So I think it was a month or two ago that we looked at the first portion of the Book of Jude, and the title was something along the lines of A Faith Worth Fighting For, or How to Fight for the Faith, or Why to Fight for the Faith, is what we were talking about. And so when I got the call yesterday that Pastor Brett was ill, I decided we would take a look at this last portion of the Book of Jude that we did not talk about last time. the last time talking about the why we fight for the faith, and this time talking about the how. So, let's hear from the word of God in the book of Jude. If you want to follow along in your pew Bibles, it's found on page 1517. We're looking at the book of Jude, beginning with verse 16. And Jude has been talking about People who have snuck into the church and are causing all kinds of damage, he says, these are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts, and they mouth great, swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. 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. 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. 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. Gracious and Heavenly Father, we ask in this hour again that you would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, minds that would understand, and hearts that would take hold of all that you have to say to us in your holy word this day, that we might think and act in ways that are according to your word, and please and bring glory to your great name. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. So just to recap, I know I don't expect anybody to remember the points of the sermon two, three months ago. Just to recap though, the beginning of the book of Jude, we said that there was a faith once and for all entrusted to the saints, that it was a faith worth fighting for, that it is a faith worth fighting for, that it's regularly under threat of attack from inside the church, that false teaching inside the church destroys lives and leads to judgment, but finally, we heard that we don't need to panic about our future because we are, as his children, called, loved, and kept. And that was the why of contending for the faith, of fighting for the faith. Today, we're gonna try to tackle, in as much as we can, the how. we can fight for the faith. And the first thing Jude tells us to do in verses 17 to 19, he says, remember. Remember what the apostles of Jesus Christ foretold. Now, if you recall, looking at the book of Jude, Jude has just spent a whole bunch of time writing a number of examples from the Old Testament, the authoritative word of God. And now, as almost as in the same breath, he stands on the authoritative word of the apostles. He's saying that the apostles have the same authority. And what exactly is it that we're supposed to remember? We're supposed to remember that in the last time there will be scoffers. Jude has been saying and continues to remind us about who it is that harms the church, that does damage in the church. Ungodly scoffers, dividers in the church, people who combine a skeptical regard for the truth with immorality. Right? They have a skeptical regard for the faith once entrusted to the saints, and they combine that with immoral behavior. And the most shocking thing, I think, we need to be reminded of, is that he's talking about people inside the church. It's from within the church. And what are they like? They're people who follow their own ungodly desires. These are people whose theology follows their own ungodly behaviors. like they find theological and biblical reasons to excuse the lifestyle that they want to live, which is actually contrary to the Word of God. Now, we see this in the church today, sadly. The thing about false teaching is that it is attractive. It has to be, or else it wouldn't get so many people to follow it, right? Just try and tell me that Michael Horton and the rest of the R2K sycophants don't present their heretical message in an attractive way. They do. That's why there's so many people in the Reformed church today that follow it and believe it. Why else would so many people buy their books? It's so attractive that even established Christians get taken in. And so the new book comes out, everybody runs over here and buys it, and then another heretical book comes out that presents God in an even more palatable, decisively less biblical way, and Christians love it so much they run out and make it a bestseller. Paul says pretty much the same thing, doesn't he? He says the time is coming when people won't put up with sound doctrine. but instead will only surround themselves with teachers who tell them what their itching ears want to hear. And so the teacher comes along with a newer, more exciting Paul, or even better yet, who promises to take us farther than Paul could take us, and we buy the book and attend the conference, and on and on it goes. And heresy sneaks into the church. Now, what is the heresy? It seems for sure sexual immorality is going on, as mentioned here in verses 4 and 7, but ungodly desires can apply to all kinds of things, right? That can take root in the church and have the veneer of biblical justification. The truth of the matter is there are any number of Christians not guilty of violating the seventh