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welcome to everyone it's good to be back in the house of our God you can turn in your Bibles to Psalm 31 for our call to worship the first few verses of Psalm 31 Psalm 31 beginning in verse one to the chief musician a Psalm of David in You O Lord I put my trust let me never be ashamed deliver me in your righteousness bow down your ear to me Deliver Me speedily Be My Rock of Refuge a fortress of Defense to save Me For You Are My Rock and my Fortress therefore for your name's sake lead me and guide me pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me for You Are My Strength into your hand I commit my spirit you have redeemed me oh Lord God of Truth amen well please take your hym book and turn to Psalm 103 Psalm 103d as in delta we'll stand and sing this to a familiar tune 103d [Music] children worship for we are and our so the to [Music] all his to his Gra children let us pray our great and Holy Father we thank you for the privilege to gather in your house again on your day with your people we magnify your great and awesome name we confess that you are the most high Father Son and Holy Spirit from Everlasting to Everlasting we bless you and we praise you for the works of creation and Providence we see your goodness and your power and your majesty revealed in these things as well we rejoice in the work of redemption even the Salvation that we enjoy by the Lord Jesus Christ we give praise to you that the son of your love the word became flesh and dwelt among among us we thank you for that life of perfect obedience to the law that death as a sacrifice and substitute on the cross and that Resurrection again the third day and we praise you for the current session now at the right hand of God and we look forward to his return again in glory to judge the living and the dead help us to live in light of these blessed realities help us to Rejoice each and every day to express our gratitude our thankfulness that though we were dead in our trespasses and sins you saved us by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone we know it's not owing to our good works it's not owing to our good decisions but it's base solely and alone upon a sovereign God we thank you that you chose us in him before the foundation of the world and we thank you that in time you sent the spirit and applied these things to our heart and granted us The Graces of faith and repentance so God As we sing tonight as we pray tonight as we consider the word of God tonight may we continually stand in and be amazed at the Amazing Grace of almighty God we ask that you would look with favor upon this congregation we ask that you would bless those who are suffering and tried on a daily basis or a regular basis with the various afflictions and hardships and and and physical problems associated with life in a fallen world for all of us God we pray that you would grant us Grace to grow in our knowledge of the Savior and may these things stabiliz stabilize us and may you cause us to be and to know that you are God to know that you will be exalted among the Nations and all throughout the Earth and father as you give us this Grace as we p uh persevere daily may we know the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us that we might resist temptation and sin that we might pursue those things that are pleasing in your sight and that in these things we would bring Glory To Your Great Name God even praying such we know that we often fall short we know that there is remaining corruption we know that the flesh lusts against the spirit the spirit against the Flesh and these two are contrary to one another so Lord even now forgive us for that corruption forgive us for that that lawlessness and transgression we are called to let our conduct be worthy of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and yet we do fall short so wash Us aresh in that precious blood of the Lamb how we praise you for what the psalmist Expresses in Psalm 130 if you Lord should Mark iniquities oh Lord who could stand but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared and in this we rejoice and God our hearts desire and Earnest please for any and all who've come here tonight still dead in their trespasses and sins that you would awaken them that the Holy Spirit would take the word of the living and true God and produce that or promote that conviction fores said and set before them the glory of Jesus Christ as the one in whom alone there is forgiveness and a righteousness that avails with you we pray for your blessing upon the other churches that we are in association with we think of the brethren in Suri and in Armstrong and in dren we thank you for our brothers and sisters in Medicine Hat Alberta as well we look forward to Fellowship in April when we have this conference and father we just pray that your blessing would be upon it we ask as well that you look with favor upon John and Melena as they are in the state seeking medical assistance for her back we just commend her to you and to the word of your grace and pray that you would grant them wisdom and and help and strength as well God we pray for the persecuted Church throughout the Earth we were reminded this morning of the various countries that that are are so difficult to to be a believer in and we pray that you would look with grace and mercy upon your suffering Saints cause them to persevere cause them to know the the the the fear of the Lord as their strength and may they truly glorify you in these various lands we think esec especially of China we ask God that you would be merciful there to the brothers and the sisters that you would be gracious to the various churches we pray that they would be emboldened to continue to Proclaim Your Truth under the offices of that communistic regime and we pray that you would be glorified and honored in that land as well father we pray for our own Nation certainly we live in a day and age that does look like what Isaiah prophesied concerning woe to those who call good evil and evil good we see lawlessness we see Rebellion we see the celebration of murder and sexual perversion and all manner of godlessness we pray for an outpouring of your Holy Spirit upon your church we pray that you would revive your people cause us to be a prayerful lot cause us to know the scriptures cause us to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints and God may you bring Awakening upon those who are dead in their trespasses and sins and do a mighty and a glorious work and as the prophet Cried Out Ren the heavens and come down O Lord and bless your people with strength and we ask these things through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen we turn with me again in your hym books to 447 447 we'll stand as we sing [Music] [Applause] together all my you my you my heart my heart your my be your praise my highest be your Mighty God Be Your Mighty God ouring graise your till May are willing Christ to live may I RR TR in your nothing shall my heart sa me I shall the BL [Music] saely saing to the in Christ to live and to let we know to will you can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy for our evening scripture reading Deuteronomy 17 Deuteronomy 17 beginning in verse 1 you shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect for that is an Abomination to the Lord your God if there