To Keep You from Falling

Now let's turn back to the book
of Jude, if you will. I think the message tonight will
be perhaps of great benefit to you
and to me. I think I will kindle some interest
in my introduction by beginning in this way. There is not a serious-minded
believer in this building who has not been deeply concerned
and troubled and, yea, even in doubt about his perseverance
in Christ. Now, note how I worded that.
I didn't say there is not a person in the building who has not entertained
some doubts about his interest in Christ, because there are
a lot of people who say they never had fears and never had
doubts and never had difficulties in regard to their relationship
with Christ or their hope for eternity. But the way I worded
that was this way. There is not a serious-minded
believer. That's what I said. who has not asked himself, will
I continue in the faith or will I lose interest in Christ? Who has not asked himself, am
I a stony ground hero who has no root, and when the sun of
persecution arises, will I wilt like so many thousands have wilted
before me? Is the seed which has been sown
in my heart sown among the thorns, and when the cares and riches
and attractions of this world and vanities of this life begin to press sore upon me,
will I, like these thorny ground heroes, finally depart from Christ? I've seen so many young people
boys and girls with great enthusiasm for Christ. Oh, they believe
the gospel and love the pastor and love the church and always
there, but then they get about 18 years of age And the girls, some boy will
come along, you know, and show a little interest in them, and
they run off with them. That's the last you see of them
in church. But some boy will start running with another crowd,
and he quits coming. I've seen men and women and young
people interested in the gospel, faithful, loyal, seem to be growing
in grace, seem to have some real interest in Christ. They're offered
a job in another town paying more money, so they get on the
train and head out, and that's the last you see of them. I've
seen others show a lot of interest in Christ, and I've seen the
riches of this world expose themselves to them, and
they lose interest in the Lord Jesus and his word. And so I say there's not a serious-minded
believer here, this preacher included, who has not asked himself
this question, will I continue in the faith? Will I persevere? Will I come to the end of the
journey and say with Paul, I've kept the faith? I've finished
my course. There's laid up for me a crown
of righteousness. I don't care what the difficulty
is. I don't care how severe the trial. I don't care how difficult the
way. You depart from Christ, you never
knew him. That's so. There should be nothing,
nothing, nothing. I don't care how glamorous it
is or how difficult it is. There should be nothing take
the place of Christ in a believer's life. Nothing. Nothing. Will I be a stony ground hearer?
Time will tell. Because he said, these stony
ground hearers with joy received the word and sprang up quickly.
They manifested unusual growth, unusual growth, unusual strength. But they had no root. And therefore
when the sun came out, when the sun came out, whatever that sun
is, maybe trial, maybe persecution, it may be vanities, it may be
some person, it may be anything that wasn't there before in its
full power, in its full attraction. But when it comes out, it withers
that plant. It shows that the plant really
never had any connection with the source of nourishment. Its
roots didn't reach down into Christ. It got its nourishment
from other things, emotion, excitement, all of these other things. But
it never did, that root never did reach the source of life. Or that sun couldn't have wilted
it. No way. The sun could not have wilted
it. If that root had reached to Christ, if that root had gotten
its life and source and nourishment from Christ, there's no trial,
there's no son, there's no Satan, there's no demon, there's no
power anywhere that can wither it, because its life is not in
itself, its life is in Christ. Doubts and fears are not pleasant,
but presumption is more deadly. If I had my way personally, I'd
rather live with doubts than with presumption. I had much
rather live with concern about my spiritual state than carelessness
which springs from easy believism. I'd rather, really, if I had
to choose between the two, I'd much rather be concerned about
my relationship with Christ than to be in presumption and in a
false refuge with a lot of assurance and confidence. I'd rather have
concern and walk with Christ than overconfidence and not know
Christ. And I believe the subject that
Jude is dealing with here is the subject of falling away.
