Let's Get a Few Things Straight This Year Jude 17-25

Do you feel from heaven to earth to show the

way? From the earth to the cross, by day to day?

From the cross to the grave, from the grave to

the sky? Lord, I lift your name on high. As a

child of her choice. Thank you. Thank you. not

regale you with tales of how we come to be in

the book of Jude today. But if I did, it would

be a grand adventure through 20 books of the

Bible and probably, I don't know, 4 ,000 verses,

something like that. And here we are in the book

of Jude. So pretty cool. God has done amazing

things, at least in me. And so I hope I can share

some of that with you. And I think we'll see

something in these verses today. The sermon is

entitled, Let's Get a Few Things Straight This

Year. It is a new year, 2026. We did some incredible

things in 2025. We got married, praise the Lord.

We overcame health struggles. We shared the gospel

and saw lots and lots of people get saved or

profess to be saved. We baptized some folks.

We served, I've lost the number exactly, but

something like, let me see if I can do this here.

30 ,000 families with emergency food between

the pantry here and Life Station. Tommy took

what you're pushing for the year. You're going

to push 10 ,000, no, 7 ,000 deliveries. What

was it? For 25? How much? Say it again. 5 ,000

times Tommy took emergency food to people's houses

in 2025. So we as a church have done amazing

things. Some of us moved, and some of us moved

twice. We worked in the church building. We worked

on the lot. We worked in the community. We went

door to door. We have done a lot in 2025. But

2026 is now our present concern. And there are

a few things that we need to get straight. The

lightning point you'll see is ancient delivery.

So what you're going to see today is a quote,

essentially. It's not a word -for -word quote.

But written in the book of Jude is a statement

saying that the apostles delivered a certain

message. Now, you and I both know that the apostles

delivered primarily, first and foremost, the

gospel of Jesus Christ. They told people how

to get saved. That's the first. But this other

part of the message, I hope it won't take you

by surprise. If it does, we'll adjust to it as

rapidly as we can. What if the message to us

is something different from the basic you can

be saved? That's the question. The truth is you

can be saved. Those who call upon the name of

the Lord will not be put to shame. If you will

confess the Lord Jesus Christ with your mouth

and believe in him and with your heart that he

was God's son and deserves to be Lord and was

raised from the dead, then you will be saved.

That's what the word says. But there is something

more. There is another piece. In fact, I submit

to you that because it consumes the largest part

of the thinking in the book of Jude, it is a

very, very important point and it should not

be missed. We're going to now read from the book

of Jude, chapter 1, and it is the only chapter

Jude 1 · chapter mention

of the book of Jude. So you can actually write

this as Jude 17 to 25 because there is no chapter

2. This is it, just the first chapter. And it

says this, beginning in verse 17. It says, But

you, beloved, ought to remember the words that

were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our

Lord Jesus Christ. And if we stopped right there,

we would be thinking of the gospel. The truth,

that you can be saved by believing in Jesus.

That would be it. They would be going, wow, that's,

yes, of course, I'm not going to forget that.

I'm going to live with that in the light of my

life, in the center of my heart. Every day, all

day, I'm going to be thinking about how Jesus

is the way to salvation. That's the message of

the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he

goes on to say then, the message includes this,

that they were saying to you, Not just that you

could be saved through Jesus Christ, but they

were saying to you that in the last time there

will be mockers following after their own godly

lusts. So a mocker is a person who says that

Jesus is worthless. That following Jesus means

nothing. That being a devout Christian, truly

doing, and as some of the things we're going

to see in this passage, like that is not worthwhile.

They will be following after their own ungodly

lusts means we have things that we want. We have

desires in our flesh that are not directly related

to God. We have the lust of the flesh, the lust

of the eyes, the pride of life, it says elsewhere.

So the things that we want, we want to feel good

about ourselves. That's not godly. God says who

you are, you trust God, believe who he says.

That's it. Not waking up every day and going,

I wish I was better, I wish I was stronger, I

wish I was able, I wish I could say the right

things, do the right things, wish I made more

money. But not feeling bad about yourself, but

realizing God says who you are. A big part of

knowing who you are is trusting what God says.

And so if you judge yourself even in saying,

I am not what God would want me to be, you're

taking the place of God. You're doing what God

does. You're doing God's job. But we also know

there's someone else who does that, and that's

Satan. And he leads people then. He will trick

you into thinking that you're not good enough.

He'll trick you into thinking you don't have

enough. He'll trick you into thinking you can't

do or you're not able. Schemes that have lasted

for thousands. I don't mean 2 ,000 since Jesus.

I'm talking about way before that. 5 ,000, 6

,000 years to make people think that they are

not able to have a relationship with God. These

lusts, then, we seek after the things that we

want. Every guy wants a pretty girl. Every girl

wants a handsome man. Every person wants a good

income, a safe place, a warm place when it's

cold, full belly, right? But if those are the

driving things of your life, you're a little

better than an animal, frankly, because that's

not what we were given to want. We were given

to live for, to want a relationship with God

that goes on well beyond. You'll never be hungry

in heaven. So when your hunger is well gone,

or your inability to control your diet is well

gone, when your fatigue is well gone, when your

need for finances are well gone, you need a relationship

with the living God. And all of those needs and

so much more will be eternally met. But there

will be those in the last time who will be mockers

and following after their own ungodly less. Remember

that they were saying to you that in the last

time there will be mockers following after their

own ungodly lusts. These are the ones who cause

divisions. They're the ones who cause the difficulty

in the church, the difficulty in the kingdom,

the difficulty in the world. They're worldly

-minded. They adapt to the system of the world

and what a person should want or what a person

should be rather than the system of the kingdom,

which is listening to God for leadership, direction,

and molding. They're worldly -minded. They are

devoid of the Spirit. That means internally they

have not received, they are not receiving direction

from the Holy Spirit of God. You could even say

that means they are not saved truly, though they

may well be in the church. And this letter is

written to people who are in the church about

people who are in the church. It's not gossip

or slander, but there is a fact that the disciples

were teaching, the apostles were teaching us

that as we get closer to the end, there will

be those who are following their own ungodly

lusts. Even though they once claimed the name

of Christ, they said they were Christians and

they were serving mightily, even doing mighty

things. They will be the ones who cause divisions,

the ones who are worldly -minded. They think

like the world thinks or what the world wants

them to think. And they are devoid of the presence

of God or devoid of the Spirit, as verse 19 says.