is found among you within any of your Gates which the Lord your God gives you a man or a woman who has been Wicked in the sight of the Lord your God in transgressing his Covenant who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them either the sun or moon or any of the hosts of Heaven which I have not commanded and it is told you and you hear of it then you shall inquire diligently if if and if it is indeed true and certain that such an Abomination has been committed in Israel then you shall bring out to your Gates that man or woman who has committed that Wicked thing and shall Stone to death that man or woman with stones whoever is deserving of Death Shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three Witnesses he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness the hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death and after afterward the hands of all the people so you shall put away the evil from among you if a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge between degrees of guilt for Bloodshed between one judgment or another or between one punishment or another matters of controversy within your Gates then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses and you shall come to the priests the Levites and to the judge there in those days and inquire of them they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment you shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses and you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you according to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you according to the Judgment which they tell you you shall do you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God or the judge that man shall die so you shall put away the evil from Israel and the and all the people shall hear and fear and no longer act presumptuously when you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you and possess it and dwell in it and say I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you you may not set a foreigner over you who is not your brother but he shall not multiply horses for himself nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses for the Lord has said to you you shall not return that way again neither shall he multiply wives for himself lest his heart turn away nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself also it shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priests the Levites and it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the lord is God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes that his heart may not be lifted above his Brethren that he may not turn aside from the Commandment to the right hand or to the left and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom he and his children in the midst of Israel amen well just a couple of observations here we notice in the first place the procedure for judging offenses the first section deals with capital offenses and as we've studied in our Wednesday Bible study we see that the Bible does uphold the death penalty we see it in Genesis chapter 9 whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood will be shed for in the image of God he made man then you see it upheld in the New Testament Romans 13 this the magistrate does not bear The Sword in vain it is that emblem of his power to execute criminal offenders if that is necessitated but here we see there are specific rules and specific directives you cannot have a capital case or sentence some someone to death apart from the the witness or two or three Witnesses so it does mitigate against any sort of an arbitrary application of the death penalty to one's own enemies and then in the second section you see the function of the higher court for the most part they were able to judge within their cities and Villages various crimes and issues that presented themselves but we see there is a higher Court established here in Israel with reference to the adjudication of criminal and civil offenses and then the last section deals with those those rules concerning kingship in 1st Samuel 8 the people basically reject God and His government over them and they cry out for a king and that obviously irritates or frustrates Samuel but God says this is not you they're rejecting they're rejecting me but it was always the case that there would be a monarchy in Israel or else these rules in Deuteronomy 17 would be nonsensical but when you look at these particular rules in Deuteronomy 17 I can't think of any of the Kings subsequent to or with reference to the monarchy ever embi them I mean there were some good ones in Judah but there was nothing that achieved or realized the particular goal set forth here we notice that he could not be a foreigner that makes perfect sense you don't bring him in a foreigner to govern your your civil po as well he must be a Godly Man notice what it says specifically in verse 18 it shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom the shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priest the Levites and it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the lord as God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes had it been the case that the kingship in Israel and Judah would have em bibed this and would have undertaken this things humanly speaking would have been a whole lot better and as well they were not supposed to uh uh multiply uh weapons women or wealth in that Center section right around verse 15 and uh or rather verses 16 and 17 he wasn't supposed to multiply weapons that doesn't mean he wasn't supposed to have a standing army or be able to resist foreign Intruders but he wasn't to put his trust in weapons as well he wasn't supposed to multiply wives now that based on the creation account one man and one woman but it was the practice of Kings in those days to multiply wives to secure political alliances and so God is saying I want you to be faithful and in have integrity reference to your body politic not others out there and he was not to multiply wealth again not that he was supposed to live in squalor he could enjoy the benefits of being the king but he wasn't supposed to trust in any of these things he was supposed to trust in the Living God he was supposed to have communion with that God each and every day as he considered that word that he had from the lord well as we see in the book of Deuteronomy the the law of God biblical law is not something that's it's arbitrary it's not capricious and it's certainly not Antiquated or barbaric they have built in protections relative to the death penalty and we know that the end result is that all the body politics should hear of the Justice implemented and they shall fear they shall not be presumptuous they'll understand that within this Covenant Community if you get out of line if you stray into criminal activity there will be punishment one of the sad situations that we face today is that criminals get away with a whole lot and there is no fear of God or man before their eyes so they there they they therefore engage in utter lawlessness and Rebellion within the body politic well let us pray our gracious God and Father we thank you for the comprehensiveness of your word we thank you for the law we thank you for the gospel we thank you for our Salvation in and through our Lord Jesus Christ that perfect lawkeeper that one who