Jude 1:20

The book of Jude, verses 20 and 21, our focus on verse 20 this evening. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal salvation. My God blessed to us, his reading of His Sacred and Holy Word this evening. I read a story about a woman named Doris who ran the 1-800-Ly-Hu-800 line for a computer service, and to do problem shooting. And she said that over 25% of the calls from people who called in had one or two problems. One, they hadn’t plugged in a computer, and two, they hadn’t turned on the computer. So that was the problem. But her favorite was the woman who complained that she had searched the keyboard and could not find any key. The technician said, well, there is. There isn’t an any key. Oh, yeah, said the woman. Then how come it says, press any key? Now, spiritually, though, are Christians. It seemed like just like those individuals that called the 800 line for the computer service. Some Christians are not plugged in. They don’t have any spiritual power in their life. Some aren’t turned on, so they’re not prepared to do any type of service for the Lord. And some are so ignorant spiritually that they’re like the woman looking for the anything. key. If you’re not spiritually growing, then you’re opening the door for disaster. Jude speaks here about the need for spiritual growth in order to avoid being deceived. He’s been talking about these deceivers, and then he says, but ye, beloved, indicating to us here that now he’s shifting to them after speaking to them, about these false teachers and the idea is to have yourself prepared to you’re not swept away by these false teachers. Spiritual development then is a deterrent to any ravenous wolves that would enter in among the flock. If we are spiritually growing, if we have been built up in the faith, we’re more likely to be able to withstand any of the false ideas and so forth that are spread. So our topic is personal concern for faithfulness from this passage tonight. Now let me begin by saying this. You must maintain spiritual growth to remain faithful. And he takes that up in the first part of verse 20, but ye beloved, building up yourselves. Now, you have a responsibility to pursue. spiritual growth. They are the beloved of the Lord that he writes to and also certainly beloved by Jude himself. We’re talking about Christians here. We’re talking about the believers. You must build yourself up. Years ago, the running back Herschel Walker, who became famous for his NFL career. When he was a junior in high school, he wanted to try out for football, but the coach told him he was too small. He was just too small to do it. So he advised Herschel to go out for track instead, but Herschel Walker said, I didn’t want to go out for track. I want to play football. So he decided he would go into an extensive weightlifting program and see if he could build up his body. Eventually, he not only played high school football, played in college, won a He won a Heisman trophy in college. He won a one. on play in the NFL. Now, if I could transfer that now to the spiritual realm, we are to build ourselves up spiritually here. Now the phrase here, building up, and carries the idea of sort of the continuing of a building that has been started. You see a building go up, you know, they lay the foundation, and then they build the walls on it and and so forth and get up and begin to construct the different levels and so forth. The foundation is laid and now the walls, the bricks, the siding, the roof, so forth are built up on it. Christians are said to be God’s building in 1 Corinthians 3.9. So you have a solid foundation in faith in the gospel. of Christ. Jesus Christ is always the foundation. But then you must grow spiritually. The house must be completed. We’re to build on our most holy faith, which we’re going to be talking about in a moment. So you’re to grow in grace. You know, Peter in his second epistle, the first chapter, talks about adding to your faith, adding the various graces, whether it it would be virtue or knowledge or brotherly love or so forth, to add, build on your faith. It’s true that building is a slow process. It’s done little by little. Houses aren’t built in the day. So daily effort is required. Nothing is more desirable than to begin to build and not be able to finish as we read in the book of Luke chapter 14. The guy started his construction and couldn’t finish it. So we have to add to what has already been done so that we don’t have a half-built house, so to speak. It’s sad to begin in the spirit and then end up in the flesh. There’s always the danger of losing those things which we have wrought, as 2 John 8 indicates that we can backslide. We can have to rebuild something because where we once were, maybe we slid backslide. back from that and we have to refocus. So you must build yourselves up and your spiritual growth is essential here to perseverance. This is what his focus is on. This whole concept of, we have in our modern day Christianity of this one-time commitment to Christ. You know, I was saved in 1983 or something like that. And that’s it. Is it that you’ve reached, you know, that’s all you have to worry about. Whereas the scripture talks about building yourself up here. It’s not that we have faith in Christ, but that’s just a foundation. What about the building? What about the rest of the Christian life? So there must be growth. Jude emphasizes this need here in order. to persevere in the faith. It’s not merely enough to lay the foundation and say, oh, I’m done. I have been justified. Well, we’re to add to that justification, sanctification. And we’re to be conformed to the image of Christ. It should be the ambition of every Christian then to be more like Christ and move toward that direction every day. And that’s really what we’re going. the Christian life and sanctification is all about. It’s that we’re in a state of progress. There’s nothing wrong when a, there is something wrong. Excuse me, when a person professing faith in Christ is satisfied with a little faith. You know, disciples are asked the Lord, you know, increase our faith. Christians ought to be always moving in that direction. If you have a child that has stunted growth, there’s something wrong. So for the Christian to remain a babe in Christ after many years, there’s something wrong. You’re not growing, as you should. So your responsibility