Before that word, we are back in the little gym toward the end of the New Testament, the little book of Jude. Because it's been about three weeks, I want to read the introduction again. So I'm going to read from verse 1 down to verse 4, and then we will turn to our text beginning in verse 17. So prepare us now, Lord. We don't want to waste this time. What foolishness it would be to just sit in a building and hear words beating about the air. But we want Your Word through Your Spirit to impact our minds, our souls, our lives, how we believe and how we live. We want them to be shaped by Your truth through Your Spirit that we might live to the praise of the glory of Your grace. So help us now, we pray in Jesus. Amen. Jude opens his letter saying, Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, though I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ." He then spends the bulk of the letter warning us about those teachers, telling us what they're like and the condemnation they bring. Verse 17, "'But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, in the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions. It is these people who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt, save others by snatching them out of the fire, to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh." Here in this God's Word, Lord, make it profitable to our souls. And so we've reached what really is the goal that Jude had in mind all along when he wrote the letter, and that is to exhort us to faithfulness in Christ. You remember, that's what he said he really wanted to write about. Our common salvation, verse 3. But these false teachers came in and they began to pervert the gospel and steal away our joy and confidence in Christ alone. And so Jude felt compelled to warn us about them and to urge us to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. And most of this letter, as you know, has been taken up with that warning. Watch out for these people, he has said repeatedly. But now, He turns back to us with this exhortation to hold fast to the faith that saves and secures us in God's love. And that's what we want to be encouraged by this morning. And so are you ready to be encouraged by Jude? You can respond. Are you ready? Okay. Are you ready to be reminded how faith in Christ secures you in God's love? even in this environment where there are false teachers and false teaching and people are confused all around you. So let's look at his first exhortation. And that first exhortation is, dear church, keep yourselves in the love of God by keeping hold of faith in Christ. Verse 20, but you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Now, I want you to notice there, just structurally, that there's one main command here, but that command comes with three sub-commands that tell us how to do it. The main command is in verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God. Grammatically, that's in what is called an imperative, a command form. But then attached to that one command, there are three helping words, three participles that tell us how to keep the command. And so, how do we keep ourselves in the love of God? We do it by building ourselves up in our most holy faith. Notice the ING, that tells you it's a participle. By praying regularly in the Holy Spirit and by setting our hope firmly on the Lord Jesus and His promised mercy in eternal life. And so just notice, Once again, we have a wonderful series of triads here. I told you before, Jude loves his triads. He loves things in threes. Faith, hope, and love is what he gives us here. And then we also see another triad. I hope you noticed it. There is God, the Father. There is Christ, the Son. And there is the Holy Spirit. Do you see the Trinity there? You ought to just read, looking for the Trinity to show up like that. But notice, We have here this wonderful truth, but what is the main command here? What's the main command? Do you remember it already? Keep yourselves in the love of God. Just say that with me as a reminder. Keep yourselves in the love of God. And by that, he means keep yourselves in that realm whereby gospel faith, you know that you are loved and have been claimed by God and are His. And hasn't Jude been telling us that all along? All the way back to v. 1, he said to those who are called, Beloved in God the Father, love being multiplied to you. V. 3, he says, Beloved, I was very eager to write to you. V. 17, he says, But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles. And then here in v. 20, But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith. Beloved, beloved, beloved. Do you get it? Do you see what he's telling you? If you're in Christ by faith, then you are beloved of God. We talked about this in a previous message, but this is the ground upon which we stand as we hear these commands. So don't obey these commands in hopes that you're doing something to make God love you. Obey them, Christian, as those who are loved by God and called by Christ into a new life of grace with Him. And we'll come back to that. But first, having received this love through faith in Christ, how do we keep ourselves in that realm of experiencing and knowing the love of God? Remember three things. Keep yourselves in the love of God by building yourself up in your most holy faith. Verse 