Then it says in verse 20, but you, beloved, so

he's going to say, now this is for you. So if

you're here today and you're a Christian and

you understand this teaching that the apostles

were setting forth for you, which is that there

will come in the latter day a group of people

inside the church even, claiming to be Christians

even, are like what was just described. Then

he says, but this for you differently. This is

for you. This is what direction I'm going to

give you, he says. But you, beloved, he says,

building yourselves up in your most holy faith.

In other words, there is work to do, steps to

be taken. You're putting things together. You're

making connections. You're not just listening

to the sermon or listening to the radio or listening

to the podcast or listening to a show on TV about

Christ. and filling yourself more and more with

the word, but you're building your life on what

you believe. There is a job to be done. We can

build our lives the way people build their lives.

We can get jobs, and then get promotions, and

then get raises, and we can work our way up.

And they'll tell you, well, if you do a really

good job for 10 years, some year you'll be promoted,

and you'll be watching over all the younger people

who are coming up, right? We can build our lives

that way. That is not how the kingdom builds.

We build on faith. We walk not by sight desiring

what we see, but by faith seeing what God desires.

He says, you will be building yourselves up on

your most holy faith. Then he says, you will

be praying in the Holy Spirit. So it's one thing

to lift up your concerns to God. We say things

like, God, I want. God, I need. God, so -and

-so is sick. God, there's money. You know, where's

the money going to come from? God, there's a

bill. I don't know how to pay it. God, please

protect me from the flu virus that's going around

and so on. It's one thing to ask God for things.

It's another thing to open your heart to God

and say, God, I'm deeply hurt. I don't understand

why things are the way they are. Why did this

happen? It's another thing to pray like that.

And it is still another thing to pray in the

Holy Spirit. The truth is that what we really

need, what you really need deep inside, what

you really need for tomorrow, without any control

over what tomorrow is actually going to look

like, the Holy Spirit will help you pray that

to God. And there's times where you just go,

God, I know I need, but I don't know what I need.

I can't imagine what's going to make this better.

And he says, pray like that, praying in the Holy

Spirit. Verse 21 says, keeping yourselves or

keep yourselves in the love of God. The truth

is, we know when things are calm and everything's

at peace, I know God loves me. I just know it.

It's like, it's a given. But when things are

a little rougher, when the water's more turbulent,

when the days grow dark or the storms bloom,

when the winds blow 50 plus mile an hour, we're

not thinking about whether God loves us or not.

We're thinking about how we're going to not get

blown over, how we're not going to collapse under

stress, how we're not going to blow up and do

something stupid that we know we shouldn't do

and so on. And he's saying that in those moments,

Keep yourself in the love of God and realize

that, look, if the wind is blowing 50 miles an

hour, I'm in no real danger. If God blows me

away, I'm in no real danger. If a car falls on

my head today, I'm in no real danger. If a bullet

goes through my brain today, I'm in no real danger.

I will be immediately translated into the kingdom

of heaven, which will last for eternity. And

my body, which is simply carrying me now, will

cease to exist. The heart that God has given

me will no longer beat. The brain will no longer

wave. The muscles will no longer flex. But I

am in no real danger. And it is by that understanding

that we keep ourselves in the love of God. He

says, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our

Lord Jesus Christ. To eternal life. Day by day.

Our focus is not on what goes right or what goes

wrong. But where we are headed. What's going

to happen. The end destination. If you know you're

saved. Then really the events between now and

then. They're all grist for the mill. They're

all passing by. We can say this too shall pass.

As the scripture often says. It came to pass.

And that's talking about things that happened

in the back. In the background. A thousand years

ago. People died so that you could receive the

gospel. People gave up their homes, their jobs.

People were persecuted, thrown in the pit with

lions. People were sold by the thousands and

tens of thousands into slavery or into the arena

in the Roman Colosseum to be killed by lions

or gladiators and refused to fight back. and

stood praying in the Spirit, waiting anxiously

for the mercy of God to truly be revealed, so

that you and I could receive the gospel. But

here we are, living in America, where a worldly

system says that everyone should try to prosper,

do well, prepare for tomorrow, and so on. And

so we take our eyes off of, sometimes, we cease

waiting anxiously for the mercy of the Lord Jesus

Christ to eternal life, and still think about

the things of the world. And he's saying that

there's better for you. There's better. Had a

conversation yesterday with a man and woman who

profess to be Christians and are trying to devoutly

follow the Lord. And we were talking about how

easy it is to be concerned about the things of

the present and to do everything that's needed

to be okay. Take the necessary medicine. You

got a headache? Take a pill. Things go differently?

See a counselor. Adjust. Change. Be affected.

Right? But God didn't make us okay. God wasn't

trying to just give us enough to get through.

Yes, it's a little bit about perseverance. Sometimes

there are difficult things that even you might

persevere physical damage that makes it very

difficult for you to physically survive, right?

Like your body may die and you have to overcome

your surgery, overcome your pain, overcome your

suffering, overcome your disease, overcome the

physical, somebody shot you, whatever, and you're

persevering. So sometimes it's about persevering

and getting through. And all the while, while

all that is going on, it's actually about waiting

anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ

to eternal life. Verse 22 says, and have mercy

on some who are doubting. Realize that there

are those amongst us, there are those who profess

to be Christians who are struggling with just

being a Christian. They're struggling with why

things are the way they are, questioning God,

and they might struggle with depression or anxiety

out of that, or whether or not they can serve,

being faithful in service. And we ought to show

mercy, mercy in us, mercy to them, mercy of God

to both us and them, as we realize what they're

actually doing is doubting. Doubting God as to

whether waiting anxiously for mercy, whether

keeping ourselves in the love of God or praying

in the Holy Spirit, whether building ourselves

up in holy faith will be enough. They're doubting.

And in that doubting, out of that comes, they

start to listen to the lusts, the ungodly lusts.

They start to mock whether following Jesus is

really enough. Creating division and so on. And

we should have mercy on some who are doubting.

Verse 23 says, save others. That means deliver

the gospel, that other truth, that first preceding

truth of Jesus Christ and how to be saved. Save

others. But listen to this verb. Snatching them.

