Postcards

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to god's holy people.

For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago, have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people who pervert the grace of our god into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and lord. Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the lord at 1 time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority, but abandoned their proper dwelling. These, he has kept in darkness bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great day.

In a similar way, sodom and Gamora and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams, these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority, and heap abuse on celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander, but said the lord rebuke you. Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand and the very things they do understand by instinct as irrational animals do will destroy them.

Woe to them. They have taken the way of Kain. They have rushed for profit into balaam's era. They have been destroyed in Kora's rebellion. These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm Shepherds who feed only themselves.

They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind, autumn trees without fruit and uprooted, twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame, wandering stars for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them. C, the lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones, to judge everyone and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness. And of all the defiant words, ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

These people are grumblers and fault finders, They follow their own evil desires. They boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. But dear friends, remember what the apostles of our lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, In the last times, there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. These are the people who divide you who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the spirit.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt. Save others by snatching them from the fire. To others show mercy mixed with fear, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. To the only god our savior, be glory, majesty, power, and authority through Jesus Christ our lord. Before all ages, now and forever more, amen. Thank you very much, Sarah, and, good evening, everybody, and unmuted on here. Is that working?

Never mind. Oh, there we go. Thanks, John. Welcome everybody. This is a series that we've been doing over the last few weeks.

And, if you are new this evening, we've called it postcards, and we've been looking at some of these short books in the bible, 1 chapter books, really, and, books that might perhaps ordinary course of church life be be a bit more neglected than they than they ought to be. And, we've had a great time. I trust looking through these books, and, this evening, we are finishing off this series, with this book of Jude, and I'm not sure that their is a book in the Bible, that combines such breathtaking, gospel truths, alongside such sober warnings in such a short space of time. It really is a remarkable book And, hopefully, in the next few minutes, we'll all understand it a little bit better. Should we pray heavenly father, we, we've read some startling things just now and we're sorry that we don't tune in to the public reading of your words as well as we ought to sometimes, but we've just read some amazing startling things, alongside some glorious things about your work in our lives and the future that we have ahead of us.

And we pray that as we come to consider these things now, you you would help me, please, not to distract or take away from anything that's here. But that everything, I say would would would only be helpful insofar as it helps us to see what you are saying, and, that we would, all of us here feel feel the soberness of this passage and the encouragement and the glory of this passage, speak to our hearts. We pray, in Jesus' name, amen. About a year ago now, I, I lost my wallet in town. And, because it, had my driving license in it and my bank cards in it, and because I've been to a number of places that morning in town, Next few hours, and you may have had an experience like this.

So I rang up TFL straight away because I'd been on the bus that morning to see if the wallet had been found and handed in, but I couldn't get through to anyone who would be able to help me put me back. I went back through town. I retraced the steps that I'd taken to see if I dropped it on the floor and hoped that it might have been kicked into a gutter or something, but I didn't find it. I went to the coffee shop that I'd been in that morning and, hoped that it had been found and handed in, which it hadn't. And so after a couple of hours, searching anywhere, I thought it might be.

I I gave up, canceled the cards and reordered the new ones and just put that down as a bit of a wasted morning. Now, if you rewind that story a little bit and, let's say that I hadn't on that day lost my wallet. But I just lost a 5 pound note. How would things have changed? Well, it would have been a little bit annoying.

When I discovered that that fiber that was in my pocket must have fallen out. I would have thought, oh, that's a shame. Yeah. It was 5 quid. I'm never gonna see again, but nothing else would have gone on hold.

I wouldn't have canceled any meetings. I wouldn't have made any phone calls. I just would have accepted that that was it and got it gone on with the day. Right? Because the thing was a lot less precious.

5 pounds versus whole wallet. If you rewind the story again, and let's say that on that morning, I'd happen to lose 1 of my children in town. Then a lot more goes on hold, doesn't it? In fact, it's not just the morning, my entire life. Comes to a standstill.

Everything nothing will matter. No other meeting. No other engagement that day will matter. Everything stops. My wife's life comes to a grinding halt.

My life comes to a halt until we find that thing which is so precious to us, which is 1 of 1 of our children. And so we know there's a basic lesson there, which which is almost too obvious to say. The more the more precious and important a thing is to us, the more we will contend for it and fight for it when it is in jeopardy or or under threat. Right? If something doesn't matter very much at all, like a pen or a fiber or a cheap stopwatch, we won't care very much.

