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You can turn with me and your Bibles to the book of Jude. Jude, our focus will be on verse 3. It's a passage that we've looked at in the past and I hope is an encouragement for us as we enter into the new year. But it won't just be verse 3. We'll look around in the context as well. 

But I'll read the epistle of Jude from beginning to end. So Jude 1 beginning in verse 1, 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 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 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. Now 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.

Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Lord's day. We thank you for the privilege of public worship. We pray now that your spirit would guide us as we consider this epistle written by Jude. We pray that you would help us to internalize these things, help us to be on guard, help us as well to contend earnestly for that faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. We ask for the forgiveness of all of our sins. We ask for cleansing in the blood of the lamb. illumination by the Spirit so that your people may grow in their understanding, and illumination by the Spirit so that sinners may see their need of Jesus Christ, in whom alone there is forgiveness and a righteousness that avails with God. We commit our time to you now. We pray that you would be glorified and honored, and we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, as I said, we'll jump around a bit in the epistle of Jude. Most likely, I will not deal with those things you perhaps would like to hear about, like Enoch and the book written by him. But specifically, I wanna look at the exhortation to contend for the faith in verse three. Secondly, the motivation given to contend for the faith in verse four. And then finally, the disposition of those who contend for the faith in verse 17 and verses 20 to 21.

J. Gressom Machen, a theologian in the 20th century, made this observation concerning the church. He said, in the first place, a true Christian church, now as always, will be radically doctrinal, not radically emotional, not radically feeling oriented. Not radically therapeutic, but he says radically doctrinal. He says, 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, which means confusion or turmoil 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.

I think Machen is absolutely correct and I think that the church today needs a great big dose of this with reference to our calling under God to be the pillar and the ground of the truth according to Paul writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 3.

So let's look first at verse 3 and the exhortation to contend for the faith. Notice whom Jude is addressing. He says, Beloved, the very beginning of verse 3. Now the Beloved are those identified in verses 1 and 2. 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. So then he goes on to say Beloved. He doesn't say pastors, he doesn't say seminary professors, he doesn't say theologians, he says beloved. So whatever follows there in verse three is not particularly directed to the teaching ministry of the church, but it is particularly directed to every member in the church. Those set apart by God's grace, those justified freely by faith in Jesus, those are addressed by Jude. You cannot just hope and pray that your leadership will contend earnestly for the faith. They certainly must, or they are disqualified from leadership. But this is the duty of every man, every woman, every boy, every girl that confesses faith in Jesus and is a member of the church. Beloved, the addressees here are all of us.

And then notice the particular exhortation. 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. So notice the author's earnestness. He says, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you. And the word simply means to urge strongly, to appeal to, to urge, exhort, and encourage. And we'll see why he does this when we get to the motivation given to contend for the faith.

Specifically, it's that heretics have plagued the church, and when heretics plague the church, they need to be contended against. We need to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, and that is the believer's responsibility. Note how he's supposed to do this, and he includes she. Just like beloved includes he's and she's, it includes leaders and it includes all members, but notice how the believer is to do this. to contend earnestly, to contend earnestly. Here it means to exert intense effort on behalf of something, to contend, to contend, to fight, to battle, to struggle. In fact, Gill says it denotes a conflict, a combat, or a fighting for it, a striving even to an agony.

If you turn back to 1 Timothy 1 for just a moment, it's a different word but the same concept. 1 Timothy 1, here specifically directed to a leader in a church, but again, seeing the parallel in Jude 3, we ought to take notice of this. Notice in 1 Timothy 1.18, 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. Wage the good warfare. This isn't just epic language that is sort of brought about by the apostles for literary punch. But we are engaged in battle. We are engaged in warfare. We are engaged against the very devil himself, against this godless world, and against our own remaining corruption. Everything militates against the truth of God's holy word.

And so the author of Jude, Jude himself, tells us that we are to contend earnestly. But he says to contend earnestly for the faith. And here he doesn't mean your subjective faith. He doesn't mean your belief in Jesus. He means the objective content of Christian revelation. We are to contend earnestly for the truth of the Bible. We're to contend earnestly for that faith, not our subjective hold on Christ, but as I said, the doctrinal content of Christianity, the written revelation of God, the 31,000 propositions of Holy Scripture, which tell us what we are to believe concerning God and how we are to conduct ourselves before God. We need to contend earnestly for the faith. We want to believe, we want to increase that faith. Later I think we'll see how we do that. But specifically here, he wants us to contend earnestly for the truth of Christianity. Manton 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 and sound to future ages. or preserve it safe and sound to future ages. That's the emphasis of the, not apostle, Jude wasn't an apostle, a half-brother of our Lord, but he says, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith, but then he further describes that faith.

