The Epistle of Jude.
Introduction
We're going to focus primarily this evening on Jude verse 3, contending earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. I do, however, want to read the entirety of the epistle as we will look to verses 3 and 4 specifically, but then also notice verses 20 and 21. So I'll just begin reading in verse 1 of Jude. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ.
Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
And the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise, also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority and speak evil of dignitaries. Yet Michael, the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke you.
But these speak evil of whatever they do not know, and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are spots in your love feasts while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds, late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame, wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 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.
Let us pray. Father, we rejoice in Your goodness. We rejoice in Your kindness. We rejoice in the written Word.
We pray now that Your Spirit would guide us and lead us into truth. We pray that You would again forgive us for sin and its darkening influence over our minds. Grant us the grace to receive with gladness Your Word. And grant us grace to receive with a desire to implement it.
And we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Well, as I said, we're going to focus primarily this evening on Jude, verse three, and the command there that we contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. B.B. Warfield, in an article or an essay entitled The Dogmatic Spirit, said this.
He said, What is called the dogmatic spirit is not popular among men. It is characterized by an authoritative method of presenting truth. by an unwillingness to modify truth to fit it to current conceptions, by an insistence on what may seem to many minor points. He goes on to say, it is irritating to men. They would rather discuss truth than receive truth.
That's a very perceptive statement written obviously several years ago, but perhaps even more fitting in our own day and age. You can insist upon anything in today's political and even religious climate. It's almost like we're living under a pantheon, where whatever God you may have, that's simply okay. But when you insist on Jesus Christ alone, when you insist on grace alone and faith alone, then automatically you're tarred and feathered and branded as one who has that dogmatic spirit, one who's a bit of a bigot, one who's a bit prejudicial, one who really is not with it or with the spirit of the age.
Well, Jude would have nothing of such an attitude. He wants us to have the dogmatic spirit. He wants us to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. That is the point of this small book in God's Holy Word.
So tonight we're going to do three things. First, we're going to consider the command of verse 3. Secondly, the reason for the command. I understand it's a very similar outline to this morning, different text, but the same sort of an idea.
A command stated. Secondly, a reason given. And then thirdly, the means of defense. the apostle, or rather the brother, half-brother of our Lord Jesus. That's who Jude was, the brother of James.
James, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus. He not only tells us what we're supposed to do, but he also gives us a means by which we can be inoculated from the attacks of apostates, or defectors from the truth. Now, notice first, the command stated, it is addressed to the beloved. It's very important that we get that.
He is not writing to the seminary at this particular instance. He is not writing to a Christian think tank. He's not writing to the intellectuals among a certain body of believers. Beloved are identified in verse one.
They are those who are called, those who are sanctified by God the Father. They are those who are preserved in Jesus Christ. In other words, this command is given to Christians. If you are a Christian, then you must heed the command of verse 3.
It is simply not an option. Now, I realize that there are certain men gifted in this area of polemical theology. That means to take a stand against the detractors. It's those who are on the front lines.
I think of James White. He's an elder in a Reformed Baptist church in Phoenix. He heads up a ministry called Alpha and Omega. He's on the front lines.
He's debating Muslims. He's debating Catholics. He's debating a whole host of people that have defected from the truth of Christianity. And while there may be some specialists, that does not militate or that does not get rid of the imperative for each and every one of us.
In other words, you cannot reason, well, my pastors or my elders or the deacons in our church, they're really good contenders for the faith. Or James White, he's a Reformed Baptist and he's out there, so I don't have to do it. That is simply unacceptable. Every single Christian is obligated to this particular command.
We see a similar thrust in first Peter, chapter three, first Peter, chapter three, a classic passage dealing with Christian apologetics. You notice in first Peter, chapter three, verse 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." He hasn't stopped writing to the entirety of the church. He hasn't said, now I want to just address the doctors of theology. I just want to talk to the men who are on the blogs.
I just want to address those guys who are in the front line. No, he's talking to every single Christian. This is absolutely crucial. And for you young people, this is one of the reasons why we urge you to pay attention, to listen, take in the scripture.
As you grow up in this world, there will be many opposers, many people who will say, How in the world can you believe such things? How in the world can you be convinced that your Bible is indeed the word of God when there's all these other competitors? Well, you need to be ready for that. You need to always be ready in the language of 1 Peter 3.