Oh, that's irritating. I thought I had 1. The more precious the thing becomes, the more we contend, the more life goes on goes on hold as we fight for it. Well, with that in mind, look at Jude's opening words in verse 3. Dear friends, although I was very eager to you to write to you about the salvation we share.

I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to god's holy people. So here is something very, very, very precious It's not a wallet, it's not a fiber, and it's not even a child. It is the faith. He doesn't call it a faith. He doesn't say I would like you to contend for 1 of the possible faiths out there.

He says I'm writing urging you to contend for the faith, the faith that god has entrusted to his holy people, the faith that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that he was buried according to the scriptures and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures and that he was seen. This is the gospel on which you have taken your stand and by these things you are saved. If you hold firmly to the word that was preached to you. This is the faith that has been entrusted to god's people.

And according to Jude, if that kind of thing is in danger or about to be lost, everything goes on hold. Verse 3, dear friends, although I was eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith. Now we don't know an awful lot about the author of this book, Jude. Many people think, and I think it seems to be right, that Jude being the brother of James was also therefore the brother of the lord Jesus Christ, brother of James and brother of Jesus. That's how it's been taken in church history.

But although we don't know much about him, we do at least know from verse 3 that this is a letter he never wanted to write. He wanted to write in order to revel in the truth of verse 1. I was keen to write to you to talk about the salvation we share namely that you have been called by god. I wish I could have spent a bit more time on that brothers and sisters. Just think of it that you have been called by god that in eternity, you were predestined to conform to the image of his son And in the right time, you were called and made alive by faith, and I wish I could have said a bit more about that to you.

I wanted to say a bit more about how you are loved in god, the father, first 1. What a theme? I wish I could have unpacked that a little further with you that god, the father, delights in you, that he loves you, that he sent his son to die for you. I wanted to say a bit more perhaps about verse 1, the fact that you are kept for Jesus Christ. What a truth?

What security we could have spent time on in this letter about how Christ is keeping you because he loves you and you're kept for him. I was so eager. He says to write to you about the salvation we share, but I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend. For the faith. Sometimes in the Christian life, we have to do things not because we love doing them, but because we love people and we love the truth.

And according to Jude, this is 1 of those times. But did you notice in verse 3 that this is not just the job of the elder pastor? It's interesting that, isn't it? He doesn't just say to the elders among you or to the pastors among you. I wanted to write to you pastors about the salvation we share, but I felt compelled to say this.

No. He addresses the whole of this Christian group or Christian congregation. In other words, this is a responsibility which will sit upon all of our shoulders. Verse 3, dear friends. Although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith.

So I don't know how you feel about conflict in the Christian life. And those unfortunate times when we have to say that something or someone is wrong for what they're believing or doing, but here is a calling that we can't avoid. And the reason for that as we're gonna see is that the very things which endanger the gospel and the church in this letter have not gone away. They may have changed slightly or taken a new form. But the basic danger is still there, and so the calling stands in this generation too.

And so, firstly, we're gonna have a think about why we need to contend. Or in other words, what is the main problem here? And it's very clear just from reading through this letter, we probably picked it up on a first read that false teaching is the big issue here. False teaching is the big thing. And the first point, and I can't remember Steve, whether I I think I put these points up.

The first point is this. Braising rebels and wild waves, the life of a false teacher. Braising rebels and wild waves, the life of a false teacher. And actually, as you look through, you see that is Jude's big emphasis. We'll come on to their teaching and what they actually say, but he wants us to look first of all at the kind of lives that they live.

What what sort of men are they? These false teachers. And you can see just looking through verse 4, we're told they are ungodly people who pervert the grace of our god. Verse 8 on the strength of their dreams, these ungodly people pollute their own desires. Verse 18, in the last times, there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.

So here's the bottom line on this. The way that these guys live does not match up to the truth of god's word. That's what he wants this church to know. Just look at their lives and you will see it does not correspond to the truth that you know These are not godly. These are ungodly.

They do not live like god. They're ungodly people. And we know that because of their constant rebellion. That's the other big theme in this letter. How does their ungodliness show itself by their constant rebellion.

Verse 4, they are ungodly people who pervert the grace of our god into a license for immorality, and they deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and lord. Now that is you think about it. That is quite a way to talk about your brother, isn't it? I mean, he's come to realize that his brother is our only sovereign in lord. I mean, who of us here has a sibling who would talk about us in that way, not not many.

