Jude 14-23

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Pastor Chris goes over keeping yourself in the love of God over and against the ungodliness of the creepers, perverters, and deniers. Reformed Rookie

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If you would please turn in your Bibles to the book of Jude. Today we will be focusing on verses 14 to 23 and so we will read that section together.
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Here now the inspired Word of God. It was also about these men that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied saying behold the
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Lord came with his with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
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These are grumblers finding fault following after their own lusts they speak arrogantly flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage
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But you beloved ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our
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Lord Jesus Christ that they were saying to you in the last time there will be mockers following after their own ungodly lusts these are the ones who cause divisions worldly minded devoid of the of the
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Spirit but you beloved building yourselves up on your most holy faith praying in the
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Holy Spirit keep yourselves in the love of God waiting anxiously for the mercy of our
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Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life and have mercy on some who are doubting save others snatching them out of the fire and on some have mercy with fear hating even the garment polluted by the flesh let's pray
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Heavenly Father we come before you and again we would just simply ask that you be pleased to bless the preaching of the word may it honor and glorify you and may we hear your voice in these words in your pages we pray in Christ's name amen you may be seated as we come to this section of the word
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I had a lot of things on my mind a lot of things
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I wanted to say you know we chose this book because it was short and we wanted to cover something in its entirety while pastor
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Jensen was away from us but it was also incredibly timely and so as I as I have been studying and thinking and meditating and praying my mind has been filled with applications here and yet time restrains us from getting into all of them but that's the the beauty of Scripture when we are rooted in it and we are grounded in it we see everything through the lens of it
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I think about the state of the church today and I know we have our concerns about the things that are going on and and feels like the the faith and the zeal of many are growing cold and we look at the world and we would be blind not to see the connection especially if we understand our calling in Scripture to disciple disciple the nations as we consider this sermon and and and the focus of our text the if you look in your bulletin you see that the sermon title is to keep yourselves in the love of God and we think of our perform doctrines and the perseverance of the
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Saints and yet there are those that that's not the same as one saved always saved the idea of if you pray a prayer once if you make a profession once you're in your tickets punched and you have nothing else to worry about and perhaps nothing else to do that's not the doctrine of the perseverance of the
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Saints we have an obligation to live before God in obedience and holiness it was mentioned even this morning about this podcast about the rise and fall of Mars Hill and maybe some of you are aware of it if you follow social media or if you were one who would like to listen to sermons you had a charismatic charismatic preacher who was reformed in his theology in his doctrine and yet as we examine the word here and we examine some of the descriptions of those who are leading people astray we see the fault lines we were aware even back then that there is arrogance there is cause of division there was worldly mindedness even under those who profess
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Christ and even those who might claim to hold sound doctrine and there were efforts to correct there were efforts to rebuke and exhort and they fell on deaf ears we did not see an example of keeping yourselves in the love of Christ and we know that that church fell we know that the faith of some were shipwrecked and it was a scandal and so as we consider what
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Jude is talking to us about we must feel the weight of it we must understand how timely it is and how much it might apply even to us and what our calling is to contend for the faith and so with all of that in mind let's go through this passage and some of these things will move through quickly because Jude has he's been a little bit repetitive in a sense where it's judgment judgment judgment thanks
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Jude way to be a downer but he is layering these things so that we understand the depth and the danger so we can see it clearly and we are prepared to do battle against it and so I'm going to cover the first couple points and it's not going to take a whole lot of time but I want us to hear what's being said and still remember because if Jude saw the importance of penning this we understand that the
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Spirit saw the importance of penning this because he ultimately is the author so here we have the first part that about these men
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Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied saying behold the
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Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones and here if you were searching
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Genesis trying to figure out where Enoch said that you'd be searching for a while because Jude again is giving us something that comes straight out of one of those apocryphal books it's the book of Enoch or first Enoch however they they deem it and it's coming right out of first Enoch 1 9 now
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I've belabored the point about the apocrypha and so I'm not going to go into it in depth here