It's not just when you're on your game, but it might be when you're off your game, but somebody will come to you and ask you specific questions. Young people, old people, we need to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ so that we can obey God and contend for the faith. that was once for all delivered to the saints. Now, notice back in Jude three, the specific command. He says, I exhort, or I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you.
Love the language that he uses here. I don't get much into word definitions and all of that unless they bear on the text very specifically. This exhortation means to urge, to encourage, to beseech. It is the word used of speeches of leaders and soldiers who urge each other on.
So Jude intended to write to them concerning their common salvation. But when he took pen to paper, he found it necessary to sort of change directions, if you will. When I took the pen to the paper, I felt it necessary to exhort you, to urge you, to call upon you as a leader to the troops. This lexicon goes on to say it is used of words that sent fearful and hesitant soldiers courageously into battle.
So, Judah's functioning here as a general, rallying the troops, that they may not just sit and enjoy their salvation, but within the Roman Empire, where God had placed them, in that pluralistic society, they would not just say that Christianity is one way of many, but they would have that dogmatic spirit. They would pound their pulpits and they would contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. So he exhorts them. Notice as well, he tells them to contend for the faith.
This means to struggle for, to contend for, to exercise great effort and exertion for something. Again, I believe the language implies vigor and zeal. This truth is not only worth living for, it's worth dying for, and it's certainly worth fighting for. If you're going to get so fired up about whatever else, perhaps you can take some of that energy, some of that zeal, some of that fervency, and pour it in to your Christian faith.
You need to contend. You need to get fired up. You need to be about facing the opposition. You need to be what Warfield described here.
It is characterized by an authoritative method of presenting truth. We're not offering one way among many. We are offering the one way alone. Our Savior laid plains to exclusivity.
It wasn't the church that developed this later on. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Before Jesus, Elijah at Mount Carmel said, How long will you falter between two opinions? If Baal is God, serve him.
If Yahweh is God, serve him. In other words, fish or cut bait. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 12, 30. He who is not with me is against me.
Brethren, Jude wants us to contend. He wants us to struggle. He wants us to exercise great effort and exertion for something. The word was used of athletic contests and the struggle and effort for the athletes in their games.
You don't go out in a running race and just kind of meander about. But how many of us as Christians just kind of meander about? We come on Sunday and we hear the word of God. Hopefully we're reading our Bibles Monday through Saturday in private.
Hopefully as families we're rehearsing the great truths of redemptive religion. And why? Just so we can go through the motions, or so that we can contend for that faith, so that we can seek to inoculate our children, so that we can be a positive influence on society at large, so that we can shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation, and genuinely hold forth the word of truth. Perhaps we're not holding forth that word of truth more so because we're ignorant and lazy and not applying ourselves to the study of scripture, to its intake, to its assimilation, so that we may then be able to teach and instruct others.
And when he says, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith. He doesn't mean your subjective belief in the gospel. You need to contend for that. You need to fight for that.
You need to make sure you're always looking to Jesus. You need to believe on the Lord Jesus, not just initially, but constantly. You need to look at the cross. You need to be cross-centered in all of life.
But when he says, I want you to contend for the faith, he is talking about the objective system of revealed truth. He is talking about the Bible. He is talking about the fact that God has spoken. that God has revealed himself propositionally through the Old and the New Testaments. Listen to another contender for the faith, J.
Gresham Machen. He said, in the first place, a true Christian church, now as always, will be radically doctrinal. Man, we need to hear this. Maybe not we specifically.
I think we at least have a... We're not where we ought to be, but I think we've heard these sorts of things before. But much of the church today is about experience. It's about what can I get.
It's about how you make me feel better. How you pander to my felt needs. Machen is absolutely correct. The first place or in the first place, a true Christian church now, as always, will be radically doctrinal.
He says it will never use the shibboleths of a pragmatist skepticism. It will never say that doctrine is the expression of experience. It will never confuse the useful with the true. It's been confused today.
True is no longer important, but what works? How do we get people in? How do we build our churches? How do we make people happy?
Wait a minute. Just a moment. Is what you're doing true? That's the primary concern.
That's what Machen points out. It will never confuse the useful with the true, but will place truth at the basis of all its striving and all its life. He says, into the welter of changing human opinion, into the modern despair with regard to any knowledge of the meaning of life, it will come with a clear and urgent message. That message it will find in the Bible, which it will hold to contain not a record of man's religious experience, but a record of a revelation from God.