is wholly harmless and undefiled that one who lived and died and raised was raised again for us God help us to appreciate your word help us to love your word help us to hide it in our hearts that we might not sin against you and we pray this in jesus' name amen well for our final hymn you can turn to number 271 271 we'll stand as we sing together Jesus as your word our all to our hearts and souls be stir to see and to love you all [Music] our by in dark with the of TR to God us you all with us glor for open our ears and us your bless our PR and pra Father Son and Holy Ghost praise to you ad and through cons your [Music] PR will you can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Jude Jude the LA uh second to the last book in the New Testament our Focus this morning or evening rather will be on Jude 3 but we'll have cause to reflect on much of the book of Jude this evening so I'll read beginning in Jude at verse one Jude a bond servant 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 and 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 loudness 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 an 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 air of balum for prophit and perished in the rebellion of Kora these are spots in your love feasts while they Feast with you without fear serving only themselves they 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 10 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 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 of 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 well let us pray our gracious God we thank you for this wonderful epistle though it's short and brief it is packed filled with good things for the church in the 21st century we pray that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to receive these things may we Be watchful and prayerful and persevering and may we seek by your grace to take seriously what verse three enjoins upon us to contend earnestly for the faith to do it in a loving and gracious but in a firm manner for certainly there are attacks from without and from within the professing church so grant us help and strength and Grace to glorify you in this present evil age and we ask through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen well as we come to this particular passage it's a passage that we have looked at before again I thought this would be encouraging and helpful as we enter into a new year corporately this is what we are to be about sound Doctrine the truth of God's word we're not different because we're better than persons we're not different because we're lawful and righteous we're different because we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Christianity certainly has an ethic or practical element involved but first and foremost it's faith in our Lord Jesus Christ justification is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and that faith is not nebulous it's not just sort of out there in some you know vacuous higher power but it's about the Lord Jesus Christ his life is death and Resurrection when we talk about the gospel the gospel isn't a warm feeling the gospel isn't an experience the gospel isn't something that just makes me happy the gospel is a revealed message it is propositional revelation concerning the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ it is about the word who be became flesh the word who assumed our Humanity with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof and yet without sin and then he lived a life of perfect obedience he died as a sacrifice and a substitute he was raised again the third day such that all those who believe that gospel that good news concerning him will have everlasting life so the church must be alert the church must be awake The Church Must Be on guard to protect to propagate to defend the truth as it is in Jesus Christ Jay grum ma a famous uh wonderful Theologian in the 20th century made this observation he said in the first place a true Christian church now as always will be radically doctrinal it will never say that Doctrine is the expression of experience it will never confuse the useful with the true but will place Truth at the basis of all its striving and all its life into the Welter of changing human opinion into the modern spare with regard to any knowledge of the meaning of life it will come with a clear and imperious 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 I say Amen a thousandfold to Ma's words there and I think that Jude living in the 20th century would have said the same thing so as we look specifically at verse three as I said we'll also look at passages right connected to it and a little bit later in the epistle I want to look first at the exhortation to contend for the faith in verse three secondly the reason given to contend for the faith is in verse 4 and then the Readiness of those who contend for the faith is in verses 17 and then 20 and 21 so Jude not only addresses the particular command this you must do contend earnestly for the faith he gives the reason for it because Heretics have entered in Heretics are trying to distort the truth as it is in Jesus but then he gives us practical help on how we're to face that other words it's not mystical it's not esoteric we don't just sort of tune out and let them do their thing and then we come and clean up their mess no there's specific strategies involved for how the church is to resist heresy but notice first with reference to the exhortation to contend for the faith notice the addresses verse uh three uh the very first part beloved he doesn't say pastors he doesn't say doctors he doesn't say de he doesn't say Seminary students he doesn't say those guys in the church that like to read they're kind of weird they're kind of odd Ducks they always carry big theology books no he speaks to the Beloved well if we look back to verse one we'll see who the Beloved are Jude a bond servant 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 in other words the Beloved are the ones who are to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints again it's not something confined to the doctors in the church it's not something confined to the reverends in the church it's something that is the responsibility of every one of God's people turn back to First Peter chapter 3 notice specifically the same sort of a of an emphasis in 1 Peter chapter 3 at verse1 15 Peter is writing to Christians he is writing to churches verse one in chapter 1 tells us to the pilgrims of the dispersion in pontis galatia capid IIA Asia and bethenia the people that are elect according to the forn knowledge of God the father and sanctification of the spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ those people are to whom Peter addresses verse 15 in chapter 3 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 Now understand that not everybody's going to be at the same level not everybody's going to have the same degree of competence not everybody's going to have the same degree of training there are those in the life and his history of the church that God raised up for specific occasions when God uh when the church was plagued by an Aras God sent an athanasius when when the church was plagued by pelagianism God sent an Augusta when Ahab menaced the children of Israel God sent Elijah the Tish fite to refute and reject that