20, building yourselves up in your most holy faith. Now, pay attention to this vital connection between faith on the one hand and the assurance of God's love on the other. How do we know that we're in God's love? by faith in the gospel promise of Christ. Not looking at your belly button and saying, do I feel this? Have I done this? No, no. By faith looking to Christ through the gospel. That's how we get into God's love, His gift. So, how then do we keep ourselves in the experience and confidence of that love? Same way, by building ourselves up in our most holy faith. by continuing in it and being strengthened in it. It's interesting, this word building is not the normal word. It's got a little added part that says this is building on top of something. There's already a foundation been laid and now we're building on top of that foundation. Do you understand? The foundation of all you need has already been laid in Christ. That is so important. 1 Corinthians 3.11, For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ. And so, Christ came and lived and died to secure the eternal salvation of all who believe, so that by faith, when you're joined to Him, you enter into a salvation that is already won. We just celebrated that. So you don't have to go out and create a way to come to God. You just step up on Christ and plant your feet by faith in the finished work He has already done. You know, just come plant your life on Him. But then notice, having planted your life on Him, on this foundation, the Christian faith that results from that is not a static thing. It's not a one and done kind of thing. You know, believe and move on. Now you are engaged in the task of building your whole life upon this faith and upon the Christ you believe. And by the way, you don't even do that alone. All these words, you're probably not surprised to hear, they're all plural in the original, which means that this is something that we do together. Every time we are together like this, we're building each other up, we're encouraging each other in the faith, we're exhorting one another to continue in this faith. And so, building yourselves up in your most holy faith is a group project. It's something we're always doing together as a church, where building is active and intentional. We come into this place ready to build, to build ourselves up by believing and remembering the gospel, and to build one another up through exhortation and encouragement. So, how are you building the faith of your brothers and sisters around you? How are you building your own faith, day after day, continually coming back to Jesus? Notice something else as well. Notice this building project is a holy one. He says, your most holy faith. This faith is holy. Meaning what? Well, meaning it makes us holy. This thrice holy God who is above all things and hates all sin and will soon judge this world in righteousness, this God has taken hold of us in Christ and made us His own. He's made us His own to walk with Him and to know Him and to glorify Him forever. But, if we are to walk with Him, we must be holy as He is holy. What does that mean? Well, to be holy means set apart from sin and set apart for God, dedicated to Him. That's, by the way, why faith always brings repentance. I turn away from sin to walk with God. And so this faith in the holy God works through the Holy Spirit to make us holy, to make us His. And the name of that making us His and making us more like Him is, you guessed it right, sanctification. Growing in holiness. Growing into Christ's likenesses. Listen, that's where our faith leads. That's where faith always leads. Justified by faith alone, we are His. And then growing into the sanctification so we reflect the fact that we are His. And so building yourselves up in your most holy faith means growing stronger in that faith that secures you to God. Growing in your knowledge of the Gospel that brings you to God. Deepening in your trust of Christ through the Gospel that brings you to God. Building your life in practical ways more and more upon Him with this Gospel faith where Christ becomes the center in everything. Helping each other do the same. Helping each other build one another's lives and build our faith and become more like Christ. This is what we're about as a church. That's what you're about as an individual Christian. I hope you understood that. Because it is the knowledge of the Gospel that tells us that we are loved by God and assures us that we truly do belong to Him. And as we grow in the knowledge of the Gospel and more and more understand our place in the midst of the love of God, that's powerful. That's a powerful, gripping force that takes hold of our lives. And so, first, keep yourself in the love of God by building up your most holy faith. But then second, he says, at the same time, keep yourselves in the love of God by praying in the Holy Spirit. Verse 20. Praying in the Holy Spirit. Now what does that mean? Well, it doesn't mean praying in tongues like some think out there. It means consistent prayer by the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in the believer's life. Hey, Christians pray. Growing Christians pray. In fact, I have never met a growing Christian who did not make persistent prayer a regular part of their lives. But how do you pray like that? You see, that's where a lot of us fall short. That's where we get stymied. We feel so very inept at prayer. But that's where the Holy Spirit comes in. Chapter 8, verse 26 says, Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we don't know what to pray for as we ought. Isn't that true? We often don't know what to pray. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words, moving in our spirit, bringing us to God, helping us find the utterance that we need. And he who searches hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Hey, that's the promise. The Spirit leads us in our prayers. And Christian, lean into that. Go to Him and say, I want to pray like that, but I don't know how. So help me, Spirit. Lead me, dear Spirit. And He will. But you must expect that He will, because that's part of faith. You must take Him up on His promise and pray. Pray when you're alone in your room, before you go to bed at night. Pray in your prayer closet. Set your alarm and get up a little early so you can pray first thing in the morning. Pray throughout the day. Set reminders if you need to do that. Get with others and pray. It might be a little uncomfortable at first, but, you know, who cares? Take Him up on His promise and pray. Do so expecting His Oh, there are so many promises for us who will just pray. Join us on Wednesday nights when we pray. Not this Wednesday, that's de-grouped. The next Wednesday we'll be gathered here. Come together. Let's pray. Ephesians 6.18, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end. Keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for the saints. And by those prayers, looking to Him through faith, you will grow in grace. You will. But you have to realize what a benefit prayer is. So the exhortation, brothers and sisters, seek Him for His help. Go and ask Him for more of the Spirit. Keep knocking at His door with unceasing prayer. The only thing that can keep you from praying is the neglect of prayer. Simply choosing not to pray. No, choose prayer. And again, not as some terrible duty that you have to fulfill. I'm not here to put you under a load of guilt. I really want to free you. I want to see you strengthened in the Spirit and secured in your confidence in His love. And prayer is one of the means He uses to do that. I love this from Tom Schreiner in his commentary. He says, Love for God cannot be sustained without a relationship with Him, and such a relationship is nurtured by prayer. Keep yourselves in the love of God through Spirit-enabled prayer. Third, keep yourselves in the love of God by waiting with hopeful anticipation for His promised mercy. Verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Waiting for. That implies that this is something that we're looking forward to. Something that is still out there ahead of us. And so the mercy he's talking about here, the waiting that we're talking about here is for an eschatological mercy. That final mercy, when we will stand before God on judgment day, knowing our sin, knowing our falling short, but confident of His pardon through Jesus Christ. This is the lively hope that Christians have, which John Piper called, hope in future grace. Grace promise, it's out ahead of us, we're moving toward it in our lives, and we know that it is there for us because of His promises. Hope in future grace. Confidence in the Gospel's power to bring the final outcome that we were told we will receive, which is our final salvation. 1 Peter 1.8.9 says, Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Faith in Christ secures us as believers for all eternity so that we can live today in the hope of that future mercy. That's the hope, dear Christian, that gives us confidence to face life's trials. That's the hope that gives us confidence to endure present sufferings. to rejoice when we're persecuted and hated and ostracized by those around us. Matthew 5.12, Jesus said, when those things happen, rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. That hope of final salvation equips the believing saint with the power to live, eyes focused straight ahead, fixed on the promised prize, confident that my sins are forgiven and that one day I will hear Him say, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into your rest. Do you have that kind of hope as a Christian? Where does that come from? It comes from all these things that we've been mentioning. These are all one package, tightly held together. Building yourselves up in your most holy faith. Building yourselves up in this faith that tells you your sins are forgiven, your eternity is sure in Christ, that He is faithful and true and will do it, and that no promise of His ever fails. And you know His promises because you know His Word. That gives you hope. And then prayer without ceasing, looking daily to Him, taking all your trials and pains and sorrows and laying them at His feet, daily seeking and finding Him near. That builds up hope. Hope itself emboldens you to keep coming to Him, to keep praying because you know that He hears you, to keep believing because His promises are true, to keep living with Him in view because you know, you know that He loves you. That's the Christian life. And it also brings us back to Jude's main point. Now what was that again? What's the main command in this passage? What is it? Can you tell me? Keep yourselves in