It's not a faith that's up for grabs. It's not a faith that you have come across on your own. It's not a faith that Joseph Smith got when the prophet Moroni appeared to him and gave him the stones by which he could interpret the golden plates. That's not the faith that's in view here. The faith here is not the rantings and the ravings of those untethered from the grace of God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The faith was once for all delivered to the saints. In other words, the objective content of Christianity from Genesis to Revelation. What God has given to the church, the church is supposed to protect. In terms of this, which was once for all delivered to the saints-ness, Manton again says, it is given to be kept. It's not given to be lost. Consider being that church or that generation of churches that lost what was given by God for us to protect or to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Do you want to be that group? Do you want to be that guy? Do you want to be that girl that said, you know, I know that this had been handed down thousands upon thousands of years. God spoke, which is, you know, an amazing thing all in itself. And He not only spoke, but He moved men by His Spirit to write the very words that He spoke in Genesis to Revelation. So what'd you do with it? We squandered away. What'd you do with it? We didn't care about it. What'd you do with it? We put it in the office so that we could entertain people and enjoy the feelings and the emotional experience that comes with that.

Let's not be that church. Let's not be that generation. Let's not be those people who hold to the truth of God with a limp-wristed approach. He says, contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered or given to the saints. Back to Manton, it is given to be kept. It is not a thing invented, but given, not found out by us, but delivered by God himself and delivered to our custody that we may keep it for posterity. The best thing we can give to our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, and all the ones that come subsequent to them is the truth of God's word. It's a faithful church, it's a faithful pulpit ministry, it's faithful parents who contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. That's the best heritage that we can pass along to our spawn, to our children, to our young people.

Gill says, by them, apostles, it was delivered to the church, both by word and writing. And this delivery of it supposes that it is not an invention of men, that it is of God and a gift of his and given in trust in order to be kept, held forth and held fast. There is no alteration to be made in it or addition to it. No new revelations are to be expected. He's bang on. He's absolutely correct, which was once for all delivered to the saints.

Another piece of the pie with reference to what we call cessationism or non-continuationism in the life of Christ's church. There's no new revelations. We've got Genesis to Revelation. There's no new word from the Lord. The scriptures are sufficient, they're completed, and they've been passed down to us by the prophets, by the apostles, by the providential workings of the Holy Spirit in and through the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

And there's times where I think Protestants recoil at the thought of tradition, and rightly so if it's Roman Catholic traditions that are not biblically tethered. But traditions can be good or they can be bad. The good ones obviously are those spoken by God, given to the prophets, given to the apostles, passed on by the Spirit in the midst of the churches. We've received good things from our blessed God. 



And I would suggest, this doesn't come out conspicuously in the text, but I think there's an assumption built in. There's an assumption built in by Jude, and I think it goes like this. Well, if it wasn't built in there by Jude, I'm gonna jump in there with this assumption. If we are supposed to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, doesn't that assume that we understand something about that faith ourselves? In other words, how do we contend earnestly for that which we are ignorant of? How do we contend earnestly for that which we do not know? How do we contend earnestly for that which we have not appropriated by faith in the Son of God who loved us and who gave Himself for us? 

The assumption is, brethren, is that we have received this great heritage Spirit, prophet, apostle, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the printing press, the fact that we have beautifully bound Bibles, this is the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The assumption is that we know this faith. The assumption is not perfectly, not comprehensively, not extensively, but we know the faith such that we can contend earnestly for it. 