man so there are going to be those in a certain class that are very able very faithful and very competent but at some level the believer the Christian the person of God needs to understand what they believe why they believe it and give at least a reasonable defense of that content and so Jude addresses the church he addresses the Beloved and then notice the specific exhortation he says while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation so it seems that he was going to write something concerning Christian Life Christianity perhaps 101 he says I found it necessary to write to you in other words I had a particular intention but because of verse 4 because of these Heretics because of these apostates because of these troublers of the New Covenant Israel because of their infestation into the life of the church I found it necessary to Rouse you to duty I found it necessary to call you to Warfare I found it necessary to ring the bell sound the alarm and say we've got to deal with these Heretics we've got to deal with these menaces we've got to deal with these people that are a plague to the Life of Christ Church so the particular necessity was verse four for certain men have crept in unnoticed that's the rationale for verse three so let's go back to verse three 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 just want to unpack this notice first of all his particular emphasis I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you he's not just gently suggesting he's not just giving you a recommendation he's not saying well you know in the midst of the church picnic and you know the the the the trips to the lake the the young people at the bowling alley in the midst of the the EB and flow of the Christian Life you know if if you think about it if if you if you can entertain some time if you can a lot a bit on your on your calendar you know maybe put it by the the church work day you just if you think about it go ahead and contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints no he's sounding the alarm he's sounding the the alarm in Zion he is calling upon them to engage in a particular task the word that he uses here means to exert intense effort on behalf of something to contend John Gil says it denotes a conf lict a combat or a fighting for it a striving even to Agony I'm sorry that's the the word that we have uh what the author says is to urge strongly appeal to urge exhort and courage so I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you and then he drops down to our responsibility to contend earnestly and there's that Gil statement it denotes a conflict a combat or a fighting for it a striving even to an Agony again it's not something you fit in after bowling night turn over to First Timothy chapter 1 1 Timothy chapter 1 to see the emphasis by the Apostle Paul with reference to his young ministerial comrade 1 Timothy 1:8 he says this charge I commit to you son Timothy according to the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them you may wage the good Warfare the the the use of Martial language the use of military language now we know he's not actually sanctioning taking up arms he's not actually telling Timothy to go get himself a a tank and an F5 and a a whole Battalion of troops and go out there and gun down the the the the rebel Heretics in the city of Ephesus that's not the emphasis but he uses that language to liken the spiritual battle that we're engaged in with what happens amongst military troops wage the good Warfare Brethren if we contemplate the seriousness of this it makes perfect sense when a heric comes in when an apostate affects the people of God when they seow the seeds of disc when they preach heretical Doctrine it has the effect of damning souls it has the effect of plunging Souls into the depths of hell we must believe the truth we must believe what scripture says we mustn't be a LED astray by distortions of that truth so the manner in which we are to contend it's to be earnestly but then notice the object in verse three I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith not your faith but the faith Faith what's the difference your faith is subjective my belief or my hold on Jesus there's certainly something to that the rest of the Bible tells us or places in the Bible tell us we must guard our faith we must guard our mindset we must persevere we must watch and pray but that's not what he's saying here you contend earnestly for the faith objectively the propositional content of the Christian religion we are to fight for it it's not our subjective Hold On Christ but the doctrinal content of the Christian faith God and His gospel so I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith Manon says faith is taken for sound Doctrine such as is necessary to be owned and believed unto salvation which he presseth them to contend for that they might preserve it safe and sound to Future ages we really need to see it in this light we really need to see it like a relay race the race where they pass the Baton the church is to pass the Baton onto the next generation when we drop that baton when we entertain heresy when we engage in the inter Eternal functional subordination of the Son of God or other like heresies we are not passing the Baton we are dropping it we are being derel we are not being faithful to contend earnestly for the faith Gordon uh Gordon Clark rather made the observation Christianity is not a romantic religion where feeling and emotion suffice nor is it an aesthetic religion where faith and sermons are unnecessary Christianity is a definite faith it includes the doctrines of the atonement and the resurrection and it requires a knowledge of these doctrines an intellectual Ascent to them a faith that can and must be preached so the manner contend for it earnestly the object the faith but then notice the identity of that Faith he says which was once for all delivered to the Saints again Manon says it is given to be kept it is not a thing invented but given not found out by us but delivered by God God himself and delivered to our custody that we may keep it for posterity again we're running the race with that baton we pass it off to the Next Generation Brethren that is our responsibility as the people of God at the free Grace Baptist Church to contend earnestly for the faith which was once once for all delivered to the Saints they delivered it or God delivered it through the apostles back in the day that the the church then was faithful to Proclaim it to teach it to to catechize relative to it and to pass that baton it is our job to grab the Baton and keep on running and pass it to the Future Generations it's one of the reasons why we pray for additional Elders we pray for God to raise up people we pray that this church will be around for our children and our children's children such that they can continue to run and pass the Baton that's the Mandate contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints look at second Timothy chapter 1 second Timothy chapter 1 again an emphasis very similar to what we find here 2 Timothy chapter 1 1 at verse 13 He says hold fast that pattern of sound Words which you have heard from me brethren in the final analysis or not maybe final but down toward the final analysis that's our responsibility it's not to be the church with all the bells and whistles it's not to have the best