the love of God. Don't move an inch from this gospel confidence that He loves you. And remember again where that starts. This is not you trying to climb your way up into God's love by something you do, by some duty you perform, make Him love you through your efforts. No, if you're a Christian, you're already in that realm of love. He's already placed you there. You're in this realm where through gospel grace, He has put you at the very center of His heart of love. That's the gift that He gives you when you come to Christ. You are beloved. And so, Jude says, having received His love, now remain in that place where you are consciously confident of His love. How do you do that? by making use of these means of grace, building up your holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, waiting in confident hope. This is the daily Christian life, a growing faith together as a church, daily prayer, living with confidence in God's promises. It is by these means that He keeps you in a living, confident experience of His love. But notice I said, He keeps you. And somebody says, well, wait a minute. You just said that we have to keep ourselves. Oh, this is where it gets really good. This is the truly wonderful thing. Look back at verse 1. Verse 1, to those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. Who's doing the keeping there? The Father who loves us, keeps us. And then skip down to verse 24 that we'll get to in a couple of weeks. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling. Who's doing the keeping there? God is. The Father who loves us in Christ. Now put that together with this command to keep yourselves in the love of God and what does that tell you? The way He keeps us is by empowering us to keep on in faith, to persist on in prayer, to live on with hope. So that what we must do is take hold of these gifts that He has given us, these means He has gifted us with, and appropriate them daily into our life. That's how He keeps us. That's the really good news behind this command. We keep ourselves because God is the one keeping us. And God keeps us by keeping us, keeping on in faith, and keeping on in prayer, and keeping on in the hope of His promise. Isn't that what Jesus says in places like John 15, verse 9, "...as the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. I have put you in My love. Now abide in My love." Remain in it. Stay there. Stay where I put you. I brought you into this place through grace so that you can know that you're loved. Now live here. Live in My love by continuing these things that I have given to hold you in My love." That's the encouragement. We have confidence that He will keep us because He is at work through His Spirit leading us in the very things that continually do keep us. But then, from that place of assurance of His love, He now turns to say, we have something we need to do for others who are not in the assurance of that love. Others who have now been harmed. Their faith has been weakened or even shattered by the false teachers. So here's the second thing this morning. As those who are secure in His love through faith, reach out to those whose faith has been perverted or injured or broken by the false teachers. Verse 22. And, he says, have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others show mercy without fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. The church is made up of people, right? Nothing profound there. The church is made up of people. People in all stages of walking with Christ. Some who may not even be walking with Christ. We try to have a regenerate church membership that no one can truly see into the heart. And always, always some who have been influenced or who have even fallen in a pretty bad way for the lies of the false teachers. What do you do with them? What do you do with someone who's getting influenced by false teaching? Well, just write them off? You know, move on? Well, if they can't keep themselves, that's not my problem. No, Jude says, we have a responsibility to go after them. Then he gives three live examples of what he's talking about. So, let's look at it. First, he says, first case, To those who doubt, to those who are limping along in doubt, show mercy, verse 22. You know, as you have received mercy, so you now give mercy. But understand, this is the danger of false teaching. False teachers introduce doubt into the minds of those who are weak in their faith. That's one of the great scourges these days with things like YouTube. All you really need is a camera and maybe a microphone and you can pass yourself off as a knowledgeable Bible teacher that others should follow. And people, because they're always hungry to learn something new, maybe something different, people will listen. The faith of many is shaken. Some, it's even ruined by false teachers. Maybe your faith has been shaken and is suffering because of a false teacher you've been listening to. So what do we do with those who are struggling, who are limping along with an injured faith because of a false teacher? And then they come to you, they come to you and they express those doubts to you. Maybe someone says, you know, I'm just not sure anymore that God's Word is inerrant. You know, that guy on YouTube, he said there's errors and he showed me all kinds of things that I couldn't answer. I'm just