Fighting To Keep True

To the letter from Jude.

It's the second to last book in the Bible. This

is a good opportunity for me to remind you to

fill out a connection card. We ask everybody to do

that every week. Please just scan the QR code. You

got the whole worship service to do that. Scan the

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just we need to know that you're here by name.

That's a really important pastoral tool for us. If you're new,

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And we'll follow up with you.

If you are new, there's a table out in the

lobby called Step one, and that's where we like to

connect with folks and answer questions and welcome you into

the process of what looks like to become a part

of this church. So see it's Step one after this

service if you're new around here.

Oh and this thing first Wednesday?

Is this Wednesday?

Uh?

All right, I didn't even have to say it, but

this I will say. It starts at six o'clock this Wednesday.

Our ordinary start time is six forty five, but we're

doing an experiment this summer in July and in August.

We're gonna start at six and we're gonna see how

it goes. I think maybe there's some families with young

children who this is gonna work out better for Look,

you get to vote on this. You get to vote

by showing up, you vote with your feet. If you're there,

we're like, all right, this is strong. If you're not there,

we're like, all right, back to six forty five.

That's kind of what we're trying to do.

We'll see how it goes. Six o'clock though, Wednesday, let's

pray together, let's worship together. All right?

Did you find Jude?

We're in Jude. In Jude, some are the short books.

That's what I'm calling this summer. Some of the short books.

We were in Obadiah one chapter, we were in Phi

Lehman one chapter.

We're in Jude.

We're gonna take it in one go, which I think

is how Jude intended his letter to be read, not

dribbled out week by week, but read as a letter.

And I am sure we're gonna leave some grapes on

this cluster, no doubt. That's fine. You can study some

more of Jude as we go, but the message is

going to be clear. I'd like to start with this

picture you see in the title fighting to keep true.

That the term true is an important one in our

overall understanding of Jude.

True as in straightened.

On pitch. My grandfather was a woodworker and one of

the things that he would do work pretty hard at

is getting boards straight and keeping them straight, keeping them true.

And involved clamps and glue and stuff. I don't know.

I watched with bicycle mechanics. You know, they'll work on

the wheels of the bicycle and to keep them from wobbling,

they need to be put and kept true. And here's

the thing. It's a fight. You gotta adjust this spoke,

tighten this loosen that. If you are a piano tuner,

that means showing up, listening to each string in that

instrument and tuning it, truing it up to the proper pitch.

That's the sort of thing that Jude is about. I'm

gonna read this whole letter to us in just a moment,

but I just want to point out a couple of

things before we read. This is from Jude, who's a

church leader in the early Church. Says first one, Jude,

a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. To

those who are called beloved in God, the Father kept

for Jesus Christ. It's a key term throughout this letter, kept,

kept true, held stayed, and he uses the term a

variety of ways, kept keeping keep as an instruction. Keep

uses it both positively and negatively. You'll see it throughout

the letter. But here's the key verse verse three. Verse three,

Jude says, I found it necessary to write appealing to you.

To contend for the faith, to contend.

To fight, to struggle, to work at it, just like

the woodworker contends to keep the board straight, or the

bicycle mechanic contends to keep the wheel true, or the

piano tuner contends to keep that instrum meant in pitch.

Jude saying I had to write to you to encourage you,

to exhort you to fight to keep true. We're gonna

read this altogether in just a moment, and as we do,

I want to encourage you to not get stuck in

the weeds. There are gonna be a bunch of references

in this letter. You know, Jude is written. It's an

ancient letters. He talks funny, okay, And there are references

in here to old Testament accounts. You might not be

familiar with, or even Jewish traditions that you're not familiar with.

Don't get hung up. I think if you zoom out

a little bit, you'll get the big picture. In fact,

if you keep this one question in mind as we read,

how important does God's words say it is to fight

to keep true? If you keep that question in mind

as we read, I think the big picture will come

leaping off the page. Okay, so stand for the reading

of God's word and let's read the letter from Jude Jude,

a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to

those who were called beloved in God the Father and

kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy, peace and love be

multiplied to you, 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.