It is the subject of apostasy. That's what he's dealing with,
and he deals with it most effectively. So if you're interested now in
this subject tonight, as I am, I hope you'll listen to me while
I make some comments. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. He calls himself the bond-slave
of Jesus Christ, just like Paul, and the brother of James. Now,
we're not going to spend time talking about the author of this
epistle. It was the Apostle Jude, most people believe, but that's
not the important thing. He's writing to those who are
sanctified by God the Father, that is, set apart, chosen by
God the Father. He is writing to those who are
preserved or secure in Christ Jesus. He is writing to those
who are called by the Holy Spirit. Now, he identifies the people
to whom he is writing. He is writing to people who have
been made the objects of the Father's grace and love, sanctified
by God the Father. That means set apart, just like
the Sabbath day, the tabernacle, the firstborn, the priesthood,
all of these things. God the Father took something
common, commonplace and ordinary, and he took it apart. He says,
this is mine. This is mine. Sanctified by God
the Father. That's who I'm writing to. I'm not writing, he says,
to professors of religion. I'm not writing to church members
in general. I'm writing to people who have
been sanctified in eternity past by God the Father, who have been
preserved and kept and secured and redeemed in Christ Jesus
and who have been called, divinely called, effectually called by
the Holy Spirit. And he says, my wish, and more
than a wish, it's a prayer, it's a continual prayer, I pray for
you mercy, mercy unto you, mercy from God the Father, peace in
the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore being justified by faith we have
peace with God. peace and love, the love that
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit." He said, that's
what I desire for you. Who are sanctified by the Father,
may you have the Father's mercies. Who are redeemed by the Son,
may you have the peace that comes from the Prince of Peace. And
who are called by the Holy Spirit, may these blessings be multiplied
to you. The love of God shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit, may they be multiplied to you
day by day. And then verse 3 and 4 he gets
to the subject matter. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation. Why does he call it
the common salvation? Because there's only one common
to all believers of all ages, of all dispensations. Turn to
Titus 1.4. Here's a reference over here
to the same thing. Titus 1.4. to Titus, my own son, after the
common faith. There is but one salvation. There
is but one way of salvation. There is but one author of redemption,
and that's Christ. Old and New Testaments. People
under the law, people under the ceremonial law, people under
the ministry of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Malachi, Matthew,
Paul, are redeemed by Christ alone. Them by looking to Christ,
us, his coming, and us looking back to Christ and what he did. But all men are redeemed one
way, the common salvation. And he said it was needful for
me to write to you. It's necessary for me to write
to you. Verse 4, there are certain men who've crept in undetected,
unawares, undetected. And they've come in with a two-fold
error. a two-fold error. Verse 4, their
ungodly men, God knows about them, they were before ordained
to this condemnation, but they have a two-fold error, turning
the grace of our God into lasciviousness, that is, they separate holiness
of life from orthodoxy of belief, and vice versa. Holiness of life from orthodoxy
of belief. They separate the two. That's
error. It doesn't matter whether you
hold to the orthodoxy apart from the holiness or the holiness
apart from the orthodoxy, you've separated them. And the other
error is denying the deity and sufficiency of Christ Jesus our
Lord. They deny the only Lord God and
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the twofold error of these
evil men who've crept in. They've separated holiness and
orthodoxy, holiness of life and orthodoxy, of belief or faith,
and they deny the deity and sufficiency of Christ. And back in verse
3, he said, that's why it's necessary and needful for me to write to
you, because I want you to do two things. I want you to earnestly,
earnestly, diligently contend for this faith. I want you to
contend for this faith. He says that, which was once
delivered, the word there is once for all delivered. once
for all delivered. This faith, once for all delivered. I want you to contend for it
and I want you to continue in it. That's a two-fold charge
to the believer, to contend for this faith once for all. Why
does he say once for all? Well, salvation is not a growth.
Sanctification is a growth. Salvation is not a growth. It's
not an evolution. It's not a process. Salvation
is finished. It's in Christ, it's complete.
Of course we have been saved, we're being saved, we shall be.
All of it shall be given to us, but what the one who secured
it and provided it, his work is finished, he said so. Salvation
is not a process, sanctification is. I'm not more saved today
than I was yesterday, I hope I'm more sanctified. I hope I'm
more like Christ. this year than it was ten years
ago, but I'm not more saved, Cecil, than I was when God first
revealed Christ to me. Salvation is not an evolution.
Salvation is not a growth. Salvation is not a process. This salvation was once for all. This faith was once for all delivered
to theâ€”it's the same. It's the same Moses wrote of
me, Christ said. He saw my day, Abraham did, and
he was glad. No progressiveness in salvation.