They'd use different kinds of names for us, wouldn't they? But he says are only sovereign in law. They deny that. In other words, they might not deny him as savior. Maybe they do talk about having him as savior, but they deny his functional lordship over their lives.

They rebel against that. They won't take him as sovereign. They won't bow to him as lord because they are rebels. And to prove the point, and this this really is now Jude the preacher. In fact, I do wonder whether this this was actually a sermon, this this letter.

Jude, the preacher goes into his file and he gets a whole folder of illustrations out in order to prove how rebellious they are. Now we don't have time to unpack all of these. There's loads of them, isn't there that he stacks 1 upon the other. But look at the general point. It's all about rebellion.

So in verse 5 to 7, we get these 3 stories. Israel in the wilderness, the fallen angels, and the judgment of sodom and Gamora. And the key theme there or the common theme there is rebellion. So what happened to Israel in the wilderness briefly? They were rescued, they were delivered, they rebelled, and they were destroyed.

What happened to some of the angels? They were created to worship god. Some of them chose to rebel against him. They fell and they will be condemned. What happened to sodom and Gamora?

God was patient with them. He was patient with them. He was patient, but they would not cease their rebellion and so they were condemned and they were destroyed. Rebellion and destruction are the theme. And then look what he does in verse 8.

In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams, these ungodly people pollute their bodies. So do you see what he does? He says 3 illustrations in verse 5 to 7, Israel, angels, sodom and Gamora, and I wanna say that these peep in the same way these people do that. That's what they do in the same way. They're as rebellious as those stories.

And then verse 11, he picks on 3 more. So he's just working through the illustrations here. The way of Kain, Genesis 4. Rushing into balaam's error, the stories in numbers 22, destroyed in Chorus Rebellion, the stories in number 16. What is the common theme there?

Judgment follows rebellion. You think of Kain in Genesis 4. The Lord said to him warned him. Look, you know, if you sin is crouching at your door, do what is right. He said, I wanna do what I wanna do.

I don't wanna listen. I'm doing what I wanna do. I'm gonna slaughter to my brother and he was judged for that. Bayham, the profit for hire in the old testament, the book of numbers. He speaks god's word, but in his heart, the reason he's doing it is because he loves the thought of financial gain.

He's a profit for hire. He's like a prostitute profit. K? He's a profit for hire. He wants to do what he wants to do.

He rebels against God, and he stands now in the Bible as a warning against people who do that. Cor is rebellion. Number 16. Here's a guy who goes up and says Moses, I actually don't think you ought to be leading god's people. I think we all ought to have a say.

Who made you a prophet and a leader over us? He rebelled against god's authority, rebelled against god's man, and he was judged, and he was destroyed, rebellion and judgment, rebellion and judgment. And then perhaps the most unusual of these illustrations, but actually I think very helpful is that 1 in verse 9. Even the archangel Michael, when he was sputting with the devil about the body of Moses. I mean, that is just to to picture that conversation.

Anyway, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander, but said the lord Review queue. Now, to be honest, nobody really seems to know what that story is all about. It comes many people think from a book called the assumption of Moses or the testament of Moses. Which was a first century book, but the story has largely been lost to us. So we don't quite know whether that actually really was a real event or whether that was like a little parable that that became used at various times in place.

Is, but whether the history of it is clear to us or not, the the point is actually quite clear, because he's saying, look, here you have got this supernatural being with an authority that many of us will net the archangel Michael It's a significant person, even he would not dare to overstep his mark. He would not dare to slander, but said, no, the lord's rebuke you. It's not my job, the lord rebuke you. He wouldn't dare to transgress his limits, but these people, these people, verse 10, slander, whatever they do not understand. Even Michael wouldn't have done something like that.

These people have no problem overstepping the mark. Rebelling against god's authority. And so are you feeling Jude the the preacher here? But hold on, he says, what if some people in this church don't know much about their old testament? What if all of these stories aren't resonating with them?

Well, it's no problem because I can prove what sort of people they are from nature. Verse 8, these ungodly people pollute their own bodies. We've all seen stories about pollution, haven't we in the news. Seas and rivers and streams being polluted. And unfortunately, it's often poor old Dave laws, which, gets blamed for it as our Temms water representative here.

But you've all seen it pollution. It's a horrible thing, isn't it? You've got a crystal clear water source, and you've got all this gunk and junk being poured into it and polluting it. These people. He says are like that.

