to you believers sanctified
by God, preserved in Christ, called by the Spirit. I wish
for you mercy, grace, peace, and love. But I wrote to you
of the common salvation and exhort you, contend for the faith once
for all delivered to the saints, continue in the faith, because
unfortunately, sadly, there are certain 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,
our Lord Jesus Christ. You say, when was this written?
It was written during the lifetime of the He was written just a few years
after Christ died on the cross. This has been a problem that
the Church has faced all the way back into the Old Testament.
Let me show you that in the Scriptures. Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2. But there were false prophets
also among the people, among the Israelites. Even as there
shall be false teachers among you, who privately bring in,
they creep in, they creep in, they privately bring in, damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, to bring upon
themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of." Look back at verse 4. Now, this
is all in the will of God. This is all in the purpose of
God. Read that verse 4 carefully again. There are certain men
crept in unawares, unaware to you. unaware to me. Like when the farmer went out
and sowed the wheat, and the enemy, unawares, came that night
and sowed chaff. But not unaware to God. For it
says, these men were before of old, ordained to this condemnation. What does that mean? It means
just this, that Judas, who betrayed our Lord, The disciples didn't
recognize him as being a traitor, but the Lord knew him. He knew
from the beginning who would believe and who wouldn't believe.
When he washed the disciples' feet, he said, now you're clean,
but not all of you. He knew who would betray. And
Judas was called the son of perdition from the beginning. These men
who creep in, this is another trial, this is a test. And these
men who creep in, unaware to us, are not unaware to God. Turn
to the book of John. John, chapter 19. The book of John, chapter 19,
verse 11. Pilate said to our Lord, Don't
you know I have the power to crucify you or release you? And Jesus answered, Thou couldst
have no power at all against me. No man can lift his hand
against the Christ of God or the people of God, except, except
it were given you from above. Peter said to Satan, Christ said
to Peter, Satan had desired thee that he may sift thee as wheat.
He couldn't touch Peter without Christ's permission. Are you
with me? Job, when Satan appeared before
God, when the sons of God appeared and Satan was with them, and
God said, have you considered my servant Job? And Satan said,
well, I tell you the reason he's your servant and the reason he
believes on you is you've hedged him about. You won't let anybody
touch him. You won't let a hand be lifted
against him. And God said, all right, you
put your hand on him. I'll give you permission, but
don't you kill him. That's what our Lord is saying
here, no man could have any power over me or his sons or his body
except it be given him from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee
hath the greater sin. I'll show you another verse,
Romans 9. That's right, these men were of old, ordained to
this treacherous work. and to this condemnation. Romans
9, verse 17, listen. For the Scripture saith to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. You are an instrument
of God's wrath and judgment. You can't touch Israel. without God's permission. Balaam
said that. He said, how can I bless what
God, how can I curse what God has blessed? I can't say a word. Can't say a word. Let me show
you another verse over here in Proverbs. Proverbs chapter, I
believe it's chapter 16. Proverbs, these men were of old. ordained this condemnation, Proverbs
16, 4. Proverbs 16, 4. The Lord has
made all things for himself. The Lord has made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day of evil. And the sin of these false preachers
is twofold. Verse 4, now look at it. It says,
verse 4, there are certain men who come in unawares. They're
hard to recognize. They're wolves in sheep's clothing.