Snatching them out of the fire. Snatching them

out of the fire. And I will do an object lesson

for that in a moment. It says, and on some, have

mercy with fear. So we show mercy to them, but...

But with fear? That's kind of weird. What do

we have to fear if we're anxiously waiting the

mercy that God has delivered to us? What do we

have to fear if we're keeping ourselves in the

love of God? What do we have to fear if we're

praying in the Holy Spirit? He says, but for

some, show mercy with fear. And then he clarifies.

He says, hating even the garment polluted by

the flesh. In other words, there is that thing

that is involved. While that person, struggling

with doubt, following their lusts, creating division,

mocking God, whatever, and you're trying to show

them mercy, or maybe they're in the very early

phases and they're doubting, and you go to try

to show them mercy, and it says that we should

hate even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Now you can go and do some theological study

on that, but here's what I'm going to tell you.

In the book of Leviticus, there are five, count

them, five, five of what may... in many cases,

be the most boring chapters of the Bible because

they're very liturgical. They're very rules -oriented,

right? But there are five chapters dedicated

to the fact that when a person sins, that which

they touch becomes affected by their sin. If

you go and lust after another woman, the clothes

that you are wearing are now affected by your

sin. And then you take those clothes home and

you put them in the washer and wash it out. And

that doesn't make any sense. What God is saying

is sin spreads. You sin, it affects everything

and everyone around you just as much as it affects

you. And so when we go to try to show mercy to

a person who is in sin because they're doubting

and maybe they've even become a divisive person

or a mocking person or whatever, we need to understand

that there is there all around them everything

that would be necessary for us to go and sin.

I'll give you an example. you have a brother

or sister in Christ who claims to be a Christian,

and you go and you say to them, look, I saw you

doing this, and I really think that's not real

godly, and I think you should repent of that.

You know, Matthew 18, accountability begins,

I think you should repent of that, turn back

to the Lord, and God will heal you, God will

forgive you, God loves you, God sees better for

you, and you're saying positive things, and they

say back to you, well, who are you? Who are you

to even say that to me? I've been a Christian

for 20 years, and you've been a Christian for

a year or five. How much Bible do you even know?

I can recite 40 verses to you right now. How

much Bible do you even know? And they come back

at you with venom. Or they say to you, well,

yeah, you can say that if you want, but he who

lives in a glass house ought not throw stones,

because I saw you do this. Right? And you come

away from that meeting where basically all you're

trying to do is help them walk out the thing

that God has given them to do. Help them be the

person that God has made them to be. And you're

now challenged in your faith. And you begin to

doubt. And there are those amongst us who doubt.

And we know that. We're warned of that. And so

what they're saying is don't begin to doubt when

you carry out Matthew 18 accountability. Or just

you see somebody walking down the hallway and

you realize that, oh yeah, there he is. Yeah,

he lied. I'm not going to do Matthew 18 accountability

with him because, you know, I got sins too. I

shouldn't be judging anybody for the bad things

they do. So I'm not going to talk to them. I'm

just going to keep it quiet. I don't want to

cause any stress or friction or anything like

that. And you let that go. Well, that's a sin

against God because Jesus is the one who said

in Matthew 18 accountability, when a brother

sins, you go and show him his sin. So now you've

sinned against God by not going and showing him

what he was doing wrong, the mistake that he

was making. Or you decide, finally, you're like,

I don't want to sin against God. I'm going to

do it reluctantly. We're right there. The reluctance

to follow, that is not walking, building your

life in faith. That's not doing what he just

said we're called to do. And so you're doubting.

You're doubting whether by showing somebody Matthew

18 accountability that they've done wrong, whether

you're helping them do better, you're doubting

whether or not God can have his way. And so then

that doubt leads you to another problem. And

so what we're warned of is that all around, people

who are doubting and doing these kinds of things

are going to be pitfalls. And he says, see, so

show the mercy. Still do it. Still go after them.

Still help them. Do what you can to help them

walk it out in the Lord. But do it with fear,

recognizing that you are going to be exposed

to the trappings, to the affected things around

them. Hate even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Have nothing to do with the thing, the trappings.

You go, say, well, I'm going to go to my house's

friend on Sunday. We're going to watch a football

game. While I watch a football game, I'm going

to talk to him about Jesus. I'm going to be a

good example there. I'm going to be godly. I'm

going to be a godly man. We're going to watch

football together. Yeah, but I'm going to be

there as a representative of Christ, telling

them what they need to know. And by the way,

if you're going to go watch football with a friend,

that is how you do it, right? But while you're

there, you're going to be watching beer commercials.

And probably they're going to all be smoking.

If they're smokers, drinking. If they're drinkers

and talking foul language. And you're going to

be sitting in that filth the whole time. So yeah,

go show the mercy. Go do it. But be prepared

and realize you cannot be part of those things.

You cannot be affected. You have to walk in faith.

You have to build yourself up in faith. You have

to be prepared for the challenges of this life.

And we have to go into the dark places and be

subject to the darkness. that the light that's

in us may shine there. That's what he's saying.

So have mercy with fear, hating even the garment

polluted by the flesh. Verse 24, almost done

with the text. Now to him who is able to keep

you from stumbling. Oh, this is the beauty of

it. So when you go into those dark places to

take the light of Jesus there, God is able to

keep you from stumbling. Are you able? Maybe

not, but God is able. And if God is in you, then

he is able to keep you pure. He is able to keep

you. Holy, he is able to keep you clean. He is

able to make you stand. He who is able to keep

you from stumbling and to make you stand in the

presence of his glory, blameless with great joy.

That is your destination. You are not a human

being who was fixed up a little bit while you

were on earth. and is going to be somehow transformed

to be good enough to be in heaven. You are already

one who is made able by the Holy God of the universe

to stand in the throne room of God. And when

you pray in the Holy Spirit, nothing less than

that happens. You Skype or Zoom or video call

somebody and they see your face. You pray to

God in the Holy Spirit and you stand before the

Holy God of the universe. fully vindicated by

the blood of Christ that was paid to wash away

your sins. Nothing less. It's not a video call

to God. You are in His presence when you pray

in the Spirit. Now to Him who is able to keep

you from stumbling and to make you stand in the

presence of His glory, blameless, with great

joy. To the only God our Savior, through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Be glory. That means He gets

all the shining. He gets all the light. He gets

all the attention. You don't worship your wife.