I would imagine that the best way if you're working as a banker to know the counterfeits is to know the truth. In other words, if you know what a $20 bill looks like and you know what they don't look like, you don't have to check every single one. You just got to be able to spot the fake. Well, how do you do that? Because you're so familiar with the true. Contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saint. The assumption is built in that the saints of Christ, the beloved of verse three, the very first word, The beloved, not just the teachers, not just the preachers, not just the seminary professors, not just the deacons or the guys that like theology in the context of the church, the beloved are gonna know the faith that was delivered to the saints. And I would suggest as well, the necessity is found in his words. I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you. The believer, or rather the believer must, as Manton says, own the profession of the truth, whatever it costs them. Own the profession of the truth, whatever it costs that. Those are big words, brethren. But if we understand what scripture is, if we understand what the faith is, if we understand parallel passages in the books of the pastoral epistles, 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus, hold the pattern of sound words, those are not, again, recommendations for a better and more fulfilling church life. 

Why is it that we only seem to gravitate toward that which benefits or fulfills us? Where's the simple act of obedience to the God who says, I'm giving you the faith, and I want you to hold that faith, come whatever may, and I don't want you to lose it. But God, there's no fulfillment there. Do you think God, well, let me just work out the universe so you can be fulfilled in doing what I'm telling you to do.

Imagine if our children treated us in like, man, well, I'm just not fulfilled cleaning up my room. Oh, well then, don't clean it up. Let's just make sure your fulfillment is at the fever pitch of all that is good.

We're supposed to be faithful and obedient. And when a Jude says, contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints, we do it. We don't seek our fulfillment. We don't seek our benefit. We seek to comply with God's Word.

Samuel Miller, a Presbyterian in the 1800s says this, the church has to fight for every inch of ground, not when the church capitulates. If the church capitulates and is living like the world, chain fighting, It's like during the COVID pandemic, there was an article written by a Canadian author that essentially said, there's no persecution or oppression in Canada during the times of the pandemic.

My response was, yeah, if you complied, if you did what they told you, there was no pressure. But if you didn't do what they told you, there was pressure. to the tune of $62,000 worth of pressure, to the tune of jail time for pastors Coates and Stevens.

So when Samuel Miller says this, he's assuming the church is the real deal. They're not capitulating to the culture. They're not saying, oh, we're not gonna throw down about sexual ethics. Whatever you want, whatever you think, whatever gender confusion you want to inculcate in society at large, the church is just gonna sign off on that.

Samuel Miller is convinced that the church must fight. The church has to fight for every inch of ground. And whenever she ceases to contend for the truth, she ceases to advance. She may contend with an improper spirit. Guilty. I'm sure all of us, especially you Facebookers, can say, yeah, I've contended with an improper spirit. Or you bump into an Arminian at the bank and you throw down. Yeah, you know, I probably shouldn't have raised my voice and jumped on the teller's table the way I did and pointed to heaven.

There's an improper spirit, but listen to what Miller says. If she does this, it is her mistake and her sin. He's not condoning the improper spirit. He's not saying, well, that's okay, jump on the teller's table and let fly, be the George Whitefield that envisioned, let him have it. He says, but to contend no more is to disregard the command of our master in heaven and betray his cause to the enemy.

Again, brethren, I think he's bang on. I think he's absolutely, positively, 100% right. It's the job. We are to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints.

Again, let us not be the generation that says to the Lord, you know, we capitulated, we didn't wanna fight, we didn't wanna contend. We wanted to be extra sensitive about our possible impure spirit, so we never engaged the enemy.

No. To contend no more is to disregard the command of her master in heaven and betray his cause to the enemy. So that's the exhortation. Let's look at the motivation given to contend for the faith in verse four. Notice how verse four starts off. For, I want you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For, that's explanatory. Here's the rationale. Here's the reason. Here's the motivation for you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Basically, the problem of heretics.

For certain men have crept in unnoticed. Too 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. So he's dealing with enemies. As the Bible does everywhere. The Old Testament, you get the enemies of Israel. There were external enemies. They had Philistines, they had Hittites, and Hibbites, and Jebusites, and all kinds of Hites. But what was most paralyzing in the life of Israel, Old Covenant Israel, was the internal threat. Was a Manasseh on the throne? Was an Ahab on the throne? Was an Omri on the throne? Was a Ratch on the throne? See, Jude is dealing with the presence of an internal threat. He's not saying, oh, it's this godless Roman Empire and the way they engage in emperor worship. It's this godless Roman Empire and the way that they just glut themselves with sexual sin and infidelity and unrighteous, you know, just beware of this godless Roman Empire. That's not his tactic here. He says the problem is within. The problem has come within our own borders.