Verse 13, he calls them wild waves of the sea. Now in the old test the sea was a place of chaos. It was a place of evil and darkness, and that's what he compares them to. So you're to imagine yourself standing on a coast somewhere when it's really choppy and the wind's coming in, and you can see the the waves, the wild waves, they almost argue with each other, don't they? As they froth up and foam up and their shame rises higher and higher.

He says that's what they're like. Their shame is like that. They compete with 1 another shame over shame and they're froffing up like wild waves. Verse 13, he calls them wandering stars. It's interesting picture, isn't it?

A wandering star. Now what does that say to you? It says here is a person with no stability. They don't stay in the same place. They don't hold to the same truths.

They wonder around the place. 1 minute believing this, the next minute believing that. And what sort of guide is that? Do you want a guide like that? A wandering star?

You never quite know where it is or what it's lighting up or where it's gonna be tomorrow. So unhelpful. Verse 12, he calls them clouds without rain. Again, that's just you just think about that as an image, a cloud without rain. It's so disappointing, isn't it?

If you're if you're in an arid climate and you've been desperate for the rains to come so that your crops would be able to grow, and you finally see a cloud on the horizon, and you think this is it. You know, it's been months. Finally, some refreshment and some life to our land. And it just passes over, passes over, and it's gone cloud without rain. It's useless, comes through with no life, no refreshment, only wants you to to look at it.

And just before we wrap up on on this point, Look look at what all of this does to the church. Do you notice that verse 19? These are the people who divide you. The word means disjoin. These are the people who dis join you, who take your joints apart, who who stop you functioning as a body.

They they pop your shoulder out of its joint and they dislocate your hip and they break your they disjoin you as a body. That's the fruit of it in the church. And so friends, what a devastating picture that is? These are not just nice guys down the road who are a little bit mistaken, you know, and they believe 1 or 2 things a bit different to us. 1 dictionary describes them as desk of reverential awe.

That was a great phrase. They are destitute of reverential awe. These are ungodly people. Now as I say, in a moment, we're gonna come to their teaching. But don't don't we think that this stuff about life is is so important?

See, we are in an age where there is a lot of good preaching and a lot of good preachers that can be accessed online, and many of us would have would have benefited from podcasts and teaching and YouTube videos, but we are also in an age where there is a lot of drivel and a lot of nonsense online. And 1 of the problems is that so much of what we see on the internet is a is a carefully chosen and selected snapshot of a Christian life, which does make it very hard to know if the truth is actually making a difference in the life of the person who's bringing it. And that is what Jude wants us to focus on. The teaching will come to, but look at the life he keeps saying. Can you see godliness and truth in the life?

Look with me Titus 1, up on the screen. Here's the real gospel. Here's what it does. Paul, a servant of god and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of god's elect, and here's look, and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. And so here's the thing about online preaching.

You you can normally work out if that person preaching has a good knowledge of the truth. You can listen and you can hear okay. That sounds like a doctrine I recognize, and that's how I would put it to, and I recognize that. And you you can understand it, but you can't know if that truth is leading to godliness in their life. Because with a lot of these guys, you just don't have the opportunity to observe them week after week after week after week in their homes and in their churches and in their, and in their marriages.

It's hard to tell, isn't it? Whether the truth is leading to godliness as it should. And so the reason I say this is not to cast suspicion. Over all of our favorite preachers. I don't wanna do that because there's so much that is helpful out there.

But at least with our own elders here, for all of their faults and annoyances and things you may or would rather change about them. You can at least tell if the truth is is making a a difference in their lives. You know, when Paul says to Timothy, let your progress be evident to all. You know, they need to see your progress that the truth is leading to godliness. And that's what Jude seems so keen to warn about.

Be where the life? Can you see the life? Do you know the life? With these false teachers. Secondly then, let's move on.

Secret dreams and deadly lies, the method of a false teacher. So we've looked at their lives, secret dreams and deadly lies. Let's look at the method of a false teacher. And in many ways, this is the big issue, really, I think. Because if these teachers were happy, just to go over there and keep themselves to themselves, and your truth can be your truth, and we'll have our truth Well, that would be less troublesome for the people of god.

But sadly, they want influence. They want influence. And how do they go about it? Verse 4, they go about secretly. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago, have secretly slipped in among you.