You don't worship your husband. You don't worship

your money. You don't worship your car. What

does it mean to worship? It means to declare

the worth of. You don't worship your football

team. You don't worship your quarterback. You

don't worship your hobbies. You don't worship

your job. You don't worship anyone except the

God of the universe. To Him be all glory. All

majesty. No one and nothing else other than the

God of the universe is in charge. We don't make

our decisions by our own ideas. We make them

by what God wants. Right, Jason? We make them

by what? Punch him, Tommy. Not too hard. Thank

you. Appreciate it. All right. We don't make

our decisions by what my dad thinks. By what

my mom thinks. By what my pastor thinks. We make

our decision by the direction of the God of the

universe who is sovereign. 1 Corinthians 2 says

you have the mind of Christ. You can know exactly

what God wants from you. Romans 12 says if you

will become a person whose mind is renewed daily.

by following God, by the Word of God, by praying

in faith, etc., the very things we're talking

about, then you can know the good and perfect

and approved will of the God of the universe

and do exactly that. We have a sovereign Lord.

He is in charge, and He has all majesty. And

if your boss says, do it or don't get paid, and

God says, don't do it, then you say, I'm sorry,

I can't do it. If your boss says, you need to

fear me when I give you orders or I'll write

you up and fire your butt, then you say, and

if you would do that, I would get a new job.

Because the God of the universe always provides

for me. Do you know why wealthy men always land

on their feet? Because their God provides for

them. It is their money. And they'll buy a new

job. You can do that. You go somewhere to someone

who has the ability to hire you and needs some

one of your qualifications. You give them gifts.

You write them letters. You friend them on LinkedIn.

Spend ads. You make sure they see. Eventually,

they'll hire you. Because you're capable of doing

what they need you to do. You can get somebody.

If you've got the money, you can make money.

We all know that. And so they always land on

their feet. You know why Christians always land

on their feet? Because our God is not money.

Our God is not time. Our God is not health. It

is not relationship. Our God is the God of heaven

who literally owns it all. That's why if you

follow the Lord, you will never truly go hungry

or without. I'm not saying you'll be wealthy.

I'm saying God will take care of you because

he's the sovereign God of the universe and he

can. It says that to him be all glory, majesty,

dominion. That means rule and authority. That

means he says and it happens before all time.

When there was nothing. When not a single atom

existed. When there was not a molecule of air.

When no DNA had ever been written or even needed.

God spoke into existence. That's Nihilio. He

created everything out of nothing. Did he lose

that authority somewhere along the line? Like

he's been holding it together for so long, God's

barely keeping up now? No. God gets all glory,

majesty, dominion, and authority before all time,

and now, and forever. And then a little amen,

which says, so let it be. Basically he's saying,

I'm with it. I'm for that. I agree. Let's give

it to God. We're going to do a little object

lesson for a second here. I need a volunteer

firsthand. All right. Welcome to Game Show. The

Game Show. Snatch it now. You ready? On the Game

Show, snatch it now. Stand right there in front

of the pulpit facing in this direction. Okay,

the game's so snatched now, we drop the object

in front of the player. The player attempts to

grab the object as it falls. Are you ready? If

you grab all three objects, you win. Guess what?

Absolutely not. It's just for fun. Okay. All

right. Here we go. And go. That would be zero

for one. I'm going to try again. It's just as

close as that. It's not dirty. Okay, you ready?

Here we go. Okay. All right. Now, before we go

on to the third object, what does she do differently?

The first time, what did she do differently?

She caught it, that's right. Okay, what else

did she do differently? She didn't paint. No?

No, she didn't paint quite as much, that's true.

Okay, I want you to watch your hands, okay? This

is the last, this is my sock man. It's a clean

sock. Okay. I made this. I just want you to know.

I can give you the recipe if you want. It's a

three rubber bands, some stuffing, and a sock.

Clean sock, preferably, but it doesn't have to

be clean. All right, you ready? Are you watching?

Okay, what did she do differently? She held her

hands out. She prepared, right? Thank you very

much. You want the sock, ma 'am? Yes. It's yours.

See, you did win something, but she didn't catch

it on that try. Okay. All right. There are three

key attributes of everything. If you distill

it all down into simple, palatable, digestible

pieces, there are three key attributes laid out

in this text. And the first one is... Some years

ago, I didn't ask permission to share this illustration,

and that's okay because that's a good one. Some

years ago, my wife and I were invited over to

Deacon Tony's house. This was in the very early

days, or maybe even before New Heights started.

We were still doing a Juana program at East Toledo

Baptist Church, and we had a fellowship, and

we were going to just kind of eat and play games

and stuff, and mostly in Tony's garage. We were

also in the kitchen, the backyard, and all around

and stuff. And at one point in time, Tony, I

remember him very, very vividly standing in the

doorway to his garage. And he was holding up

his Bible and he had his finger in it like this.

And he began to speak from 2 Timothy 2 .15. Now

that's the key verse for a wanted study to show

yourself approved, right? And in there is a word.

I imagine you know what the word is. Diligent.

Be diligent. And at that time, Deacon Tony told

me, he told us, Sherry was there, my kids were

there, some of the LITs were there, I don't remember

who all it was, other family members and so on.

He told us that he had taken the time to look

up the word diligent. When he was reading that

verse, he said, I looked up the word diligent.

And he said, I was convicted. I was cut to the

quick. He said, because this is what the word

diligent means to me. It means work hard. And

he said, that's something I can do. I can work

hard. He said, it means to prepare yourself and

work hard. To do the job. To not quit. And these

are all things I know how to do. I do them all

the time. I do them in my job. I do them in life.

These are all things I know how to do. You know

how to do it. You're still here. And the Bible

says we're to be diligent. Now that verse says

be diligent to show yourself a workman who need

not be ashamed to prove rightly dividing the

word of truth. Talking about the Bible specifically,

right? This diligence tells us how to live. It

tells us what to do. If you know what to do,

then prepare yourself to do it. Do the work.