For certain men have crept in unnoticed. Why? How? Well, maybe persons weren't contending earnestly for the faith the way they should have been. Perhaps that's why Jude found it necessary to alert them to the reality and the danger, the presence of the danger, to tell them to kick it into gear.

Notice how he describes these heretics in verse 4. They're deceptive. They creep in unnoticed. They don't knock at the door and say, hey, I'm a heretic. Arius sent me to deny the divinity of the Lord Jesus, and I want to preach in your pulpit. Okay, let's do this. They creep in unnoticed. Subterfuge, covert ops. How do I do the most damage?

Turn back to 2 Timothy 3, where the apostle Paul indicates the same thing. 2 Timothy 3, same sort of a threat. It's an internal threat, not external. Notice in 2 Timothy 3.1. But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. Last days is the time frame between the first and second advent of our Lord. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

How do I know they're an internal threat? Because of verse 5, having a form of godliness but denying its power. A form of godliness. This ain't the pagan standing on the street corner chasing the prostitute. This is the one who has a form of godliness. This is one who's found within the ranks. This is one who parades himself, or rather creeps in unnoticed. Notice Paul's instruction to Timothy at the end of verse 5, and from such people turn away, and then notice his further description of the actual heretics, 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 Janus and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Janus and Jambres being magicians at the time of the exodus when Moses went to battle with them over the great works of God. Now as Janus and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds disapprove concerning the faith, but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

So when we come to Jude's description, he says certain men have crept in unnoticed. They're deceivers. They're sneaky. The heretic doesn't show up in a Satan costume. You know, horns and a pitchfork. I'm here to ruin your church. I'm here to destroy everything. I'm here to get you to compromise on the sixth commandment and say that abortion's okay. I'm here to get you to compromise on the sixth commandment and have you say that, you know, maid is okay. I'm here to get you to compromise on the seventh commandment and have you say, you know what, it's good that children are mutilated for the cause. They don't do that. It's deception. It's deception.

Notice as well, they're ungodly. They're just ungodly men. Note that emphasis in verse 15, 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.

So when he describes these heretics and the motivation given to contend for the faith in verse 4, they're sneaky, they're ungodly. Notice as well, they are perverters of the grace of God. They turn the grace of our God into lewdness. The truth accords with godliness, 1 Timothy 6, 3. And when we believe the truth, we walk, not perfectly, lots of falls, lots of ebbs and flows, but in conformity to that word.

So these guys, they pervert the grace of God and they deny Jesus Christ. I know there's a bit of a difference in terms of the reading. If you've got the ESV or the NAS or the NIV, I'm taking the NKJ here seriously along with the King James. Notice, and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. There's an inextricable connection here. The denial of the Father is a denial of the Son. Doesn't Jesus teach this in John 8? If you were Abraham's sons, you wouldn't be trying to kill me. And when they say, we weren't born of fornication, we only have one father, God. What does Jesus then say? You are of your father, the devil. He was a murderer and a liar from the beginning. The desires of your father you want to do.

John 15, what does Jesus say in the upper room? If they hate the one sent, they hate the one who sent. If they hate Jesus in his mission, that means they hate the father who sent Jesus for that particular mission. Or perhaps John in his second epistle. 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. So you don't get God without his son. You can't say, well, I'm spiritual, God's my father, what think ye of Christ? Eh, I don't think much of Christ. That may work in America, that may be, you know, Canadian civil religion, but that ain't true. No Jesus, no father. You reject the son sent by the father? You're rejecting the father who sent the son. That's the emphasis in John 8, John 15. I'd argue the entirety of John's gospel every time he butts heads with the religious leadership. When he even says it positively in John 17 3, this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Again, you don't get the Father without the Son, and these heretics were denying the Son. But before we move on to the motivation given to contend for the faith, just notice that, you know, there's bad news there in verse 4. We don't want these guys in our church. We don't want these guys sneaking in. We don't want them leading, you know, gullible women loaded down with lusts into weird paths of Bible and theological studies.

Well, I think the motivation is not just the reality of the presence of the heretics, but the motivation is also in tune with Psalm 60, verse 12. Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. In other words, how Jude goes on to describe the outcome of these heretics gives us motivation. Let me just make this very simple. We win. We win.