Have a look at this, sir, quote, from 1 commentary which unpacks that word. It's terrific. It is used, this word secret. It is used of the plausible and seductive words of someone who pleads their case cleverly, seeping gradually. Into the minds of a judge and jury.

It is used of an outlaw slipping secretly back into the country from which he has been expelled. It is used of the slow and subtle entry of innovations. Into the life of society, which in the end undermine and break down the ancestral laws. It always indicates a stealthy insinuation of something evil into a society or a situation. Helpful, ain't it?

See, the problem with these false teachers is that very rarely do they announce themselves They don't come in and say, you know, I'm a false teacher. Here I am. I'm gonna teach something very different to what you're used to. So just give me a platform. I'm happy to wait, but I'm here anytime you wanna use me.

They don't advertise themselves in that way. But rather we're told verse 4 that there is a secret work. Initially, they may not want to start preaching and running your home groups. They might just want to begin to build relationships. And gather people alongside themselves.

But then slowly, there's a secret influence that they desire to have. It's interesting how it's put in verse 16. The grumbling, the fault finding for 16. They're grumblers and fault finders. That's not necessarily public false teaching, is it?

But a commitment to fault finding in grumble. Verse 16, the boasting. Verse 16, the flattering in order to get what they want and to get the influence they desire. And so do you see this is the language of a kind of secret work The method is not an all out advert. You know, let's listen to something new, but are slipping in.

But notice verse 8 2, their method. In the very same way on the strength of their dreams, on the strength of their dreams. These ungodly people pollute their own bodies. So here is something on the strength of their dreams. In other words, he's saying, that these people do not build their doctrine from the word of god, but rather they employ mystery, or they employ wishful thinking, or they employ ideas about what they wish were true when it came to following the lord.

And so look, 1 way to do things when it comes to doctrine is to take an issue like the character of god or the nature of the gospel or human sexuality and to open up the word of god and to ask, what does god say about this issue, and to work hard at that, and to think about it, and to look at what good Christians have said in the past about it, and to work hard with the word of god to come to your doctrinal position. Another way of doing things is to open up the Bible and say, okay, but what do we wish it said? Now I know that sounds really crass and I I don't wanna caricature a position there, but you know that is very often the sort of argument that people will make. If you look at the teaching of Jesus in the Bible, He does not affirm same sex marriage, but the Bible is on a trajectory, isn't it? He was really strict in the old testament.

Then Jesus came and showed us a whole new loving way. And although he still seems to hold to 1 man, 1 woman for life marriage, can't you see that the Bible is moving in this gracious trajectory? And actually 2000 years on, we are to take the sort of man that Jesus was and ask, well, what would he say if he was alive now given our culture? How would his love express itself? And there's a there's a try a movement away from what it actually says, to what we wish it did say given the trajectory we think the Bible is actually on.

That is something of how the argument looks today or can sound. The method is a secret work. Do you see that? It's a secret work and a shift away from god's word and what the church has historically believed on things. So that's their method.

Let's go on now. To their message. Here we are. A twisted gospel and a license to sin. These are the words of a false teacher.

A twisted gospel and a license to sin. Now just look with me the teaching here here it is for certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago, have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people. Who pervert the grace of our god into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and lord. So here it is.

This this is their message. They are trying to say in a nutshell that god is so gracious and so kind. He would not want you to live a life that would feel restrictive in any way. He is so gracious. You must simply follow your natural desires because God is gracious, and he'll forgive you, and he'll want that for you because he's gracious.

In other words, they turn the doctrine of the grace of god into a license and a permission to do whatever the heck you feel like doing. That's their message. And, you know, that it it is hard to think of a message that is more contradictory to what the grace of god actually does do in the life of a person. Come with me again to Titus 2. It should appear on the screen.

This time we're in this time we're in chapter 2, as I say. Verse 11 to 12. For the and look what grace does. This is what I want you to notice here. Look what grace does.

For the grace of god has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and to worldly passions. And to live self controlled upright and godly lives in this present age, brothers and sisters. What does the gospel of god's grace teach us to do? It teaches us to say no.

To ungodliness. They're saying the grace of god is a license for ungodliness. Paul says the grace of god is the means by which you fight ungodliness. It couldn't be more opposite than what the gospel actually does achieve in somebody's life. And, you know, it is very interesting, isn't it?