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I will say that I believe that this is an actual prophecy an actual quotation that was passed down probably through all tradition oral tradition and eventually recorded in a book that was a compilation of other oral traditions some perhaps true and some not so much but Jude is sharing this stuff this quote with us for a reason it's useful remember we've discussed because of all his
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Old Testament examples and all his apocryphal traditions that he is drawing from to paint this picture it's very likely that the audience he's writing to is
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Jewish and so this would be part of their understanding of history and the world and so this prophecy is not only consistent with the rest of prophecies in Scripture it also serves as the earliest known prophecy of judgment against those who would despise the
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Lord Enoch lived we can see in Genesis prior to the flood and in stark contrast that to a world that was growing increasingly wicked he walked with God he was one of the very very few who were actually faithful and the book of Hebrews in that hall of faith tells us that he pleased
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God so much though that because of his faith he didn't even see death God simply took him up and sadly
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I don't think this is a precursor to the rapture I don't think that's something we can look forward to exactly but there will be a generation that will be raptured up that will be caught up and not have to see death but I think we have some time and we have some work to do this
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Enoch who walked with God prophesied that he was coming and Jude like other
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Apostles says that he he takes it says the Lord is coming and he takes
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Jesus and he puts him right there in the middle of the prophecy so we don't lose sight that Jesus is all in all right and he says that he is coming the
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Lord is coming with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly beads which they have done in an ungodly way and of all the harsh things which the ungodly sinners have spoken against him ungodly ungodly and Jude writes it was also about these men that Enoch prophesied these people that he's been warning us about are caught under that prophecy not taking the
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Lord by surprise but marked out long beforehand for this condemnation and he just expounded on how wicked these creepers perverters and deniers are but they're professing
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Christians and they are among the ungodly who have been marked for destruction we have to be paying attention we have to consider what
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Jude is telling us here and I know we're going over this over and again because we can't lose sight of it we're living in the midst of a nation that's in their judgment and judgment begins with the household of God but in this early prophecy given to us by the
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Lord through Enoch these men are included and they are referred to as those ungodly and then
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Jude goes on to give us a few more descriptions of those who are false tying them to this prophecy to match up the descriptions one for one so we can see and I think we should pay close attention here because while the earlier descriptions seem pretty severe although the new descriptions here the additional descriptions might hit a little bit closer to home however considering last week and the things we talked about I hope that even when we see those severe descriptions that we don't just write it off as that's for other people that's not me we have to consider the things about the filing the flesh and rejecting authority how in our lives we actually might be guilty of the very same things but we just see other people doing it more than we are and so they're the problem not us well what about these descriptions these are the grumblers finding fault and if you're familiar with the
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Old Testament if you're familiar with the wilderness wanderings the grumbling was a common sin among the
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Israelites despite their deliverance from bondage and oppression and it's despite them experiencing all the
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Lord's blessings in so many ways with promises of more to come the moment things didn't go their way they began to grumble they began to complain it was outrageous for us to read one verse here blessing and deliverance in the next minute oh
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I don't see any water you took us out here to die but how quickly do we do that but when you read that read how the
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Lord responds this wicked generation get out of the way
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I'm gonna consume them I'll start with you we have to understand just how wicked
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God views our grumbling our complaining our fault finding because they were grumbling against Moses but in reality they're grumbling against the
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Lord they were speaking harsh things against him why we know we're reformed we believe in the sovereignty of God he is the sovereign one he's the one who's decreed all things so when we're complaining about our circumstances we're complaining about the one who has decreed them for us in Philippians were told do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world but what does that say about us if we do grumble if we if we flip that well then we aren't being blameless and innocent we aren't shining as lights in the world we ought to consider that the next time we go to complain about our circumstances or complain about someone else and what they did when we grumble when we find fault whether it be against our circumstances or each other it reveals that we're actually focused on ourselves because we're not focused on Christ at that point because we're not obeying him so we're not thinking about his admonition his exhortation his command but thinking about ourselves we don't focus on Christ and all his many benefits we're not focused on the well -being of others considering others more important than ourselves no it's all about me
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I'm not getting what I think I deserve that's a manifestation of worldly mindedness we look like the rest of our crooked and twisted generation