They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. Like Satan, they make
themselves to be angels of mercy. angels of light, preachers of
righteousness. God ordained them. Before of
old, ordained them to this type of work and condemnation. They're ungodly men. And two
things about them. They turn the grace of God into
lasciviousness. What's that mean? They separate
holiness of life from doctrines of grace and mercy. They separate
righteousness from justification. They separate sanctification
from justification. They say a man is saved, doesn't
matter how he lives, of what he does. Turn the grace of God
into lasciviousness. And another thing they do is
they deny the deity and the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. They
deny the effectuality and sufficiency of his blood. Now verse 5, my
friends, he said, I will put you in remembrance of some things
that you already knew. And he gives us, Jude gives us
here, several examples of people who have fallen away into error,
into apostasy, who followed these false teachers. several illustrations. Verse 5, I'll therefore put you
in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord,
having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward
destroyed them that believed not. There's the first example. Israel left Egypt rejoicing and
seemingly happy and praising God, heading for the promised
land. And all of them died out there in the wilderness because
of unbelief. All of them that were over twenty
years of age when they left Egypt. Here's another example, verse
6, and the angels, the angels which kept not their
first estate, These are those angels that followed Lucifer.
When Lucifer says, I'll exalt my throne above the stars of
God. I'll be like God. I'll ascend up on high. I'll
put my throne in the north. And a third of the heavenly hosts
followed his rebellion. They kept not their distinction,
their first estate, their place of honor. They left their habitation. And having left that habitation,
God hath reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness, under
the judgment of that great thing." That's two illustrations. These men creep in. They lead
people astray. They're influenced by their pernicious
ways, and people follow them. The angels followed Lucifer to
condemnation and eternal wrath. Israel lifted their hand against
Moses and followed those who spoke up among the people. Look at verse
7. Even Solomon Gamara, his whole cities, whole cities, and the
cities And the cities about them, in like manner, here are whole
cities who give themselves over to fornication, going after strange
flesh. That's an alternate lifestyle,
strange flesh. Whole cities. This one does it,
that one does it, and another one does it, and they follow
one another. And they do it in the name of religion. I was reading the paper the other
day, and I was a little bit excited by one
of the well-known basketball coaches, Dale Brown, who for
many years has coached Louisiana State University. And he came out in the paper
with a strong statement. He said, What's wrong with our
young people? is the rotten leaders they have
and role models. Drunks, gays, homosexuals, lesbians,
greedy people, covetous people who deny the principles of truth
and decency. And I thought, boy, good for
him. Yesterday's paper, he retracted
it and apologized. He apologized if he offended
anybody. See, these fellows come in. They creep in. They're snakes.
They slide in. They slither in under cover of
darkness. They get among you. They infiltrate
believers. And they use religious talk.
And they can pervert whole cities. whole cities. Oh boy, strange place. Listen,
are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal
fire. America? I'm not going to retract
it, God willing. America is in trouble, trouble,
trouble. Trouble with God. This is contrary
to the truth of God. The way we're living, the way
people are living, the way they're acting, is contrary to decency
and holiness in God. And there's just one thing awaiting
unless somebody stems a tide and stops the flood, and that
is the vengeance of eternal fire. You can't make it right. All
right, here's another example. Also these filthy dreamers, now
he's talking about these false preachers and false prophets,
who pervert the truth, who deny the Lord Jesus Christ, who separate
doctrine from godliness. That's what I'm talking about
here, godliness, decency, natural love. You can't separate that
from grace and faith. If a man's in Christ, he's a
holy person, he's a righteous person, he's a truthful person,
he's a decent person. You can't separate those two
things. And denying the Lord God, our Lord Jesus Christ, denying
the blood, denying the sufficiency of Christ, denying the necessity
of His righteousness and His blood to set us free. And they have a fourfold problem.
given right here in verse 8. One, they're filthy dreamers.
Dreamers. What does that mean? Well, turn
to Jeremiah 23. I'll show you what it means.
Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23. They're filthy dreamers. Now, you listen to me here, old
brother Mews. You say, listen to brother Mews.
