Defending the Faith

Jude 3-4, 12-25

Someone give me a list of random topics.

The weirder the better. Just start yelling out stuff.

Ok… Now we are going to split into groups of 4 and we are going to come up with a 30 second skit about…

How to spot a _______________ in the wild?

GO!

Today we are going to talk about defending our faith.

A key principle here comes back to what we’ve been discussing on Wednesday nights this semester.

You can’t defend a faith you don’t have.

You can’t defend something you don’t believe in.

The opposite is also true, we must recognize people who say or do things contrary to what we believe in.

Illustration:

Imagine it’s a beautiful day and my boys are playing outside.

All of a sudden a car slows down in front of my house, there are 2 men inside, I don’t know them, and they invite my boys to come get in the car.

As their father, what should I do?

I’m going to defend my family!

Hopefully I’m going to get license plates and report them to police.

I might be tempted to jump in my car and chase them.

I’m going to post on social media to warn others and provide a description.

I’m going to add cameras around my house.

I’m going to think through all possible ways to not let that happen again.

Here’s another question,

What kind of father would I be if I saw this happen and didn’t do any of these above actions?

What if after having observed this potential kidnapping, I did nothing?

We defend those we love.

But what about what we believe?

One of the reasons I’ve challenged us this semester to know what we believe, especially when we measure Christianity to other religions, is because we need to defend what we believe.

And here this this morning.

Defending what you believe starts with you.

You don’t have to go out and debate or even talk to anybody about this!

2 Corinthians 10:5 “5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”

1 Peter 3:15 “15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

Knowing that, let’s read our text for today in Jude.

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Read Jude 3-4 “3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Jude 12-16 “12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. 14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.”

Jude 17-21 “17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.”

Jude 22-25 “22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

Wow. There’s alot going on there this morning but I think we can boil it all down to 2 points.

Living an unguarded life.

Living a guarded life.

Jude 4 says that people have crept in unnoticed… who pervert the grace of God.

I read a twitter post recently that said, “The most dangerous teachers are the ones who preach a different Christ, but still call Him Jesus.”

This is why we did case studies a couple weeks ago on Wednesday night.

Guys with “Reverend” in their handle on Tik Tok.

Massive preachers like Andy Stanley or Steven Furtick…

These guys are dangerous.

Folks who would claim to believe the same thing you do then radically share things that do not line up with Scripture.

When we hear that, Are we taking every thought captive in Christ?

My prayer for you is that we are!

This is why, If not though, we are living an unguarded life.

What happens when I:

Live an unguarded life?

We don’t notice the false teachers from the true teachers.

vs 4… people have crept in unnoticed.

vs. 12… they feast with you without fear

vs. 18… in the last time, there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.

Jude 19 “19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.”

There are people who show up on TV who use the Bible to teach false doctrines and say that God promises you health, wealth, and happiness.

They are called prosperity preachers.

But honestly guys… prosperity preachers is too nice of a term.

They aren’t preachers.

They are doing the work of their father, but their father is not God…

He’s from the other place.

Now again, You don’t need to go to your friends tomorrow and defend your faith from the prosperity preachers.

But are you able to do their by yourself?

Are you able to hear false doctrine on tv, on social media, or in school, and allow the walls of your mind to guard yourself from the false doctrines?

My fear is that most of us don’t do that.

We consume, consume, consume but we never defend what we believe against what we consume.

Toy Story Illustration:

In Toy Story 1, all the toys are worried about Andy’s birthday.

In a comical display, the toys have a meeting to discuss all of their fears an anxieties about moving and the birthday party.

Woody (their leader) assures them, “What matters is that we are here for Andy when he needs us. That’s what we are made for, right?”

This is the mantra of Toy Story 1-3. Toys exist to be played with and enjoyed by their owner.

However, don’t forget the subtlety of what is also said here.

Being there for Andy assumes that as long as you are owned by Him, you are there.

You are present.

Whether or not Andy actually does play with the toys, they are there and exist for that reason.

The purpose of a toy then is selflessness.

All of that changes in Toy Story 4.

In one of the final scenes of Toy story 4.

Buzz and Woody are talking.

Woody is weighing the heavy decision of choosing to live without an owner with Bo-Peep, or to fulfill his purpose as a toy and be there for Bonnie.

Buzz tells Woody,

“Bonnie will be ok…”

Now listen to this garbage…

“Listen to your inner voice.”

Woody then chooses to abandon his owner, live with Bo without an owner, and effectively deconstruct the entire TS series by choosing to live for self rather to do what he was made for, selflessly be available to a child to be played with.

Now, half of me thinks this is too deep for Toy Story, but the more I think about it, the more I think that was EXACTLY the point of this part of the story.

Our culture is always, 24/7 trying to get you to live for yourself and yourself only…

But to live selfishly misses the point of life!

In the case of toy story, TS4 completely disregarded the point of being a toy as presented in TS1.

With things that matter infinitely more,

Do we recognize this call from our culture to live selfishly?

There are many things that want to “Feast with you without fear...”

But my point this morning is, we must raise our defenses.

We must be guarded against such selfish living.

It is killing us.

Which brings me to point 2.

2. Live a guarded life.

Christ protects the gospel through His church.

Jude 21 “21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.”

Friends, anything or anyone that wants you to focus on you and live for you does not love you.

Jude tells us “keep yourself in the love of God!”

That is where life is!

I need to guard myself from all that wants to rob me of God’s love.

Nothing can ever remove you from God’s love

Jude 24 “24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,”

Even more, God promises to keep you from stumbling.

As you remain Guarded in Christ, God will keep you in His love and Keep you from stumbling.

That doesn’t mean life won’t be hard.

On the contrary, God promises life will be hard in many places in Scripture.

The point of God keep us from stumbling isn’t so we will have an easy life, but so that we will recognize what God treasures in this world versus what we treasure.

God’s treasures are always better.

And at the end of time what God treasures will remain.

Himself

People.

We must remember this.

This above all else is worth fighting for in this life.

APPLICATION:

Jude 22-23 “22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”

To apply this today, let us think about the church.

Our job as the church, God’s people (not buildings) is to know God, Show God, and defend God.

We need to know what we believe.

If we don’t know what we believe, we will be taken captive of ideas and philosophies that are against God and against His gospel.

We need to recognize the depth of God’s grace and mercy given to us.

Like Woody, we all choose what we want all the time.

We choose OUR desires.

Our treasures

Our wants.

And each and every time, God is merciful.

Jude 22 “22 And have mercy on those who doubt;”

We can show mercy to others because we have been shown much mercy from God in our doubts.

By His grace, if we know what we believe, we can recognize others who do not believe in the gospel.

And here is where everything comes to a head this morning.

1000 times a day, I need to be reminded of the gospel.

I need to defend the gospel in my own head against all the messages of selfishness the world throws at me.

As I do this day after day, I experience and appreciate God’s love, grace, and mercy towards me.

The more I experience this,

the more I can give this to others.

And oh what a beautiful thing to know the mercy of God and then give the mercy of God to others around me.

At the end of the day one thing remains.

God.

God’s protection on those who belong to Him.

And those who are telling others about God.

May we never be taken captive by another message.

Defend the gospel to yourself.

Always be eager to snatch others out of the fire

Be eager to give the mercy you have been so richly given.