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Paul makes a plane there in Philippians a change of conduct in this one particular area a change of conduct and speech can create an amazing distinction between us in the world think about that think about that when you're going to complain about your family or a friend or co -worker or a boss or a pastor you wouldn't do that right never that doesn't mean that we can't look to improve our situations at time it doesn't mean that there aren't things that go wrong that need to be spoken about but it does mean that there's a right way in a wrong way to view and speak about our circumstances and to seek the remedy but the false are all about the wrong way they grumble they find fault their priority is their desires that's what the scripture tells us that's what your own eyes tell you if you're paying attention he says they speak arrogantly
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ESV says they're loudmouth boasters again it's all about them as I mentioned in the introduction we think of a of a platform like Mars Hill you might think of other teachers ministries that have these large platforms that are known all over the place and you think look at their arrogance how can anyone follow that guy but how often do we speak arrogantly and boast and put the focus on ourselves in our own little world on our own small little platform so that everyone around us realizes just how great we are this falls on us too we just don't have the worldwide recognition of it it says they flatter others for the sake of gaining advantage they view people as a means to an end whatever that end might be for some it's financial gain they they're partial to the rich we think of Balaam and trying to gain favor and enrich himself but sometimes it's an improvement of their status or reputation whatever they value it could be a measuring rod they're viewing other people as a measuring rod of their own worth or their success but when they're viewing people as a means to an end it's obvious that they care nothing about them the way they ought to as a fellow image bearer with inherent value and dignity again this behavior is so commonplace these days it might not even be on our radars a serious problem you just think well yeah you know it's just mankind for you but it ought not to be that way certainly not in the church this combination of speech and conduct is condemned in the scriptures all you have to do is read clearly it's plain he calls it wicked he condemns it and if we're going to be faithful in contending for the faith we need to be aware we need to recognize this behavior for what it is when we see it understand the danger and think about how we might be called to respond depending on our situation and our ability to speak to that person but we have to be observant we have to be discerning we can't have our heads in the cloud we can't be like well
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I'm just gonna let everyone else do their thing I'm only focused on me no you have to be observant and you should be observing those who are in the church for two reasons one to see who's the mature believer who can
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I follow as an example who can I go to if I need advice or counsel or you know if I'm struggling something
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I want to know about the one who's gone ahead and who's been faithful in it and it's obvious there's fruit in their lives but we also need to be aware of those who are bad examples we also need to be aware of those who are a danger to our local body the rot that might be forming that can spread we need to be aware and so after he finishes with one more very old example of a prophecy from long ago about judgment and more descriptions about these people from Enoch he gives us another reminder but this time of a much more recent warning the very
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Apostles who preached to them the gospel the ones who delivered the faith and told them about the glory of Christ the
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Messiah who had come to take away their sins and bring a kingdom these same
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Apostles warn them there will be creepers perverters deniers rising up in your midst and this is important for us especially perhaps if we're young in the faith or just we've been sort of blissfully ignorant and unaware but for those of us who would be scandalized about the corruption that's found in the church at times this should be taken as an encouragement to us that it's not taken the
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Lord by surprise and he reassures us forewarned is forearmed right he reassures us by warning us ahead of time and he thereby steadies us so be ready for the battle we're not being ambushed we've been told what to look for and we've been giving everything we need to contend and so the
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Apostles spoke about this issue we see this in in Acts 21 when Paul gathers the the elders from Ephesus and he goes to pray with them and give them just some last words of admission before he has to go and he goes
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I'm not gonna see you again I want you to remember and I want you to take care that after I leave fierce wolves are gonna arise from within you to carry off they're gonna say things that are twisted and perverted they're not gonna spare the flock be ready and he warns
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Timothy Peter warns his readers they warn of the mockers and scoffers depending on whether you're looking at the
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ESV or NASB same difference those who mock the importance of obedience and holiness those would follow after their own ungodly lust
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Jude says and Jude uses the word ungodly here because one it's an accurate description but two it connects these present -day mockers to those who are prophesied about by Enoch Peter in his letter gives us a little more detail on the topic of scoffers he says they are the ones who ask where's the promise of his coming where's the sign of the judgment now there's people who were would say that today and then there's those who wouldn't say that they'd realize how that would come across so they just live in a certain way but the way they live and the way they speak portrays the hard attitude where's the coming are we really going to be judged
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I think you're just trying to keep us clamped down and from having a good time right these dreamers imagine that there's really no judgment after all