Well, you listen to brother Mahan. In Jeremiah 23, verse 28, the
prophet that hath a dream, let him tell his dream. And he that
hath my word, let him preach my word. There's the deal. What is the chap to the wheat,
saith the Lord? Is not my word like a fire, saith
the Lord? Is my word not like a hammer
that breaketh a rock in pieces? Behold, therefore, behold, I
am against these prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words,
every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord. that use their tongues and say,
He saith, God saith, Behold, I am against them that prophesy
false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my
people to err by their lies and by their likeness. I sent them
not, I commanded them not, therefore they shall not profit this people
at all." You watch these television preachers. They don't preach
the Word. They push their dreams. These
people sitting around sharing and discussing, they don't have
Bibles. They're not saying, thus saith the Lord, they're saying,
now here's the way I see it. Here's the way God showed it
to me. Any time you hear any preacher, male or female, say,
God said to me last night, now you go tell the people this,
shut your ears. Because God speaks through His
Word. If a man wants to preach dreams, let him preach dreams.
But here's half my word. These are filthy dreamers. Filthy
dreamers, that's what they are. Read Jude 8 again. They're not
only filthy dreamers, but they defile the flesh. They glory
in the flesh. They exalt the flesh. They live
and walk in the flesh. They get the flesh excited. Emotionalism. Demonstration. People running in their aisles.
People excited. People doing things. People falling
out on the floor. Flesh! It's exalting the flesh. It's despising the flesh. It's
defiling the flesh. It's putting flesh where flesh
is not supposed to be in the worship of the Lord. They that
worship God, worship Him in spirit. In spirit! Not in fleshly, fleshly
commotion. That's right. This thing's going that way.
It's going that way. They keep influencing one another
to do more ridiculous things. God hasn't changed. We haven't
changed. Christ hasn't changed. The gospel
hasn't changed. The need of man hasn't changed.
Salvation hasn't changed, and the worship of God hasn't
changed. It's still in heart and spirit, based on the Word. So they're dreamers. They defile
the flesh. They despise dominion. They despise
authority. That's what dominion means, authority.
They despise God's sovereignty. They despise God's Lordship.
They despise His rule. They despise the dominion and
authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, which interferes with their free
will. His is the only will that's free, not mine. He has all authority in heaven
and earth. He has all power over all flesh. And these filthy dreamers who
exalt and magnify the flesh, despise the authority of the
Lord. Oh, they'll put upside Jesus
as Lord, but they don't mean that. They don't mean that. Because He stands outside your
door and hopes that you'll let Him in. He has a wonderful plan
for your life if you just would let it, give Him a chance. That's
not a Lord, that's not a King. And listen, they speak evil of
dignitaries. They do not hesitate to raise
their opinion above the words of the apostles, above the word
of God, above the word of the prophets, above the word of the
Reformers, above the word of pastors and teachers. Verse 9 is interesting. Watch
this. Yet Michael, now get this, Michael, who's Michael? The archangel.
I only know three angels that are named in the Bible. Lucifer,
son of the morning, who sinned and fell. Gabriel, you associate
Gabriel with his horn, don't you? Michael. Michael. And it says here, Michael
the archangel. What a position. When contending
with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. Where was
that preacher? I don't know, but let's turn
to Deuteronomy 34. This is what I think. I've heard
people say he disputed with Satan over the law God gave Moses. But I don't know about that.
I know that because Moses didn't sanctify the Lord in the eyes
of the people, God wouldn't let him in the promised land. Because
Moses represents the law, he couldn't leave the people in
the promised land. Joshua must do it. But Moses, 160 years old,
40, 40, 40, 120 years old. Moses, 120 years old. God took
him up on a mountain. Deuteronomy 34, verse 5. Verse 4, And the Lord said to
Moses, this is God speaking to Moses on top of that mountain,
This is the land which I swear unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
saying, I'll give it to you. I've caused you to see it with
your eyes, but you shall not go over thither. So Moses, a
servant of the Lord, died right there in the land of Moab, according
to the word of the Lord. And he buried him. Who buried
him? God buried him. But I believe
God gave Michael the job. God is Spirit. And it's a good
thought here that Michael got that job of burying the body
of Moses. And that's when some, for some reason, Satan was going
to interfere with this thing. And he was contending with Michael
over the body of Moses. What Satan wanted to do with
it, how Satan wanted to use it, I don't know. But I do know things
like that become an object of worship, even the body of Moses. Satan has gotten hold of it.