Amen and amen. Notice as well. I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend, not only to contend for the faith, but to do it earnestly. They are not to be slack or lazy.
It is not to be haphazard. It is not to be if you feel like it. It is to be an earnest contention for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. You're to defend this doctrine with vigor. you to treat it as the very soul of godliness to fight for what is right.
Brethren, we are called upon in this particular letter and in various other portions of Scripture to be excited about the truth of God. Again, not excited about what God is doing to me. That's a good thing. I don't want to negate that.
But excited that God is that he has revealed himself in the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments. We have the very revelation of God Most High. It's worth fighting for, it's worth contending for, and it's worth doing it zealously. C.
H. Spurgeon said, remember that our Bible is a blood-stained book. The blood of martyrs is on the Bible, the blood of translators and confessors. He says the doctrines we preach to you are doctrines that have been baptized in blood.
Swords have been drawn to slaying the confessors of them. And there is not a truth which has not been sealed by them at the stake or the block where they have been slain by the hundreds. It's a blood stained book. And we're going to come along and limp-wristedly try to argue very feebly for the truth of Christianity.
God calls us in our thinking to be men. God calls us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. God tells us to confront the unbelief of our age, not with our experience, not with our feelings, not with what we think, but with the truth of Holy Scripture. That's what Jude is communicating here.
Samuel Miller said the church has to fight for every inch of ground, and whenever she ceases to contend for the truth, she ceases to advance. It's a great statement. She may contend with an improper spirit. If she does this, it is her mistake and her sin.
But to contend no more is to disregard the command of her master in heaven and betray his cause to the enemy. The church must contend. She must, in the language of Samuel Miller, fight for every inch of ground. Whenever she ceases to contend for the truth, she ceases to advance.
If it's only about social relationships, if it's only about feeling good, if it's only about a little boost in the arm so you can enter into another work week, there's any number of social organizations out there that will fit that bill. The thing that binds us together is the truth of God's unchanging word. And Jude tells us to contend for it. Notice, secondly, the reason that he gives.
If this was a perfect world, we wouldn't have to contend. Because in a perfect world, everybody would acknowledge the Trinity. Everybody would acknowledge justification by faith alone. Everybody would acknowledge.
Those things most surely believed among us, but the fact that there are apostates necessitates the church engaged in contending earnestly for the truth of for the faith. Notice verse four begins with four, which is a reason you need to do this for certain men have crept in on notice. who long ago were marked out for this condemnation on godly men who turn the grace of our God in the lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So you see that necessitates an offensive plan on the part of God's people. You need to be on the lookout.
You need to be watchful. You need to be mindful. Certain men have crept in unnoticed. They don't generally walk in holding a sign saying, I'm an apostate and I want to take you to hell.
That's not generally the way they operate. When you look at other passages in the scripture, Paul speaks of those who pray on women who are laden with lusts. They don't just wander in and say, here's my agenda, here's my hope, here's my intent. No, you need to understand the Christian truth so that when somebody comes and deviates from it and starts to try and lead others away, you're guarded, you're watching out, you're protected.
Notice his description of these apostates. He says, first, they are sneaky. Certain men have crept in unnoticed. Again, as I said, they don't walk in and say, here's my agenda.
Here's how I want to take you all down to hell. Here's how I'm going to try and get you to deny the Lord Jesus with me. That's not the way they operate. Very often, it's all in the guise of piety and in godliness and in a higher, better way to do what you are called to do.
So beware. Notice, secondly, they are ungodly man. You see, the truth is, is that truth accords with godliness. First Timothy six, verse three.
If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with godliness. He is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words. What we believe concerning God affects the way we live. And these apostates, because they have rejected truth, because they have rejected sound doctrine, because they have rejected good theology, what is the result?
They are ungodly men. They're ungodly in their thinking, and therefore they're ungodly in their living. Remember that pattern in Romans 1, verse 18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man.
There is specific precision in that order. Ungodliness precedes unrighteousness. What we believe concerning God affects the way that we live. with reference to God and these men having rejected sound theology, these men having rejected good exegesis, these men are now ungodly men. Notice their specific error according to verse 4, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness.
They are perverters of the grace of God. The specific example, we don't have it here, but we can only imagine. They added works. They abused grace.
They said we can continue in sin that grace may abound. Paul had to counter such thinking in Romans six. May it never be. There's a whole host of ways that men pervert the grace of our God who turn it into lewdness.
And notice the core. They deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. A denial of Christ turned back for just a moment. The second John.