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Peter points out that it has somehow escaped her notice that the world has been destroyed once before by a flood and it's being reserved for fire next time we see judgment all around us and like no it's not that that's just life but because the
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Lord is impatient and long -suffering with them not wishing for any to perish waiting for all of us the fullness of the church to come in they see there's no judgment to worry about there's no calling to account and they carry on with their sin and there's no fear of God before their eyes and so there said that these these are the ones who cause the visions worldly minded devoid of the spirit these are the ones who cause the vision now
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Paul talks about the vision in his letter to the Corinthians the first letter on the one hand right in the first chapter he warns against the vision for the wrong reasons you had those saying
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I'm of Paul and I'm of Apollos and he goes that's nonsense wasn't crucified for you
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I didn't save you and who is he we are in Christ so we need to forget the tribalism we need to forget all the silly things right that would separate and divide us he exhorts them not to be divided but to realize that they should be one in Christ but then later on in that very same letter in chapter 11 he says that he hears that there are divisions and says well there must be he says there must be factions in order to know who is genuine because in here if you know first Corinthians 11 this is talking about the
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Lord's Supper and the corruption and the sin that was going on you had those who were drunk and those who were going hungry there's no honoring of Christ in this and people are looking out for themselves so he says of course there's the vision and those who in rebellion are the ones who are causing it they're the ones who are guilty of it and I want to point this out too because you know we need to recognize something here it's often that the faithful those who are desiring to be faithful to the word faithful and being obedient and being holy that get the charge against them you are being divisive right it's your fault everyone else is talking about peace and unity everyone else is talking about working together for the common cause but we don't what they ignore what they refuse to acknowledge is they sacrificed truth on the altar of what they call peace and unity and we can't do that we can't compromise on the truth we must be faithful to the
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Lord Jesus prayed for us to be united but he said let them be united in truth your word is truth our sanctification should bring us unity but it can't be done at the compromise of truth but those who are false the false carry on the false slander and attack the false claim to be the pious ones who just want to love but the reality is that they're worldly minded and they're devoid of the
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Spirit but we are called to have the mind of Christ to be filled with the Spirit their focus is on themselves and not on the kingdom of God which is supposed to be the priority of every true believer what does
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Jesus say seek second third first seek first the kingdom of God they seek everything else but the kingdom of God and they would like you to go along with them this is why
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Jude says that they are devoid of the Spirit and that claim that accusation is probably a refutation of their own claims they claim to be believers they claim to have the
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Spirit of God just like Cora and his band of rebels claimed to be holy as they rebelled against the
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God's chosen leader just like the false prophets Zedekiah in the end of first Kings in chapter 22 when he slaps
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Micaiah and asked him which way did the Spirit go from me when he went to you these men claim to be genuine they claim to be genuine and they would be outraged at any implication to the contrary but Jude is not impressed he gives no quarter he minces no words he says they are devoid of the
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Spirit they're not saved they're false this is the situation you have been warned
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Enoch from before the flood warned the Apostles who delivered you the gospel of Jesus Christ the gospel of the kingdom warned that you would have to face this that you would have to be ready and so what are we to do as we come to this part this section as we now get our marching orders our instruction we've been warned we've been told of the enemy we've been given detailed description to recognize the camouflage and to see through it and now how do we contend for the faith
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I want you to see here that the instruction is positive and not negative we're not called to our only job is to find out those who are false seek and destroy that's not what we're told to do right a
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Spurgeon once said the church is not perfect but woe to the one who finds pleasure in pointing out her imperfections we should not glory in pointing out the errors of others we should not do it for hobby for sport there are some and I'm not speaking against all those who would have some sort of ministry that involves discernment and calling out the false teachers sometimes that can be helpful but there needs to be balance we need to proclaim the truth and the goodness of Jesus Christ we need to show the genuine article so that people will be able to recognize that which is false but we don't want to get bitter and twisted and just hunting but we do have an obligation to contend for the faith and so we have to have balance and so if you're reading along he says keep yourselves in the love of God I'm wondering if anyone's saying that's not what he says next
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Chris you've been going phrase by phrase almost word -for -word he says other stuff first before he says keep yourself in the love of God but if you have a cursory knowledge of Greek or a good commentary this is where that kind of comes in handy in verses 21 and 22 we actually have one sentence and the main verb in that sentence and it's easier to see in the
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Greek but the main verb and therefore the focus of the sentence is the word keep and it's an imperative it's a command the the words building and praying and waiting are all the participles that modify the main verb they are the supporting statements that show you how to go about keeping yourself or to keep yourself in the love of God you can see those particles by those