If I told you that in a year from now, you're

going to be working a job that requires you to

lift 50 pounds every two minutes for eight hours

straight, and you're going to make $100 ,000

a day, and if you believe me, you'd start working

out. You start consuming protein. You're like

50 pounds every two minutes, but $100 ,000 a

day. Gosh, that's a lot. That's 30 times an hour.

I'm going to have to do 240 times a day, 50 pounds.

I'm going to start today. Today, I'm going to

say, can I lift 50 pounds? Oh, boy, I can. Just

barely. I'll do it once, and an hour later, I'll

do it. An hour later, I'll do it. And then tomorrow,

I'll do it twice every hour. And the next day,

I'll do it three times every hour, and then four

times every hour. And you'd go until 365 days

from now. You'd start that job lifting 50 pounds

every two minutes, and you'd be ready. Now, your

muscles would be a little bit more ripped. Your

pecs would be stronger. Your biceps would be

stronger. Your sleeves would be tight. But you'd

be ready. And if it was for $100 ,000 a day?

You wouldn't lift 50 pounds starting tomorrow

every hour? Sure would. It's nothing less than

what God is asking us to do. Not physically.

He's not asking you to work out. God's not even

asking you to completely change your diet, sleep

schedule, nutrition, hydration, etc. Which most

of us probably need to do. And we would probably

be found faithful if we did that. But he does

say, building yourself up in faith. And guess

what? You're at New Heights Fellowship Baptist

Church Sunday gathering. And we have talked a

hundred times or more about how to build yourself

up in faith. They're called the spiritual disciplines.

We highlight ten of them. Right now we're highlighting

meditation and prayer, which is actually two

of them. So, no surprise, you should be meditating

and praying. Now think, in the last seven days,

how often have you meditated and prayed? If you

can't say it's every day, then I'm going to say

to you that you have not been diligent in building

yourself up in faith. But it's also reading your

Bible. It's also worshiping. When we sang, did

you sing? If you couldn't sing, if you couldn't

bring yourself to sing, did you find in yourself

a worshipful attitude? Did you meditate on the

words? Did you think about the words? Were you

worshiping God when you worshiped? You can't

worship God in here. You're proud with others

who are... trying, all overcoming our own barriers

and whatever, to do that. You're probably not

going to do it tomorrow afternoon at 1. But if

you're building yourself up in faith, you're

going to practice the spiritual disciplines.

You could literally do this. You could say, I'm

going to write a plan for myself on how, it's

going to be like a training plan, on how I'm

going to build myself up in faith, and you can

take each of the spiritual disciplines. I can

give you a book that I wrote that describes every

one if you want. You can look them up on the

internet. Google them. Chat GPT. Whatever you

do, it'll give you not 10, but probably 20. And

then you can go down the list and pick your favorite

10 and find a way to do every single one of those

things every single day. And in one week, in

seven days of doing every single one of those

things every day, you will find that you are

a more powerful, God -filled, Spirit -led, Christian.

And you're not doing it, and I don't know why.

Building yourself up in faith, be diligent. Work

hard at it. Praying in the Holy Spirit, be diligent.

Are you going to pray in the Holy Spirit? Well,

you know, you might want to start by repenting

of sin, because the Holy Spirit doesn't really

have anything to do with that. He's not interested.

So if you're living in sin right now, stop it.

Say, no, I'm done. I'm going to surrender my

life to the Lord and live the way God wants me

to live. And I'm going to do that praying in

the Holy Spirit. So I'm going to sit down. I'm

going to say, God, I want to tell you, I really

want to tell you what I got on my mind. I really

want to tell you what concerns me. But what I

really want is what you want. So now, Lord, help

me pray what you want me to pray. And it may

come out like babbling or rumbling or grunting.

Or not like words at all. You might not make

a sound. Are you taking time? Well, I mean, if

you're going to pray in the Holy Spirit, you're

going to have to repent of sin. You're going

to have to mark out a little bit of time. You're

going to have to spend a little time in the Word,

figure out what that looks like maybe. There

might be some steps that you could take to talk

to God the way God wants you to talk to Him.

Be diligent. Work at it. Keep yourself in the

love of God. To keep something is to store it.

It's to mark out a boundary. It stays there.

My dishes are in the cupboard or on the rack

drying or in the sink waiting to be washed. They

are not meant to be sitting all throughout the

house. Keep them where they belong. If you're

not actively using them, put them in the sink,

wash them, put them on a rack, put them in the

cupboard. That's where they belong. You keep

the dishes where they belong. Keep yourself in

the love of God. When what you say is not loving,

shut up. When what you do is hateful, stop. When

what you watch is evil or wicked, don't. Do the

work. Keep yourself in the love of God. If you've

got nothing better to do, if you're sitting bored,

you've got to reach for your phone to check social

media. Before you do that, recite a minimum of

three miraculous events from Scripture that you're

aware of. Think of it. Just think about the feeding

of the 5 ,000 or the walking on water or one

of the 10 plagues against Pharaoh in Egypt. Think

about three miracles that God did before you

ever lived and three miracles that God has done

in your life or the life of somebody close to

you that you know before you reach for social

media. All social media does is make you wish

your life was like theirs anyway. It's proven

science. Messes with your head and your psychology

and your emotions and your spirit. And I'm not

saying it's sin by any means, but you should

keep yourself in the love of the Lord first,

waiting anxiously for the mercy of our God. This

is permission? To be anxious? All of us, lots

of us like to do that anyway, right? We want

to do that. I want to be anxious. I want to be

excited. I want to be apprehensive. I want to

be worried. I'm concerned. Where is this going?

What's going to happen? We're going to do that.

So here's permission to be anxious. But it is

literally the only thing to be anxious for. We

should keep ourselves anxiously waiting for the

mercy of our Lord. What does that look like?

Well, for one, you might want to stop and think

about the fact that your life compared to the

life you're going to have when you're in heaven

is crap. It's crap. Sitting at your daughter's

graduation is crap compared to heaven. It's nothing.

It's worthless. It's useless. The fun you have

with your kids crawling around the floor, nursing

babies, raising kids. Doing jobs, receiving money,

it's all nothing compared to the one second in

heaven with God. There is nothing that we can

have. It's all a tiny fractured image of how

good it's going to be then. So every time you

experience good, think, this is awesome. Praise

the Lord for his sovereignty. Praise the Lord

he gave me this. But man, that's going to be

better. And every time you experience trouble,

difficulty, and it gets bad, you're like, man,

I can barely stand. I feel bad. I don't know

what's going on. I can't figure it out. You're

mourning. You're lost. You're depressed. You're

angry, whatever. You say, but this is temporal.

