940 Jude 17-25 Keeping Ourselves in the Love of God

Our son, Josh, has been studying to become a Paramedic &, recently, he got to dissect the heart of a sheep

I found out that there are literal heart strings that stops the valves of the sheep’s heart from prolapsing (gives a new thought to the idea of someone tugging on your heart strings)

It got me thinking about how amazing the heart is - in one sense, it never rests

You may get sleep at night, but the heart has to keep pumping

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I then thought about the fact that the heart gets the first & richest supply of oxygenated blood from the lungs

All muscles require a steady supply of blood to provide them with fuel (oxygen and nutrients), and this is especially true of the tireless heart which consumes huge amounts of energy. Even when resting, the heart consumes twenty times more oxygen than a resting skeletal muscle.

To meet this demand the heart has its own unique blood supply, known as the coronary circulation, which encircles the heart, supplying all parts abundantly, with roughly one capillary for each cardiac cell. Remarkably, when the heart needs more oxygen, such as during exercise, the blood vessels widen allowing more fuel in, preventing the heart from tiring out.

(https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/health/health-conditions/how-does-the-heart-keep-beating-without-getting-tired)

Since the heart is such a vital organ, see how much attention the body gives to it?

I wondered to myself that, if the heart, which is so vital to our existence was neglected - say it didn’t get its vital supply of oxygenated blood - what would happen to your body?

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It seems to me that we have areas in our lives: family, work, social, spiritual, financial etc. that all have relative values

One bodily value, say the heart, ends up being utterly essential & should get the first pickings of the “oxygenated blood” so the rest of the body benefits

Like the heart, the walk we have with Christ should garner the greater supply of attention to make sure it stays strong & healthy & when life is exercised, that rich supply will keep us ticking over

The Christian life must get the best attention - equal to or greater attention than the other areas because without Christ, life is lived in darkness & despair

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After some very strong denouncements of false believers, Jude turns his attention to how, positively, the church can keep itself on track with God

That way is by “building yourselves up on your most holy faith” which, of course, is in stark contrast to what he warned the church of in v.3 - that of the loss of THE faith

Jude 3 NASB95

3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

Attention is needed; preference & priority is needed for THE faith that was once & for all handed down to the saints

We must give attention to “building ourselves up on our most holy faith”

That won’t happen if it is neglected - like a heart if it neglected & not given that rich supply of vital oxygen; THE faith, likewise, is in danger of collapse

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It may not happen overnight, but if a person is not careful, eventually, it may become so damaged that it might not recover

In life, & in living, we must always make the main thing the main thing

The minute we think that we are ok, while ignoring our conscience, is the minute we start the downhill run

People with heart issues get by ok - for a time - but I don’t need to tell you what ends up happening if nothing changes

Don’t let everything else in life, crowd out the most vital & important part of your life - Jesus

1. Warning from the Apostles

Q. Are you shocked by the reaction of a secular world to the things of God?

Q. Are you dumbfounded why they are so hostile to the idea & even the values of God?

Well, don’t be surprised says Jude - this is exactly what the apostles of the Lord foretold would happen

2 Peter 3:3 NASB95

3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,

Even in the church, the impact of the world will be felt

If it’s really true that “all the world is a stage,” then God’s children should all get stage-fright.

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These Scriptures suggest to us that these predictions of the last time began to happen in the church of the 1st century

1 Timothy 4:1–3 NASB95

1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.

2 Timothy 3:1–5 NASB95

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

2 Timothy 4:3 NASB95

3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

I point this out because many Christians think that these passages speak to the time that we are in today as some kind of fulfilment of prophecy

Yes, of course it is, but it was not peculiar to our day - it began to have effect in the days during the apostolic missionary period

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So even Peter on the day of Pentecost could quote the prophet Joel...

Acts 2:16–17 NASB95

16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams;

The last days could be said to have started from, at least, Pentecost - better to understand it as starting from the resurrection of Jesus Christ which clearly began to divide history, divide the ages, into this present age & the age to come

In Jesus’ resurrection, the future began realistically in that Jesus was raised to resurrected life & He is said to be the first fruits of those who died in Christ

1 Corinthians 15:20 NASB95

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

God has put in place now the beginning of the future &, of course, this makes perfect sense

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Q. How could the future not possibly be here?