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ING endings if you want a little clue on it but again a good commentary will also help point you in the right direction just so you have a clear understanding of what you're doing and Jude that masterful
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Baptist minister with a penchant for threes he gives us three participles to expound on the command and even in that if you're looking carefully he gives us references to faith hope and love and you can look at the waiting as hope right and he gives us a
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Trinitarian mindset talking about God the Father and the Son and the
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Spirit and it's all in there but let us first consider the command to keep ourselves in the love of Christ in the beginning of the letter we are in the beginning of the letter we are addressed as those who are called beloved and kept and now here we're commanded to keep ourselves in the love of God this should not be new to us if you are familiar with reform doctrines but going through there was one commentator
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Thomas Schreiner who said it well he said Jude represents well the biblical tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility on the one hand believers only avoid apostasy because of the grace of God on the other hand the grace of God does not cancel out the need for believers to exert all their energy to remain in God's love so how do we go about this what is our responsibility here keep in mind
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Jude is talking to people who have in the faith have been instructed in the faith that was once for all delivered to the
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Saints they are as we are people of the book and they ought to be very familiar with the
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Old Testament and the teachings of Christ and his Apostles you know I mentioned last week that Christ tells us if we love him we will obey his commandments and that's found in John chapter 14 verse 15 in the next chapter he goes on to say just as the
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Father has loved me I have also loved you abide in my love if you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love so we abide we keep ourselves in his love through obedience now that's not of course to say that we're saved by her obedience we don't believe in salvation by works but that obedience is a manifestation of true faith and love for our
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Savior and it's this faith that we're to build ourselves up and that were to be building ourselves up in and again this is another contrast from the false teachers and the false brethren they divide we build up and it should be pointed out lots of things to point out here this is a command to us not just as individuals command to the church it's a command that we are given in the context of the corporate body in this this concept really needs to be highlighted today in this day and age we are so focused on the self we're so focused on the individual it's all about us and our dreams and our aspirations our goals everyone's got their own little earbuds their own soundtrack for life we're just we're on our own we're doing our own thing that is not what
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God has called us to yes we are individuals so much so with inherent value as individuals that Jesus Christ calls us by name but when he calls us we become a people we become part we are members of one body his body and so this is part and parcel of what it means to be a
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Christian we are part of one another our goals sanctification and the advancement of the kingdom are seen and accomplished in the context of living life together
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I wonder how many of us appreciate that I wonder how many of us read the word with that sort of mindset or if we're just thinking it's just about me
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I gotta be good I gotta do my own thing I gotta be faithful yes but in relation to everyone around you believer and unbeliever we have a calling time would fail me but examples abound in Scripture on this topic and we need to start reading the word with this understanding don't just read the word with the lens of an individual who's only responsible for themselves read it with the mindset that you you are a member of a body and you are learning about your obligations toward one another about all those one another passages that's you and me that's you and us and so we have obligations toward each other and you ought to be reading it to try to understand it that you might live it out
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God's Word is brimming with examples in both pattern and precept of how we ought to be living in relation to one another think about this in the
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Old Testament in Exodus we get these detailed instructions from God about how to build a tabernacle that was a temporary structure temporary but it was designed for glory and designed for him to dwell among us if he gave that kind of detailed instruction look at the scripture and realize how much more detailed is he in describing the blueprints for a living temple you and I to be built up together as one in order for us to glorify him and have him dwell among us we must pay attention to the instructions regarding how we grow with Saints who are identified by our faith in Christ and in his word
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I say again we must be students of the word if you want to see this more grab your
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Bible and start reading read the book of Ephesians it's not long it's wonderful and it's filled with you know doctrine and practice like the rest of the word but it's such a concise and it's so full
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I love the book of Ephesians consider the reading that we had this morning about building ourselves up together from the whole body we're growing up in the head even
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Christ being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causing the growth of the body for the building up of itself and love that's what we're called to this is what
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God's calling us to so read through Ephesians read to the scripture reading do a word study and grab your concordance and look up building up and build and see how many times is referring to people and never just to an individual building me up right consider our church covenant if you want an idea of how we ought to relate to one another consider what you vowed to at one point if you're a member look up our statement of faith the 1689 chapter 27 talking about the body the church communion of the