I've been here before. And it's going to be a

minute, an hour, or a day, and it'll be over.

And eventually my life will be done and it'll

be over forever. We're waiting anxiously. When

you're really going through it, you should be

thinking about when it's really going to be over.

And when you're really receiving, prospering,

doing good, you think about when it's really

going to be over. Everybody thinks that you get

more money and that's always a good thing. It

isn't even true. You get more accolades and it's

always a good thing. That isn't even true. Half

the time money and accolades is a bad thing.

More than half probably because our job is to

be anxiously awaiting the mercy of the Lord.

And if you've got plenty of money, you really

don't need it. If you've got plenty of accolades,

you really don't need it. Why do you need to

listen to what God says about you when you've

got 15 people telling you about you what you

want to think about you? The answer is you don't.

Be diligent to be anxiously waiting for the appearing

of the mercy of the Lord. The gospel, the truth

of Jesus Christ, salvation, is not a burden.

It's not a heavy weight to bear. It's not cumbersome,

tiring. It isn't an extra schedule consideration.

Like, oh, I'm going to go to church, but I might

not be able to go to church that day because

I have these other things I have to do. Or I'm

going to read my Bible, but I might not be able

to because I've got to be to work at a certain

time. The Bible, God, the truth of Jesus, His

presence, these are not extras. They are the

whole thing. The whole thing. story of all creation,

all history, all lives of men from birth to death.

All the Word, written by over 40 authors over

1 ,400 years, most of which didn't even know

each other, and it all has the same theme. Why

do you think it's like that? It's like that because

all of life is about this one point, the fact

that mankind was made for a relationship with

God and doesn't have it unless he has it through

Jesus Christ. That's not a burden. That's the

key that unlocks tomorrow and eternity. The gospel

is not a burden. It's not a cumbersome or tiring

thing. It's not an extra weight to bear. It's

not an extra schedule consideration. If it's

treated that way, it will be a thing dispensed

within dark times rather than a thing clung to.

In other words, you're going to let it go. When

you're really sad, upset, hurting, struggling,

you're going to let the gospel go. You're not

going to worry about that. You're going to think

about pills or counseling or just body healing,

changes you might make. You're going to think

about every other method of salvation except

for the one method of salvation that not only

saves your body, it saves your soul. The gospel,

if it's an extra burden to you, if being a church

member, being a saved Christian, serving God

is an extra thing for you, then when you cut

your life down to only the things that you can

handle, when you trim everything back and focus

on what you really need to deal with, you'll

let the gospel go. You'll let Jesus go. You'll

let faithful following go. You'll let anxiously

waiting go. Don't be that person. Diligently

apply what God has given you, what God has given

us, the spiritual disciplines, walking in faith,

walking in love, etc. In the darkest hours, if

the gospel, the truth of God, isn't a thing to

cling to, then its true nature was never known,

and it has probably never come to your house.

That is to say, you are not saved. When you get

down, you have nothing left. If you need help

to take your next breath, and you can't cling

to Jesus in that moment, a moment later, you

may be in hell instead of heaven. And so it needs

to be like that when the money's flowing or not,

when the health is good or not, when the relationships

are great or struggling. When the task is large

or seems pretty easy. When the pathway is bumpy

or seems pretty smooth. When the air is calm

or the storm is raging. When the water is placid

or the waves are so high that you can't see the

boats. The gospel salvation, Jesus Christ, has

to come to the center of your being and be like

that. And I'm telling you, I know a lot of Christians

that I don't think that's true. I'm asking, can

you cling to Jesus when you can cling to nothing

else? You know how many boats left docks without

life jackets or life preservers or escape boats?

Too many. And some of them sank. And the people

died. If you leave the dock and you go out to

do what it is that you do and you let go of God,

you let go of diligently building yourself up,

praying in the Holy Spirit, diligently keeping

yourselves in the love of God, diligently waiting

anxiously for the mercy of the Lord, then when

your ship is sinking, you will reach for something

else. And if you don't survive that moment, you'll

go tumbling into hell with all those who reached

for something else for their whole life. And

that would be just dumb. That would be foolishness

because right now, you're where you need to be.

Right now, you're hearing the truth. Right now,

you have the Word. Right now, you have access

to Christ. But in the last day, there will be

those who do this very thing that we are talking

about. And we are warned by the apostles at the

very beginning of the church that in the church,

there will in the last day be those. I don't

want it to be me. I don't want it to be you.

And I don't think you want it to be you. And

I sure hope you don't want it to be me. The second

point that encapsulates it, that makes it clear,

makes it palatable, makes it workable, is mercy.

And it says, and have mercy on some. And it says,

save others, snatching them out of the fire.

And it says, on some have mercy with fear. We

are a people of mercy. If you have been saved

by the living God of the universe, How dare you

walk around and think that there are people around

you that you would not want to be saved? If you

are anxiously awaiting the appearing of the mercy

to go to heaven and one day be with the Lord

forever, how could we possibly tolerate anyone

around us who mocks God, creates division, struggles,

and we just go, that's okay for them, not for

me. No. We are called to mercy. Share the truth

of Jesus Christ. You say, but he doesn't want

to hear it. I don't care if he wants to hear

it or not. I don't think God cares whether he

wants to hear it or not. Well, they're going

to get angry. I don't think we care whether they're

going to get angry. I'm not saying be mean. I'm

not saying insult them. Say, you're so stupid

that you won't accept Jesus. First of all, That's

probably not going to rile them up as much as

if you just told the truth about Jesus, that

they can't go to heaven unless they accept him.

That's probably going to blow them up even more.

Because you say, they're so stupid, you won't

believe in Jesus. They're probably going to say

back to you, you're so stupid, you don't believe

in Jesus. Because they're a mocker. They're used

to mocking and being mocked. That's their language.

They don't have a problem with that. But if you

just lay it out, when the next time somebody

offends you, you say, well, you know what? I

have done worse. And Jesus, Jesus forgave me.