We are redeemed. It's finished. Now, we are sanctified
daily, but these men have crept in, and I want you to contend
for this faith, this faith once for all delivered to the saints.
This salvation, it can't be improved on. It can't be added unto. There's
nothing new in the way of redemption, modern theology, liberalism,
or anything else. The same gospel that the Apostle
Paul preached is my gospel. Same gospel. We can't improve
on anything that Paul had to say. So you contend for it, and
what we're interested in tonight is continuing it. Now, verse
5. He then sets before us several
examples of people who didn't. He sets before us several examples
of God's divine wrath and judgment falling upon people who departed
from the living God, who went into error and apostasy. He said
in verse 5, I will therefore put you in remembrance. I charge you to earnestly contend
for this great faith. I charge you to continue in this
faith. And I'll put you in remembrance,
first of all, you once knew this, verse 5, how that the Lord having
delivered the people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed
them in the wilderness. The Israelites who were delivered
out of Egypt were later destroyed because of their unbelief. They
could not enter in because of unbelief. I don't want to walk down the
aisle and shake the preacher's hand and say I believe the gospel
and sit down in the pew and listen to the preacher and go to church
on Sunday and give my little offering and rejoice over the
missionaries and rejoice over salvation by grace and then one
day when I get 50, 55, 60 years old find out that there's no
interest there. I'm really basically and for
all practical purposes an infidel. The fire is not there. The joy
is not there. The faith is not there. The love
is not there. Well, don't you go looking back
yonder at that experience you had. It's not worth a pinch of
snow. Don't you go looking back there like so many people I visit
in their homes and listen to their bunch of junk they try
to tell me. I used to do this. I used to do that. It would have
been better for you if you'd have never done it. The people
who left Egypt and didn't enter Canaan, it would have been better
for them if they'd never left Egypt. It would have been better for
them if they had never walked out the gates of Egypt, as to
make some kind of effort to get to a promised land and then wouldn't
enter it because of unbelief. And that's what I say to any
of you. If you don't plan to continue in the faith of Jesus
Christ, it would have been better for you if you had never heard
of it. It would have been better if you had never heard of it,
for that's crucifying the Son of God afresh. That's putting
him to open shame. And he says, I'll remind you
of this, I'll put you in remembrance, you used to know it. But there's
a bunch of folks walked out of Egypt and started towards Canaan
and they died in the wilderness. And then he says, verse 6, and
the angels, I'll take it even higher than that, the angels
which kept not their first estate, that's Lucifer and that whole
gang that followed him in rebellion back before God made Adam. They
had a high position. They had a high estate and a
great habitation. Pride entered their hearts, sin
entered their hearts, and they didn't keep that position, that
honor, that power, that right, and they fell beyond mercy. They
fell beyond help. They fell beyond hope. Christ
took not on himself the nature of angels. They are reserved
in blackness, waiting God's wrath. Oh, I'll tell you, I'd hate to
be one of those angels. I'd just soon be one of them
as being some folks today that tasted the Word of God, dabbled
with it a little bit, played church a little while, and then
turned back to the hog waller and the darkness of indifference.
I'd just soon be one of those angels, because I think that
you've got about as much hope as they have, and I think they've
got about as much as you have, who turn away. I do. Solomon Gamara, verse 7, he said,
whole cities have been destroyed by God because of their perversion
of God's order. Whole cities. Whole cities. Verse 8, likewise these, he goes
back now talking about these certain men, verse 4, who crept
in. They've come in. They've crept in unaware. These
men have a threefold error. They defile the flesh. This is
their methods. Their teaching is they separate
wholeness of life and orthodoxy of belief. They deny the deity
and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's their threefold
error of methods and motivation and that which carries them on. This is their ministry. It's
threefold here. First of all, look at it now and think about
this. They defile the flesh. You know what that means? That
means they glory in the flesh. He's not just talking about an
act of fornication or homosexuality or something like Sodom. He's
saying they defile the flesh, that is, they honor the flesh,
they glory in the flesh, they take pride in the flesh. They
make flesh the important thing. And I'm saying this, I'm bringing
this charge. I'm saying in most modern religion,
now you listen to me, what is the most important thing in most
modern religious movements? The flesh. The healing of the flesh, the
pampering of the flesh, the counting of the flesh. the appearance
of the flesh, the entertainment of the flesh, and the luxury
of the flesh, and the satisfaction of the flesh, and the peace of
the flesh. That's what he's talking about.