See that? So he buried him in the valley
of the land of Moab over against Beth Peor. But no man north of
his sepulchre to this day, God won't let anybody know where
Moses lies. Because our whole nation kept
saying to Jesus Christ, we got Moses. All right, well, Mike,
now here's the thought. Here's what Judas said. These
false preachers, they're filthy dreamers. They don't preach the
Word, they preach their dreams. They exalt and magnify the flesh,
defiling it thereby. They despise God's authority,
Lordship. and they speak evil of dignitaries.
Yet Michael, when he was contending with Satan over the body of Moses,
would not bring a railing accusation against Satan. But rather he said, Satan, the
Lord rebuked thee. had such understanding of power
and authority that he wouldn't tackle Lucifer himself. He left
him alone in the hands of God and said, Satan, the Lord rebuked
thee. Preachers who know something
about authority, about spiritual power, about God in his mighty
and great do not take upon themselves to claim to have any power over
Satan or demons. God has the power. Christ has
the power. I don't. And that's what a true
servant of God will do. He's not going to exhort you
to get in the ring and do battle with Satan. He's going to say,
you stay out of the ring, and you say, Satan, the Lord rebuked
thee. The Lord rebukes him. This thing is too much and too
great and completely out of our sphere. Listen, but these, verse 10,
these fellows speak evil of those things which they know not. They
don't know anything about the kingdom of God, the power of
God. But what they do know naturally
is brute beasts, even in these things they corrupt themselves.
Even when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. You see that? These men are filthy
dreamers. They defile the flesh. They despise
authority. They speak evil of dignitaries.
Men whom God has used, men whom God does use, men of experience,
it matters not to them. And they talk about things and
speak evil of those things they don't know anything about. They
don't know anything about God's grace in Christ, God's elective
grace, Christ's particular redemption, and yet the youngest of them
doesn't mind speaking evil against Him. I preached one time in a church
right here in this town, and I preached on the effectual work
of Christ on the cross. And the next time the pastor
got in the pulpit, he said what that man preached. He said, if
Christ died only for the elect, he's no savior of mine. That's
speaking evil of something you don't know anything about. But the things they do know about.
Brute beast. The heavens declare the glory
of God, but they won't recognize it. God is seen in the things
which God has made, but they don't recognize it. The food
we eat, the water we drink is all by the grace and goodness
of God, but they don't recognize it. They worship the creature
rather than the Creator in the things they're supposed to know.
They don't know anything. And those very things corrupt
them. What a warning! Listen, let's
go on. Woe to them! Here's a threefold problem, verse
11. They've gone the way of Cain.
What's the way of Cain? What did two boys bring? Abel
brought what? A lamb. Shed its blood for the
remission of sins. Cain rejected the way of blood,
the way of the cross, the way of substitution, the way of a
sacrifice, and brought his works. That's the way of Cain. And that's
the way they've gone. The way of Cain. Works, not blood. Works, not grace. My righteousness,
not his. All right, we know. They ran
greedily after the heir of Balaam. What was the heir of Balaam?
Balaam was a prophet. Balaam was a prophet. Balaam
was a man who was recognized as the spokesman for God. But
Balaam sold out for cash. Balaam trimmed his message for
gain. He got paid off by the enemies
of God. Paid off. Watch these preachers.
Watch them. Vault hucksters. Paid off. Sold out. Just like
Esau sold their birthright. for a handful of gold. What's
your third thing? And they perished in the gainsayings
of Korah. What did Korah do? He rebelled
against the proven servant of God, Moses. Now listen. He said, Moses. Korah said, Moses,
you're not the only fellow. All of God's people are preachers.