I have received mercy from the Lord of the universe.

And having received that mercy, I now give you

mercy. I will not take vengeance on you. I'm

not going to snap at you. I'm not going to treat

you with disrespect. I'm not going to look down

at you. I'm not going to go somewhere else and

talk about you. None of it. I give you mercy.

I offer you forgiveness. You think they're going

to like it? Well, some are going to see that

as different than what the world does. And it's

going to provoke a question in them. And then

you can explain by simple methods. John 3 .16,

for God so loved the world. Romans wrote, While

we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And

all you have to do is believe in your heart and

confess with your mouth. Or just, Jesus died

for me and I'm saved and I want you to have it

too. As simple or as complex as you or they need,

in that moment you share why you're giving them

mercy and you snatch them out of the fire. We'll

come back to that at the closing. The last one

that's in this text is simple, palatable, we

can work with it, we can do it, is practice caution.

It's caution. He uses this phrase. He said, hating

even the garment polluted by the flesh. Mercy

on some who are doubting. Mercy with fear. Because

polluted garments, the trappings of being a sinner,

will affect you. They'll affect you. They'll

affect your family. They'll affect your kids.

Mercy is needed. We've become agents of this

mercy. We speak urgently because reality is urgent.

People live 50 years. Do you know that there

are people still, surely, all over the world

probably, living 50 or 80 years and dying, not

having a Christian in their life clearly entreating

them, trying to deliver the mercy of God. When

I was 25 years old, Sherry and I decided, we

said, well, there's got to be something more

to life. We were at wit's end. We had two cars.

Each one had a payment. We had a house, had a

payment. We bought a mower for our yard on a

credit card. I'm driving back and I'm going,

okay, let's see. I don't want a boat and I don't

want an RV. I've already got a motorcycle, two

cars, a house, one kid, a lawnmower, riding lawnmower,

so I don't have to push it anymore. Hmm. Oh,

I think I'm done. Got everything I need, everything

I wanted. And I'm like, is that it? Really? I

mean, a lot of people live to be 80. So from

25 to 80, I'm just going to live like I beat

life. I won. I've got all the trappings. It doesn't

make any sense. That can't be it. So we just

pay off the debts. But then the cars are going

to go bad. So you're going to get new loans maybe

or buy new cars to repair the house. So now we've

got everything. So now all we have to do is spend

the next 65 years taking care of it and we win.

That's it? That's how that goes? Didn't make

sense. So Sherry and I are sitting on the couch.

We're talking about it and say, well, we've got

to figure out there's something more. Maybe it's

faith. Maybe it's church, right? And so we say,

well, we're going to go to the only church where

we know where there is a person, get this, who

has ever told us that they are a Christian. At

25 years old, we knew one, exactly one person

in all of our life that had ever said, I am a

Christian and I go to church. That's how many

we knew. So we went. And six months later, God

won my heart. Two weeks after that, God won Sherry's

heart. And now almost 35 years later, here we

are. The point is this. There are people in your

circle who if they knew that they need to know,

would want to know. And we're not telling them.

We are sharers of mercy. We practice and diligently

deliver that mercy. We do so with caution because

we're going into a place where there are many

things. many trappings, many problems, many issues,

many physical things that are coated in sin,

spread sin, affect people with sin. So we will

diligently work to build ourselves up in faith,

to pray in the Holy Spirit, keep ourselves in

love, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our

Lord to be shown. We will not treat the gospel

as a burden or a cumbersome thing, as an extra

schedule consideration. We will cling to Christ

with all the might that he has given us as we

deliver mercy and practice that caution. A word

has reoccurred. In fact, I think it's my word.

So I do this thing every year at the beginning

of the year. I don't make a big deal out of it.

But every year I pick one word. I read a book

called One Word, a small book. And they said,

take all that you think that God's kind of trying

to do. And you pray and you listen and you make

a list. phrases or whatever, and you dial that

down to a list of words, and then you take a

list of words, and you pray over it until you

get down to one word. And now, I think my one

word for 26 is ruthlessness. Sounds kind of mean,

but it's ruthlessness to cut out that which doesn't

belong. It's ruthlessness to be right and do

the things that need to be, to focus on the great

and let go the minor things. Ruthlessness against

pollution would make for a clean world. Ruthlessness

against sin would at the very least highlight

the problem that mankind has, whether or not

they could ever get free of it because they would

need salvation. Ruthlessness. So you think about

what God wants you to do, and then you make time

for that ruthlessly. Our family travels periodically.

We don't travel as much as we used to, but every

time that we've traveled since becoming a Christian,

we never miss church. We've been to church in

the weirdest churches and the weirdest places.

And we went to one where they didn't talk about

Jesus at all, and they didn't read the Bible

at all. And we left there, and we had one of

the teenage girls in the church with us, and

our teenage daughter, Maya, was with us. And

we walked out, and we went. So I said, well,

what did you think? And the one that was with

us said, well, I don't think that was about God

at all. And so we had church after church. One

Sunday we were traveling over in Illinois and

we went to a church. The church didn't exist

anymore. So we're on Google and we found another

church. Went there and it wasn't there. Went

to another church, didn't have an address. So

we wound up sitting in a buffet parking lot,

buffet restaurant parking lot, and we had church.

We picked songs and we sang hymns and we preached

the word and we had a children's devotional.

And we had church in the van because we'd gone

to three different church buildings and none

of them were there. And we're coming back from

Florida and we didn't have anywhere to go to

church and it was... A challenge with all the

kids. It was all the Shopes, the Hartleys, and

the Stephensons. Everybody was there. And it

was going to be murder to find a church. So we

had church. I preached. RJ did a devotion. We

had an inspirational moment. Just like we were

here. And we were able to watch this church because

it was online on Facebook. What I'm saying to

you is, where is your ruthlessness? Do you not

understand that... As we have seen in this text,

building yourself up in faith, praying in the

Holy Spirit, keeping yourself in the love of

God, waiting anxiously for the mercy, being a

mercy deliverer, responding with caution about

the way the world might affect you, but always

going out. This is it. This is what we've become.

If that's not good enough for you, then I don't

think heaven's going to be good enough for you.