And when you do this, when you take your eyes off the spirit,
you see this body, this body is just the habitation, the dwelling
place of my spirit. Our Lord says, don't worry about
them that kill the body, and after that have no more they
can do. That's not the concern. My body is not my primary concern. And when it is my primary concern,
I'm defiling the very purpose for the existence of my body. That's what the rich young ruler
said. He said, soul, take thine ease. Eat, drink, and be merry.
What does the soul care about eating and drinking? That's defiling
the flesh. That's giving the flesh a place,
a position, that it does not deserve. The important thing
here tonight is not the condition of a body, it's the condition
of a soul. The important thing here tonight is not how do I
feel physically, how do I feel spiritually? What's my relationship
with God? But religion today, this health
and wealth religion, God wants to prosper you, God wants to
bless you, God wants to heal you, God wants to this, that
and the other. They are defiling the flesh. Nothing but a defilement of it.
It's an exaltation of it. It's a glowing in it. It's an
honoring of it. It's glowing in appearance and
not in heart. That's what they do. Secondly,
they despise authority. You'll never find a one of these
preachers who doesn't hate God's sovereignty. Not one of them,
every one of them. Every divine healer, I guarantee
you, every person that counts numbers and glories in the flesh,
and brags about all the things of the flesh, things that they're
doing, hate God's sovereignty. I promise you that. Now you check
up and see if that's not right. They hate the kingship and sovereignty
and rule and divine authority of the Lord Jesus Christ because
it interferes with man's free will. Every person who magnifies
and exalts the flesh will be a preacher of free will. every
one of them. They defile the flesh, they despise
authority, and they speak evil of dignities. They speak evil of those things
which they do not understand, which they do not know. Let me
give you an example. Is this not a mark of modern
religion? You go to a church and you preach what the scripture
says about God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty. God's right
to do with his own what he will. His sovereignty in creation,
in providence, in salvation, in judgment, in all things. And
most people there will not quietly go out and get their Bibles and
begin to search, but they'll get angry and they'll say nasty
things. That's right, they say, your
God's my devil. God, that wouldn't be right, that's unjust, that's
unfair. They're speaking evil of things they don't understand.
The Trinity, the sovereignty of God, Christ affects your work.
Instead of a man getting, instead of a man saying, well now you've
given me something to think about. I've got to get off alone and
find the will of God. I've got to ask God to teach
me what I've heard. No sir, he gets angry and he
begins to say some very harsh things, some evil things about
things he doesn't understand. Things he knows nothing about.
God's elective grace, Christ's effectual work, the new birth.
They don't hesitate. to ridicule it and say evil things
against it. I preached one time to people in the congregation tonight
who were there. I held a meeting one time here
in Ashland years ago, and I preached a message on the effectual work
of Christ. I thought I preached from the
Scripture how that Christ did not die in vain, but he redeemed all for whom
he suffered. And I believe God's word teaches
that. But after I left, the pastor got up and said, well, I'll tell
you this, if Jesus Christ died only for the elect, he's no savior
of mine. That's pretty harsh. That's pretty
harsh. He's my hope and my savior, whoever
he died for. You see, speak evil, evil. That's
evil. That's speaking harshly and evil
and quickly of things you don't understand. But these are the
traits of these men who crept in, these men who departed from
the faith. They defile the flesh because they put the emphasis
on the flesh. They defile the flesh because
they give honor and glory to the flesh. They cater to the
flesh. They glory in the appearance of the flesh. And they hate dominion.
They hate authority. They will not bow. We will someday,
we'll bow, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that
he's Lord. Immutable, indisputable, absolute monarch, Lord and master. doing what he will, when he will,
with whom he will, whether we'll bow someday. But these filthy
dreamers, they hate dominion. They hate authority. It interferes
with man's free will. And then they're quick, oh, how
quick they are to condemn that which they don't understand.