commandment. right, but plenty guilty of violating the 10th commandment over and over, right, covetousness, living lives of greed and gluttony and covetousness and justifying it as a blessing of the Lord, right, turning the gospel of grace into little more than a prosperity gospel. You've heard prosperity gospels, people say this sort of thing, oh, you just have to have faith and trust and then all the blessings will be yours, twisting scripture into a glorified selfishness. It's a false gospel, friends. And there are people who have ungodly desires for power and status, and they can easily dress it up with Scripture about authority and submission, oh, don't touch the Lord's anointed, attempting to lead without an ounce of humility. Oh, Jude mentions specifically sexual sins, but again, there are all kinds of ways we can follow ungodly desires, justifying in ways that lead to a false gospel. So ungodly desires characterize the false teachers, the people spreading the false teaching in the church. There's something else here, though, that I want you to see. They're people who divide you. They are people who divide you, verse 19. And friends, wherever you have people in the church causing division, you've got a first row seat to Satan's work. That's what it does. And of course it happens naturally when a false teacher spews their heresy, doesn't it? Then the false teacher becomes the focal point about arguments and divisions between Christians. I remember in seminary in the early 2000s, many, many, many conversations with the heretics of the day. arguments that I witnessed at seminary about Rob Bell, about Brian McLaren, about Clark Pinnock, with well-intentioned Christians, seminary students, attempting to actually defend these guys, right? They get behind them and they try to defend the heresy, promoting their work, listening to their sermons, buying their books, and then others in the seminary making it their job, that's one of the things I was doing, to denounce them, right? And so you have all these ordinary Christians divided around these popular false teachers. That's what they do. They also, Jude says, follow mere instinct and they don't have the Spirit. Now I find this fascinating because it seems to me with this statement, saying that they don't have the Spirit, Jude is saying, he takes what they often say and flips it on its head. Isn't that right? Because don't false teachers often claim, I'm just following the Holy Spirit here, right? That's what false teachers always say. When in reality, Jude says, they're just following their ungodly desires. And so Jude says, remember. Remember, be ready, be concerned. Don't be alarmed, don't be surprised. Remember, this is what it's gonna be like. This is a key element to how we fight for the faith. Secondly, Jude tells us what we can do for ourselves, and he gives us several things that we can do for ourselves. He says, but you. and he's drawing a sharp line. There's a major contrast. This is them, and now you. This is how you ought to be. You're to be different. Jude tells us what we should do for our own good, verses 20 to 21. With all this danger lurking around inside the church, the question comes, how do we stay true to the faith once entrusted to the saints? And here, I'm struck by what Jude doesn't say. Right? He doesn't say what so many churches and denominations say. Oh, you know what? We should set up an interfaith committee to study R2K theology and make a decision about how we can respond in a way that will offend the fewest people possible. I've seen that happen over and over and over in the church. I remember, maybe, I don't know if any of you remember the Belhar Declaration. It was a heretical document that came out of South Africa. The Christian Reformed denomination that we used to be a part of was once struggling with looking at that, and there were a lot of people that were trying to champion it. There were other people who were saying this is terrible. So what do they do? They set up an interfaith committee, and they study it for years, and then they come out and say, well, you're biblical if you believe it, and you're biblical if you don't. It's just nuts. It's nuts. That's not our call here. That's not what we're called to do. No, instead, Jude gives us four very practical things that all Christians can do. Christian basics, so to speak. Trinitarian in nature. Notice the Trinity in these. He says we're to build ourselves up in faith, pray in the Spirit, keep yourselves in God's love, and wait for the mercy of the Lord Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all throughout. And let's look at those one at a time. First of all, be about the business of building up in the faith. Now I want to recognize right off the bat this is easier said than done. You know if you've ever been to the beach and built a sandcastle, it's a whole lot easier to have some kid come along and smash it to the ground than it is to actually build the thing up. The same thing goes for our faith. It's far easier, far much harder work to be built up than to tear down. In fact, it's easier to tear down just in general, isn't it? It's easier just to be about criticizing, point the finger, point the finger, point the finger and criticize, than it is to actually offer something