Second, John. Verse six, this is love that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.
This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we do not lose those things we work for, but that we may receive a full reward. Notice verse nine, whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the father and the son.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house or greet him. For he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. Perhaps you've met somebody before. They're not a Christian, but they believe they have a relationship with God.
And you mentioned something about Jesus Christ. And they say, well, that's good for you. But I have my relationship with God another way. Well, according to John in this defining text for the Christian church, to deny Christ is to deny the father.
You do not have access to the one true and living God apart from the only mediator. the only Redeemer of God's elect, even our Lord Jesus. If you have no Christ, you have no God the Father. So these apostates that Jude is warning the people of God about in the first century are those who have denied the Lord Jesus Christ. You can read 1st and 2nd John.
He deals with that whole thing called Antichrist. And a lot of us or a lot of people believe it's some malevolent figure in the future that's going to do horrific things. But John says there are many antichrists. He speaks of them presently plaguing the churches.
Antichrist was more than likely a heresy which denied cardinal truths concerning the Lord Jesus. Enough time, but Warfield actually has a great treatment on that whole issue of antichrist. So the reason is the presence of apostates. He describes the apostates, but he also wants to encourage them that the apostates will meet their end.
They will meet their doom. God knows how to deal with apostates. Second, Peter two reads very similarly to the epistle of Jude, and he basically says the very same thing. Notice in verse five, he reminds them concerning Egypt.
I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward, destroyed those who did not believe. Why is he adding these examples of judgment? Because while it is necessary for us to be on our guard, we mustn't be paralyzed. We mustn't be so afraid.
You ever meet those Christians who will never do anything because it's only destined to fail? Well, God, through Jude, is telling us and reminding us that he took care of the Egyptians. Notice he took care of the angels who did not keep their proper domain. Verse six, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
So be cautious, be on your guard, be earnest contenders for the faith, but don't be paralyzed. Don't adopt that mentality that says, why polish the brass on a sinking ship? This ship is God's, and God has called us to shine as lights in this crooked and perverse generation, holding forth the word of truth. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3 that we are to consider the long suffering of the Lord to be salvation.
What's his point? The point is that since Christ has not returned, that means there are sinners to be saved. And so do not, in all of your being cautious, in all of your being watchful, in all of your being careful, don't be paralyzed. Right?
You've got these three examples. Egypt. the angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 7, as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Yes, be cautious, but don't be paralyzed.
The Lord God knows how to render judgment upon his enemies. The Lord God has this all under control. The Lord God is sovereign. And while men may rise up and while there will be opposition, King Jesus has promised to build his church.
And he said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So be cautious, be on guard, but be faithful to your calling in this world. And then he describes these apostates in vivid detail, verses 8 to 16. You can look at that later.
But now notice thirdly and finally, the defense means of defense that he gives us. And just before we get to the actual, the one thing he does tell us that we ought to consider in verse 17. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus. 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. So before we get to the particular means that I want to draw our attention to in verses 20 and 21, just remember this. This is an unforeseen. This isn't dropped out of nowhere.
I mean, you shouldn't just freak out at the existence of these apostates. Remember the words of our Lord Jesus. Remember the words of the of the apostles. They forewarned us.
They told us these things. In fact, Jude is in good company. Jesus Christ warns against false prophets in Matthew chapter seven. He warns his disciples against the leaven of the Pharisees in Matthew six.
Revelation chapter 2 and 3, he comes to the seven churches and he condemns them for their entertaining of false doctrine. The Apostle Paul, remember in Acts 20, when he's addressing those Ephesian elders, he tells them, he says to take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. He says, shepherd the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. And one of the reasons he gives this command is because that after he leaves, savage wolves would rise up from among their own ranks, not sparing the flock.
You see, the apostles, the Lord Jesus, the history of Israel in the Old Testament underscores this truth, that wherever the truth of God is, there will be opposition to it. So don't freak. Don't abandon ship. Don't be so taken unawares that you are paralyzed.
You beloved, remember the words which were spoken. Consider the scriptures. Look at the opposition that Micaiah the prophet faced. Look at how he had to deal with Ahab, king of Israel.
Look at Jeremiah. I mean, he gave specific counsel to kings that just rejected everything he said and ended up putting him into prison. Consider the prophets. Consider the apostles.
Consider the life and the ministry of our Lord Jesus. Don't be alarmed. Don't be shocked. Be on guard.