band it's not to have the best bowling night it's not to have the nicest Pastor it's rather to hold fast the pattern of sound words it's to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints that's the Mandate that's the job that's what we've been called to do and do it we must and do it we get to it is the greatest appr privileges to be part of that that tradition of passing on the Baton of Truth to the Future hold fast the pattern of sound Words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus now notice in verse 14 that good thing which was committed to you keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us have you ever known somebody that had professed the faith somebody that gave good evidence and demonstrable you know legitimacy of their faith and then they they like oh they they stopped they didn't hold on to it anymore it just passed through their fingers it was no longer relevant to them it was no longer their their lifeblood how do you account for that I would account for it by saying they never really grabbed it in the first place they may have made a good showing they may have made a good fakery of it they may have been hypocritical and past but they never held it first John he says they went out from us but they were not of us because if they were of us they would not have gone out from us in other words those conquered by The Sovereign Grace of almighty God those who take seriously the admonition to hold fast and to keep that thing or that that Holy deposit by the spirit that dwells in you those who contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints they're not going to depart I mean they have their es and flows they have their ups and downs they have their valleys and their their mountaintops or at least their Hills they they have all that to be sure but they don't they don't apostatize they don't defect they don't reject what they at one time confess because it's true for them it's true in their hearts and they take seriously the reality but then notice as well we see the manner contend earnestly we see the object contend earnestly for the faith the identity contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints but then notice the requirement it's implicit you're not going to find it there but imp uh implicitly what is it what does it require it requires that you know the faith it requires that you understand the truth it requires that if somebody says how do I get to heaven you can give maybe not a Spurgeon sermon but you can point them to that man who hung upon the cross who died and was raised again the third day that you can explain at least at a minimum justification by faith alone uh you could you know take Edward Mo that hym we sang this morning you know nothing in my or that's uh is it the same one nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling foul I to the Fountain fly Wash Me savior or I die see the implication here is that the believer knows the faith the believer understands the doctrine of justification the believer understands the doctrine of sanctification the believer understands he's headed to glorification again maybe not as articulate as a CH virgent the believer understands the the fact that there is but one only the living and true God the believer understands that this God exists eternally as Father Son and Holy Spirit and that they are distinguished by the Eternal relations of origin maybe I'm getting a bit too far down the field but you get the point you need to understand the content of the Christian faith beloved you are to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints how many times have there been you know people that have come to Believers and well you know can you tell me what the Bible says about I don't really know what does the Bible say about death penalty I don't really know you know Jesus says love each other I I don't know about the death penalty we need to start knowing these answers we need to start being able to resist and reject those false or or those attackers on the scripture we need to be able to spot men within our ranks that are Heretics men that would have been branded as the new Judas back in the day and sent out into Exile it's interesting reading the church fathers reading about the the Cals and the the the the nuses and the various person they got exiled when they were Heretics I don't mean you know get out of the mans and go live down the street go out to the Wilderness you new Judas and just live out there perhaps you'll learn not to deny the Trinity that's when theology mattered that's when people actually cared that's when I'm not necessarily advocating that but I'm not necessarily against it either uh we could have a colony for Heretics they could just dwell amongst themselves and have sort of a Sur Survivor situation I'm just kidding but there is the sense where we need to understand what we believe and again that First Peter chapter 3 text same sort of an emphasis there and and I love the way it's couched but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear isn't that interesting the the hope that is in you it sort of presupposes that somebody might somewhere along the line come along to you and say boy I notice you have hope I notice there's something different about you I notice you smile more than the than than the rabble around us what what what why are you so happy what what's your hope about well you sanctify the Lord God in your heart you're always ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you whether it's Sophie the washwoman or the PHD at UBC you're ready to you're you're ready to deal with them you're ready to answer them so back to Jude the last sort of a uh uh observation on the text is it's necessity the necessity notice again I found it necessary to write to you exor you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered of the Saints not a recommendation not a suggestion not just this might be things to fit into your church calendar in the language of Manon the believer must own the profession of the truth whatever it cost them I think it was in a Spurgeon sermon he said the Bible is a bloodstained book the Bible is a bloodstained book Martyrs and and missionaries and pastors and preachers and evangelists and faithful Brethren wherever they might may find themselves holding fast to the truth of God no matter what it costs them Brethren that's the kind of thing we need to see in our own day hold fast the pattern of sound words not hold it limp wristed not hold it as if to let go of it not hold it in such a way that it just falls out but hold on to it hold fast keep that sacred deposit which is in You by the Holy Spirit contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints don't drop it don't let go of it don't be derelict in your duty but rather run the race with endurance passing the Baton to the Next Generation listen to Samuel Miller he says the church has to fight for every inch of ground and whenever she ceases to contend for the truth she ceases to advance we we see that what happened to Christianity in the 20th century we stop preaching truth we were Neo Orthodox liberals in the early part of the 20th century and that's what Ma was fighting against and then whatever happened in that Center section man we just forgot all about truth we forgot all about the Trinity we forgot all about you know the Eternal