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. Now I want to remind

you although you once fully knew it that Jesus, who

saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward

destroyed those who did not believe, and the angels who

did not stay within their position of authority, but left

their proper dwelling. He has kept in eternal chains under

gloomy darkness until the judgment of the Great Day. Just

as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise

indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as

an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet

in like manner, these people, also relying on their dreams,

defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

But when the archangel Michael, contending with the Devil, was

disputing about the body of Moses, he didn't presumed to

pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but he said, the Lord rebukeu

these But these people blasphem all that they do not understand,

and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning

animals understand instinctively. Woe to them, for they walked in

the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake

of gained Balem's error, and perished in Cora's rebellion. 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, and laid autumn twice dead,

uprooted 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. It was also

about these that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, saying, behold,

the Lord comes with ten thousand of his holy ones

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. These

are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires, their loud

mouth boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. But you must remember, beloved,

the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

They said to you in the last time, there will

be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It is these

who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the spirit. But you, beloved,

building yourselves up in the most holy faith and praying

in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God,

waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that

leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt.

Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To

show others, and show others mercy with fear, hating even

the garments stained by the flesh. Now to him who

is able to keep you from stumbling, to present you

blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy,

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, This is God's word. If I

was going to sum up Jude's message, you know, sentence

this morning, I would put it this way. Keeping true

is worth fighting for. Keeping true is worth fighting for.

And this morning, if you're here, let me just say,

if you're here, as a non Christian, I don't know

what kind of assumptions you're bringing about Christians. Maybe maybe

you're assuming that Christians are kind of fighting people, contentious people.

I think you may have some reasons to think that,

or or maybe you're you're you think that Christians are passive,

gutless people.

You may have some reasons to think that too.

I think it will actually be fascinating for you to

look at what God's word says that Christians are called

to actually contend for. What does Scripture call us to

struggle towards, to work for, to fight for? And if

you are a Christian here this morning, I hope that

after our time this morning, yes, you will understand the

letter from Jude a lot better, but that you will

be able to use it to detect theological.

Blowning so much better.

If you are here this morning and you are already wobbling,

you're already a drift. I pray that this letter this

morning will be part of what brings you back spiritually.

And I also hope that many of you will understand

this letter well enough that you'll be able to use

it to defend the faith when people around you or

I don't know, on the internet or maybe even in

a church that you're at some other time begin to

teach those things that are not true. Keeping true is

worth fighting for him, Jude's letter breaks down, I think

into about three basic steps for his argument. There are

a lot of things here that I'm sure will leave untouched.

They're going to be grapes left on this cluster. But

I think it breaks down in three pieces. Number one,

what's worth fighting for?

What do we fight for? Question number two? Why? Question

number three? How?

So?

Question one? What do we find? Four? Question two?

Why? And then I think the third question is actually

the most surprising. I think the answer surprises me the most, which.

Is, how do we go about fighting? Let's jump.

Five for what?

Five for?

What?

What is worth fighting to keep true?

Well?

Jude gives us this answer straight away in verse three,

the True Faith.

He says this in verse three, I wanted to write

you about our common salvation. I was eager to do it.

I found it, however, necessary, and put the party on Paul. Yes,

I needed to write you to appeal to you to

contend for the faith that was once for all delivered

to the saints, once for all delivered to the saints,

Which is to say that there is a body of

teaching there is.

There is truth.

About who God is, who mankind is, what sin is,

what He has done to rescue us from sin. That's

been communicated to us through Jesus Christ, through the prophets,

through the apostles that we have. It's been it's been

communicated to the church, and we have it and it

is trued up. And that's what we can tend for,

which is to say that as people try to shape

that change that make it progressive, it's something worth fighting for.

My pastor once told me some years ago, if it's true,

it ain't new, and if it's new, it ain't true.

But not when it comes to.

The truth of God's word. In fact, that there's a

term for it, orthodoxy. Orthodoxy Ortho means straightened right, just

like when you go to the orthodontist. You go to

the orthodontist so that he would straighten out your teeth

and keep them straight. You go to the orthopedist to

straighten out your legs and your feet.

And keep them straight.

And there essentially two approaches to God's word, essentially two approaches.

And this has been true since the beginning.

Of the church. It's been true since the beginning of time.

To take God's word as what is true, as what

is the true pitch, what is the true level, what

is the true straight turn of the wheel. And the

approach of faithfulness is to take our lives and our

thinking and our relating and the way we comport ourselves

in this world and to straighten it up, to true

it up against God's word, to study his word, to

understand his word, to try to articulate his word right,

faith seeking understanding. That's what theology is, just faith seeking understanding.

