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“A Believer's Defense” • 9.23.18 • Calvary
Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
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As we come to the end of this powerful book, we recall to mind that it is a
book that was born out of love and conviction. Jude is not an apostle, but a
believer living at the tail end of an era.
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With the exception of the Apostle John, all of the other Apostles have been
martyred for their faith. John will soon join them and the void will be
complete.
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Jude had to write to the church, to call them to arms, to expose for them a
danger that persisted right before their eyes.
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After his introduction, Jude wrote of "The Presence Of False Teachers." In verses 2-11, he calls them to stand and
contend for the faith that these men were hoping to undermine.
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In the next section, verses 11-19,
Jude provided the believers with "The
Profile Of False Teachers." He wrote about their false foundations and
their foolish ways.
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He didn't name names, but he wrote of the character that accompanied and marks
each one of them for all time! This leads us to Jude's final section and the
question that we are asking today.
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With such an insidious attack on Christianity, what can a Christian do to
maintain their posture? How can we stand strong and remain immune to the
onslaught of false teaching?
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Let us proceed to uncover Jude's answer, as he writes of "The Protection Of God's Saints."
Verse 20.
Text
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Jude 20,21 : "But you, beloved, building
yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God,
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." : "But you beloved!" The believer is to stand in
contrast to the false teachers he has been writing about.
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They were building their lives upon greed and gain. The believers were to be
building as well. They were to build themselves up on their most holy faith.
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Notice the emphasis in this letter upon the vigilance of the believer. We are
to contend earnestly for our faith in verse 3 and here, we are to make a habit of building ourselves upon it!
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We are to ever be in the process of establishing ourselves upon our faith. Like
a home builder, we are to work toward erecting a fully functional home where
our faith can live.
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Unlike the conventional home builder however, we must never think that our
project is complete! A Christian is always in the process of further rooting
themselves in faith!
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There is no such thing as retirement in the Kingdom of God when it comes to
your faith!
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The life that we build must be proportionate to the value of our faith. It is
most Holy! Your faith is sacred! Since that is the case, what should our lives
look like?
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Let us ask the question first, personally, individually. What disciplines
expand your life's capacity for appreciating and expressing faith?
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What habits are necessary that allow your faith to grow and on the opposite
side of that question, which habits are counterproductive? We must weigh these
questions individually.
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Certainly, any Pastor preaching this text would be remiss if he did not mention
our common need to study the Bible regularly, to pray fervently and to
evangelize boldly!
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Each person in this body makes individual decisions regarding their lives and
the practice of the faith that we all share. As you grow in these disciplines,
you will grow in your faith!
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Notice however, that the language Jude employs does not allow for strict
individualism.
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Each individual is merely a part of the dearly loved, highly favored church. Our
individual actions are meant by God to work together for the good of the whole!
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My decisions regarding the faith in my personal expression affect your practice
of faith! Jude is calling us to remember that we are to be erecting this
building together!
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I pursue the Lord with all my heart, so that I can be effective in helping
others do the same!
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This church, when it functions as God intends it, when all of it's people are
putting their faith first, will be building a proper home for the faith to be
expressed locally!
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As we are building upon our faith, we are also cultivating a dependence upon
the Holy Spirit. We are to pray in the Holy Spirit.
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Some translations add the thought of praying in the "power" of the
Holy Spirit, but that doesn't bear out textually.
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I believe that He means to tell us that in order to build correctly, we need
the Spirit's guidance and directon. Are we personally yielding ourselves to the
Holy Spirit's voice that we hear in scripture?
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Are there contradictions to my practice that He would put His finger upon?
Friends, we cannot build a proper life before God without asking God to reveal
how it is built!
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As a church, this is a vitally important question that remains before us: How
would you have us express ourselves before this community? We'll talk more of
this in time.
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Believers are seeking to build and seeking the builder, all with the intention
of stoking the fire of God's love within our hearts! This is Jude's command:
"Keep yourselves in the love of God!"
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Our knowledge of His Word and our relationship to His Spirit is meant to yield
a greater love connection to our God!
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Look at the energy that Jude expects his hearers to expend: Contend to
exhaustion. Keep building yourselves up in your faith and keep yourselves in
the love of God!
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The fact that we have to be told to do any of these things points to the
reality that they are not simply naturally or even supernaturally occurring
events!
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There are some Christians who carry an attitude that cannot be justified
scripturally. "Oh, I believed that years ago." or, "I did that
years ago."
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The tenses of these verbs point to there being a necessity to continue, to
strive forward, to work against the natural, fleshly apathy that would consume
our spiritual zeal!