Be cautious. Be ready. But realize that there will be attacks. to the doctrine of Scripture. Now, notice the specific means verses 20 and 21.
There is one command in the text. Verse 21 begins with it. Keep your cells in the love of God. That is the only imperative in verses 20 and 21.
You have an imperative or a command, and then it's surrounded by other words that describe how you are to keep yourself in the love of God. You see, God doesn't just say through Jude, keep yourself in the love of God. Now go figure it out. What does that mean?
I got to climb up to Mount Shan to get close to God and chant and hum and, you know, eat berries and fruit. No, God tells you how to keep yourself in the love of God. But just look at that for a moment in verse 21. The best defense is to stay close to God.
Right. The best defense against these sneaky, ungodly, grace-perverting, Christ-denying apostates is to stay close to God. It's like having a bodyguard and somebody's threatening you. You're going to run and stand behind the bodyguard.
You're going to let him fight your battles for you. The best means of protection for both individual Christians and churches of Christ is to keep themselves in the love of God. The more we keep ourselves in the love of God, the closer communion we maintain with God, the more full of God we are, the less likely we will be to fall into heretical doctrine and wicked practice. Also, the closer we are to God, the more we keep ourselves in the love of God, the more earnestly, guess what, we will contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
We have the command, we have the imperative, we are to keep ourselves in the love of God. How are we to comply with this? How does one keep himself in the love of God? Well, it obviously presupposes that you're a Christian.
It obviously presupposes that you're born again. It obviously presupposes that by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, you are saved. You have passed from darkness into light. You have passed from death into life.
And as a believer on the Lord Jesus, God has ordained certain means for your health and your strength and your well-being as a Christian. Again, this is a great way to enter into 2011. You're not going to get any strange views out of Jude. He's going to tell you three simple ways to keep yourselves in the love of God.
And the first is build yourselves up in your most holy faith. What is Jude saying? Read your Bible. That's it.
We don't have any exegetical gymnastics to do. How do you keep yourself in the love of God? Build yourself up on your most holy faith. Read your Bible.
Know the scriptures. Study the word. Listen to good sermons. Make sermonaudio.com one of your links, one of your favorites.
Find a preacher that stirs up your soul and feeds you the truth and glut yourself on that message. Have a systematic approach to reading your Bible. God willing, next Lord's Day, there'll be a bunch of Robert Murray McShane calendars. That's not the only way to read the Bible.
If you would like to apply that, please take one. You basically read through the Old Testament once and the New Testament Psalms and Proverbs twice in a year, four chapters a day. Sometimes people say, well, that's so much. People that read that much in newspapers, or that much in sports, or that much in recipes, or that much in home decor, whatever it is that interests you, you will read.
Certainly, as redeemed believers, you ought to read the Word of God. Build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Nurture your soul. Be like that man in Psalm 119.
Delight yourself in the truth of God. Be like the man of Psalm 1. How blessed is that man! He is like a tree firmly planted by the waters.
It yields its fruit and its season. That imagery is picked up in Revelation 22. The whole idea is one of fruitfulness and zeal and productivity for the Lord God. Well, how does that happen?
You just lay on your couch, brother, and build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Some self-denial is in order. Read your Bible. Deny yourself other things that you might want to do and do what you know you should do for the good of your soul.
This is a means by which we keep ourselves in the love of God, building yourselves up on your most holy faith. Read good theology. It's always a danger in reading devotional books, because you'll read another man's thoughts on a text. You should first read a bunch of texts before you read another man's thoughts.
Get into the scripture. But if you are disciplined and you do have time, get a good book on theology. Get a good book on the system of Christian truth. Learn about the scriptures.
Learn about God. Learn about redemption. Learn about man. Learn about salvation and all those things.
Learn first and foremost about the Lord Jesus. Study his person. Study his work. Go back to the early creeds and realize that he is one glorious person in two natures, that he is the God man.
The works of the Lord are great, they are studied by all who delight in them. Redemption ought to be the greatest of works for the believer and he ought to study that. Should it be foreign to you? And we mentioned certain theological words or doctrinal statements.
You should be familiar with the Confession of Faith, the 1689 London Baptist. It is a good ready guide of those things most surely believed among us. It's not on par with the Scripture, but it summarizes those great truths of Scripture. Study the Word of God.
Notice, secondly, how do we keep ourselves in the love of God? Well, we read our Bibles and we pray. We pray in the Holy Spirit. See, Judas is out here in the esoteric realm of super extra spiritual Christianity.