to pursue spiritual growth. Now, your foundation for spiritual growth is doctrine. Build yourself up on your most holy faith, he says. Faith is used here in the sense of the doctrines of the faith, the gospel doctrines in particular, but in verse three, he talks about, Beloved, I gave all diligence to write under you of the common salvation that they all enjoy, what they believed and so forth. As Colossians 2.7 says, we’re rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught. To be established in the faith is to be taught the doctrines of the faith is to be taught the doctrines of the faith. faith. This faith is most holy because there’s no doctrine in it that’s not pure. There are certainly high examples laid out for us in Scripture. There are arrays of motives for doing things. There are great rewards that are talked about in scripture. So gospel doctrine is the means by which our heart is purifying. You recall that Jesus said, sanctify them through by word, by word. word is truth. The psalmist talks about hiding the word in our hearts that we might not sin against the Lord. Titus 2, verses 11 and 12, says, for the grace of God that bring us salvation at the peer to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteousness, and godly in this present word. world. Truth or doctrine then becomes the means by which we move in this area of sanctification. Dr. John Gill, in his introduction to his theological work, the body of divinity, wrote this. He says, where there is not the doctrine of faith, the obedience of faith cannot be exercised. Where there is not the doctrine of the gospel and men have not learned Christ, they live for the most part is if there was no God in the world and give themselves up to work all sin with greediness. So we build on the doctrine that we’re taught. It’s the springboard. It’s the basis for Paul’s epistles. He starts out with the doctrine and then he goes to the practical application of it. There are three different types of fishermen. There’s the fishermen that does it for sport. he is thrilled with just catching the fish and he usually releases them, doesn’t even eat them. He’s just in it for the thrill of the catch. The second person in this category here is those who like the fish because they like the taste of certain fish. Maybe they like trout or maybe they like salmon or bass or something of that nature. They enjoy good dinner. of their favorite fish. So they fish for those particular fish that they like to eat. The third type are those who make their livelihood of fishing. In other words, they’re fishing for a living. Their support and their family’s well-being is based upon them making a catch. And so they’re seriously involved in fishing. Now, the same way sometimes people approach the scriptures. Some study doctrine merely as a hobby. They never digest the truth. They simply look it over, find it interesting perhaps, and then go on their way. They don’t actually get into any application of it. Others enjoy the study of maybe particular doctrines of the scripture, similar to those who like particular fish. They focus on maybe the trout or the salmon or something. maybe they’re like prophecy maybe they like you know in times like the book of revelation or typology or something of this nature and that’s where that’s where their focus is but the true Christian with us doctrine should be our livelihood it should affect all our life this is the whole focus everything depends upon it you are built you’re to build your life upon the sound teaching of the word of God. So you must maintain spiritual growth to remain faithful. Secondly tonight, you must engage in sincere prayer to remain faithful. He takes that up in the second part of verse 20. He says praying in the Holy Ghost. Praying in the Holy Ghost. Now, you must avoid lifeless prayer. It’s not that we just pray, but we pray with the Spirit’s guidance. You remember how Jesus condemned those who use vain repetition in their prayers. It was sort of a sing-song thing where they went through their prayers and they weren’t really giving much thought to them. The Roman Catholics in their penance and their Hail Mary’s and the rosary that they go over and so forth. It’s more of a thoughtless type of approach to prayer. There’s a real danger if we just go through the motions of prayer, not really praying as we ought to. I mean, sometimes our prayers can be no greater than a laundry list, our grocery list where we just like, well these are things I need. But true prayer is more than that. And uh, True prayer doesn’t depend upon the number of words you use or the number of prayers you pray. But the thing is, we shouldn’t avoid, we should avoid lifeless prayer. We must be aided by the Holy Spirit in our prayers. This is what he says here in this text. True prayer involves us asking according to the will of God. Sadly, most prayers are lifeless. and cold and we can run into that. What we need is a renewed mind. We have a renewed mind, then we’re thinking God’s thoughts after him. This is why James talks about people asking amiss in their prayers, that they’re sort of just consuming it on their own lust and what they want and so forth. And they don’t consider the will of God. They don’t consider what God would have them pray for. What he reveals in his word is these are the things you ought to pray for. I must say, and I think this is something it comes through in scripture, you can really only truly pray when you’re aided by the Holy Spirit. Prayer is hard work. Paul talks about striving with me in prayers in Romans 15 and verse 30. or laboring for you fervently in prayers. Colossians 4, 12. There’s work involved in it. It’s not an easy thing. Now the Holy Spirit enables us to pray properly. Because when we’re guided by the Spirit with regard to our prayers, then we’re praying for the things that God would have us pray for. There’s an interesting passage in the book of Romans chapter 8, verses 26 and 27. You want to turn there with me tonight. Paul writes this. He says, likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. We have weaknesses. But we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit itself, or himself, makeeth intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He that searches the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the Lord. will of God. Paul is telling