"17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. 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."
Our life circumstances can stretch our faith in ways we never imagined. Illness and death can change our lives in an instant. Financial troubles can keep us up at night worrying. An unexpected tragic event may force us to ask hard
questions about our world and our God. Life circumstances give us many difficult
situations to deal with and cope with.
The challenge is not to follow our natural instincts when it comes to difficult situations and difficult people. In order to overcome these situations, we must build up our faith. However, building our faith means we look back on our lives with eyes of faith
and see what God has already done for us. Building up our faith is mental and
emotional preparation through careful study of God’s Word. The point of building up our
faith is so when difficult times or difficult people come along, that we do not
fall apart because we have no solid foundation.
In order to build up our faith, we have to spend time in prayer, talking with God and listening to Him. We will
find strength and power when we rely on God through prayer. Only then, will our eyes
will be opened to possibilities and answers to our questions we could never arrive at on our own. We can see what God is doing in spite of the difficult circumstances we face.
We also build up our faith by actively loving our neighbors, and our enemies. We must actively look to
the needs of those around us and do all we can to meet those needs. That
is building up faith through love. And when the time comes, we will find that we too will be
surrounded by people we have loved and now love us.
I do not need to spend any time trying to convince you that the church is under
attack. You should need no convincing. All one need do is take a look at the world around us, it is more than obvious that the battles
continue and attacks against the body of Christ are constantly underway. I believe there is nothing is more vital than prayer in the Christian's life,
and few things are more subject to neglect. It is my prayer that the Lord will use this message to stir up your heart to devote yourselves to prayer.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for Your Word for us today. Lord, we pray that it might instill in us the need to spend time with You in prayer. May Your church go forth with power and renewed boldness to earnestly contend for the truth. May we by the example of our lives, create an interest in the world for Christ and Your Word. Father, incline Your ear to the hundreds of prayers that ascend today. Breathe Your grace, mercy and unending joy into the lives of these precious souls with us today. Burden our hearts to the call of obedience to Your Word. Lord, we thank You for this high calling. May we each humbly accept our responsibility. May it be for Your glory and Christ's sake.
In His name we pray.
Amen
Today's Message: Surviving the Battle
As we return to our study of the Word of God, we find ourselves back in the epistle of Jude. Although it is a brief epistle, just twenty-five verses, we've been taking our time to cover this material, because I believe that it really is important.You will notice that in today's text, there’s a shift, a turning point.
When the church was born during Pentecost, the life of the church was
exhilarating. It was pure. It was powerful. And, it was productive.
They were devoted to prayer, dedicated to worship and the doctrine of the Apostles'. Needless to say, the result was a powerful evangelistic impact. In just a few weeks, the church grew from three thousand to in excess of twenty thousand, as people were embracing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
You can read about these transforming days in the early church in the beginning chapters of the book of Acts. Through the Holy Spirit, the apostles were given the privilege of looking into the future, and the not to distant future at that. And, as they looked into the future and were given the privilege to see some really unbelievable things.
They saw that the world would one day be destroyed by fire, literally dissolved by an atomic holocaust, they saw that Jesus Christ would return to take believers to glory, they saw that there would be a messianic kingdom of glory, and Christ would reign in it on the earth. And, they saw that sinners would finally be judged. They saw that the gospel would even be preached to the ends of the earth, and a new heaven and new earth would eventually come.
However, they also saw some unimaginable things, such as that was that the church would defect from the truth. That believers would become perverted in their understanding of Scripture. And that many within the church would abandon the gospel and abandon Christ. And that brings us to our text.
In II Peter 3, Peter wrote a similar message which says "This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles."
In I Thessalonians 5, Paul wrote, "Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape."
It is clear that the Apostles believed in the return of Christ. In II Peter 3, Peter wrote "Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."
It was around twenty-five years after Jude writes his letter, that the Apostle John receives from the Lord
Himself, the letters to the churches of Asia Minor. Five of those churches have
already begun to fill the prophecy of perversion, corruption, and
apostasy. The Ephesian church has left its first love. The church at
Pergamos is full of corruption, immorality, and heresy. The church at
Thyatira is so wicked that the Lord threatens to kill some of them. The
Sardis church is totally dead, murdered by apostates who defected from
the church and from the truth. And then there is that famous Laodicean church, which the Lord said He will vomit them out of His mouth.