Notice what he says in verse 5, the destruction of unbelieving Israel. 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. What's he do with fallen angels? Verse 6, 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. What did he do with Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain? Verse 7, he overthrew them. And as well, verse 4 indicates that they themselves are marked out for this condemnation. In other words, they're not untethered from the providence or sovereignty of God. They're not running amok all on their own. They're not independent and autonomous.

Remember Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 says, for this reason there must also be factions among you. Why, Paul? So that those who are proved may be recognized. Sometimes it's heresy, sometimes it's heretics, sometimes it's plagues upon the church that has helped the church to not only stand her ground, but to gain some ground in combating those wretches. We can praise God for the Nicene Creed. We can praise God for the definition of Chalcedon. We can praise God for the good work that our brothers did in the 17th century, putting pen to paper and writing the 1689 London Baptist Confession.

So, heresy and heretics are under the providence of God. Do you mean He even works those things for our good, Romans 8, 28? Yeah, He does. So, the motivation for us to contend earnestly for the faith is one, there's a lot of wretches that we need to be on guard of. Two, we will win these wretches, not because of our contending earnestly, but for the faith that we are contending for. That's the power.

And brethren, whenever I preach a sermon like this, don't raise your eyebrow at the guy sitting next to you that perhaps just wandered in this morning. Here's the verse for Jude guy. Gotta be careful of him. No, no, no. Charity, love, kindness, compassion, all that we need to remember.

Well then, finally, the disposition of those who contend for the faith. In other words, positively, how does Jude say that we need to proceed? Jude's described the danger. He's called upon us in terms of the duty What's the disposition we need to manifest or cultivate in order to sort of be on our guard? To be the contenders for the faith that He wants us to be according to verse 3. What's involved here? Well first, according to verse 17, we need to remember scripture. Verse 17, 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. We need to remember the words of Jesus. The apostles, we need to remember the words of the Lord Himself. 

The Lord cautioned His disciples about false prophets in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 7. The Lord cautions His disciples in Matthew chapter 16 from following the leaven of the Sadducees. Consider Paul, that first pastor's conference when he's addressing the Ephesian elders. He says, from among yourselves men will rise up. Consider Paul throughout 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus. He wants us, Jude does, to remember those messages and to understand that what we witness in a hostile takeover, an attempted hostile takeover of churches is prophesied. 

You're light in the midst of darkness. The darkness hates the light. Remember Jesus said something about that in John 3. The darkness doesn't want to come to the light lest its evil deeds be exposed. If the darkness can extinguish the light, hey, even better. Then there's no chance of me brushing up against it. So Jude wants us to remember. He wants us to remember not just the positives, in terms of believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll be saved, you'll be forgiven, you'll have a righteousness, you can enter into the presence of God. He wants us to learn and remember the dangers as well. 

I heard a preacher once say something to this effect. He said, I spent my whole ministry telling people, telling the people in our church what they should believe. And I spent precious little time on telling them what they should not believe. I don't think every sermon should be a polemic against every heretic or every heresy. I don't think every sermon needs to be a negative attack on everybody who is not us. I don't think that at all. I think the bulk of Christian preaching ought to be Christ and him crucified and resurrected for the salvation of sinners, for the sanctification and growth of the people of God. 

There are times, brethren, when a Jew comes along and says, look, These sneaks have come in. They're ungodly men. They're perverters of the grace of God. They deny the Son and therefore deny the Father. Or the Apostle Paul, we saw it there in 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 to 6. Withdraw yourself from them, Timothy. Don't have truck with people who have a form of godliness, but deny its power. You need to understand the truth and some semblance of the attacks upon that truth or challenges to that truth. 

So Jude says, remember, But then secondly, he says that we are to keep ourselves in the love of God. Notice in verses 20 and 21. 

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. Now the command is right there at the beginning of verse 21. The command is sort of surrounded by the manner of compliance. In other words, the command is keep yourselves in the love of God. Everything surrounding it in verse 20 and 21 is how we do that. 

How do I keep myself in the love of God? Well first, notice the emphasis, verse 20, but you beloved, there's that beloved again from verse three. That beloved that describes the people of God of verses one and two. Not but you pastors, you doctors, you seminary professors, you theologians, you aspiring budding theologians, no, no, you beloved, keep yourselves. We're building yourselves up. 