That the graciousness of god is so often the part of his character that is twisted See, it never goes like this, does it? It never goes well, yeah, you know, of course, god would be happy for you to, you know, pursue that relationship. Or, of course, god would be happy for you to, to, to indulge in that behavior. Don't you know how holy he is? He's so holy.

God is so holy. Would he not want you to live this life? He's so just. God is such a fierce judge. Do you not think he would want you to live in sin?

It's always the graciousness, isn't it? Which gets perverted and twisted. God is so gracious that, of course, he would be happy for you to live as you please and not correct or challenge you when you don't. The graciousness of god. That's what they're doing.

They're twisting. The very thing which is designed to make them godly and saying that is the thing that will help you to enjoy an ungodly life. And isn't that just satan from top to bottom and all the way down? The very thing which teaches us to say no, he claims teaches us to say yes. Now I know that most people here would never put up with that kind of teaching if they were hearing it regularly and praise the lord for that.

I mean, praise the lord. But Jude is saying, look, we we do need to be aware because this sort of thing does have a way of slipping in to the mind. Maybe not through a teacher, actually, maybe not through a public teacher, but through a spirit of the age, that kind of thing can begin to creep in. And you hear this sometimes in in Christian circles or conferences or online, people will say, Well, yes, you know, I I grew up in an evangelical church and, I used to believe what you believed on, all of these issues and marriage and sexuality. I even used to lead a very conservative CEO at, university, but But, you know, the the older I've got and, the more people I've spoken to, I I've just realized, you know, there are different ways of viewing things like this.

And, you know, the the more I get on in the Christian life, you know, I just I I've come to believe that god's gracious us is is bigger than we can really understand in in lots of these things. Or, yes, you know, I grew up, you know, going to a Sunday school, and it was, and I had all those convictions about the Bible and you used to have that. But, you know, I've seen the world a bit and, you know, I've been I've encountered other Christians and, you know, I know what they believe about the Bible, and they're not, they're not so dogmatic about it as we are. And, you know, I've just come to, you know, just the experience of years and perhaps a growth in love, has led me to see that there are different ways of viewing these kinds of things. There is a spirit of the age, isn't there?

Where all of a sudden the grace of god, which at once taught us to say no, now seems to be the very thing which allows us to do whatever we want. We didn't hear it from an online preacher, so to speak. It just slipped its way over the boundary of our lives at some point, and it's now began to change and to to influence the heart. And so that when we talk about contending for the faith is just part of it being aware of the of that sort of thing and this sort of doctrine. So lastly, let's come back, swing right back to the beginning now.

We've looked at the life, we've looked at the method, we've looked at the teaching. And lastly, I urge you to contend. This is the fourth point, and so I urge you to contend. Let's look at the opening charge again. Dear friends.

Although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to god's holy people. Now the question is in light of all that we've seen, how do we actually do that? How are me and you to contend for the faith in our own day? Well, come with me to verse 5. Look what he says.

Though you already know this, I want to remind you. And then verse 17, but dear friends, remember what the apostles of our lord Jesus Christ foretold. Sometimes when something terrible happens, like a terrorist act or something awful in a neighborhood somewhere or sometimes when people get a a shock diagnosis that they weren't expecting. 1 of the things that they might say is, I never thought this would happen to me. These kinds of things always happen to someone else, don't they?

This kinds of things always happen in a different place, not my neighborhood, not not not to my family. And I'm sure we've all, you know, we're we're all the same on that. And it's because often in life, it it is the unexpected blow, which lands the hardest. But here, Jude is saying, when it comes to false teaching, don't be alarmed. Don't be alarmed.

Don't let it strike you as an unexpected blow. This could never happen to my this could never happen to my neighborhood and my people. This could never happen on my YouTube channel, could it? Don't let it come as a surprise because the constant reappearance of people like this is no surprise to god. And with that comes a kind of strange comfort, isn't it?

Oh, no. This is oh, 0, yeah. This is not unusual. This is not unusual. This has always happened.

The apostles of our lord Jesus foretold this. And so you see contending for the faith really is a state of mind. I've gotta just get that into your head, Tom. Get that into your head. False teachers are out there.

Judgment is coming. Just don't don't let it come as an unexpected blow. Don't be alarmed. It's a sort of state of mind thing to contend for the faith, but it's also an activity. Look what he says in verse 20.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the holy spirit. And here it comes, keep yourselves in god's love. As you wait for the mercy of our lord, Jesus Christ, to bring you to eternal life. Now just compare what he says there in verse 21 to what Phil read right at the start of this service. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and a brother of James, to those who have been called who are loved in god the father and kept for Jesus Christ.