Yet, in spite of the warnings of the Lord Himself about false teachers, in
spite of the warnings of the Apostle Paul, in spite of the warnings and
the prophecies of the Apostle Peter, in spite of the warnings and the fulfillments
indicated by Jude, the church continued to defect. And it was still just the first century. Sadly, the church has continued its defection in every generation, ever since. However, there has always been and will always be, a remnant. Those who preserved by God to evangelize the gospel to the world. Faithful Christians, who have always been soldiers, have always been
warriors, and we have always understood
that the enemy is not on the outside, it is also within.
Jude, drawing from the examples of the past, has presented to us a picture of apostates, their history, their characteristics and their nature. And, as I hope as you’ve been able to learn through the course of our previous studies, we are surrounded by them! They are literally everywhere. However, it is the ones that remain in the church that are the biggest danger to us and the church. Still, the church was not
anticipating these men that would try to destroy the work of God.
If you will remember, in II Timothy, the Apostle Paul, near the end of his life, warned young Timothy, that evil men would grow even worse.
Notice in Ephesians 6:10-13, Paul calls us to take a defensive stand against Satan, rather than to attack. "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm."
As we go through these final verses, Jude gives us four necessary elements, that will arm us for this battle. The first, is to remember. To remember. In other words, he’s saying is, "Remember that you were told this is the way it would be." This is very important. This is the reason that the Lord informed the Apostles about this so that they could warn us about it.
We need to remember, because nothing is happening that hasn’t already happened before. Jude reminded us of the apostasy in the past; so that we will know that it is going to happen again. He reminded us that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. He reminded us about Sodom and Gomorrah, that they indulged in gross immorality and are
set for undergoing the punishment of eternal fire, into which they have
already entered. So, don’t be surprised; this is how it was, and this is how it's going to be. Apostasy has always been present. Jude is therefore, affirming that what they are seeing in the apostasy that’s already visible is what was prophesied.
The second of the four elements is to remain. The third is to reach out. And the fourth is to rest.
As a teacher of the Word of God, who has been at this a long time, who has fought a number of battles on several fronts, we have been engaged in this war for a very long time. So, the first place we must begin, is with remembering.
In verses 17 and 18, he says "But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts."
Here, he’s going back to the apostles of Christ and those who were associated with them, who predicted apostasy. In Matthew 24, our Lord was the first to predict that apostasy, false teachers and false prophets would come.
In II Corinthians chapter 11, the Paul warned us "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds."
And, as we mentioned earlier, II Peter 3, when Peter warned "Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."
I’m not going to go through all of the texts, there are just far too many of them. But, I believe you get the idea. Notice that Jude is particularly focusing on II Peter. Peter uses the word "mocker," and Jude uses the word "mocker," which by the way, only appear in these two verses in the New Testament. I believe that this is clear indication, that we can conclude that Peter wrote his second epistle before Jude wrote his.Because he's quoting Peter here. Peter, however, wasn’t the only one who said this.
Notice, he says "In the last time," again, that’s a quote directly from Peter, but it's
very much what the Apostle Paul said, and it’s very much what the Apostle John will
say later. This is a very specific expression referring to the period from Messiah’s first coming until His second coming. We are in the last times, the last days.
The greatest reason that people do not want to acknowledge the second coming of Jesus Christ, is because with it, will come the Judgement, when those who have mocked God, who have been driven by their ungodly lusts, and the counterfeit Christians, will have to stand before a Holy God, and give an account for their sins. By the time that they come to this realization that they were wrong, it will be too late!
In verse 19, he says "These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit."
What I find to be very interesting, is that the ones that claim to have the Spirit, always think that anybody who doesn’t agree with them, are the ones that cause the divisions. Here, Jude clearly tells us that "These are the ones who cause divisions." Because there is always a division between truth and error, apostates always cause divisions in the church!
Jude uses the Greek verb "apodiorizó," this is the only time this word is ever used by the way, it means to separate, to make a distinction. Division is the effect of false teaching, because the truth and lies are separate. I believe that not only apostates need to know that Jesus is coming, but the church needs to be reminded that Jesus Christ's return is imminent! By this I mean,we have much work to do and little time in which to do it.