We enjoy the fruit of the Spirit - the Spirit’s work in our lives - God resides in those who are disciples of Jesus

Forgiveness of sin is a reality, reconciliation with God is a reality

The future age has begun in parallel with this present age - which Paul calls in Galatians 1:4 “this present evil age” - this age which is under the powers of the evil one with people trapped in sin & darkness

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Men & women of the world have been blinded by Satan, are in darkness & are in slavery to their sin - it is an evil age

But the Christian has been freed from the hold of Satan, the hold of darkness & the hold of sin

Q. How can this not be a foretaste of the age to come?

The full realisation of the age to come will happen with 3 things:

The coming of Jesus Christ; The resurrection of the dead & destruction &/or either renewal of the heavens & earth

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At present, however, the 2 ages exist side by side - not geographically side by side, but you could say the supernatural as opposed to the natural, side by side

Only Christians have the supernatural - which is God dwelling with us through His Spirit

The world, however, is the natural man, devoid of the Spirit

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This is why Jude speaks to those who cause division in the church

He refers to them as worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit

These people are operating on the basis & of the values of this present evil age & are living by its principles, the principles of a fallen world corrupted by sin & darkness

Romans 8:5–8 NASB95

5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Their minds are set on the flesh & on what the world dictates - that can be none other than displeasing to God

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Q. What causes people to walk away from the faith?

I’m sure we would be able to come up with a plethora of reasons

But one reason that would put many people off is a church that is loveless

When a church is raked with division, back-biting & malicious gossiping (whoever could think this could be found in a church of Jesus Christ, I don’t know) that church is on it’s deathbed

The key problem that Jude identifies is worldly-mindedness which are those, he says, are devoid of the Spirit

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John Stott on a number of occasions has described Christianity as a counter-culture

When we go out from our situation here, we end up in the world where ideas, values & actions often times conflict with our ideas, values & actions as Christians

What I’m saying is that we have quite the fight on our hands

To be in the world, but not of the world

To try & reach the lost & yet, hold on to our convictions

In the world as it stands now, it is getting very hard & I would think that it is harder now (in the west, at least) than in the last hundred years

2. The Activity of a Most Holy Faith

We turn now to the more positive aspect of this Epistle

Jude 20–21 NASB95

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

Here is what the church should give attention to

I’ve called, Build, Pray & Love

2.1 Build, Pray, Love

The object of building yourselves up in your most holy faith is set against what Jude said at the outset of this Epistle where he warned these churches of the dire consequences of tolerating false teaching - where he says in v.3...

V.3 “...I found it necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints”.

Contend earnestly for THE faith - & now build yourselves up on your most holy faith

Interestingly, this involves the whole church community

As we know, the work of building requires the whole church to be involved

That is our role, to build up one another & to encourage - or to put courage in - to one another to live out the Christian faith & to glorify God in our lives

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NASB95

11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

To build is contrary to tear down or demolish - it might be fun to demolish buildings & I have done that before, but it is a lot harder to build them

In other words, it is easier to tear down than to build up - building up will take love & commitment - but also truth

Part of building up yourselves in this Epistle means guarding the building as well - guarding the most holy faith

That means that the church should not tolerate everything that happens - the most holy faith can be demolished if the church isn’t building each other up correctly

To build up each other correctly has to do with keeping to the most holy faith

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Praying in the Holy Spirit - this sounds like some charismatic, mystic kind of praying

But it is not - the false teachers in these churches are, as he says in v.19, ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded & devoid of the Spirit

In contrast, the church is to pray in the Spirit

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Q. To help us think on this, let me ask what it would mean to pray in the flesh?

We can see by these worldly-minded ones who cause division that their prayers would be all about me, me, me

Like Diotrephes in John’s Epistles who loved to be first - it was all about him

To pray in the flesh, would mean to pray along fleshly lines which would be all about the person & what benefits them

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To pray in the Spirit, would be to pray in accord with the fruit of the Spirit

To pray in the Spirit means to pray in the motivation of the Spirit which would be in accord with the will of God

Praying in the flesh would be, as an example, like praying for personal revenge

Q. Which way do we lean in our prayers - flesh or Spirit?

Q. What is good for me, or what is good for others & for the church?

Such prayers for the benefit of others are prompted by the Spirit & not the flesh

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Jude 21 NASB95

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

This is an imperative, a command, to keep ourselves in the love of God as mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life will be given to them

This is a killer blow to the idea of “once saved always saved”

Each Christian must keep themselves in the love of God

It flys against the notion of God’s unconditional love - which is very trendy & we could say, worldly

John 15:9–10 NASB95

9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

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In a world where truth is in the eye of the beholder & God is whoever you want to make Him out to be, this becomes a stalk reminder to the church that there is only one truth & that we better stick with that truth

Q. Does God love us - of course, He does

However, it is not an unconditional love as people like to refer to it today - if you step away from His love, by turning away from Christ - evidenced by the refusal to obey Him - you do not remain in His love

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This is abundantly clear from the way Israel treated God’s love

Paul says in Romans...