Do we understand everything all the time, No, we do not,

but we're seeking to be straightened out by his word

or or we try to take his word and twist

it to match how we want to live, how we

want to think, how we want to relate, how we

want to handle our bodies, how we want to handle

our lives. And one of the things that the Scripture

is calling us to fight for is the true faith.

It doesn't need to be progressed in that sense to

be understood, yes, to be articulated, yes, to be to

be fleshed out in our lives. Yet there are new

circumstances and occasions all the time that we need to

examine against God's word, but God's word once delivered. And

you'll notice that this, this contending is not about what's

going on out there. This is about listen, what is

it some people have crept in unnoticed? This isn't about

a culture war. This is about a family concern. This

isn't about what's what's untrue out there in the world.

You'll never run out of topics.

It's about what's taught here in attitudes or suggestions from

the pulpit, by all means, and in our conversations and

in the links that we share.

It's a family concern, fight for what.

The true faith, and not only the true faith, but

also and especially and specifically the true grace, the true grace.

He goes on in verse four, for certain people crept

in unnoticed, long ago designated for this condemination, ungodly people

who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality. Pervert

the grace of our God into sensuality. Pervert just means twist,

to pervert, to twist. And the idea here is there

is a sense in which, because the scripture teaches us

that God is forgiving and gracious and merciful, that there

has been from the beginning of such truths about God,

there have been those who would twist that idea of

grace and forgiveness into a permission slip for sin. I mean,

this has been going on since the Old Testament, right, Oh,

we've got to covenant with God. We can live how

we want. It has been going on since Romans. Should

we not then sin? More?

That grace may abound.

What Judas saying is that is a perversion of what

grace really is.

In that idea.

The idea of this perverted idea of grace is that

I want what I want and God is going to

forgive me for clinging to it. This way, with God's grace,

I can have my sin and it's covered. It's a

permission slip for me to live my life apart from God,

apart from his ways, apart from his person and intimacy

with him. But real grace, real grace doesn't get you

a permission slip. Real grace gets you God to enjoy

Him and all that he has created, To boldly enjoy

all that he has created as He has created it,

to be enjoyed under his design. Real grace gets you God,

not an idea of forgiveness, and a life apart from God.

It's not real grace. It's worth fighting for true grace.

It's worth fighting also for the true Christ, the true Christ.

We'll get it up there, there we go. He goes

on in verse four, the grace of our God into

sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

Deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now he's

not talking about people who are in the church denying

that Jesus existed, or that you know that Jesus is

you know what we're about. He's talking about people who

are in the church calling themselves Christians. But he's specifically

using these terms master and Lord, Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

That's what they're denying. Jude is not saying that Jesus

isn't savior. He is. He's not saying that he isn't

the blood of the Blood of God, the lamb of

God that takes away the sin of the world.

He is.

But he's emphasizing master and Lord because it is those

who are denying that Jesus actually should.

Run our lives.

I'm old enough to remember the Lordship's Salvation debates from

way back when some of you are too.

Maybe you're familiar with them. I don't know, there were

a big deal.

I don't like debates, I know, but you might not

believe that it's true, Like I don't.

I don't like to fight. Something's worth fighting.

For the idea and it you know, it's going around

forever and ever, like this is not new. The idea

was like, maybe there's a way in which you can

sort of like claim.

Christ as savior.

Because we're saved by grace and and but not as Lord.

In fact, you I've heard many many people say something

along the lines of, well, I received Jesus as my

savior when I was eight, and then I made him

lord when I was thirty eight.

Yeah, it doesn't work like that.

But in the intervening thirty years, you just perverted the

race of God into sensuality. You just lived how you

wanted to live and called yourself a Christian. That's exactly

what Jude is talking about here. He's saying, that's a

denial of our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. It's a

denial of the faith, and it's a perversion of grace.

It doesn't work like that. When you receive Jesus, you

receive all of Jesus, and he is Lord now receiving

a partial Christ. Believe me, I understand. I understand the

attraction of a partial Christ. The attraction of a partial

Christ is the thought that I could be comforted by

the idea of forgiveness. I could receive that comfort, and

I could also maintain the satisfaction of the sin that

I love. But the fact is you get neither. You

get neither because a partial Christ doesn't exist. And if

you're not in Christ, then there is no forgiveness. You

don't receive the comfort of that forgiveness the pretend clear conscience,

nor do you receive satisfaction because in the end sin

won't satisfy.