Because that is heaven on earth. And that brings

us to our conclusion. Before I get there, I have

an illustration for the conclusion. You may or

may not have heard of a famous guy who preached

in 1741, a long, long time ago. He preached a

sermon called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry

God. Now, he was a member of what would be considered

a devout sect like the Puritans. Now, we don't

really see Puritans anymore, but these are very,

very devout. These are people that memorized

whole books of the Bible. They dressed a certain

way so everyone would know that they were a Puritan.

So they started whole communities. And so the

assumption amongst the Puritans was that everyone

was saved. The kids, as soon as they were old

enough to hear, right? They had everyone. And

then he preached a sermon and he said this, there

is nothing that keeps wicked at any one moment

out of hell. But the mere pleasure of God. By

the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign

pleasure. That means he decides. His arbitrary

will. That means only he decides. Restrained

by no other obligation. There is no reason that

any human being should not fall immediately into

hell. That's what he's saying. Hindered by no

manner of difficulty. Nothing stops that. Any

more than if nothing else but God's mere will

had in the least degree any hand in the preservation

of a wicked man one moment. There is only one

thing that is keeping the wicked, keeping those

who do not know Christ from falling into hell

right now like this. As if a ripcord were pulled,

we're all walking along and all of a sudden a

door opens up under every person who does not

know Christ and they all fall immediately into

hell. And he says there is only one thing that

is stopping that from happening and it is the

good pleasure of the Lord God. The truth of this

is evident by the consideration of these things.

There is no want of power in God to cast wicked

men into hell at any moment. In other words,

God doesn't lack power to do that. Are you with

me, Mike? Wake him up. Sit up. God does not lack

power. I'm going to call you out. You come in

here and fall asleep. I'm going to call you out.

I apologize. I know you stayed up too late last

night, but it happens. So now it's time to be

diligent. All right. So there is no want of power

in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment.

Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up.

The strongest have no power to resist God, nor

can any deliver out of God's hands. He is not

only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he

can most easily do it if he should choose to.

Sometimes an earthly prince meets a great deal

of difficulty to subdue a rebel. A rebel who

has found means to fortify himself and has made

himself strong by the number of his followers.

But it is not so with God. There is no fortress

that is any defense from the power of God. Though

hand join in hand and vast multitudes of God's

enemies, and believe me, they're out there and

many of them are calling themselves churches,

okay? Though hand join in hand and vast multitudes

of God's enemies combine and associate themselves,

they are easily broken in pieces. They are as

a great heaps of light chaff, that's the stuff

that blows away in the wind when they're working

on crops, before the whirlwind, or large quantities

of dry stubble. before devouring flames. And

then just a little later he says this, he says,

the God that holds you over the pit of hell,

much as one holds a spider or some loathsome

insect over the fire, abhors you and is dreadfully

provoked. Ephesians 2 says we were objects of

wrath. Wrath is when God opposes us. Now, you

say, abhors means hates. And what you've just

said is that God hates you. And that's not actually

what he means. What he means is that he is in

complete opposition to the way a man exists if

a man does not exist in Christ. But notice, he

is a merciful God. And he is slow to anger. And

it is by, as he said in the early paragraph,

God's mercy alone that men do not now suddenly

all, all who have not accepted Christ. Jesus

did not come to condemn, but they are condemned

already by what they have done with the name

of God. That they have not all suddenly been

swept away and fallen into hell for eternity

is mercy from God. We hope boldly because mercy

still reaches into the fire and snatches people

out. That hope equals diligence for us. mercy

for us, and caution for us. And if you are not

being diligent, I call you today to be diligent.

Do the work. Go to bed on time on Saturday night

so when you come here on Sunday morning, you're

not tired. Eat the right food. Drink the right

water. Sleep. Exercise. Study. Pray. Worship.

Give. Serve. Do the things of the kingdom and

walk in faith. And stop treating the gospel as

another thing that needs to be scheduled in.

Well, I wish we could do that, but we've got

to be in church. Oh, that really sucks. What?

I wish we could do that, but we've got to mark

out time for worship or prayer or devotion. Turn

the TV off. Be diligent. Get your hands out.

Snatch somebody from the fire before they slip

into the fires of hell. It's just like that.

It's scriptural. Jude knew it. The apostles preached

it. And the church is no church except the church

that was started on Pentecost. That is who we

are. We are a people who will diligently walk

this way. Who will mercifully be outreaching

and preparing ourselves to snatch people from

the fire whenever we possibly can. And cautious.

Cautious that we should not be polluted by that

which is all around those whom we are seeking.

If you are a doubter, I call on you today to

receive the mercy of the Lord. If you have declined

some offer of God, I call on you today to receive

that offer. Mercifully, he offers it again. If

God has called you to be a diligent servant,

and according to this scripture, he has called

us all to be diligent, and you have not been,

then I call on you today to repent. For the mercy

of God is this. If you will repent and call upon

the name of the Lord, you will not be put to

shame. He will walk with you and show you how

to practice spiritual disciplines, how to pray

in the Spirit, how to be His, how to treat the

Gospel as something other than a burden or a

time conflict. If you can't have money and also

have Jesus, then have no money. If you can't

eat well and also make Jesus the center of your

life, then eat nothing. If you can't be merciful

to the people in your life and really be mercy,

then repent and turn unto the Lord for to show

mercy to mankind, though he could have been equal

with God, he was God in the flesh, he nonetheless

submitted himself to death, even death on a cross.

And that's our example. Because of that, we'll

be diligent. And because of that, we'll be merciful.

And because of that, we'll be cautious. And because

of that, we'll be in heaven. I ask you today

to make whatever decision the Lord is burdening

you with. And let Him carry it. I ask the praise

team to come forward now and lead us in our closing

hymn. But if you are making a decision, if God

is calling on you, if God is asking you to make

a commitment, asking you to repent, asking you

to be diligent, asking you to be merciful, asking

you to be cautious, and you have not been one

of those things, then I'm asking you today to

turn to him for the strength to do it correctly.

And the apostle's message was not just you can

be saved, it was also you can stay the course,

you can prepare yourself, you can save others,

you can see the throne of God right from where

you're standing. Would you stand with me and

sing this song? As the Lord has laid it on your

heart today, then you will be found. Bye. to

make you stand, to hold on to you through it

all. Whatever you've added in, you let it go.

That's what matters.