Romans 9:27–29 NASB95

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved; 28 for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, thoroughly and quickly.” 29 And just as Isaiah foretold, “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, We would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah.”

Q. What does that mean? Where is Sodom & Gomorrah? Destroyed, finished!

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Of course, God’s love us abundant & rich & faithful, however, we must never take His love & grace for granted - which is what these false teachers have done

They have abused His grace & are using it as a license to sin, thinking that God will accept them no matter how they behave - they have that very wrong indeed!

As the disciples needed to remain in Jesus’ love, by obeying Him, we too are to remain in His love, by obeying Him

As Jude says here - “keep yourselves in the love of God”

2.2 Become a Life Saver

Q. The question, then, becomes… How do we respond; what attitudes should we have in situations where some Christians may not be the seriously false teachers - they may not be the scoffers - but they may have been influenced by the scoffers, the false brethren & have tendencies of doubt?

Jude will give us a way forward as we look at his closing message in his Epistle

Jude 22–23 NASB95

22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

In Light of God’s Grace in Christ, we become life savers

Not everyone has a heart bent on self-interest

Some have been marred & influenced by the wrong people - by these false teachers & some have been wavering between two opinions

Those who follow the apostles teaching are to have pity on them since they have been led astray & to do all they can to “save” them - something only Christ can do - but more of helping them/pointing them in the right direction

It is so serious, the “saving them” is the saving them from eternal judgement - that of the destiny of these false teachers

“Snatching them out of the fire” - is out of the fire of hell

Jude 23 NASB95

23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

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It’s true, some people have doubts about this or that - no doubt some people have doubts about what I teach - am I speaking truth & am I being faithful to Scripture

Q. Is what David says right? It’s not what I have heard before so should I believe what he says?

I know people have asked these questions, especially, when prominent Christians have said some contrary things

Well, that is something you need to wrestle with, considering all that has been said & what the Scripture says on the topic

But you also need to consider the leanings - the leanings of this present evil age & ask yourself whether that is at all influencing me or you as we try & wrestle with the issue of truth

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False teaching has always had a lose view of God’s grace & has always leant to God overlooking sin

The problem is not in God forgiving sin, the problem is God tolerating those who think that they can sin because of grace - & these are very different issues

These false teachers are in the latter camp - thinking that because God is gracious, they can take a very liberal view of sin & still expect God to forgive them

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Help those who are wrestling with the truth but make sure, that in the process, you don’t lose your holy fear of God

Have mercy on the doubters but with a holy fear of God, that judgement against this behaviour is near at hand

Which is also reflected in the statement: “hating even the garment polluted by the flesh”

This speaks of immorality of those who think that grace is a license to be licentious - that is sensual, immoral

As a church, we must remember that we have been redeemed not just from our empty lives, but redeemed to a new life in Christ

3. God Will Keep Us from Stumbling

Finally, Jude finishes with a doxology - a word about our glorious God - that I think I use in the Benediction, I say, more than any other doxology in the Bible

In spite of the struggles we Christians have to stay on track with God, this doxology reminds us that it is God who is our rear guard, so to speak

That He is the one who will keep us from stumbling into sin & judgement that we may stand before Him, in His presence, blameless & with great joy

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What a wonder that is - to even stand in His presence is something no one could do & live to see the day

But we will stand in His presence, not with fear, but with great joy

It reminds us of that Easter announcement doesn’t it & it is precisely the glorious provision God has made for the forgiveness of our sins

Luke 2:10–11 NASB95

10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

A Saviour has been born to you which is why Jude can say… “and to make you stand in the presence of His glory with great joy”

We do not need to be concerned if we remain in Jesus Christ

Let us remain in His love, let us obey the things He has said & let us live in the joy of waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord that will be given to us in resurrected life

Jude 25 NASB95

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.