It will all turn to ash in your mouth.

But I promise you the true Christ, the whole Christ,

will grant the comfort of real forgiveness, real covering, and

he will provide the satisfaction of knowing Him and enjoying

Him and enjoying all that He has created as he

has created it, to be enjoyed, to boldly enjoy whatever

he has designed as he has designed it. It is

both comforting and it is.

Satisfying, and it grows sweeter as you go it's worth

fighting for.

It's worth fighting for because I want you to have

comfort and I want you to have satisfaction. It's worth

fighting for the true faith, the true grace, the true Christ.

Here's the second question that moves us along through the

letter of Jude. Why Why is it worth fighting? Why

is keeping true worth the fighting? That's what Jude really

tackles next. And here's how I would I would answer

it in our in our terms. Why is it worth

the fight? First of all, because of the danger, the danger?

What do I mean by the danger? Jude makes it

clear that judgment is a real danger that some don't expect.

Judgment is a real danger that some don't expect, and

he uses a few examples. He says, in verse five,

I want to remind you you knew this that Jesus

saved the people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those

who did not believe. He's saying, there were a people

who called themselves the people of God. Christ was among them, right,

Christ was among them. He uses the term Jesus. Paul

uses the same exact logic in One Corinthians ten. If

you're interested in this, jotted down in your notes. One

Corinthians ten. The very beginning of that chapter, Paul uses

the same logic to say, just because you waived the

Jesus flag doesn't mean that you are exempt from judgment.

The question is have you received him by repentance and faith?

Because there were those who he saved, they called themselves

his peace people.

They were saved in a sense, they were brought.

Out of their captivity, and he would they counted themselves

among him. But in their disbelief he destroyed. It is dangerous.

This is judgment that people didn't expect.

He goes on.

He gives you the example of the angels. He says,

even the angels, when they didn't remain in their place

of given authority, God punished them. If if angels who

disregard His authority, who reject his word are punished, how

much more we And then he goes on, he says,

consider Sodom and Gomor.

They weren't expecting judgment.

They were twisting the God's design for sexuality. They were

twisting God's designed for man and twisting God's design for women.

And God.

Said, okay, let me give you an example. Let me

give you an example of what it looks like. Two

warp what I have created and how that works out.

It's dangerous because there are people for whom judgment is

not in their expectations at all because they're waving the

Jesus flag, or just because they think I'm not hurt

to anybody.

What is does God's design?

What? What difference does God's design make? Why is it

worth the fight to keep true? One of them is

the danger, but also the reality. We're just keep moving here.

The reality is this. This is what I mean by

the reality. The reality is that this is a church reality.

This isn't an ancient reality. This isn't an Old Testament reality.

This isn't now. That's what Jude goes on to say

in verse eight. Yet in like manner, Yet in like manner,

like those Old Testament examples. Right now in our churches,

people like this relying on their dreams right that their

sense of authority is located directly.

And only in their own minds.

They decide they're gonna decide what they're gonna do, defile

the flesh, reject authority, blaspheme the glorious ones. And then

Jude gets into this story, this Jewish story of Michael

debating disputing with the devil over the body of Moses.

It's it's pretty weird, right, It's pretty weird. Here's the

point that Jude is making. The point that Juda is

making is about presumption. He's saying, these folks in our churches,

they think they know.

What they're talking about.

They have no speaking confidently about spiritual things that they

really don't know anything about. It's like even they are

changel Michael said the Lord rebuka, what you rebuke you

when he was debating with Satan. So like, what all

these people really understand as much as they confidently talk

to such a good game about understanding everything. All these

people really understand is what they want for themselves, their desires,

he says, is what they really understand, and they are

being destroyed by them. They're like, he says, they're like Cain, Baalim, Cora,

different guys, different circumstances. Here's what they have in common.

They should know.

They should know. Cain is one who had conversations with God.

Baalem was one of those one of the most prominent

prophets in all of ancient Bible times. Cora was the

worship leader, the head worship leader for the people of Israel.

He and his sons were writing songs about the living

God he should know, and yet each.

Of them, each of them wobbled off, wandered off, warped out.

It reminds me of an experience I had.

A few years back.