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Saints ask questions during fellowship time that we have no excuse to be ignorant in this day and age so we need to start understanding how we go about building ourselves up because it's a crucial part of us keeping ourselves in the love of God and so we should build one another up encouraging one another and our most holy faith a faith that is rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ our master our
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Lord a faith that is holy and helps us to clearly see the contrast of those who are unholy and profane in both word and deed and then the next way that we are to keep ourselves in love of Christ in the love of God is praying in the
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Holy Spirit of course we know this is not a reference to speaking in tongues praying in tongues anything like that but it is a reminder to be constantly engaged in that crucial spiritual discipline of prayer and the prayer ought to be directed controlled and guided by the
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Holy Spirit just as when Jesus tells us to pray that we are to ask in his name that's not saying his name as some sort of magical incantation but it's a pray according to his will in accordance with the truth that we know about him and what he expects of us and likewise with the
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Holy Spirit praying in the Holy Spirit is praying in submission to the Lord and seeking his grace his wisdom his guidance for us it's also understanding that the
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Holy Spirit is the author of the scriptures and we need to look to him to guide us and illuminate the scriptures for our understanding that we might apply it correctly and pray in a manner consistent with what the word says and this is especially necessary in the circumstances of dealing with false teachers and brethren in our midst we need this so consider that remember
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Paul's exhortation in Ephesians 6 as he talks about engaging in spiritual warfare when he says taking up the armor of God and he gives it in full description and then what does he say and pray don't think
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I can do it on my own I got I got my armor I got my sword he says pray recognize how dependent we are upon the
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Spirit in all things particularly the most difficult so when we keep ourselves in the love of God we look to the
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Spirit and to the word not our dreams and not our imaginations and the third way that we're told to keep ourselves in the love of God is to wait anxiously for the mercy of the
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Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life another contrast and starting to point us toward the instructions that he's going to give us dealing with these false teachers and brethren we are told to wait for the mercy of Christ that brings us to eternal life as opposed to deniers of Christ who
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Judas made clear have no hope of eternal life their judgment has been prophesied of old they were long beforehand marked out for condemnation but we are called to wait on the mercy of Christ we look forward to the mercy this is something we need to remember because if we lose focus of the finish line we're in jeopardy of failing to run the race as we ought to and that's not to say our our sole focus should be on death and just going to heaven no our focus should be on Christ and yes our desire to be with him which
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Paul says is more better right but we want to see him and have him be pleased with us that we ran well and that we sought to advance his kingdom and to bring him glory we want to hear those words well done good and faithful servant and you can't do that you won't hear sitting on the sidelines ignoring your calling but we should look to his mercy as their only source of hope in this life it's our source of salvation and we should live out our entire lives in light of this glorious truth it should color everything we do and we should look for that mercy not only for ourselves but for others as well and so now as we come to this final portion of what we're going to be covering this morning
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I want us to consider a few things Jude has labored to identify these hidden reefs and the danger that they present this is no trivial matter you have to consider the dire warnings that are given to the church in Revelation Jesus himself speaking to local congregations and telling them of sin in the camp you tolerate the teachings of this one you tolerate this behavior he says watch out or I will come against you
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I will remove your lampstand we can't just dismiss this we can't try to just beg off and say peace and unity
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Oh Christ says I'll remove your lampstand we look at the world and we want to see it change how can we be salt and light if we don't have a lampstand he's written to the church appealing to them to contend earnestly for the faith and he's explained the first half of how we're to do that focus on building yourselves up praying in the
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Holy Spirit waiting anxiously on the mercy of the Lord this is how you keep yourself in the love of God the best way to spot a counterfeit to make it clear for all to see is to know the genuine article to be the genuine article then they will stick out like a sore thumb these people don't belong look how they represent the faith but because we are silent because we allow it to happen the church is filled with mediocrity and lukewarmness we're comparing ourselves to someone else and they might not even be a believer sure they profess
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Christ they got baptized they take the Lord's Supper every week but so what if they're taking the
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Lord's Supper and they've been baptized and they profess Christ but they're not saved how different is their life going to be but we look at those external things and think well