So the question is who does the keeping? Who does the keeping? The answer is Our heavenly father does the keeping. He is the 1 with all sovereign power who uses that power to keep every single 1 of his children for the day of presentation when we will be presented before our glorious lord Jesus Christ without spot or blemish or any such fault, he will keep us no matter what we go through. But from another angle, who does the keeping?

You do the keeping. You do the keeping. He does the keeping. You do the keeping. Keep yourself in the love of god.

I had a lovely email, and I don't know if he'll be watching. Maybe he will I had a lovely email from Paul Whitfield a couple of weeks ago. If you don't know, Paul Whitfield has been a long time member of the church, who's got a very serious cancer diagnosis and is not with us anymore regularly because of, his his immunotherapy that he's having, but he regularly run encouraging emails. And, this is the 1 that, that I had a couple of weeks ago, and I've actually put it on the screen. I hope it can come up.

So we've had this Paul Whitfield now on the screen. Okay. We've had John Scott, you know, we've had William Barcl, we've had the lord Jesus I'll be apostle Paul, his his Paul. This is the conclusion of his email. So keep on doing what you do.

Keep reassessing the health of the church and whether it's getting the right biblical medicine. Keep on loving us. I know the hardest part of your ministry. Above all, keep yourselves in the love of god, waiting for the mercy of our lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And I've thought about that several times since, and, it's a great it's a great application of what Jude is saying here because in the end, the way that we contend for the faith is not to become heresy hunters.

Who just who just go out desperate to find the next person who has become a heretic, desperate to find the false teaching on that online forum and condemn someone out of hand. The best way to contend for the faith is for me to become so familiar with the love of god that I will be able to reject every fake that I come across be because I am so kept in the love of god, so aware of god's love for me, that what what else could compare. Keep yourselves in the love of god. But the other reason I love that quote is because in saying that to me, keep yourself in the love of god, He was also doing it for me. In other words, it was his prayers and encouragement that will keep me in the love of god.

And so if and when the time comes for him to go to be with the lord, I hope he's not the only 1 praying that for me. Otherwise, I'm in big trouble. But you you see how it works. Not only did he tell me to keep myself in the love of god? But by encouraging me, he does it for me.

He keeps me in the love of god. And is that not Jude's emphasis here at the end, verse 20? Look at the corporate aspect of this. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the holy spirit, keep yourselves in god's love. As you wait for the mercy of our lord, Jesus, Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Be merciful to those who doubt. Often in our minds, we have this idea someone who contends for the faith must be really theologically strong and sharp and cutting and they're great at arguing. Jude seems to think someone who contends for the faith is very merciful, is very merciful to those who doubt. Save others by snatching them from the fire. That seems to be a person who's gone even further down the line of false teaching saved them.

2 others show mercy mixed with fear, hating, even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh, hate everything about the false teaching and what it does to people. But love them enough to be merciful and to save them from it. Do you see? How can you tell if somebody is contending for the faith? Because they are contending for the faith of other people.

You see, we mustn't be so British that we never contend for each other's faith. It can be easy to do that, can't it? We hear of people who are getting into dodgy teaching, maybe, or they're starting to make some life decisions, which deep down we know aren't what god would have for them. And we kind of think, well, you know, it's not my place. No, I don't wanna I've got faults too, you know, who am I to say anything to them?

And and and there are sometimes when that instinct can serve us quite well, because it stops us just being bullish and and running in. But to be honest, it can also just be a cover up, can't it, for a lack of love and a lack of mercy when we know people need need help. And that's the kind of thing we must avoid. This is not a personal you contend You you contend by yourself for your faith, but rather let us all contend together for the apostolic faith of this church. Let us contend together by prayer and by building ourselves up, let us be aware of 1 another contending for each other.

When it comes to it comes to the faith. So you see contending is a state of mind. It is an action of god and an action that we're called to, and it always always always seems to be a group project. And with that said, we come to this stunning vision, which I won't do much more than read, but here it is. And to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.

How is god going to present you to Christ? Sorry about him. A bit disappointing wasn't he? She was a really long project, wasn't she? Spoke with Better led her in.

We did promise to after all. With great joy presented. To the only god our savior, be glory, majesty power, and authority through Jesus Christ our lord before all ages, now and forevermore. And the people of god said, amen.