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God does not grow us in spite of us and neither does our growth occur simply
because we are around others that are! Every person here is responsible to
continue their own growth!
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If you are not growing spiritually, you are experiencing atrophy! It is your
responsibility to discover the means necessary to keep yourself in the love of
God!
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To keep means to watch over and observe carefully. Ask yourself now, "Am I
in the love of God?" What does this mean for us? First, it means to
operate out from the love of God.
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The love that God has for the world should be the love that is emanating from
my life.
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It is unconditional love, in that, any person can be the object of it,
especially those that you do not like and those that do not like God! Without
that love, we would have been lost ourselves!
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If His love for all is not present in our hearts and active through our lives,
we truly have no legitimate claim to Christ! The world will know us by His
love!
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I am to keep myself in God's love and look to promote similar actions which
promote God's love in our church!
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Second, keeping myself in the love of God means that I am not attempting to
relate to God on any other basis other than His established love for me!
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The Apostle Paul tells us that God has demonstrated His love by sending Christ
to die!
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There is no greater show of love that He could manufacture and none that you
should ever need! He has already given you everything!
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I am not trying to earn His favor with my works or to manipulate His actions as
if He were a pagan deity and I were his mindless adherant.
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He is my Father and I am His son by His grace and His Son's blood! My life as a
Christian is a simple response to the fact that He already loves me perfectly.
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As a church, we are to remind ourselves that this is our motivation. We are
doing what we do from the vantage point of His already established love!
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Finally, it means that I am consistently seeking to refresh and relate my love
for God! I am consistently looking for ways to increase my love for Him.
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Can I ask you candidly: Are you keeping yourself in the love of God? Are you
operating from His love toward others? Are you reminding yourself that His love
toward you is unchanging?
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Is your love for Him more alive today than it was on the day that you first met
Him? Jude challenges us to set a watch over our hearts and minds, to assure
that these are present realities!
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I'm building my life and participating with my church to see a place where
faith will grow. I'm growing in my relationship with the Holy Spirit and
keeping myself in His love. Why?
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Because of what I anticipate will happen soon! A healthy Christian immunity is
built upon looking for the full expression of God's mercy toward me in
salvation!
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When we have studied the word "looking" before, especially when it is
strengthened by the present tense, we've presented a picture of person
stretching their neck out toward the horizon.
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He knows that his hope is just around the corner and he wants to see it at the
earliest possible moment! He wants to know when it's coming!
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In this case, our eyes are fixed upon Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our
faith, who has promised to return, that He might take us to be with Him
forever!
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Those who have believed already have eternal life in principle. One day we will
experience the full meaning of that proposition!
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Christians that are immune to the effects of false teaching are not accepting a
lame, earth-bound substitute. They are looking for the One that will bring
heavenly eternal life! Verse 22.
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Jude 22,23 : " And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling
them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh." : If verses 20 and 21 paint a picture of personal revival,
these next two verses reflect a need for personal responsibility! We are
protected from false teaching by protecting each other!
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There are those that are well established in their faith, who are flourishing
in the church. But there will alway be others that are not quite there yet!
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What we need to know immediately is the command that we are given. We who are
believers must have compassion on this group of people. We are to extend pity,
sympathy, mercy to some.
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The challenge is in the word that is translated "making a
distinction." It sounds as though we are to be discriminating with regard
to the dispensation of our compassion. This is how that is true.
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There are some that pay lip service to wanting help, but are not willing to do
what it takes to actually be helped. Our best weapon here is to pray that the
Lord would expose their sin to them.
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We have to ask ourselves some questions about these people. Are they struggling
with their faith, but seeking to hang on or, are they playing at their faith,
looking to justify their sinful actions?
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The text, however seems to be unlocked when we see the word as descriptive of
this group of people. They are those that are "making distinctions." They
are making decisions.
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One definition states that they are at variance with themselves! It seems that
most translations favor this thinking. The ESV and NIV call these, "those
who doubt."
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The NLT translates, "And you must show mercy to those whose faith is
wavering."
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There are some among the church that are wavering, whose faith foundation is
not as strong and are thus vascillating. These are the ones that we are to have
compassion upon.
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On the other hand, there are other types of people that we are to save with
fear! They know what their faith says and have agreed, but their flesh keeps
calling them away!
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We are command to "save them" as much as we are commanded to extend
compassion to the undecided. This is our duty as officers of the Lord's law of
love!
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In this case, context determines that we consider the word "save" as
a matter of rescue. We cannot "save" a person in the same manner as
Christ saves a person.
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What we can do is extend ourselves to be Christ's first responders! We are His
rescue workers who must do their jobs fearfully. Why does he make that
statement?
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We are to show mercy by extending a hand to rescue those from the fire, but we
had better respect our proximity to it!
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Jude is giving us a short hand illustration of what the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 6:1.
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Galatians 6:1 : "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a
spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted." : To "consider" myself means to look out at the goal of
where my life needs to go. I'm to watch myself, to ensure that I stick to the
pattern of life that makes that goal possible!
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Jude is telling us that we need to be willing to rescue a person, but never at
the expense of our own walk with the Lord!
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If you have a problem with alcohol, you should not be the volunteer to run into
the bar after your wayward brother!
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If that person has an influence upon you that is destructive, it's not likely
your call! You still have a responsibility to help pull them from the fire, but
you might work out of dispatch!
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You are to participate with snatching them from the fire! The same word in
Greek gives us the concept of the instantaneous rapture that we are waiting
for! That word is instructive.
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We are not to stand around endlessly, hoping that a person will eventually make
a decision. We are there in the moment of crisis to pull them to spiritual
safety should they want it!
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We don't even want to be associated with the smell of their sin! That is Jude's
point! If you are inclined to hang around such places, you aren't qualified to
be there! Verse 24.
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Jude 24,25 : "Now to Him who is able to keep you
from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be
glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen." : We have noted that personal revival and responsibility have
been elemental in creating a heart that stands against the flood of false
teaching.
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Now, let us conclude with our perfect reflection upon the Savior of our souls.
All of this life that we share, every bit of hope that we have, is made
possible by Him!
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God deserves our greatest admiration and our deepest loyalty! Why? Because He
has the power to keep us from falling!
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Those that remain in Christ will find that He never loses a step, misses a
beat, or fails to keep what is His! He will keep you from stumbling.
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That doesn't mean that the kept ones will never fall or stumble. Sinless
perfection is an errant teaching that cannot be justified scripturally.
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Jude is telling us that the Lord is able to keep us from permanently falling!
Listen to Solomon's declaration in Proverbs
24:16.
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Proverbs 24:16 : "For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the
wicked shall fall by calamity." : How many times is too many?
I hear you. The distinctions are not easy to make on this side of heaven.
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What we do know is that God is a greater Savior than we are sinners! He will
keep us from stumbling in a final and full way. Eventually, He will bring you
into His presence standing!
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He takes you from stumbling on Earth to standing in His presence! You are
standing there because He has made you untouchably blameless! What a vision to
see!?
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When you and I come into the presence of the Lord's glory, we won't be
cowering, waiting for the other shoe to drop! Jude tells us that we will be
standing there without any fear!
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The only Judge in the Universe that matters will have nothing against us!
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We will be standing there, sharing in the joy of the Trinity, joyful ourselves
at the glory of a finished work that He has always known, but that we were only
promised!
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When we stand there, the promise will be fulfilled and the joy will be
palatable! We will be comfortable in the face of God's glory!
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No more veils. No more separation. No more mystery. No more faith and no more
sin to mar our view. Just pure, unadulterated, unfiltered joy!
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That's why Jude calls us to recognize God our Savior! We weren't wise. Could
you have concocted a plan to save yourself? Could you have found God without
His first revealing Himself?
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No, He alone is wise! Would you rob the Lord of His glory, the weight of His
reality? Remember, you are the stumbler! He is the One that can make you stand!
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We don't deserve any of the glory! He alone deserves the glory! We affirm His
majesty or greatness, His dominion or might and power or authority, both now
and forever! Listen to the NLT.
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Jude 25 (NLT) : "All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus
Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all
time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen." : What Jude is saying is that there has never been a diminishing
of these attributes in God.
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What He is now, He has always been and what He has always been, He will always
be! We will live forever acknowledging this unchanging fact!
Conclusion
- Does this not
cause you to want to see life in a much different way? Ask yourself this: If I
will spend eternity with this God that makes the stumbler stand, what would I
not pay now?
- Would it not
be the best use of my time and resources to build my faith? Would it not be in
my best interest to cultivate a fervent love relationship with this God?
- Wouldn't it
be worth it if I kept investing in my brothers and sisters, showing some the
compassion that was shown me or providing the firm hand that I needed?
- In light of
who He is, is any of this even worth mentioning? Let us agree that Jude and the
Holy Spirit saw fit to remind us and let us go forth to see it live through us!