positive in response. And Jude says we are to be building up in the faith. And when Jude says build yourselves up in the faith, he's talking about the faith. Right, the one mentioned in verse three, the one once entrusted to the saints. So there's a sense in which Jude is not just talking about the subjective strengthening of each one of our individual own personal faith, he's talking about the objective, the faith, the holy Christian faith. How does, Pastor Brett often quotes the Heidelberg Catechism and he says, our undoubted Catholic Christian faith, right? That's what it's talking about, the orthodox truth of God's revelation delivered to us in His holy word of God and above all, His Son, Jesus Christ. Jude says, look, you want to fight false teaching and bad theology? OK, the way you do that is through true teaching and true theology. I remember being surprised when I learned that the counterfeit division of the FBI, they don't study counterfeit bills. They study the actual bills. And they study them, and study them, and study them so well that when a counterfeit comes across them, they can easily detect it. And so it should be with Christians. We ought to know the faith once entrusted so well that when a counterfeit comes along, we can say, this is false. It's not right. And so, we are to fight bad theology with the real thing. We're to fight bad theology with the amazing, life-changing truth that God and His Son Jesus Christ has identified with this poor, struggling world, born in a stable by the Virgin Mary, walking with us in love and works of mercy, dying on a cross to take the weight of sin from us. rising from death to be its everlasting conqueror, ascending to a place of power, sending His Holy Spirit, guiding us, inspiring us, sending us as His representatives into the world until He returns in final judgment and reclaims His people. This is theology, friends. This is what it is. And it's not just head knowledge. Oh, it is head knowledge, but it's more than that. It impacts how we relate to God, how we relate to one another. Do you see? Jude is showing us who God is. He's showing us God as he is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so Jude is all about us as the church being built up in the faith. This is how we will fight for the faith. And I can promise you this, friends. I can promise you there is nothing that a rogue church leader can do if Christians in local churches are getting on with the task of building themselves up in the faith once entrusted. It's our most powerful defense. Next, Jude says, pray in the Holy Spirit. Now, what is this all about? He's not talking just about charismatic stuff, praying in tongues or something like that, no. He's talking about prayer that Christ's own Spirit inspires in our lives as we seek to think God's thoughts after Him. Paul uses the exact same language in Ephesians 6. He says, pray in the Spirit with all kinds of requests. And I believe, I don't have any hard data to back this up, but I believe it. I believe that where false teaching takes over, there's not much real prayer going on. There may be a lot of speaking, there might be a lot of music, there might be a lot of praise, but actual intercession, I think it takes a back seat when false teaching is around. But friends, a major defining aspect of Christ's church is people who pray. In our studies, in our worship, in our individual lives. Notice there's nothing, this is not, Judah's not just giving instructions to pastors and elders here. No, he's talking to us. We, God's people, are supposed to be about this work. Praying consistently with the faith once entrusted. Next, he says keep yourself in God's love. Remember, Judas described us, we've been described as called, loved, and kept. We are loved by God, an amazing thing. And now, Judas calls us to be faithful, stay there. You're in God's love, stay there. Much in the way that Jesus says, if you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love. And so, Jesus tells us that we stay there, we stay in his love by obeying him. We know that God loves us and so we want to stay in that love by obeying God. It's a good test for us. If you ever find yourself tempted, some new temptation creeps into your life, some new teaching comes in and you're tempted to buy into it, ask yourself the question, will this help me abide in the love of God or not? Or will it draw me away from Him? So, Jude calls us to build ourselves up in the faith, to pray in the Spirit, to keep ourselves in God's love through obedience, and finally, he says, to wait for the mercy of Christ Jesus. Be patient. Wait. This is not a sprint, friends. The Christian life is not a sprint. It's a marathon. It's a lifelong thing. And the truth is we have to be patient because the Christian life is not just about instant solutions to problems here and now. It's about hope. It's about the future, which holds the same thing that we see in our past when God loved and called us, which is the mercy of God. That's what Jude says. The mercy in our past, the mercy of God which sent Christ to the cross, and our future holds the mercy of Christ that will be there for us when he returns. So as a people, we need to be a people who can think long term, which is hard to do when we live in a