not sure I can trust God's Word like I thought I could. Or I'm not sure God's grace is sufficient. And then God is the one who says, maybe there's some works we need to do, maybe some ritual, maybe I need to join this group or that group because they're the only ones through whom God works. Or, I'm not sure of the Bible's morality anymore. I mean, you know, maybe we need a reset. Maybe we need to rewrite the rules. Maybe the translators got it wrong. Maybe the Bible got it wrong. What do you do when that brother or sister expresses it? What do you do when that's your child? Well, slap them upside the head and say, how dare you doubt God's Word? Or something like that. You know, just try to crush the error out of them. Do you know that rarely ever works? Jude says, have mercy on them. They've been confused because they're listening to bad teaching somewhere. What they really do need is someone who loves them enough to come along and patiently restore them to the truth. that need you to come and put your arm around them and speak to them and hear them out. Listen. Sometimes all you do is listen long enough to hear what it is they're really struggling with. It may not even be this thing itself. It's some other thing. Someone's doubting God's sovereignty because their grandmother died in agony with cancer and they don't know how God could do that. And this guy sort of gave an answer that they thought could be. Get at the thing that's causing their doubts. Take time to listen and pray. Take their doubts seriously. This is really troubling them. Deal with it as a real thing to them because at this moment it is. And then patiently, patiently, lovingly point them back to the faithfulness of God and the truthfulness of His Word. And listen, please, congregation this size any given Sunday, There's some of you that are probably struggling with doubts. You've got your doubts and you're afraid to express them. I want to say with absolute clarity, you have doubts, come talk to me. I'm not going to slap you upside the head. I'm not going to tell you you're foolish. The other elders would do the same, many others in this place. In fact, I will tell you, I love people bringing their doubts because a Christian with honest doubts, and that happens, is in a place where God is really going to grow your faith if you're willing to look at the truth. So bring them. Young people, you're struggling with doubts. Talk to mom or dad if they're Christian. Talk to one of us. Those are opportunities to grow in grace. Because there are answers. Let me assure you. We don't have time to do this. We need to move on. But pretty much any doubts you can have, I've struggled with at some point. And I've found God's Word faithful. And so it may be with patient persistence in the truth, you'll win them back and help them restore their faith. Okay, but what if it's more serious than that? What if they've already jumped off the truck? Second, for those who have followed false teachers and are now following them into judgment, go after them. Look at verse 23. He says, further, notice it's a different case, save others by snatching them out of the fire. See, now the stakes are higher. It's not just someone limping along with doubt. This is someone who is plunging into ruin. It's serious. Notice there is fire. And by fire here, he means the fires of hell, the fires of judgment. So there's an urgency here. Truth matters. And gospel truth matters above all because it's life or death for the soul. It's heaven or it's hell. Do you remember one of the themes of Jude has been the terrible judgment that awaits false teachers who pervert the gospel and awaits those who follow them. And so Jude said in verse 4 that they are destined for condemnation. Verse 6 speaks of the judgment of that great day. Verse 7, the coming punishment of eternal fire. Verse 13, the gloom of utter darkness reserved for them. It is no small thing to pervert the gospel because without the gospel no one can be saved. So false teachers who deny the Lordship of Christ, who assure people that there will be no punishment for sin, who deny the necessity of salvation by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone, such people condemn people to hell. This is serious business. So what do you do with a friend, a child, someone you know who has fallen for such lies? Jude says, go after them. Get in their way. Preach the gospel to them. Warn them. Again, there is urgency here. They're not in hell yet. Praise the Lord. So there's still hope, but they are teetering on the edge. And that ought to inflame your prayers. And so you plead with God for their souls. You beg Him to open up a door for the effective communication of the Gospel. You go get help, if necessary, from a friend, an elder, a deacon, a pastor. But you're still going after them. You haven't just written them off. You know, even in cases of church discipline. There comes a place as a church when we must remove people from fellowship who have walked away from the truth or cut themselves off from the church. We're going to have a couple of situations we'll talk about in the meeting this afternoon. But even when we remove them from church fellowship and remove them from membership, that doesn't mean we have simply written them out of our lives and wash our hands and we don't care what