But then the main section is verse 21, keep yourselves. In other words, you can't fix everybody else if you're a mess. You can't protect everybody else if you're dying or dead. You get this, you fly. They tell you if you have a kid next to you, make sure your mask is fastened first and securely and then help the kid. I really don't think the airline is saying, you know, adult supremacy. These wretched little kids can just choke to death. They understand the principle all too well. If you're not safe and secure, you're not able to help Junior be safe and secure.

Keep yourselves. Sounds like Solomon, Proverbs 4.24. keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. You're not fit to police others if you're not doing what Jude says. So again, the main emphasis, well before that, Manton says we are born Pelagians, Libertines, and Papists. He's right on that as well. 

But notice, when he says in verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God, this does not mean the believer keeping himself as the object of God's love. In other words, I have to perform in such a way that I keep myself as the object of God's love. That's not the emphasis in verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God. That would suggest that the love of God fluctuates, that the love of God increases or diminishes. That would suggest that there's something I can do, wretch that I am, that can make myself more lovely to God. 

The doctrine of divine impassibility teaches us that God is most loving. There's no increase. There's no diminishment. The emphasis in verse 21 is not make yourselves lovely so that God continues to love you. I think the emphasis in verse 21 is to ponder God's love for you. Because in principle, if you accept John 3.16, what's the practical difficulty that flows from that? If God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life, you accept that. That's John 3.16. I mean, the guy at the baseball games with the rainbow hair always held that up at the back stop. That's just settled. 

What becomes a bit of a challenge Why does God love me? Do you ever reflect on that? Do you ever just think, I don't feel lovely. I don't think I look lovely. I know I don't act lovely. I think what Jude is saying is you need to believe that God loves you. If you're in Christ, if you're the ones described in verses one and two, and the ones addressed in verses three and 20 here, if you're the beloved of God, the vantage point by which we fight heretics is the knowledge that God loves us. It's beautiful, isn't it? 

Why would I contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints? Because God loves you. Because God in his infinite wisdom has purpose to hand down that faith generation after generation after generation after generation through churches just like yours. In other words, it puts it in its proper theological perspective. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Contemplate. 

And if you think I'm making this up, Paul prays for the church in Ephesus that they may know and understand the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. He's not telling them to ponder how much they love Jesus. He's telling them to ponder how much Jesus loves them. When Paul issues that challenge in Romans 8, 31 to 39, what does he say? Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? That's God's love for us. Or Romans 5, 8, God commends his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. See, the vantage point upon which we combat the enemy is not just to show that we're right. It's not just to demonstrate fidelity, though that's not far removed. It's because God loves us. God loves us.

So how do we keep ourselves in that knowledge? How do we constantly recognize the love of God for us? Those are the surrounding clauses there in verses 20 and 21. The first is the study of Scripture. How do you keep yourselves in the love of God? Verse 20, building yourselves up on your most holy faith. What better way for you to learn of God's love than in the Holy Scriptures? Building yourselves up in your most holy faith.

In other words, keeping myself in the love of God, keeping yourself in the love of God, necessitates the study of Scripture, which is the word of God. That's not rocket science, brethren. That's pretty simple. Isn't it? It's not keep yourselves in the love of God by shimmying up Mount Sham on a day like this, when it's really cold, from the front side, and once you get up there, you know, take off your shirt and just sit there and chant. No, it's read your Bible. It's come to church. It's show up.

We talked about this in the last hour. It's a good work to just show up at church. I mean, in some ways the bar is pretty low. Just fall out of bed. Crawl to your vehicle. Fall into it. They got cars that drive themselves now. Program in, 45592 Wellington. Fall out of the car, drag yourself in, and fall into a pew. Kind of a humorous illustration, but it really underscores what's going on in churches.

I saw chatter this weekend about churches closing today so everybody could have a four-day weekend. When did church become a chore? We want our family time. When did church not become family time? What's more virtuous than a family heeding David's words? I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. And schlepping those little ones into the public worship of God, teaching them to receive the word of God, teaching them to sing the praises of God. How is that not family time? How is that arguably not the best family time that we have all week?