He's right here in the house, in the church, in the home, in everybody's life and saying, look, there's no brain surgery involved here. You have to be a rocket scientist. You're not splitting the atom as a Christian, man. Sometimes we make it so hard.
It's 40 days of prayer and fasting, if you want to do that, I don't see anything forbidding it. You know, each and every day, take some time out to open your Bible, to carefully read it. That's what God calls us to, just a regular, everyday, normal guy approach to the scriptures. If it comes to pass that you never revert off systematic theology, but you have faithfully read the scriptures.
Praise God. You've never read all of morning and evening. You can still go to heaven. Joe, of course, you can still go to heaven without having read morning and evening.
But prayerfully search the scriptures, search the scriptures prayerfully. So what happens, sometimes men search the scriptures without prayer and they end up in weird places. They end up in strange doctrines and strange views. You need to prayerfully go to the Word of God.
That little pamphlet in the back on the Bible by C.H. Spurgeon, he makes the point that if you are reading a book by an author who lived next door to you and you didn't understand a certain point, you would walk out your front door, you would go across his lawn, you would go up to his door and knock and say, what do you mean by this? You can do that as a Christian. God, give me light on this particular passage.
Give me light on this particular doctrine. What happens is we don't get it immediately and we conclude that he's not going to do it. No, work at it. Stay with it.
The scripture, the confession makes it clear that not everything, and Peter even says this, not everything is as clear. Those things necessary for God's glory, man's salvation, they are clear. Some of those other areas that we stumble upon, other areas that we stub our toes on, other areas that we bump into other believers on. Prayerfully search the Scripture.
Wait on the Lord. Ask Him to guide you and give you grace. Search maybe other good theologies, other good doctrines, other good writers, other good men. But the point is, pray.
Pray that God will guard you, that God will keep you, that God will watch over you. It is not the case that a man wakes up one day and says, I'm going to go be an apostate. I'm going to deny the Lord Jesus. I'm going to sneak into a church and try to destroy it.
I'm going to be ungodly. I'm going to pervert the gospel of the grace of God. That doesn't happen. It's usually gradual.
It's by steps. He leaves off prayer. He leaves off reading. He leaves off those means that Jude is putting forth there that keeps oneself in the love of God.
You see, it's not magic. Keep yourselves in the love of God this way, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, and then thirdly, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. I actually think the idea here is having a hopeful expectation of the second coming. Live with watchfulness.
Live with hopefulness. Live with a holy expectation of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Eschatology ought to promote careful living. Eschatology ought to promote a nearness to God.
If your eschatology is at a distance from God or questioning God or searching charts and whatever before God's word, your eschatology is probably wrong. The hope-filled believer is looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. I think this is the idea that Paul alludes to in Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2.
Verses 11 to 14, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Christian is one who's looking forward. The Christian is one who, yes, keeps an eye on earth, but he keeps an eye on heaven. He has an eager expectation that his Lord Jesus is coming, and this has a sanctifying influence on his life.
It has an influence on his life of bringing him nearer to God, of keeping him in that sphere of the love of God. He goes on to describe Jesus as the one who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous, for good works." So Jude's answer to the question, how do I guard myself against these apostates? How do I watch over my soul with reference to these seeky, ungodly, grace-perverting deniers of the Lord Jesus? He says, keep yourselves in the love of God.
How do I keep myself in the love of God? Read the Bible, pray, and have a confident expectation in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, brethren, in conclusion, we understand, and we need to understand, that there are recurring attacks on the Christian faith. This is not only confined to the first century.
In our studies in Galatians, we have had cause to reflect on that. The Judaizers came to the churches in southern Galatia, and they said, faith in Jesus is good, but you must undergo circumcision. You must go under the ceremonial aspects of the Mosaic law. That's wrong.
Paul pronounces an anathema on such a doctrine. Paul says that anyone who preaches another gospel to you, let him be damned to hell. And this has not been confined to the first century. Roman Catholicism is not a faith alone religion.
It is a faith plus works. There are several attacks on the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone, operative today. And so the Christian church needs to be on guard. We need to keep ourselves in the love of God so that we may indeed contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Secondly,
Contend in a Christian Manner
we need to remember to contend in a Christian manner. To contend in a Christian manner. Peter says this in 1 Peter 3. The end of verse 15, after setting forth our duty, our responsibility, after saying that we are to always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
This doesn't mean you don't get fired up. It doesn't mean that you don't get earnest. It doesn't mean that there aren't times like when Jesus went into the temple complex and overturned tables. It doesn't mean we're supposed to just lie back and be the most soft spoken people in the world.