My friends, be careful, be very careful in reference to the Word
of God. I've got a little article Sunday
in the Bulletin on misplaced humor, misplaced humor. I like humor. I like happiness. A mere heart doeth good like
medicine, but this is not the place for humor. It's not the
place to make light of anything that's holy or sacred. We're
to be sober-minded, where God and righteousness and truth and
life and salvation and church and preaching and the ministry
and these things. Don't joke about those things. Hell's too
close. That's right. Death's too close.
Judgment's too close. Don't joke about these things.
Joke about anything else, all right, but don't joke about this.
And this is something else. Don't speak too hastily about
this book. It could be that we don't know
as much as we think we know. And this is one of the marks
of an evil generation. This is one of the marks of an
untaught man. This is one of the marks of a
deceitful person. A man who puts too much emphasis
on this flesh. They cater to people because
they can get an advantage. And they're interested in bodies
and numbers. I don't know. I tell you, I don't know, but
what this counting of people is a greater sin than we think
it is. And turn in these reports. How many did you have last Sunday? It doesn't really matter how
many we had if God wasn't here. And if he is here, who cares?
That's all we're looking for. He'd just be with us. I'll preach
to ten if God be there. I'd rather preach to ten with
God's presence there than ten thousand without God. I don't
know, but the flesh, look at verse 11, he says, here's where
they are, they've gone the way of Cain. What was the way of
Cain? He rejected substitution. He
rejected the blood. He rejected the lamb. That's
right, that's the way of Cain. He bragged on the flesh. We're
just so glad to have you, brother, how we need you. Wish you'd join
up with us. I despise these preachers. They
go around proselyting, pass out a visitor's card. Somebody comes
to church, hand them a visitor's card, and the pastor's sitting
on the front porch Monday morning. We'd sure like to have you. We
need one more tither. You don't mean a thing to him.
You're nothing but a number. He's a huckster. He wants your
presence, your body, your money. That's all. God ought to send
him to hell. I think he will someday. They've
gone to where Cain. They've rejected substitution
and sacrifice. He said they've gone to the era
of Balaam. They're in the era of Balaam. What was the era of
Balaam? Gain and personal reward. That's what Balaam wanted. Pay
me and I'll preach whatever you say. I don't care," he said,
just paid me. I'll preach whatever you want
to hear. And they followed the way of Corey. What was the way
of Corey? He said, we're not going to follow Moses, I'll tell
you that. God's got more men than Moses. God speaks to everybody. Everybody's a child of God. God,
I got as much right to say what goes on as Moses has. God said,
all right, we'll just open the earth and let you fall down into
hell and talk all you want to. And that's what he did, wasn't
it? He split the earth and down he went with his whole following.
Yeah, the Lord's got some authority. The Lord's got some appointed
leadership. He has. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. And you heard John or you didn't
hear nobody. That's right. You heard John. God's got his
men in places of leadership. But these fellows, they're not
interested in listening to God's man. They've rejected substitution. They've preached for reward.