generation of the son we forgot all about those things which our forefathers bled and died for to make sure they could pass on to us so if we ask the question why isn't the church doing so well that's a good question I'm not suggesting we shouldn't ask it but we should be prepared for a bit of introspection are we doing what God's called us to do are we contending earnestly for the faith are we making disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit and then teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you are people growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ not in spite of our churches but because of our churches I I think that there's some some introspection that needs to be had what is the church doing to Advance the cause of God and truth it's not experience sessions it's not therapy it's not a bunch of self-help that we need we need the proclamation of Jesus Christ and his gospel we need the emphasis on the true and living God Father Son and Holy Spirit we need an emphasis on justification by faith alone we need an emphasis on the truth as it is in Jesus so back to Samuel Miller he says the church has to fight for every inch of ground and wherever she ceases to contend for the truth she ceases to advance she may contend with an improper Spirit that's certainly a potential right you ever been on Twitter or Facebook and got really upset and pounded on your keyboard to say nasty things that's probably an improper Spirit just spitballing here you know when you call somebody a heretic as an individual online that's a church or an ecclesiastical pronounce pronouncement you don't have the right on Twitter to call people Heretics you they are Heretics you go through the channels Christ has ordained channels so back to Miller she may contend with an improper Spirit granted I'm not saying man all I sorry Mr worry wart has engaged in this attitude a few times as well she may this is quite a you know a therapeutic day for me in disavow or or emptying my soul of all my wretchedness she may contend with an improper Spirit if she does this it is her mistaken or sin so he calls that out and then he says but to contend no more is to disregard the command of her master in heaven and betray his cause to the enemy amen Amen brother preach it Samuel Miller that's exactly spoton and that's Jude's Earnest uh exhortation 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 now notice secondly the reason given to contend for the faith there's Heretics that have plag the church so jud's concern isn't the external threat well the unbelieving Jews they're really you know trying to get at us they might have been mingled amongst these people that are described here he's not saying the the the Roman Empire they're out to get us the Civil state they're going to chop off our heads it wasn't the external threat that that necessitated this particular exhortation it was an internal threat it was those within the ranks it was those who had creeped in unnoticed it was those who began to deny the Trinity those who began to deny justification by faith alone those who started to tamper with the doctrine of of of of grace alone through faith alone that that wanted to add or introduce some works or wanted to exalt the Free Will of man so Jude is not dealing with the external threat he's dealing with the internal threat and look at how he describes these Heretics first he says they are sneaky notice in verse for certain men have crept in unnoticed Brethren truth has nothing to hide truth has nothing to fear you don't have to creep in unnoticed when you're preaching Christ and him crucified when you do that you've got the sanction of the almighty behind you go and be bold with it these however they creep in unnoticed in fact look at Paul's description of the perilous times the last days it's not in our future it's in are present notice in 2 Timothy 3 specifically at verse 5 he describes these wretches he indicates in verse 5 that they're religious it's a internal threat as well it's not the external state but it's internal an internal problem so they have a form of godliness but they deny its power and from such people turn away now notice in verse 6 for of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins LED Away by various lusts always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth now as Janice and jambus resisted Moses so the so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt Minds disapprove concerning the faith but they will progress no further for their fallly will be manifest to all as theirs also was Brethren truth has nothing to hide but the Heretics do and according to Jude they've crept in unnoticed notice as well he calls them ungodly men Paul in 1 Timothy chapter 6 tells us that godliness or truth rather Accords with godliness so what's the converse what's the flip side falsehood Accords with ungodliness right if you preach heresy you're probably not marked by a Godly and sober and righteous life you're probably marked by just the opposite and so he says of these men for certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this condemnation ungodly men notice thirdly they are perverter of the grace of God that seems to be a constant Target for Heretics it's it's God's grace it's it's God's mercy it's God's kindness I I don't know why that bothers people why would it bother people if we preached full free forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ and righteousness imputed to us and received by faith alone who wouldn't celebrate that god-hating Rebels that's who Heretics apostates defectors those who don't want the truth as it is in Jesus and will substitute their only of their own way they may do it for power they may do it for Prestige they may do it for control Vis Rome I mean you got to subscribe to the seven sacraments you got to stay in the Roman Catholic church if you do all these things you dot all your eyes you cross all your tees then maybe just maybe you'll go to Purgatory for about a million years and then once your sins are purged you can enter in through the Pearly Gates well why do they do that cuz they pervert the grace of God Brethren it shouldn't take you long reading the Bible to see that there are enemies to the grace of God and he says that very specifically in verse four who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and then the fourth description is they deny Jesus Christ they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ Calvin comments on 2 John uh 2 John 9 he says Christ is denied whenever those things which PE ularly belong to him are taken away from him that's getting dangerously close to some of the online debates concerning Trinity and christology today I'm not branding everybody who disagrees with our confession or or the biblical reality as a heretic but I'm saying they're dancing around heresy and getting close to heresy in a way that should give a great cause for concern to those of us who see them and we should pray and we should as we have occasion contend earnestly for the faith in righteous ways so the reason given to contend for the faith is the Heretics verse four but before we get to the final section and we won't be here too much longer just just get it in your head that Jude is not a downer Jude's not you know negative Nelly Here he's not you know I just want to rain on your parade