A Word in Season: Building Upon Faith (Jude 20-21)

Jude is writing to men and women who are living in dark and difficult days, characterized by grumbling and complaint, people who walk according to their own lusts and who mouth great swelling words, flatterers, sensual, causing divisions.

It's an ugly scene, full of mockery and antagonism to the word of God, men and women governed by their own appetites rather than by the truth. And Jude says to those who are reading his letter that they need to be very much the opposite to that.

He says, not like that, 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.

Whereas the ungodly are consumed by the things of this world, their appetites and their attitudes are yoked to things that are passing away. By contrast, Jude says that God's people are to have their eyes fixed upon eternal things.

Building on Faith and the Word of God

Therefore, they need to build themselves up on their most holy faith. Faith is the foundation, faith in Jesus Christ, faith in the word of God as it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in his person, faith in his work, faith in his return, that this reality, this scriptural truth upon which their hope is founded, that they need to be building themselves up upon that.

It's the bedrock upon which everything else stands. And it's why it's so vital for us to be constantly, consistently, carefully exposed to the word of God so that we may know what God has said. We may know our savior and his salvation, and we might then build upon that foundation.

We do that by praying in the Holy Spirit, by resting upon the Holy Ghost as we plead with God, praying in accordance with his revealed will. We keep ourselves in the love of God. We go on stirring up our affections toward him and, of course, by extension to others because the effects always follow that course.

We are to consider God as he makes himself known in the Lord Christ so that our hearts are inflamed with affection toward him. And we're to be looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

We're living in expectant hope. Our eyes are heavenward. We are anticipating the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore depending day by day upon all his saving goodnesses with a view to that everlasting life when he returns.

Again.

A Heavenward Life in a Wicked Age

As you can see when you listen to that kind of language, it is a heavenward life. It's a whole attitude that is taken up with the things which, though they cannot be seen, nevertheless are eternal. And that's where we need to be in these days when there's so much wickedness, so much ungodliness whirling around us and assaulting us.

We need to set ourselves in humble, deliberate contrast and spiritual conflict with that kind of here and now, all and only mentality. We are to build ourselves up on our most holy faith. We're to rest upon the truth as it is in Jesus and then to go on in godliness.

We're to be praying in the Holy Spirit, pleading always with God for those mercies which he alone is able to provide. We're to keep ourselves in the love of God, not allowing our affections to be diverted away from him, but always dwelling upon him as our great God and the one who has sent his beloved son, Jesus Christ.

And we're to be expectantly looking for and hanging upon the mercies of our Lord. We're to be feeding upon him. We're to be trusting in him. We're to be depending upon the good shepherd of the sheep, the great shepherd who provides all our needs with a view to the life everlasting.

Feeding on the Word and Making the Lord's Day Count

We can't do that without the word of God and the spirit of God. We can't do that without a constant feeding of our own souls upon the truth that God has given to us. The first day of the week is a sweet and precious day for that kind of heavenly traffic.

It's a day when our souls need to be stirred. It's a day when our minds can be instructed, when our hearts can be directed in the way that they ought to go. So let us make the most of this day that God has given for communion with him, for instruction in righteousness, that we may go on in godliness and build ourselves up on our most holy faith.