culture that has the attention span of a gnat, right? When we live in a culture that gets bored with any discussion that lasts longer than 30 seconds, we have to be different, friends. Jude says there is mercy for those who remain faithful to Christ's teaching. So Jude says, you want to fight for the gospel? You want to fight for the truth? Do you want to be about God's building project? Then pray, keep yourself in God's love, wait for the mercy of Jesus Christ, because in contrast to the judgment that awaits the false teachers, there is mercy for those who remain faithful to Christ's teaching, and wait and hope in Him. Thanks be to God. So four things. Build yourselves up, pray in the Spirit, remain in God's love, wait for the mercy of Jesus Christ. So the question comes, how are we doing? How are we doing? Are we building ourselves up? Hopefully we'll take this very seriously. Again, I was a part of the Christian Reformed denomination for many, many years, and one of the things that brought no small amount of sorrow to my heart was, as a denomination, to see adult education virtually dead. No, you never knew that because Pastor Brett has a deep biblical concern to see us built up in the faith. And so Sunday school happens, right? We have it on a regular basis. But I went to so many different churches where they had no adult education at all. None. No Bible studies, no Sunday school, nothing. It was almost as if they finished their catechism when they turned 18, made profession of faith, and then they somehow graduated, like, I've arrived, I don't need anymore. And then I saw lots of them graduating right out of the faith. And I often wondered how much attention did they really pay when they were being catechized, because many of the folks 10 years out, if you ask them about it, the only thing they can remember about the catechism is maybe a few lines from question and answer one. And they also remembered that they didn't want to be in catechism in the first place. I think I've told this story here before, but there's a story about a pastor who had a congregant who had kind of stopped coming to church for a minute, several weeks, and so he decided to pay this parishioner a visit. It was a cold, snowy winter evening. He shows up, there's a blazing fire in the fireplace, he sits on the chair that was offered him, and he says nothing. Doesn't say a word. That would be awkward, wouldn't it? And then he gets up and goes to the fire, he grabs the tongs, he grabs an ember from the fire, burning, you know, red hot, right? Moves it over to the side, away from the fire, still in the fireplace, moves it to the side, sitting there watching it as the fire slowly dies out, and the ember goes from red to darker color to suddenly, now it's completely black, and it's out. Then the pastor gets up and he goes and he takes the tongs and he takes the ember and he puts it back on the fire and before you know it, it bursts back into flames and it's a glowing red all over again. And he gets up and asks for his coat to leave and his host says, thank you pastor for the fiery sermon, I'll be in church next Sunday. Right? But the point is, as soon as we think we know everything, as soon as we stop believing that we need to grow, we're gonna burn out. Right? And this is all, in Jude, is all in the plural. We need to help each other. Jude says build yourselves up, plural. And so we do well to join the fight for the truth when we build ourselves up, when we take on these tasks as God's people together. Third, what we do for the good of others, verses 22 to 23. what we do for the good of others. See, Jude now goes from what we're to do for ourselves to what we're to do for other people. And Jude is calling us, verses 22 to 23. In this version, it talks about having compassion. On some, have compassion. That's often translated as mercy. Jude is calling us to have mercy on other people, compassion. And who are we to have mercy for? Well, those who are in the church and on the fringe. These people whom Jude calls doubters, those people who are on the edge of following some new teaching, or those who have backslidden, those who know the truth but for whatever reason they've gone their own way. Jude says don't ignore them, serve them, have compassion, work to get them back. And that term compassion or merciful, it's mentioned twice. Why so much mercy? Well, I think it can only be because we have been the recipients of so much mercy, right? And so who are we to not show it to others? This means, friends, putting ourselves in the pain and the questions and the doubts of those who are in the church. And of course, there are people at different times of life who end up with questions and pain and doubts. And so show mercy, says Jude. I found in my own life, and it's sin, but I found sometimes it's so easy to become angry about false teaching and ungodly immorality in the church that all of my speaking and attitudes can become threatening and hostile and actually downright scary. It can be true of many people in the church, but it doesn't rescue people. It doesn't rescue people, and so Jude says, show mercy. Now, I'm not saying, please don't walk away from here saying, oh, Pastor Sam just says be nice all the time. That's not what I'm saying, and I don't