We don't have to listen to you. We've all got a connection with
God. We don't have to follow you,
what you've got to say. One fellow over in England recently
wrote Bill Clark a letter and he said, the day of preaching
is over. The day when men stand in the
pulpit and preach with authority and power is over. We're now in the days of sharing and
input. All the people of God have a
right to put in what they think. So when we come together, let's
not preach to people, let's share. Korah. Korah. And you know what God did to
Korah? Moses told him, he said, Korah, you get all your fellows
and come here at a certain time. And I'll come, Aaron, I'll come.
And we'll see what God's going to do about this. And God opened
the ground. and swallowed them up. I know
God speaks to all His people. I know all of His people have
the right of private judgment. But my friends, God still, there's
still a man sent from God whose name is John. There's still a
man sent from God whose name is Paul. There's still a man
sent from God whose name is Tom, whose name is John, whose name
is Ron, whose name is Bob. There's still a man sent from
God who's a preacher. a leader, an elder to be listened
to. That's right. Still a man sent
from God, named Cecil, Henry. God still has his spokesman,
his preachers. Well, he tells us, I've got to
quit. He tells us, these are spots in your feast
of love. When they feast with you, they
feed themselves without fear. Clouds there are without water,
carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth without
fruit, frost dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of
the seas, foaming out their own shame, shooting stars, to whom
is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch,
also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these men, saying, Behold,
the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment
upon all, to convince all that are ungodly among them of all
their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of
all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against
him. And these are murmurers, they're
complainers, they walk after their own lust, their mouths
speak great swelling words. Having men's persons in admiration
because of advantage, sold out. hold out. But beloved, remember
ye the words which were spoken before the apostles of our Lord
Jesus Christ, how that they told you that there would be false
preachers and mockers and hucksters in the last time, who would walk
after their own gun-godly lusts. And these be those who separate
themselves, sensual, who have not the Holy Spirit. Now then,
verse 20, I've got to give you this before I close. Verse 20,
Jude gives us a five-fold defense against error. Will you listen
to me just for a moment or two more? He gives us a five-fold
defense, a defense. You don't want to go this way,
I don't either. You don't want to fall away, I don't either.
You don't want to go into apostasy? I don't either. You don't want
to be misled and deceived by false preachers? I don't want
to either. Alright, here's your defense.
The first line of defense. Beloved, build up yourselves
on your most holy faith. What does that mean? It means
this. It means for you to get into
the Word of God and study His Word. Study His Word. This is the first line of defense
against false preachers and religious hucksters. These men prey on
the ignorant. They prey on the weak. They prey
on the untaught. People who do not know the Word.
Study to show yourself approved unto God, the workman that needeth
not be ashamed. Right in the dividing the Word
of truth. Get into the Scriptures. Arm yourself with the truth of
God. You'll be able to answer these people. Study his Word. That's your first line of defense. Secondly, verse 20, praying in
the Holy Ghost. The second line of defense is
personal devotion. Personal devotion in prayer.
John Bunyan said this, a spiritual man can no more live without
prayer than a natural man can live without breathing. Study God's Word and spend time
in the closet. Spend time in devotion. Spend
time in meditation. Spend time in prayer. Spend time
with just you and the Lord. That's right. Nothing will take
the place of that. Maintain a close fellowship with
God in prayer and no false prophet can move you. Ask and it shall
be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened to you. These are our lines of defense,
study, being taught, and then praying, God help me, God help
me, keep me from the evil one. That's what he prayed, our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread. and forgive us our sins as we
forgive those who sin against us, and keep us from evil." What? The evil one. That's what he
said, keep me from evil. Pray. Here's the third line of
defense. Keep yourselves in the love of
God. Verse 21, keep yourselves in
the love of God. Now abideth faith, hope, and
love. These three, but the greatest of these is love. The whole law
is fulfilled in this word. I should love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself. Jude tells me to keep myself
in this love as a defense against apostasy. His love for me and
Christ, my love for him, and my love for his people. By this
shall all men know you are my disciple if you love one another. Avoid a bitter spirit. Do what you can to keep from
having a grudging, hateful spirit. Keep yourself in the love of
God, in the grace of God, in the kindness and affection of
God. Be ye kind one to another. You
see, it's like, I've heard people say that We
catch these colds and germs because we're in a weakened condition.
