Things to Remember Jude 17-25

-We respond to the challenge of false teachers by holding on to truth!

1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Endurance

“Our men were not braver than the enemy. They were brave five minutes longer” (attributed to Lord Wellington after the great victory won over Napoleon at Waterloo).395

I. Remember the Times vv. 17-19

Jude begins this section with a call to remember the predictions and prophecies of the Apostles

These men warned that the “last times” will be difficult days

These last days are the times between the first and second coming of Christ

What will these last days be like?

There will be scoffers; there will always be scoffers

What is a scoffer? Someone who mocks the truths of Scripture, the revealed will of God. They always have an alternative way of understanding simple truths that is in fitting with fleshly desire!

How do we identify scoffers?

They are following their ungodly passions

They cause divisions

They have a worldly orientation, rejecting things as being too spiritual and impractical

They are devoid of the Spirit; His fruit is not present in them

Galatians 5:22–23

[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (ESV)

II. Remember to Remain vv. 20-21

Second, Jude instructs us to remain in the love of God

What does it mean to keep ourselves in His love?

It means to settle ourselves deeply into the reality of God’s love for us and to return that love to Him

How then, do we keep ourselves in His love?

We build ourselves up in the faith

This is an individual act of pursuing growth in the faith

This is a corporate act of pursuing the unity and growth of the Body of Christ

We pray in the Holy Spirit

As we pray we gain the power of God to endure

As we pray we experience the presence of God to endure

We wait for the mercy of Jesus

We live in hope of an ultimate glory that will be ours in heaven

When we look to what lies ahead, the strain of our present is relieved

Why does this matter?

When we remain in the love of God, we trust in His sufficiency

If we look for the love and affirmation of the world, we will eventually prefer that acclaim to His; that is the beginning of disaster!

I have two dogs and they’re pretty good dogs. They’ve each learned how to follow a few instructions, but there is one that we have had no success with: stay. Remaining is an act of ultimate trust; when we stay with Jesus and remain in His love we trust that He will be more than enough!

III. Remember Mercy vv. 22-23

Third, Jude leaves the door open for mercy

Remember, we have all gone astray ourselves

We must keep the door open for genuine repentance and reconciliation

However, this posture of mercy is critical; if we are only looking to destroy our opponents, we are missing the heart of God on the matter

How do we do this?

We have to act decisively, snatching them from the fire

This does mean honest confrontation with the truth

This must be an act of love, administered out of a desire for deliverance

We must understand the reality of destruction that is before them!

We have to act severely, hating the effects of the sin

This also means a call to complete repentance

The stakes are too high to continue to dabble in destruction

Our attitude on this matters: When we fail to show mercy, we become a different kind of sinner

We know the truth and have right beliefs about God

However, we completely miss out on His character and are in serious spiritual danger

Unfortunately, we may find that we become something not too different than the false teacher!

The goal has not been to win arguments, but to win souls!

Around 11:00 p.m. on February 9, 1709, when Wesley was only five years old, the roof the Wesley residence caught fire. Everyone had quickly escaped to safety, except John. He found himself trapped upstairs with his only route out blocked by the inferno. In an instance of divine providence, Wesley was rescued through a window by a man standing on the shoulders of another. Wesley would grow to understand this event as God preserving him for a purpose and referred to himself as “a brand plucked out of the fire” echoing Zechariah 3:2. Jesus was going to use that “brand” and stir up a passion for his name.

IV. Remember Your Savior vv. 24-25

Jude closes with an incredible doxology:

In it, he identifies God as “the one who is able to keep you from stumbling”

What a beautiful picture of the sustaining work of God, who completes what He starts

Further, He does it in a way that is joyous!

This truth of His finishing work ought to give us confidence to remain in Him

He is going to present us before Himself blameless

This is through the saving and forgiving work of Jesus

He is worthy of all glory, majesty, and authority for all time

When we remember whose we are, it changes how we face this moment

2 Timothy 1:12

[12] which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. (ESV)

In The Chimes, the second of Charles Dickens five Christmas stories, nine-year old Lillian Fern, orphaned and under the guardianship of her father’s brother Will, is taken in for the night by Tobias (Trotty) Veck and his adult daughter, Meg. In Lillian’s thirst for a mother, for a friend, for a home, she runs to Meg without reservation,

“Trotty, in a breathless state, set the child down before his daughter in the middle of the floor. The little visitor looked once at Meg; and doubting nothing in that face, and trusting everything that she saw there; ran into her arms.”

Comment: What about us? Are we any different than Lillian in our need? May we, in similar fashion, run into Jesus’ arms having looked upon his trustworthy countenance, wearied, worried, and withered travelers that we are.