believe that's what Jude means. Right? It doesn't mean that we don't use strong language fighting for the faith. We are called to denounce false teaching and teachers that would lead people to destruction. But when we consider those who have been led astray by those false teachers, when others doubt because of false teaching, Jude says, as a people who have received mercy and hope for mercy in the future, be a people who show mercy. He also says, be bold. He says, snatch others from the fire. See, this is not just a case of sitting back and hoping against all hope that those who drift away will suddenly come back again. No, we got a job to do. It's work. And it's dangerous work, right? Because to be someone who calls themselves a professing Christian and yet being reluctant to submit to the Word of God, to adopt some kind of heretical teaching, that's playing with fire, friends. And so we need to be about We need to be properly equipped. We need to be built up in the faith. Once entrusted to the saints, we need to have that hard hat of prayer, like a helmet on the head, because we're entering into a danger zone. We need to be bold, yet cautious, fearful, and trembling, built up first, because we can get caught up in the same sin of those to whom we're ministering. So we need to be aware. It's a serious thing. And do you see, there's an order there, there's mercy, save, snatch them from the fire, show mercy, then hate, right? Again, as we heard in the earlier part of the book, fighting for the faith and loving others are not antithetical. Did you hear that? Fighting for the faith, being someone who is a warrior, Right, and loving the Lord Jesus is not, and loving others is not antithetical. The world is gonna try to tell you different, and sadly many churches will try to tell you different. That the only way to do this is to just play nice all the time. That's bull. The one who loves the Lord Jesus will be the one who cannot tolerate the corruption of his holy word. So again, question comes, how are we doing in the call that Jude gives us? Who are the people that God's put on our hearts? Will we show mercy? Will we be compassionate, praying through their names, asking God to give us the boldness to speak to them, to use us to snatch them from the fire, even as we hate the wretched teaching and teachers that drew them into fire in the first place? Who knows how God will use you to bring him glory to the praise of his glorious grace. So Jude says, remember, he gives us four things to do for ourselves, three things to do for others, and lastly, two things that God will do for us in Christ. Two things that God will do for us in Christ. Verses 24 and 25. And he's really answering the question, how do we keep on doing it? How do we stand up to the pressures from outside? How do we stand up to the pressures from inside the church? And Jude gives us this beautiful doxology, which gives us two things that God will do, one now and one in the future. Jude says, don't worry, we can keep on because we have a God who is keeping us from falling. Now that phrase comes from horseback riding, is the idea. It's from being sure-footed on treacherous ground. And I hope you hear that this little letter begins and ends with a God who is able. Thanks be to God. He is able to keep you from falling. And even if we do fall, He is a God who is able to pick you back up and get you back in the race. Get you back in the fight. And that ought to be encouraging words. for people who have just heard how dangerous church life can be. And not only is he able to keep us to the end, secondly, he's able to present us to God without fault and with great joy. Now let that sink in for a second. You're gonna be presented before the Father without fault, faultless before God, and with great joy. If that doesn't make us want to fall on our knees in worship, I don't know what will, right? Presented faultless before God, not because we never sinned, no, but because God will one day look at His chosen people and see them in Christ so that His righteousness is ours. Right? God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed in scripture alone, to God alone be the glory. He'll present us before him without blemish or fault. We will be changed. No matter how guilty or stained we may be, through Christ we will be made completely new. all because our only God and Savior has called, loved, and kept us, and paid the ultimate price that His people might be presented without fault and with great joy. So take courage, friends, because our God will hold us through to the end. May we live with courage because of this great truth. that we might become His faithful warriors, fighting for the faith to the praise of His glory and grace. In Jesus' name we pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that You speak to Your people, that You have spoken to Your people. And we ask, O God, that you would so shape and change and mold us that day by day we would look more like your Son, Jesus Christ, faithfully being a people of prayer, faithfully being a people built up in the faith, faithfully being a people who show mercy to others, snatching others from the fire, that you might be glorified and that we as your people might be built up. We pray it all in Jesus' name. Amen.