But it certainly means that we are to defend in a Christian manner. Quite frankly, a lot of the things that go on today lacks the grace and the charity and the love that ought to typify the Christian church. Maybe sometimes we're repelling unbelievers because they see the way that we treat each other. Just read something interesting about a man by the name of Asheville Green.
He lived in 1762 to 1848. He was a key person in the founding of Princeton Seminary. Princeton used to be a bastion of good theology. It was a place where there was an earnest defense of the Christian faith.
They had a strong and vital polemics department, good systematic theology, men like the Hodges and Warfield. It was a bastion of orthodoxy up until around the turn of the 20th century. But this man, Asheville Green, in 1791, he went on a preaching circuit, and he took tour of colleges in the Northeast. And he did this in order to acquaint himself with the theological landscape of these regions.
There were three primary things that the Presbyterians had to deal with. What was called Hopkinsianism, from Samuel Hopkins. The second was Unitarianism and the third was basic Anglicanism. And so the Presbyterians needed a seminary.
So Ashbel Green goes about to do some research to figure out the theological landscape in these regions. All of that is really beside the point. What interested me was the fact that he set forth or imposed 18 rules on himself before he went on this expedition. He wrote down 18 rules that he imposed on himself before he went on this expedition.
I just want to read four of them. I think they're fitting. The point is, we need to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. We need to do it in a Christian way.
We need to do it, Pauline. We need to do it, Petrie. We need to do it like James. We need to do it like Jesus.
We need to do it like Jeremiah and Isaiah. We don't need to be jerks. That just repels people. Rule number two, let not controversy on religious subjects make me lose my temper or say anything hastily, harshly or severely.
Pray that one in, right? It's not always an easy thing. When we love something and we get fired up about that thing, we tend to get animated. You just heard this morning, man, your ears turned bright red when you referred to that lady this morning.
That wasn't calculated. It just happens. That's a good thing. Let not controversy on religious subjects make me lose my temper or say anything hastily, harshly or severely.
Now, again, you all know the idea here. Jesus pronounced woes on the scribes and Pharisees. There's a place for that, but that was not the overarching characteristic of his ministry all the time. He didn't pronounce woes everywhere he went.
When woes needed to be pronounced, he pronounced them. Rule three, he says, let me not deny any sentiments that I really hold, be the consequences what they may. In other words, let me not compromise. It's a good rule.
Fourth, he says, let me in answering questions or in giving relations and in everything else, keep vigorously and entirely to the simple truth. That's a good rule. And then rule five, he says, let me endeavor to suppress pride and vanity. It's good to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints.
It's good to do that for the glory of God, for the purity of the church, and for the purity of sound doctrine. But I fear at times we might enter into some of these ventures with a desire to win one. It's not wrong to want to win for the glory of God and for the good of the church. It's wrong when it's us that gets the praise.
It's wrong when it's us that is congratulated for our debate tactics or our blog writing abilities or our stringing together arguments. No, Asheville Green is on the right path here. Let me endeavor to suppress pride and vanity. You know, this is a perennial question.
How do we earnestly contend without getting, you know, obnoxious? I don't I certainly don't have that figured out, but I'm convinced that we need to be earnest contenders without being obnoxious. We need to be genuinely Christian. We need to be godly and upright.
We need to be charitable and loving, even in our zeal for the promotion of God's truth. And finally, if you don't know Christ tonight, he is worth living for. He is worth fighting for and he is worth dying for. Come to the Lord in faith.
It's not by works. It's not by what you do. It's not what you perform. It's by God's grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
Believe on him and go from this place and be an earnest contender for the truth. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the emphasis of this man in the first century, an emphasis certainly needed today in our own context. We ask God that you would just bless and strengthen us.
We pray that you would help us to wrap our minds and hearts around good doctrine, help us to understand your word first and foremost for our own. Our own walk with you, our communion with you, and as well, God, that we may be contenders for your faith. We ask now that you would go with your people here. We pray that you would watch over us in this coming week.
Again, Father, we pray for those brethren in our church who have physical need, those who are having struggles and difficulties. We just ask that you would watch over them and bless them and grant them that peace which does surpass all understanding. We ask these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.