us here that we’re left to our own natural resources, we would not pray properly. We don’t know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit within us begins to prompt us about the kind of things that the scripture reveals we should be seeking. The Holy Spirit within us brings to mind the promises of God that we can can pray about that God would grant these things to us. And so this is what we need. We need the Holy Spirit to produce a desire for what God puts a premium on rather than what we think we need. I guess we would be often asking for a stone, which wouldn’t be good for us. And God graciously gives us bread, which is the best for us. Because sometimes we ask the wrong things, but the Spirit aids us. in praying. So he enables you to pray in faith. Nothing wavering that we may receive what we ask for. James 1-6 talks about this. He gives you a love for God. He gives you the desire to seek the Lord in prayer. Indeed, the Spirit breathes life into our prayers and keeps them from being cold and informal. He warms our affections. He stirs our mind about spiritual things. And so we must be aided by the Holy Spirit. Isn’t interesting if you read the scriptures. You can’t worship a rite without the Spirit. You can’t praise God in song without God putting praise on our lips. And you can’t even pray a right without the Spirit prompting us and guiding us in our prayers. How dependent we are on the Lord to work in us, both the will and the do of his good pleasure, or we can’t do anything spiritually. That’s pleasing in his sight. Now, with this in mind, you must be aided by the Holy Spirit and prayer. Notice that prayer is essential to your perseverance. There are two men that were out deep sea fishing, and night came upon them, and they decided, well, you have to get it. get back. But they were out pretty far, so it was going to take a long trip back. The more experience of the seamen got sleepy and decided that he’d hand over the helm to his friend. The veteran sailor decided he would lay down and take a nap. He just pointed to the North Star, and he said, just keep going in that direction, and we’ll be, you’ll get back. Well, the man had not been at the task very long when he fell asleep at the helm of the and when he woke up, he was thoroughly confused. He looked around frantically, he couldn’t find the North Star. He woke up his friend and he said to him, you’re going to have to show me another star. I run clean past that first one. He lost all sense of direction. Spiritually, a lot of Christians are sort of like that fisherman. You fall asleep spiritually, and you lose your bearings because you’re not looking up to the Lord. You’re not seeking him as you ought. God’s guidance in prayer is essential for us. So you are not endeavoring to seek after the graces, which will enable you to persevere if we fall asleep spiritually, so to speak. What did Jesus say? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. When you neglect prayer, then it becomes obvious. There’s a notable decay then in your Christian walk. Job’s friends, when they made all these accusations against him, one of the accusations they made was neglect to prayer. They said in Job 15, 4, Surely thou restrainest prayer. So wonder that people will grow more worldly, more carnal, if they’re not praying as they ought. We let that duty slip. Oh, we can babble out the words, but we need to pray in the spirit. We need to be praying with the guidance of the Spirit upon us. You can’t read the whole account of Peter’s denial of Christ without realizing his failure stemmed from a last. lack of prayer. You remember that our Lord told him that Satan wanted to sift him as wheat. Now that’s a pretty scary thought to have, you know, to have Satan come after you like this. That ought to make you shaking your boots. If anything in the world would cause you to pray more earnestly, it ought to be the fact that Satan is coming especially for you. And Christ makes him aware of this. But what happened in the Garden of Gassimony? When Jesus went off to pray by himself and he left his three disciples behind, he told them to pray. And he poured out his soul to the Lord. But what were the disciples doing? Well, they fell asleep. Jesus awakened Peter and told him, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. Then he went back and prayed his second prayer. When he came back to second time, disciples were asleep. still sleeping. They fell back to sleep again. After our Lord’s third prayer, he still found Peter sleeping. And it wasn’t long before Peter was cursing and swearing and denying that he ever knew the Lord Jesus Christ. Can’t we see a connection between these things? So prayer and perseverance go hand in hand. It’s no wonder Jesus taught you to pray, leave me not into temptation, but deliver. me from evil. Actually, he used the word us, because it’s not just you, you personally, but all the people of God, we ought to pray that prayer about. So that ought to be our daily prayer before the temptation even presents ourselves, realizing how easily we could fall, that God would prevent that from occurring. This is a way that we may be preserved as well. So let me close tonight by saying this. The woman who ran the 800 service line or a computer firm found that 25% of her calls came from people hadn’t plugged in or hadn’t turned on. So if we’re not plugged in spiritually, we have no spiritual power, and that’s provided by the spirit. And we aren’t turned on. We aren’t prepared then to do any kind of service for the Lord. We can’t remain stagnant as a Christian. There’s always either we’re going forward or sliding backwards. So you must grow spiritually. You must actively build upon the spiritual foundation that has been laid and granted to you. So you must earnestly pray. And that earnest prayer comes through the power and help of the Holy Spirit. It is what will preserve us ultimately from error and sin. Otherwise, our relationship. with Christ could be undermined and we could backslide. Do you have a personal concern for your spiritual health? So he says, this is where you need to concentrate your attention in this day of danger with regard to all these false teachers. Focus on building up yourselves on your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Ghost. Let’s close with the Word of Prayer tonight. I don’t know.