happens to them after that. As long as there is breath in their Lungs, we believe there is hope. Even for the singed. I think of Joshua, the priest in Zechariah 3, verse 2, where it says of him, is this not a brand plucked from the fire? You know, he was almost lost. He was in bad trouble. We're going to see that there was sin. But I plucked him out of the fire. Which brings us to the third example. even for those given over, even for those in the midst of soul-destroying sin, continue to hold out redemptive mercy to them. Last lines there, to others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Mercy with fear. Fear of God. Fear of the judgment they're facing if they continue on this path But it's still mercy. I'm still praying. I'm still striving. I'm still calling out to God for them. And yet, sin has deeply stained them and so I can no longer fellowship with them as if they're believers. I can't receive them as believers because by all appearances they are not. At this point, their rejection of Christ has become evident, public even. Maybe they're even living in open, God-denying sin. That's what's implied by the garments stained by the flesh. According to Schreiner, he says the word used here goes back to a Hebrew word in Zechariah 3.4, which is the word for excrement. That's how polluting and corrupting sin is. It's a moral and spiritual filth. Believers must understand this. Lest our mercy be transposed into acceptance of their sin, and we become defiled by the sin of those we're trying to help. Showing love for the sinner does not exclude an intense hatred for the corruption brought about by sin. Believers must beware of getting too entangled with some who sin, lest the sinner influence them, rather than vice versa. Don't compromise the gospel in your effort to reach out to the sinner. Don't you step in their feces and get it on your garments. You know, we see this kind of thing sometimes especially, and I've seen many examples of this, when a child or some loved one comes out as homosexuality or in some other blatant area of sin. And then out of a false sense of love, the believer embraces that person in their sin and affirms them in their sin. But if the warnings of God's Word are true, and by the way they are, that is not love. To affirm someone in soul-destroying sin, to affirm someone in any sin is not loving. No, no. Hate even the garment stained with filth. You see, this is a case of love the sin or hate the sin. I know people abuse that and misuse it. There's ways that people twist that into something silly. But it's true in this case. Love the soul of the one you're trying to reach. Love the potential purity of them getting cleansed. and walking with Jesus and glorifying Him forever rather than facing judgment, but hate the sin that has a strangled hold on them that will kill them and destroy them and drag them into eternity of suffering. Love them enough to warn them, point them to the cleansing power of Christ through repentance and faith. Zechariah 3 goes a little bit further with Joshua the priest who was singed by the fire. And it goes on to talk about his cleansing from sin. It says, Now Joshua was standing before the angel clothed with filthy, you know, feces-covered garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, Remove the filthy garments from him. And to him he said, Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments. I've washed away your sin. Of course, the I here is the angel of the Lord. It's Jesus. I went to the cross to be able to forgive you of your sins, to wash you of your foul uncleanness, to make you new. So don't let someone else's sin lead you into sin. Galatians 6.1, Brothers, if anyone is caught in transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness, but keep watch on yourselves lest you too be tempted. Hold fast to the saving gospel of Christ. Treasure it. Believe it. Stand upon it. Believe it so much that you believe it has power to save even the worst of sinners. Hey, is the gospel really that good? Can the gospel really save sinners? Oh, you bet. It saved you, didn't it? And it's still saving and securing all who cling to it as we keep holding it out to others. Believing in ourselves and holding it out to others. Beloved, verse 20 says, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Father, would you give us this faith, not just the once faith, Though I pray for some here who've never come to Christ, that they would begin with that justifying faith, that look to Jesus on the cross and His finished work, and they would believe that by turning from sin to trust in Him, all their sins are forgiven. and their eternity made sure. Give that kind of faith, but also give us this enduring, continuing faith. As we know that we are loved by You, we are kept in Your love, we walk in that love, we pray according to that love, and we live the kind of lives that magnify You. When we sin, we immediately turn, we confess, we know that we're forgiven, and we hold out that forgiveness for those around us. Lord, for those who have drifted away, for those that we know that are not walking with Jesus, we pray they will be recovered. We pray that will be brought to a genuine saving faith. We pray that you would do this. We pray that you would do it, even now, for the praise of your glory in Jesus. Amen.