I went to a conference of worship and teaching conference

in Dallas. It's a lovely time. John Piper was there, Shane,

and Shane was leading worship. Awesome, and this one guy

was also there as a teacher, and I liked him.

I had read skimmed some of his books. I liked

his style and seen some of the clips of things

that he had written, and I was looking forward to this.

Then he came out and he started teaching. He was

teaching and he was making like this really strong law

gospel distinction, talking about how grace, grace means that we

don't have to concern ourselves too much with obedience.

That's law.

Obedience is about the law. Grace is about forgiveness, like, oh,

you haven't really been reading your Bible or you have

willfully forgotten. I mean, you can just turn to tide

us too. We can flip is too, Verse eleven. Grace,

What does grace do Verse eleven. The grace of God

trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to

live self controlled, upright, godly lives.

In the present age.

Grace doesn't make obedience irrelevant. Grace makes it substantial. Grace

trains us and listen. The job is a long one,

that training job.

It's a long one.

I'll admit, I'm not trying to discourage you by telling

you otherwise. But it didn't take long. But thinking less

than a year, it was discovered that that particular Bible

teacher was living in an adulterous relationship.

I yeah, saw that coming.

He knew better. It's usually the Bible trivia kids. I'm

just saying, not saying to bail out on Bible trivia.

But the Bible trivia doesn't change your heart.

Pharisees Cora.

Bail them. Piling up Bible knowledge in your brain does

not change you. I say that as someone who teaches

Bible I spend all week piling up Bible knowledge in

my brain. Bible knowledge in your brain is like firewood.

It just stacks in rots if it ain't on fire. Listen,

if it's on fire, more firewood is great. Keep piling up,

give me more. But if it's just gonna sit there,

no warmth, no light, he says, they are hidden reefs.

That's what he says.

Next, These are hidden reefs at your love feasts. I

mean that conference was a lovely time, and there he was,

he sneaked in these This warning is not that, oh

you're gonna be able to tell.

No, they're hidden reefs.

They are shepherds without or they are shepherds feeding themselves.

They are waterless clouds swept along by winds. But they

are hidden. I promise you. I promise you. There are

people in this church.

There are six hundred people who come to this church

on a Sunday.

I promise you. There are people in this church. I

don't know who they are who would teach a orped grace,

who would suggest, maybe even in their joking or in

their attitudes or in the links they send around, who

would teach a partial Christ.

You don't know until you.

Know, and I hope Jude will help you smell it.

This is what I would encourage you in. Don't let

their presence wreck you. Yes, they're hidden reefs. They're wandering stars.

Wandering stars. Which is to say, if you followed them

by navigation, you'd drift off a field. Don't let them

wreck you, don't let them cause you to wander, and

don't let them discourage you.

I know you see the headlines.

It was disappointing when that guy turned out to be

a fraud. This preacher and this teacher and this guy

who claims the name of Christ, and I know you

see this happening, and you're.

Like, what is going on.

This is going on the same thing that's been going

on for a long long time. Christ himself said, Look,

they are gonna be sheep, and they are gonna be goats.

They're gonna be wheat, and they are gonna be weeds.

It will be like this.

Don't be discouraged, don't be surprised, and don't be deceived. Well,

we fight not just because the danger in the reality.

We also fight because of.

The continuity, the continuity. Why did I choose that word,

the continuity.

Here's what I mean to point out, and I think

Judas pointing out too.

The warning, the warning.

About this danger has been going on from the very beginning,

and it's going on now. The warning about the judgment

of God against the ungodly, even though they claim him

or they claim Christ. Is not just an Old Testament reality,

it's a New Testament reality too. He says, this has

been going on since Enoch verse fourteen, Enoch the seventh

from Adam. This is all news man. This is ancient,

but it's also current. This is not only has Enoch

prophesied this, but also verse seventeen. Remember beloved, the predictions

of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. This isn't

just an Old Testament reality, it's a New Testament reality too.

The continuity of this warning is from the beginning to

the end the gospel, right in this gospel administration, this place,

right now, in an after the cross. Doesn't just wave

away judgment for being crooked. The Gospel doesn't wave away

judgment for crooked as as you can remain a scoffer,

remain committed to ungodly passions and worldliness devoid of the spirit.