Another reason, is that these apostates have infiltrated the church are readily dong all that
they can to destroy it. Sadly, many Christians are sitting
back quietly and allowing it to happen. Dare I say that the church has become too passive, and not militant enough. This is particularly troubling to me, because when somebody comes in with another Jesus, another spirit or another gospel, the church seems to bear it. You warn, and you warn them about all kinds of things that will happen to them, you warn them about where they will go, and you do this because it is a pastor’s heart. To warn those he loves and who have been entrusted to him. I believe that the most serious problem in the church today, is a complete lack of discernment.
This is why the church has been invaded with tolerism, liberalism, psychology, charismaticism, and politicism. The only way that error can be accepted in the church is if Christians no longer hold a doctrinal standard.
In verse 20, "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit."
"But you, beloved," if you remember, he said the same thing in verse 17. Here, he gives us four commands. Three of them are participles with imperative force, the other is an imperative verb.The first command is a foundational one, it is building yourselves up on your most holy faith. This is how you resist, how you protect yourself. By becoming doctrinally strong, you protect the truth, this is how you fight the battle.
He is calling the church back to the priority of sound doctrine. By the way, "most holy faith" is objective. It can’t be subjective, or your personal faith, because your personal faith isn’t most holy. The truth which comes from God is His holy truth. That comes from studying the Word of God and studying it with a perspective of obedience, and its faithful application. Many Christians today study it and don’t apply it.
It is necessary if you want to remain in the process of sanctification in
the midst of apostasy, you have to be building yourself up in your most holy
faith.
The second thing, which comes along with that, is praying in the Holy Spirit. I have heard many different opinions about what that means, and I won't bother to go into those, but it means to pray consistently with the Spirit’s will. The dependence is always on God. It means praying yielded to the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 8:26, Paul says "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."
Because we don't know the future, we don’t know how to pray as we should. So, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. What a beautiful truth! The Holy Spirit groans within us, expressing certain pain and agony toward God on our behalf, "with groanings too deep for words." The Holy Spirit intercedes with groanings that the Father understands. The Holy Spirit is praying for you all the time, that's the point.
That brings us to the third element, let's look at verse 21, "Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life."
The Greek verb here is an imperative. The fourth element, is waiting, "waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life." It means to keep yourselves in the sphere of God’s love. Keep yourself in the place where you are going to experience the blessing that God’s love brings. In other words, don't get on God's bad side. I believe any parent is going to understand this. Don't put yourself in a position where you’re going to experience God's chastening. Don’t get yourself in a position where you’re going to feel His wrath. Keep yourself obedient.
I can tell you from my own experience, as long as I live in obedience, I enjoy God’s love and blessing. And, as soon as I move out of that place, I step out of that place, I move into the place of discipline.I assure you of this, I would much rather be in the place of blessing than in the place of discipline. It is far better to submit yourself to the will of God. Submitting to whatever it is that the Spirit of God wants you to do.
"Waiting anxiously," simply means to live in the light of Christ's return. To live in eager anticipation of that. When you know He’s coming, you’re eager to see Him, and to give an account for your life. This is a hope that purifies your life! This is the hope that changes the way your live your life while your waiting, knowing that at any moment, He will come. Awaiting the mercy of all mercies, that is eternal life. You don’t deserve to go to heaven and neither do I. This is God's ultimate mercy.
The last element is reach out, and we'll have to cover that in our next message.
In Closing..
For those of us who have been saved, who are in Christ, there is much work for us to do. We
must be on guard, alert and ready to defend the faith against these apostates. We must remember that Jesus is coming so our time is short. While
the apostate is doing his part to tear down the church, we each must be
doing out part to build the Kingdom of God. In order to be successful, we must be ready and willing to "earnestly contend for the faith."
Scripture tells us "Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." We should be looking forward to the day when we meet the Lord, rather than as a means of escape, but as a means of reunion.Much like the prodigal son who returns home to his father. Even though he had strayed, his father showed him mercy. So too shall our Father show us the mercy we do not deserve!
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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