Now I understand there's challenges on Sunday morning. That's when more shoes traditionally are lost, more Bibles are forgotten, less teeth are brushed, less hair is combed. I get all that. There's an active campaign to keep people out of the house of God. The devil doesn't want you hearing and believing and being saved according to the parable of the sowers in Luke's version, Luke 8.

keep yourselves in the love of God. How do we do that? Well, you listen to the psalm that Pastor Cam read at the outset of worship, that psalmist in Psalm 119. He studies the word with a view to obey it, verse 9. He studies the word to engage the whole heart in it, verse 10. He memorizes the word of God, not so that he can win awards, thy word I've hidden in my heart, that I may not sin against thee. As well, He depends upon divine instruction from the word of God to declare that word to others, to engage the word with joy, to meditate upon it and contemplate it, and to do so with delight and determination. Or Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 3, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for us. What's it profitable for? Doctrine. We need to be taught, we need to understand, we need to assent to the propositions of Holy Scripture. For reproof, why do we need that? Because sometimes we're prone to wander, prone to leave the God that we love. We need a in correction so that if we are in the far country, we are corrected to be brought back to the right place. That's good, brethren. That's blessed. Keep yourselves in the love of God. How? Building yourselves up in your most holy faith. What's the second means? The second sort of plank to this compliance is praying in the Holy Spirit. 

Do you mean that preachers historically have told people to read the Bible and pray? Yeah, that's what I mean. This is what Jude's saying. Read the Bible and pray. That'll solve all my... No, it's not going to solve all your problems. That'll cure all your ills. No, it's not going to cure all your ills. No, it's not going to bring the most fulfillment of anything in this world. But a steady acquisition of the truth of God's word and prayerful reception of it is tantamount to growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Just as a good diet, rest, and exercise is tantamount to a good physical frame. It's not rocket science, brethren. 

You want to make a resolution for 2026? Read your Bible, pray, show up at church, I'm the Bible study. I know that's a revolutionary idea, but there is a Bible study on Wednesday night. We're taking a little break because of the holidays, but we're back, and we don't usually deviate. We go till summertime, and that was an innovation of the deacons some years ago, encouraged us to take the, I'm blaming deacons here. I would never take any time off. It was those nasty deacons. It actually has turned out pretty advantageous, because a lot of people are traveling during the weeks in summertime when the sun actually shines. 

It's not rocket science. How do we keep ourselves in love with God? Build yourselves up in His most holy work. Pray in the Spirit and look forward to that mercy of Jesus Christ that's going to be revealed on that day. Notice in verse 21. So again, the emphasis, verse 21, at the beginning, keep yourselves in love of God. How? Verse 20, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. At the end of verse 21, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. We've received mercy, we are presently receiving mercy, and there's a promise from God that we will receive mercy. In other words, how do I keep myself in the love of God? I keep myself in the love of God, I read his Bible, I pray, and I have a future orientation to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, to judge the living and the dead. That's what it means to keep yourselves in the love of God. 

Well, brethren, just a few thoughts. We need to remember there are attacks on the faith. There's attacks on our subjective hold on Jesus. I mean, every temptation, every sin. every remaining corruption or inclination to that which is dark and wicked. That's an attack on our subjective faith, our hold on Christ. But there are attacks on the objectivity of Christianity. I think Manton and Turretin are on the right path. Manton says, there are fundamentals and essentials in religion, which challenge the choicest of our care and zeal, that they may be kept entire and without violation. The ignorance of them is damnable and the denial heretical. Turretin, to the same emphasis. So some articles of faith are primary and immediate, as the articles concerning the Trinity, Christ the mediator, justification, et cetera. So when I talk about the attacks on the faith, I'm not talking about the intramural debates. I believe in believers' baptism. I believe it's supposed to go to believers. I believe it's supposed to be by immersion. I would not include that here. You're not entertaining damnable heresy if you hold the paedo-baptism. If I have ever preached in any way, shape, or form that sounded like that, I think there are heretical forms of paedo-baptism, teaching baptismal regeneration, teaching the washing away of original sin. There's heretical forms of paedo-baptism. Garden Variety paedo-baptist is not damned because he's a paedo-baptist. He's not even damned. He's a believer, he's not damned. So I would not include that. There's differences, and that's okay.

I think that sometimes people get, you know, there's so many denominations. I call it the division of labor, right? If we prayed for every prayer letter out there from every denomination, How would we fulfill the command to love our wives, to be submissive to our husbands, to go to work, to work hard? I mean, we have a tough time keeping up, and two prayer meetings a week, we have a tough time at times keeping up with all the requests. The division of labor is fine. There are tertiary matters that people can disagree on, and we shouldn't anathematize that.