That's not what the gospel does. The Gospel shows that

Jesus Christ welcomed, with his arms wide enough to be

nailed to a cross, all who would receive him, who

would come to him to receive forgiveness in their repentance

and faith and be transformed, and get strewed up, set straight,

tuned to Him our Master and Lord, and under Him

and in Him, receive mercy and grace and forgiveness, in abundance,

in abundance, not a little separate our sins from far

as the east is from the west. We're not talking

about any bitty thumb like one of the thimbles. Fulls

of grace, all of it in Him, in Him. Well,

how how do we make this fight? How do we contend?

For keeping true? Quickly? Now?

Number one?

Keeping yourself, keeping yourself so, it says in verses twenty

through twenty one. He says, but you, beloved, building yourself

up in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

Keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep yourselves in

the love of God. Our hearts are prone to wander.

Don't you feel it? Don't you recognize that our hearts

and our minds and our lives continually need to be

tuned to the true pitch of the love of God.

Continually to contend in that way, building ourselves up in

our faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. We keep ourselves

like Proverbs four twenty three says one of my favorite verses.

Keep your heart with all diligence from it, froze flow

all the streams of life.

Keep yourself.

I don't want you to be discouraged by that, because

this is a lifelong process. It's glorious, it's actually enjoyable,

but it's long. Sin is strong, and I've talked to

young people who are like, I've been fighting sin for weeks. Yeah,

gonna be a few weeks more. But as you do,

don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged that you get tripped up.

Don't get discouraged that your affections fall out of tune. Instead,

as you recognize that, know that you serve a gracious Lord,

and continue to keep yourself in his love, tuning your

heart to the true pitch of his love. As you go,

he is patient, he's patients, seniors. As you go out

from your families, you go into communities made up of

who knows what kind of people. Keep yourself in the

love of God. Guard your heart with all diligence. That's

part of the fight. How do we fight? First? The

fight is here, second, reaching them, reaching them, And Jude

then now turns his attention to those who would be

hidden reefs, who would be drifting, who would cause others

to drift? And he says this, have mercy on those

who doubt, save others by snatching them out of the fire,

even to others. Show mercy with fear, hating even the

garment stained by the flesh. In other words, different people

are different places, Different people are in different places. Show

mercy to those who were doubting, save others, snatch them

from the fire. There there's work to be done here.

Show mercy with fear, like be a real accountability partner,

don't be the accountability partners like, oh you were rolling

around in the mud this week, So was I happens

to the best of us. See you next week. Mercy

with fear. Guys, we got to take this seriously. We

may we may may be on the drift. I hate

that we have stumbled in descent. I love how much

mercy shows up here. Mercy which is to say, don't

go on a church purity pitchfork campaign. Right, Jude isn't

saying church just like, don't practice church discipline. He's just

saying people are in different places. Be discerning, don't be

a discernmentalist, Be discerning.

Win those who are wandering.

And also this, lastly, this, how do we keep fighting

to keep true?

Trusting God?

Trusting God? Verse twenty four and twenty five says, now

to him who is able to keep you from stumbling

and to present you blameless great joy.

Hold on a second, Is he keeping me? Or do

I keep myself?

Yes, keep yourself in the love of God and trust

that he is able to keep you. He is able

to keep.

You, and that's not passive. The picture I like.

To think of as like a baby who's being held

by a father. Is he being held absolutely? And he

says to the father says to the child, hey, hold

on to my finger. I want you to learn to

hold on to dad. And the baby's holding non tight.

But the real difference maker.

His dad.

The real trust belongs in him, not in ourselves. He's

called us to keep ourselves tuned to the love of God,

but he's called us to trust his ability to keep

us true. If we truly trust that he is worthy

of all of this glory, we truly trust that he's

worthy of majesty, that we truly trust that he's worthy

of dominion, truly trusted he is worthy of authority before

all time and now and forever then we will actively

tune our lives to him.

It's a step of faith.

It's a step of faith.

Would you stand and pray with me?

Lord God, We thank you for your good and righteous warnings,

but thank you for this letter so relevant to the

true Church of today and the Church of fifty years

ago and the Church of five hundred years ago, and

the church that you was ministering to, because we haven't changed,

and neither have you, And so we celebrate the grace

that you've shown us. We celebrate the true grace of

our God, and we celebrate the true Christ who has

won us from sin and delivered.

Us to You and Jesus. Th Amen. Let's sing