We burn the candle at both ends and we lose our resistance and
we become weakened. And then we're susceptible to
whatever comes along. Well, this is what he's saying
here. You keep yourself strong in the love of God. Recognizing
He loved you, you didn't love Him, He loved you, His mercy
towards you, His grace towards you. Keep yourself in love with
Him and in love with each other. Because if you get out of that
love and get a hardened spirit and a spiteful spirit, and an
unkind spirit, you're just leaving yourself open for a big shot
from Him who can shoot. That's right. Keep yourself in
the love of God. Fourthly, fourthly, looking for
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Here we are,
old folks. Here we are. Now, I'm old. You are too, some of you. But
we're right where we came in. We're looking for the mercy of
God in Christ Jesus. That's where I started and that's
where I am now. That's where I'm going to finish. Looking
for mercy. Looking for mercy. I'm not looking
to my will. I know my will. I'm not looking
to my works. I don't have any. I'm not looking
to my righteousness. They're filthy rags. I'm looking
to Christ. Not for justice. Not for reward. For mercy. And I mean his past mercies,
covenant grace, his present mercies, interceding power, his future
mercies. He's going to raise my body and
make it like his. That's right. Now then, look at verse 22 a
moment. And of some have compassion making
a difference, and others, save with fear, pulling them out of
the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. What do
those two verses mean? All right, listen. There are
some who have gone astray. There are some to whom these
false preachers have come, and in their ignorance and in their
weakness, untaught, as influenced, drawn away, drawn away. Led away by false teachers. Some
of them may be helped. That's what he says here. Of
some have compassion. Not the teachers. You're not
going to help them. These preachers are sold out.
But these people whom they influence, there's some you might help.
Some you might help. Some may be taught. Some may
be instructed. Some may be brought back. Some
may be pulled out of the fire. What fire is that? That's the
fire of soul-destroying doctrine. and sinful practices. Pray for
them. Help them. Witness to them. And pull them out of that fire
by God's grace. Maybe, maybe. Because a man's
gone doesn't mean he's gone. Not yet. Because he's fallen
away, it may be of some you can make a difference. They might
be brought back to God. Might be. But when you're pulling
them out, listen, when you're helping them, you hate even the
garments spotted by the flesh. You love them, but you hate their
conduct. Don't you compromise with them.
You don't want to help them that way. You hate their error as
you would a filthy garment. You see an old dirty rag of a
coat laying there, someone says, try that on. No thank you. No
thank you. Don't try that on. And that's
the way these folks that have slid away and fallen away and
departed from where they know they ought to be. Some of you
might help. Pray for them. Help them. Be affectionate. Call them back. But you let them
know that where they are and what they're wearing is not it. Christ's righteousness is the
beautiful robe. And they need to take that off.
That's right. You've got to take it off. Take it off. Now here's the closing
comment. Here's where it all lies. Now
unto Him that's able to keep you from falling. You study all
you want to, and play all you want to, and seek the love of
God all you want to, but I'm telling you who's going to keep
us, and that's Him. Right jail, He's going to keep us. Down to
Him that's able to keep you from falling and to present you flawless
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. all right mike come lead us in
that that's all

Perserving In Faith

What does the Bible say about persevering in faith?

How do we know perseverance of the saints is true?

Why is contending for the faith important for Christians?

What does it mean to keep yourselves in the love of God?

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Perserving In Faith

What does the Bible say about persevering in faith?

How do we know perseverance of the saints is true?

Why is contending for the faith important for Christians?

What does it mean to keep yourselves in the love of God?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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