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I'm just like them so I can't be that bad we gotta be careful the example that we're following he instructs us on how to engage with those who are in error in varying degrees and I want us to be clear on this because even reading the commentaries it seemed like some of them weren't very clear on what you'd is saying like they seem to be leaning to one side and error on the side of caution but that's the problem it is error if you go too much to the side of caution we live in a time where much of the church shies away from church discipline now it might be an overcorrection to as a reaction to things that have happened in the past but that's no excuse scripture prescribes for us the necessary balance and Jude frames his instruction this way have mercy but we must understand mercy as the
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Lord defines it and not as the world or even weak willed weak willed believers define it that which is called mercy by some today is cruelty it's cruelty it's an unloving refusal to engage with an image bearer of God in accordance with biblical instruction we need to examine ourselves here
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I think we're too quick to explain away why we don't do this ourselves in our individual relationships you know we're too quick to explain why we don't or or why we shouldn't or why it wouldn't work and yet ask yourselves how many of you personally know relationships that never flourished because they were never given the chance to because something happened that caused the fence early on and you never even wanted to pursue a relationship with that person or how many relationships have grown cold because someone was difficult or somewhat offended and you didn't want to go through the process and and drag through what
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Jesus tells us to do and so there's relationships that are dead or dying or never even got to see the light of day because this is too hard for us and we don't want to do it how many of us are seeing fellow believers professing believers who are struggling with sin well they're carrying on in a sinful habit maybe not gross in ranks in you know stumbling out of bars and out of brothels and stuff like that whatever it is but it's affecting their walk with Christ it's affecting their relationship with others but we don't want to be the one to say anything even though perhaps we have a relationship one with them and we're the ones who are called to how many people do we let just go on and we don't have any regard for their sanctification we don't have any regard who a crisis commanded us to this refusal to engage in church discipline even in the informal informal go to your brother and speak to him it holds the wisdom and love of Christ and contempt there's no other way to say it we're refusing to obey
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Christ when we see this is impacting our relationship where I have a concern about this person's soul for sanctification but I'm not going to say anything and perhaps we're the reason why people don't do it maybe we've rebuked you take the log out of your own eye before you take the speck out of mine if I had a dime for every time all right but how quick are we to be defensive if we get someone come along to us in love and say hey brother sister can
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I talk to you for a minute but if we stiff arm them not only are we rebelling against what
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Christ has told us we are causing them to be fearful of the next time they have to go and speak to someone because you get burned and you get gunshot you don't want to do that again you don't want to be the judgmental guy you don't want to be the pharisaical sister right and the love of many grows cold at the same time trying to call that mercy we must also not wield the hammer or the serrated edge the serrated edge in every circumstance and call that mercy for that's the ditch on the other side of the road now contending for the faith can be messy and difficult at times if we're unsure about it if we're struggling with it if we're seeing like we're not getting fruit or seems to be making things worse maybe we need to step back maybe we need to examine our own motivation and recognize there's different ways different approaches we're going to talk about about how we go through this scenario and perhaps we need to check the fruit and we need to talk to someone who's more mature in the faith and see if they can give us some instruction if they can give us some counsel and help us but with these admonitions let's consider
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Jude's exhortations and contending for the faith particularly in dealing with dealing with fellow image bearers and I've already said we've pointed out how he framed it have mercy the goal should always be salvation and or sanctification we want to see restoration and unity in the truth and so we are given three different exhortations varying in degrees depending on the particular circumstances we are facing the first one is have mercy on those who are doubting this is usually the case when false teachers come in when people are spouting all sorts of things that are not true or they're encouraging conduct that's not becoming people can get confused because well they're professing believer right or they seem to know the
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Bible more than I do they can quote more scripture than I can they have every answer in Sunday school maybe
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I'm wrong maybe I'm being too strict to legalistic talks about teachers that come in upsetting whole families they can cause uncertainty and doubt particularly among those who are maybe not as mature in the faith now they're not as well versed in the scriptures and Jude says have mercy and he defines the problem as doubt and not full -fledged sin or rebellion so we would do well to remember
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Paul's admonition in Galatians and Galatians 6 and 2nd Timothy he says the Lord's bonds are us not be quarrelsome but be kind to all able to teach patient when wrong with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition if perhaps
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God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil having been held captain but captive by him to do his will when it comes to those who are doubting we must confront we must but we also need to be gentle we need to be winsome we need to be loving in our approach in our approach as we seek to help restore them to true doctrine this is not likely one of those times for the serrated edge to be cutting to be blunt to be difficult and we should be careful using that with people it's one thing to destroy ideas and we should false teachings we should hammer away but be careful of the people who are holding them and how we respond to them he says for others save others snatching them out of the fire this is a more serious problem someone's either flirting or they're already engaged in sinful behavior or they're entertaining heretical doctrine here a more aggressive approach might be necessary but we still ought to have a spirit of gentleness in it as much as possible we have that from Galatians I just read