And they've battled against authority. And then we've got to skip down
here to verse 17. Our time is running out. But
he said, Beloved, I want you to remember the words which were
spoken before the apostles of our Lord Jesus. They told you,
they told you, that in the last days there'd be mockers who'd
walk after their own ungodly lusts. They're not interested
in God's glory, they're interested in their own ungodly lusts. Their lusts for power, their
lusts for praise, their lusts for money, their lusts for possessions,
their lusts for glory, their lusts for popularity. They follow their own, and they
separate from, these be they who separate themselves, they're
sensual. Fleshly, that's their concern. The word sensual there is not
a sexual word as most people think. That's a sensual, that's
fleshly. That's their interest, the fleshly,
having not the spirit. But now verse 20, I want to show
you this right here, four things. Here's a fourfold defense against
falling away. Now, this ought to be written
down, these few remarks I'm going to make. I've got it right here
in front of you, but let me give you a couple of things here that
you might write down. Here's a four-fold defense against
this very thing which Jude's talking about. Number one, you,
beloved, build up yourselves on your most holy faith. Build
up yourselves. Now this is the first line of
defense against false prophets and false teachers and religious
hucksters. You know who they prey on? Do you know who they
prey on? The ignorant. That's who they
pray on. They pray on the unstable, the
untaught, the ignorant, the weak in spirit. And if you don't,
now listen to me, if you don't avail yourself of Bible study,
if you don't avail yourself of preaching, if you don't avail
yourself of fellowship with God's people, it's open season on you
from the devil and his whole outfit. Because that's who they
pray on. That's the weak. They don't pray
on the strong. They don't prey on the man who's
built up. They don't prey on the man from whom they'll receive
a jab in return. They prey on the untaught, the
unlearned, the ignorant, and the weak. That's right. That's
who they descend on. Let me show you that. Colossians
2. Turn over there a minute. Colossians 2. That's the reason
you need to build yourself up. I tell you this, Colossians 2
verse 6 through 9, some of these young men in church here are
weightlifters. I don't know whether I'd mess with one of them or
not. I tell you, he's just liable to pop me in the nose. If I'm
going to mess with somebody, it's not going to be one of those
fellows. They're built up. They're built up strength and
stamina. They're built up. But now, you
watch a bully, who's he going to work on? That little frail
runt. That little fellow that can't defend himself. That's
the way these hucksters do it. They don't come around and knock
on the door of the man they know knows the Word of God. They don't
want to get in a conflict with him. Look at Colossians 2, 6.
As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in
him, rooted and built up. established in the faith, as
you've been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving, beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and deceit, vain deceit,
after the traditions of men and the elements or rudiments of
the world, and not after Christ." A way to protect yourself, build
yourself up. Build yourself up. Look at Ephesians 4, one other
scripture here. Ephesians 4, verse 11 through
15. Listen to this. He gave some
apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. Verse 12 of
Ephesians 4, for the perfecting of the saints, the work of the
ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come
in the unity of faith, knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect
man, that's a mature man, to the measure, the stature, the
fulness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to
and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the
slight of men in cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
You don't do that to grown men, you do that to children, weaklings. That's right. Our building is not going to
be stronger than our foundation. Our foundation is Christ. We'll
be shaped by Christ, we'll be strengthened by Christ, and we'll
be secure in Christ. But we've got to build ourselves
up on this foundation. And this is the way you build.
I take advantage, I tell you, every time anybody around here
opens this book who's got any sense and any leadership and
any inspiration, I'd be there to listen to him. I'd be there
to listen to him. Strengthen my faith. Build myself
up. All right, here's the second
thing. He says, build yourself up. And when you can't come,
get you a tape and listen to it. Listen to it. But don't go
weeks and days without hearing God's Word. When you don't drink
water and eat food, your body's susceptible to every germ out
here. You're emaciated and malnutritioned, and you just don't have the strength
to fight off these Enemies and that's the way we must build
up our spiritual strength praying in the Holy Ghost Here's a second
line of defense against apostasy prayer personal devotion Now
we're on something important here what a neglected area and
we suffer because of it Don't don't let me do you praying for
you? Don't do that. You're the one who will suffer.
John Bunyan said, The spiritual man can no more live without
prayer than the natural man can live without breath. Our Lord departed to the mountain
to pray. The disciples cried, Lord, teach
us to pray. Paul begged people to pray for
him. He exhorted people to pray without ceasing. The more I see
of God's holiness, the more I understand of my sin, the more I see of
human apostasy, the more I feel my insufficiency, the more I
have to pray. Don't you? Pray. Don't be without prayer. I have more faith in prayer than
I do arguments. I have more faith in prayer than
I do counsel. I have more faith in prayer than
I do in committees. I do. And like I
said, Sunday, some people want to know, what were you talking
about Sunday when you said that maybe God has something special for
this church? I don't know yet. I'm going to pray about it. I'm
going to pray about it. I have more confidence in prayer
than I do in discussions. Pray about it. I don't know how
long, but I'm going to pray about it. I want you to pray about
it. I don't know how to find the
will of God. I know you can't find it without prayer, because
prayer's got something to do with the will of God. But that's
the way you ward off apostasy. You build yourself up through
the Word, and then you pray. Now watch verse 21. And you keep
yourself in the love of God. Now here's where we run into
trouble. trying to put things in sequence. I said the first
line of defense is to build yourself up in faith, and the second line
of defense is to pray, and then to come to love, and Paul said
the greatest of these is love. So it's, you run into trouble
trying to put things in an order of importance where God's concerned. Which comes first, repentance
or faith? It's pretty hard to answer, isn't
it? I guarantee you won't have any repentance without faith.