But I think that Turretin offers us at least a suggestive list on what we need to consider. Trinity, Christ the mediator, justification. You cannot be wrong unless you confess that in this divine and infinite being, there are three persons. The Father, the Word, and the Spirit. The same in substance, power, and eternity. each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. You can't. Remember, Jesus says, if they hate me, not Jim, but Jesus, they hate me, they hate the Father who sent me. It's just that simple. Whoever transgresses and does not confess Jesus does not have God, 2 John 9. So definitely, Trinity is absolutely crucial.

Christ the mediator. He's not just a good example. He's not just a superman. He's not just a better version of us that got it right a whole lot more. He is the divine word. He is the word who assumed our humanity. He is that word who assumed our humanity, who lived a perfect life of obedience, who died a death on the cross as a sacrifice and a substitute, and who was raised again the third day, so that everyone who looks to him in faith will have everlasting life. You cannot be wrong on who Jesus is.

And then justification. I would make that a little bit more comprehensive, but justification by faith alone. We considered Galatians 2.21 this morning. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes to the law, then Christ died in vain. You see what Paul is condemning in Galatians is not a works righteousness. I think we all agree. Anybody that thinks they can work themselves into heaven, that's just patently wrong and false. He's condemning a works plus faith, or a faith plus works righteousness. If you let any of your alleged goodness intrude upon your acceptance with God, then why did Christ die? If you could do it, If you could muster it up, if you could pull up your bootstraps and launch this campaign to enter into the presence of God vis-a-vis circumcision and Jewish calendars and whatever other ceremonies Moses has to offer, then why the gospel? Why the death of Jesus? Why the crucifixion?

Brethren, we need to know those doctrines. We need to know of God, the Holy Trinity. We need to know of Christ, the mediator. We need to know justification. We need those things internalized. 

There's going to be differences within our own church. I got a great experiment for you. Ask somebody at the back of the church today, what do you think is going to happen when Jesus returns? Or better yet, when do you think Jesus is going to return? There's going to be fireworks back there, so if you're not into that, just maybe avoid it. 

We all disagree on tertiary matters. We all disagree on those things that aren't essential for salvation. And that's okay. Charity is a beautiful thing. 

I would suggest, secondly, we ought to appreciate the goodness of God. The salvation of God's elect by His grace, you see that in verse one. The provision of mercy, peace, and love from Him, you see that in verse two. The preservation of His people by His grace in verse 24. And the glory and honor due to Him as a result in verse 25. 

God is good. and God has been merciful and God is for us. And if you are not a believer, that common salvation that Jude refers to there in verse three is common, not because we have it in us to get it, but it's common because it's shared by all of God's people. 

The specifics are very simple, we're a mess. We have sinned against God. We have transgressed His law. We have lacked conformity unto it. Everything God says, we do the opposite. Everything God says is right, we conclude it's wrong, and so we do the opposite. Maybe you were a little bit more moral, maybe you weren't quite as bad as some of the rest of us, but for the most part, we all hated God. 

Again, it could be decorated better, or you could look more polished, but the root and the heart of the matter is, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Total depravity, total inability, we all find ourselves in Adam that way. 

It's the glory of the gospel, the beauty of that common salvation is Jesus, that word, who took on our flesh, who lived obediently to the law of his father, not as an example, though it is an example, but for our righteousness. In other words, we need to be clothed We need not only the filthy clothes of sin ripped off, but we need the lovely robes of righteousness put on. 

So the life of Jesus are those robes of righteousness put on by God in His grace. We need that sin taken away. We need that sin purged. We need that sin removed. And the prophets foretold it, the Baptists announced it, and the rest of the New Testament highlights the reality that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

Look to Him, if you're not looking to Him already, and be ye saved. For God is God, and there is no other, and the only provision He has made for needy sinners is in His Son. 

Well, let us pray. 

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this brief epistle of Jude. I pray that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to receive his message, and may it indeed shape us as we enter into a new year. May we keep ourselves in the love of God by building ourselves up in our most holy faith, praying in the spirit, looking for that mercy when our Lord Jesus Christ again returns in glory. And we ask this in his most blessed name, amen. 

Let us stand and we'll close by singing 572. 

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen. Amen. and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.