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James says if anyone among you strays from the truth and one turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner away from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins sometimes we need to confront people about their sin about their doctrine that they're holding and what the word actually says about it we need to confront them with the truth we need to point out that they can be caught in the snare of the devil caught in a trespass against the
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Lord they're straying and death is at the end of that path they may even need informal church discipline in fact second
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Thessalonians Paul says if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter take special note of that person and do not associate with him so that he will be put to shame that doesn't seem very spiritual
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Paul but he says yet do not regard him as an enemy but admonish him as a brother sometimes we need to engage in informal church discipline because listen brother you're gonna keep going down this way that's gonna have to be the end of our relationship you're in sin and what we are not in agreement we can't walk together and you will hope that pulling away from them and leaving themselves to them for a bit will bring them a grace of shame that after a while they might return back in repentance it might be necessary and probably is to identify and call out those who are teaching the error and to wake up in order to wake up those who are following the danger
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Paul says to Timothy in the first letter do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses those who continue in sin he's talking about elders rebuke in the presence of all so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning sometimes that's what it takes to wake people up is to call out those who they look up to those who they're following and say you are in sin that the rest might see and say ah
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I need to stop this and then the third one he said on some have mercy with fear hating even the garment polluted by the flesh this is an exhortation for the most severe of situations our mercy is to be coupled with fear in contrast to those who are partaking of the
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Lord's Supper with no fear we should have a fear of the Lord a fear of his judgment of consequences of sin we should have a fear of sin spreading knowing the danger knowing how it destroys churches there are times when we are told plainly in Scripture to disfellowship to excommunicate people we're not supposed to contend endlessly with them noble as that sentiment might be to our finite minds and understanding no sometimes we're called to well we're always called to graciously confront we should warn but when there's a stubborn refusal to repent we must cut them off and we see this instruction from the lips of Jesus himself in Matthew 18 we see it in Titus 3 10 and we see it in first Corinthians 5 9 to 13 he says those who are outside God judges but remove the wicked man from among yourselves this is what we're called to do at times but even then this is mercy when we consider
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Matthew 18 we get the parable ahead of time about the sheep that has strayed and the idea of pursuing them and bringing them back and then he gives instruction about going to your brother who sinned the goal is mercy restoration reconciliation unity we want to see that even in first Corinthians where he says remove the wicked one from yourself he says earlier in that chapter in five that even though he is delivering this one over to Satan that his flesh might be destroyed it's with the hope that his spirit might be saved it's a mercy it's a mercy to engage in discipline even excommunication because the
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Lord uses it at times to bring back those who really are his who are wandering do we think that we are more loving or more wise than God to say we're not going to say anything to them we're just going to let them go their own crooked way we're rebelling against Christ to do other otherwise if we don't lovingly confront them as scripture commands us to we are despising the
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Lord that's what we're doing and we're despising the one in front of us who were affirming and hugging all the way to hell telling them that they're okay in their sin may
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God help us the scriptures are clear we must do this for their good and the good of the church it is a mercy as we come to a close here we have dealt with another large section of scripture there's a lot that we covered it's given us a lot to think about I hope we've been reminded again about the danger of those creepers perverters and deniers and we've also been given some concrete principles to guide us as we contend for the faith we are not unarmed my my friends were not unarmed we have been warned and we have been equipped first and foremost is to keep ourselves in the love of God obediently obeying
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I'm sorry obediently building ourselves up in the most holy faith praying in the Holy Spirit waiting anxiously for the mercy of our
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Lord Jesus Christ and we are to show mercy to those who are doubting those who are ensnared in sin and even those who are engaged in full -blown rebellion it's a difficult area to navigate but we've been given ample instruction we have our marching orders from the
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Lord and Master he's the one who calls us to contend he promises to contend alongside us and he promises that when we pray when two or three are gathered in the context of church discipline there he is in the midst of us to give us the grace that we need he promises grace and mercy to those who love him and judgment to those who despise him and would try to destroy his church you'll notice that there's no third option which side are you on today
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Christ is a perfect and willing compassionate Savior and until you breathe your last you have hope of salvation today if you hear his voice don't harden your heart today is a day of salvation my friends if you've never done it