And you won't have faith without repentance. So Spurgeon said
repentance and faith is like this piece of paper. You've got
to have a back and a front. You can't have one without the
other. You've got to have repentance and faith. So don't you reckon
it's all the same thing? I don't know. And this thing
about love, the love of God, I guess that's the first line
of defense. But yet faith. Christ said to Peter, I prayed
for you that your faith fail not. Well, anyway, I'm convinced
of this. If my heart's right, my head
will be right. I really believe that. My head
won't go far wrong if my heart's in love with God. He said, if
you love me, you'll keep my commandments. He said, Peter, do you love me?
Lord, you know I do. Then you'll feed my sheep. I
believe that. I believe if a man's heart's
right, his head will be right. I believe if he loves God, he
can't love false doctrine. I don't believe he can, not if
he loves God. I believe if he's motivated by a love for God and
a love for people, then he'll want whatever he does to bring
God glory and others good, if he's motivated by love. I really
do. Now, men are motivated by a lot
of things, all of them subject to change and decay and destruction.
And now about is faith, hope, and love. The greatest of these
is love. If I can be motivated by a love
for Christ, a love for Christ, a love for Christ, I don't believe
there's any apostasy or error or falling away that can touch
me. All right, fourthly, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ unto eternal life. looking for the mercy of the
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Now, I'm going to tell
all the advocates of free will, they don't have anything for
me, because I know my will. I'm looking for mercy. I'm not
looking for reward. I'm looking for mercy. I'm looking
for the mercy of Jesus Christ. And I'll tell the advocates of
self-righteousness and good works, you don't have anything for me.
My righteousness is a filthy rag. I can't trust them. And I'll tell the mockers and
the scoffers who talk about there is no God and where is the promise
of his coming, all things continue as they were. I'll tell the mockers
that they have nothing for me. When they take away my hope,
they give me nothing in return. I'm looking for mercy. While
I build myself up in faith, while I pray without ceasing, while
I keep myself in love with God, in love with God, and in love
with Christ, and in love with my friends, and in love even
with my enemies, I'm looking for mercy. The mercy of God. Threefold mercy. Mercy's past,
mercy's present, and mercy's future. His mercies pass His
eternal covenant and churityship, His eternal grace, His mercies
present. He daily washes me and cleanses
me and forgives me and intercedes for me and overlooks my errors
and my failures. and mercy's future. Someday he's
going to raise me and make me just like himself. So when it
all comes down to verse 24, now unto him who's able to keep you
from falling. Unto him. I don't claim to be able to explain
God's immutable sovereignty and human responsibility. I just
know they're both so. I just know that God Almighty
has a people. I know Christ died for them.
I know the Holy Spirit will call them. But I know they will come. And I know they will continue.
And I know they will finish the course. That's right, they will. They'll not depart from him.
And they'll take all the blame for their failures and give God
all the glory for their grace. Yeah, they will. And they'll be filled with doubts
and fears and confidence and assurance. It'll be the worst
paradox you ever saw. They'll be the emptiest, fullest
fellow on the block. Be the richest, poorest guy you
ever saw. They'll be the most holy, sinful creature you ever
met. That's right. You can't explain them, because
they can't explain themselves. But they're panting after holiness,
and yet they already have it. They're striving for eternal
life, yet it's already theirs. And they're ceasing to do what
is done for them. I can't explain that, I just
know it's so. I know it's so. I don't want God to leave me,
and yet I know he won't. Our Father in Heaven, teach us and we'll be taught.
Lead us, O Lord, and we'll be led. Reveal Thyself unto us, and we'll
grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. But don't leave us
to our own understanding. Don't leave us to our own thoughts.
Deliver us from the arguments and logic of human reasoning.
And help us, O Lord, not to even attempt to walk by sight, but
walk by faith. And to believe God, no matter
what He says. Teach us to pray, in Christ's
name, Amen.

To Keep You from Falling

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To Keep You from Falling

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