the church is filled with these bad guys it's just going to be a nightmare no he he tells us that their judgment is sure he tells us that they're not going to win he tells us that they may infect they may molest they may trouble but they're not going to be victorious cuz remember Jesus Christ promised to build his church and the gates of Hades shall not Prevail against it so notice what he says he points to various examples in scripture to show that the apostates or the Heretics are up against the same God as Israel of old as the fallen angels as Sodom and Gomorrah notice those examples he doesn't do this just to remind them so that oh yeah Biblical history he does it to remind them that as the Heretics or as these others have been cut off by God and judged by them so will the Heretics they're on a Fool's errand they can't stay the hand of God they can't stay the progress of the church they can't stop the growth of Christianity he speaks of the destruction of unbelieving Israel in verse 5 he speaks of the destruction of the Fallen Angels in verse 6 he speaks of the overthrow of Sodom and gomorah in verse 7 and he speaks of the the Heretics themselves in verse 4 notice after he says for certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this condemnation what does that indicate I don't want to get too far a f but it indicates that these Heretics Haven caught God by surprise didn't just show up hey surprise God hey surprise no they were marked out from before there's a reality that God does govern all his creatures and all their actions first Corin Ians 11 tells us there must be factions Among Us why so that those who are approved may be recognized you mean God has a purpose for heresy in the church yeah God has a purpose for even the bad things in the church yeah God has a purpose for all things for those who love him and for those who are the called according to his purpose so let's then close it out with the Readiness of those who contend for the faith notice first in verse 17 they're supposed to remember they're supposed to remember we're supposed to remember notice in verse 17 but you beloved Remember The Words which were spoken before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ don't be shocked don't be surprised don't be caught unawares don't be caught off guard again I don't think we should walk with you know an eyebrow raised for every new new person that walks in the church is this going to be a heretic we have to deal with you don't live like that that's annoying that's just not godly it's not righteous sorry for anybody that's visiting tonight for the first time yeah they did look at me a bit odd they did look at me a bit weird no no no don't don't do that and we stop him at the door we got the rubber hose we got the bright light what do you believe don't don't we don't do that we need to be aware of the fact of the presence of persons that don't have altogether altruistic motives persons that come in to try to destroy the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1 says there are those who want to Dort the do Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ there are those who think that that there is great gain with reference to religion there are those whose motives are wrong there are those who motives are driven by the Devil Himself so we need to be aware of that we need to be conscious of that reality so remember the words of uh uh spoken before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ you can look at acts 20: 28 to3 uh 1 Timothy 4 verse 1 1 Timothy 6 2 Timothy 3 and 4 Titus one uh Jesus beware of false prophets how do false prophets come into the church they they come wearing you know sheep's clothing they don't come in you know looking like the Devil Himself they they mingle about they get to know everybody they come over to my house we have a Bible study and at that Bible study they pervert the grace and glory of God most high we have to understand this the Apostle or the apostles have warned us to be on the lookout but then secondly we need to keep ourselves in the love of God if you look at verses 20 and 21 I just want to speak a bit for the in in terms of the grammar uh or the syntax the connection with reference to the words and and verses here there is one main command and that's verse 21 in the beginning says keep yourselves in the love of God that's the command keep yourselves in the love of God we'll deal with that in just a moment but that one command is surrounded by three other phrases we call these partis or part participial phrases notice you beloved building yourselves up on your Most Holy Faith praying in the Holy Spirit and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life so the command is keep yourself in the love of God the way that we comply with the command are those three participial phrases that surround it so so that's just the structure these when these men wrote the Bible they they kind of new language and how to put sentences together and words and you know make thoughts that were rational so persons could grab onto it and and understand it and and gain benefit from it but let's look first at the command keep yourselves in the love of God notice though he says uh uh uh uh verse 20 but you beloved keep yourselves in the love of God he wants you to recognize that you have what the hyw writer would later write prone to wander prone to leave the god that we love we have a sort of a propensity we have an inclination to remaining corruption I'm sure that all of you have some you deal with on a on an ongoing basis I don't want to start naming a bunch of sins and okay raise your hand no we're not going to do that but there's thought problems and and and tendencies there's there's there's there's ways that the Mind goes or gravitates toward other things that are not good Manon says we are born pelagians Libertines and papists we need to understand that so he says beloved keep yourselves in the love of God now the believer keeping himself as the object of God's love is not the way you're supposed to understand this be such a good guy or girl be so faithful reading your Bible be so faithful praying be so faithful showing up at church be so faithful with the sacrament that you keep yourself as the object of God's love that not what the verse means with reference to God's love God is impassible that means he doesn't increase in his love for us but he doesn't diminish or decrease in his love for us either it is the doctrine of divine impassibility that secures for us in our confession the statement that God is most loving see if God could love more or could love less he wouldn't be God so it's not that that we somehow do things in such a way as to keep ourselves the object of God's love that's not what Jude is saying he is rather saying the believer needs to continually recognize God's love for him keep yourselves in the love of God keep your mind conscious of this reality keep your mind conscious of the fact that God is most loving toward you now this isn't the only place we see this turn back to the book of Ephesians we saw this several months ago notice in Ephesians chap 3 Paul's prayer for the church in Ephesus three things in particular verse 14 for this reason I bow my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in Heaven and Earth is named and then notice first of all that he would Grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man that Christ May dwell in your hearts through through faith he wants you to be spiritually strong notice secondly that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge wants you to be spiritually educated he's not wanting you to know how much love you have for Jesus he wants you to know how much love Jesus has for you that's the emphasis in Ephesians 3 that's the emphasis in Jude 21 keep yourselves in the love of God now that begs the question well how does one do that if it's not me keeping myself as the target of God's love by faithfulness and by prayerfulness and by coming to church and satisfying the requirements so God looks down approvingly and says oh how I love you if it's rather Understanding God's love for me how do I do that well we look at those three three surrounding participles the first is the study of scripture notice in verse 20 but you beloved building yourselves up on your Most Holy Faith how does one build themselves up on their Most Holy Faith well they open their Bibles and they read from it they come to church and they listen to the proclamation of the truth they go to Sermon Audio once in a while they listen to you know Bible reading on the the audio version whatever floats your boat get the scriptures into your mind why is that building yourself up in your Most Holy Faith goes a long way to keeping yourself in the love of God turn to 1 Timothy CH 4 specifically at verse 13 to see an emphasis on the public means or the corporate means of Grace First Timothy CH 4 specifically at verse 12 let no one despise your youth but be an example to the Believers in word and conduct in love in spirit and faith and Purity and he says till I come give attention to reading to exhortation to Doctrine he's not talking about Timothy's personal devotional life he's not talking about Timothy's you know family time he's not talking about his his his quiet time he's talking about his ministry in the church at Ephesus and what is he supposed to give attention to as a minister in the church at Ephesus give attention to reading why would that be important because they didn't have printed Bibles this is their cont contact with the word of God when they came on the Sunday when they sat under the the the The Minister's service they would hear the scriptures but he wasn't just only to read it he was to exhort from it in other words Brethren here's what it means for your life and how you're supposed to function but he was also to teach it Doctrine here's what the doctrine of the Trinity looks like here's what the doctrine of justification by faith alone looks like here's what scripture looks like this is emphasized in the ministry of Timothy for the benefit of the people of God so in Jude when he says building yourselves up on your Most Holy Faith it's a no-brainer read your Bibles secondly prayer he says praying in the Holy Spirit see this kind of study that is prayer L not always but it can lead in bad things in other words the prayerfulness of the student of God's word keeps him humble keeps him dependent keeps him close to God most high it's the posture or position to be in when we're studying the scripture we pray through the word we pray with the word we pray by the word we we get it in our minds and hearts we go to the Psalms we we see our experiences there played out by the psalmist and we enter into those psalms with the psalmist and pray them right back to God there needs to be prayerfulness in our study of God's holy word and then the third is is looking or rather the Hope concerning the mercy of Christ the very end of verse 21 looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life I think this is a future understanding or rather an understanding of the future the glory of Christ to come I think a parallel is Titus 213 looking for the Blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ as Gil says here on Jude 21 and there is the future mercy of Christ which will be shown at death in the grave and at the resurrection at the day of judgment and in the merciful sentence he will pronounce on his people and this seems to be designed here so build yourselves up in your Most Holy Faith pray in the Holy Spirit and look forward to the coming of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and all the while contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints just want to end with the encouragement from Jude I would suggest that Jude operates in the context of Matthew 16 he knows that Jesus has promised to build his church and the gates of Hades sh not Prevail against it as well Jude provides for us concrete illustrations that the enemies of God will be uh uh uh punished they will be decimated Brethren I'm not suggesting that we should have some you know sickened Glee by that there ought to be a sense where it resonates within our hearts that the enemies of Christ he is going to lower his foot upon them he is going to extinguish their flame he is going to decimate all who rise up against God and against his people that ought to breathe into our hearts and into our lives a a note not of triumphalism but a reality of Triumph Christ will not be mocked Christ will not be stopped Christ Church will be victorious again don't get so you know proud or arrogant but rather rejoice in the reality that there is Judgment coming I would suggest as well the Lord provides Earnest contenders to fa fight against his enemies Manon I already sort of of alluded to it earlier every age that that hath yielded the poison hath also yielded the antidote that the world might not be without a witness if there hath been an Aras there hath been an aanus if a Pelagius there is also an Augustine I made the connection with First Kings chapter 17 on the heels of Ahab that idolator that man who co-opted bail worship and brought it right into the northern kingdom in the midst of that God sends Elijah the tishbite may the Lord vindicate his bride in our present age and we have great cause for encouragement there are some very faithful competent men that are out there contending earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints that does not mitigate our responsibility it does not get us off the hook we need to contend we need to be faithful we need to be trusting in our blessed savior and ultimately understand the fight is God's and ultimately understand we are kept by his Sovereign Grace that's how the epistle ends 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 it's a good fight because it's God fight God's fight it's a good fight and he will keep us and he will preserve us well let us pray our blessed Lord we thank you for your word we thank you for the clarity of Jude 3 and its emphasis for us as the people of God and we praise you that there is much to be encouraged about in this present age there is much to be uh uh hopeful concerning and yet father we know that there is always these threats externally and internally help us to Be watchful help us to be prayerful help us to be faithful be with us in this coming year grant us the grace and strength to continue to meet together on the Lord's days help us in our families help us as individuals to be those lights shining in a crooked and perverse generation and give us boldness to hold forth your word of Truth and we pray this through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation