Jude 1:21

Jude verses 20 and 21. We had spoken last week on verse 20, but I’m going to read verses 20 and 21 as they give us sort of a complete thought here. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life. May God bless to us His sacred and holy word of this evening. There was sort of a humorous greeting card that showed a grotesquely thin cow wandering in a barren desert. I guess one of those with one of those cows that, that was in Pharaoh’s dream, you know, so thin and gaunt and so forth. The skinny cow was meant to illustrate as the caption says, where non-fat milk comes from. The logic of the cartoon, of course, is unscientific. Non-fat milk doesn’t come from non-fat cows, but the idea reminded me once of what a minister said. He said, most people talk cream, but they live skim milk. There’s not a lot of substance to their profession of faith. It’s easy to promote yourself, perhaps, as being one who is spiritual. It’s another thing altogether to live a holy life. If you are not growing spiritually, is what we talked about last week, Then you’re opening the door for disaster, because Jude emphasizes the need for spiritual growth in order to be a prevention, if you would, a preservative against deception by false teachers. Spiritual discernment is a deterrent against religious wolves who are craftily. seeking to undermine your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The foundation for spiritual growth is doctrine. You build yourselves up on the most holy faith, he indicates to us here in verse 20, and you must also engage in sincere prayer to remain faithful. He says in the last part of verse 20, when he talks about you’re praying in the Holy Ghost, being led by the Spirit of God in your prayers, being guided by what the Spirit has provided for us in his word about the promises of God and so forth. So these things are meant to help us in these areas. Now Jude in verse 21 refers to two more areas that we need to focus upon in order to remain faithful to God. One, promote the love of God within your heart, and two, look earnestly for Christ’s return and the mercy that comes with it. Let me begin by talking about promote the love of God within your heart. The grace of love needs your care. Your love is prone to decay. Now, notice that Jude’s doesn’t say here, keep God loving you, as if God’s love towards you could ever decline, could ever be lost, or you have to merit it in some way, or it would change. God says, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. That is not something that’s going to change. God’s love to you as a believer, it certainly has been proven by the gift of his son that God so loved us that he gave, his only begotten son. Nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, as Romans 8 says. But what Jude is referring here is to your love toward God. God’s love toward you is constant. It’s not going to change. What about your love toward God? Your duty is to abide in God’s love. Jesus put it this. way in John 15 and verses 9 and 10. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love. Even as I have kept my father’s commandments and abide in his love. Sometimes, sadly, our Lord has to ask us the same question. he asked Peter after the resurrection, do you love me? To Peter’s shame and to our shame, sometimes that has to be asked. This love, as I said, is a spiritual grace, and with graces there can be an ebb and flow to it. There can be a fervency of the love, or it can fluctuate. It can be lukewarm or even cold. And so we have these various varieties of love toward God here. He says, keep yourselves. The wording here denotes the type of keeping you would do if you were guarding a prisoner. It has the idea of being constantly vigilant to watch your spirit that you would love the Lord God. The problem is that your love can grow cold. Graces can decay. We read about the church at Ephesus that it lost, lost its first love. It was still religious. It still went through the various aspects of worship, but something was lacking. Because God demands we love him with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength and so forth. Tragic about this is that the church in Scripture is portrayed as the bride of Christ. Well, we look at Psalm 45, the song Solomon or Revelation, 19 and 20 and 21 and so forth. The bride shouldn’t lose her love for her husband. It shouldn’t grow cold. It shouldn’t dissipate. Years ago, there was a report from Los Angeles, California, about the romantic problems of a man and as a girlfriend. Supposedly, these two individuals. individuals O.C. Adler and O. Fennett Jones were in love. But then one day they had this terrible argument. Mr. Adler, 29, decided that he was going to leave his home following the argument with Ms. Jones, who was 25, when he heard her call him from an upstairs window, and when he looked up, he was struck by a 51-pound water mountain that she had thrown out the wind at him. Mr. Adler suffered a broken right. shoulder, two broken ribs, and some other minor matters. The police afterward weighed the watermel because it didn’t shatter because it hit him, I guess, and weighed 51 pounds. Needless to say their love toward one another had grown cold. It lost any fervency that ever had. Now, spiritually, your love toward God can be reduced. This is a very serious matter, and your love then is prone to decay, and so we have a duty here. Now, your temptations are continuous. The difficulty is, as we go through this world, the world is always flirting with us, trying to steal away our love from the Lord. So we’re constantly battling with us. So we’re inward desires which draw away the heart. Sort of like Absalon, who went about stealing away the hearts of the people of Israel. That’s the way the world is. It tries to steal our heart away from the Lord. You may not be thinking this way because maybe you’re thinking, well, I’ve been a Christian for a long time. I must be immune from the allurements of the world, but the scripture indicates they were not. The Laidaean church was neither cold nor hot toward the Lord. It was just lukewarm. The world had corrupted its love. Its love toward the Lord. The world, you recall, if you look at Laida C, it was a worldly church. They were focused on the riches and on the benefits that they enjoy, the earthly aspects, their increase of goods, they were. They’re there are no need of earthly things and so forth. You are a mutable creature. Satan’s attacks are remorseless, relentless. And as long as you are in this life, temptations are going to continuously plague you. Do you remember Jalab, Israel’s army commander? He faithfully followed David most of his life. Even during the difficult times when Absalom rebelled, against David. David’s army was outnumbered and on the run, and yet Joab remained faithful at that point. But what happened at the very end? At the very end, he turned from David, threw in his lot with Adonijah, when David’s choice for the next king was Solomon. And it proved to be Joab’s downfall. His zeal for David’s cause, for David’s cause, had grown cold and he was unfaithful. Peter confidently stated, If all men deny thee, yet not I. And he spoke out of love for the Savior when he said, I think he meant it when he said it. And yet within hours, the strong temptation denied the Lord was upon him. in order to spare himself, and it proved to be too much. And his love had diminished quickly. So the grace of love needs your care. It’s prone to decay, and temptations are continuous. Now, secondly, here, you must cultivate the grace of love. You must be rooted and grounded in love. Look with me at Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 to 17. Ephesians chapter 3 and verses 14 to 17. For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the rich of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in your inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye ye, being rooted and grounded in love. And I’ll just stop there. Rooted and grounded in love. You know, there are many people who have something good happen in their life. Maybe they have a job promotion. Maybe their health is restored to them. Maybe there’s a financial blessing. May they find a mate. Whatever the case may be. And they’re all overjoyous how God has been good to them. and they burst with the emotion about how much they love God. God is good and God is great and so forth. Perhaps a sermon moves you and your heart is touched about God’s saving grace, how the pit he has pulled you out of and you’re moved by that. And there’s some affection expressed toward God. But what is needed is not some flash of infatuation at the moment, but a solid, lasting love. A seedling who is planted in the soil and its roots take hold in the soil, is in less danger of dying. And this is the way it is. Our love should be rooted in the root. and grounded, you see. We should consider God’s loveliness. We should consider his character and his perfections. Meditate upon the service of Jesus Christ on your behalf. How you have a covenant bond with the Lord. Think upon the fact that God loves you with an everlasting love, a love that won’t decay, that won’t diminish. Remember that you have nothing else really besides love to offer to God in response to his love towards you. Realize it is of great dishonor to God to allow your love to decay. Clara Schumann was the widow of the German composer Robert Schumann, who lived from 1810 to 1856. and before she would play any of her husband’s music in public, she would pull out all her husband’s love letters that he had written to her, you know, expressing his affection toward her, his devotion to her and so forth. And inspired by those words, then she would play his music. and she said it seemed as if his very life filled her, and she was able much better to interpret the music and play it for the public. Spiritually, it benefits us greatly to ponder, to meditate upon God’s word, who God is, his love toward us, so that our love would grow toward him. The more our hatred of sin grows, the more love for God will increase. And vice versa. Remember, if any man loved the world, the love of the father is not in him, as 1st John 315 indicates. So you must be rooted and grounded love. And then you must learn how to restore lost love. Look with me at Revelation chapter 2 verses 4 and 5. Briefly tonight. Revelation 2 in verses 4 and 5. Jesus says here to the church at Ephesus, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. So there’s a couple of things he tells us we have to do here, three in particular. One, consider your spiritual state. Remember from whence thou art fallen. It’s always good to consider where we were spiritually and compare it to where we are right now. To see if there’s any backsliding, any change, ponder your past spiritual delights. In the word of God, in the person of the Lord, in worship, in prayer, which perhaps has now lost their sparkle for you. Do you have any desire to pray and to meditate upon God’s character? To partake of the Lord’s supper? To call the Lord’s Day of the Light? Are you thrilled with what God’s Prayer? God says to you in His Word, or is it all a burden to your soul? Is it all it has become wearisome to you? Consider your spiritual state. Where are you? And then he says, repent. Repent. It’s not enough to realize you’ve left your first love. It’s important that your obligation is now to realize that you need change. There has to be a change of Mayan. and behavior with regard to your decayed spiritual state. Most people think of repentance, perhaps, is all that’s something you do with a gross sin. Maybe adultery or blasphemy or theft or drunkenness. But notice here you must repent of your first love being lost. Spiritual coldness is a terrible sin. It’s a common sin, and we certainly have to repent of it. and if we read the Song of Solomon, you begin to realize how much that is emphasized, the loss of love that occurs and the need to rekindle it to recapture it. Then you must make necessary changes. Do thy first works. You’ve got to change. Here’s where the repentance leads to change. of behavior. Repentance is with regard to the mind and the actions follow the thinking. A change of mind leads a change of actions. Get back to doing those things that you’ve allowed to fall off in your spiritual life. Revive good spiritual habits that perhaps have fallen by the wayside. Get back to the Word of God. Get back to the prayer closet. Get back to the house of God. Get back to keeping the Lord’s Day special. Get back to fellowship with the Word of God so that your conversation may be encouraging to you and help you rekindle your devotion. Meditate upon all the marvelous attributes of the Lord God. Ponder the person and the work of Jesus Christ who took upon himself a human nature that he might die. on our behalf. Look at the cross and what Christ has done. Appreciate the Savior and what he has purchased for you there. So promote the love of God within your heart. That’s the first thing. The second thing he says here is to look earnestly for Christ return. This is a test of whether you really love Christ or not. Do you think the world is looking forward? to Christ’s return? You think they’re thinking about this? Their hearts are wedded to the things of this world and they are mocking of the whole idea of Christ’s return. Where is the promise of his coming? We looked at that in verses 17 and 18. We talked about the attitude of people toward Christ there and Jude. Now if they actually believe that the Lord Jesus Christ would return, it would certainly be dreadful to them because they’re not prepared. It’d give them some sober-mindedness about everything. They would be troubled and dismayed. Their conscience would bother them. But a child of God should delight to think about the day is going to come when the bridegroom will appear. And there will be a reunion with our husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, after a long absence. You see those soldiers that come back from Iraq after a four-year tour or something and as they get to the docks, you know, and the ships are bringing them back in or maybe at the airport, when the soldiers get out, who’s there? You know, the wife’s there with all the little all the kids lined up they’re all waiting anxious to see dad see her see the husband and so forth the world can’t satisfy your soul we have to look beyond it your affections must be toward our Lord Jesus Christ so test there’s a test of where really do you love Christ are we looking for his return Christ return is a day of great blessing for you as a believer the it speaks here looking for the mercy that accompanies the return of our Lord Jesus Christ here. We enter into eternal life. For the wicked, Christ’s return is a day of wrath and righteous indignation according to Scripture. But for the believer, it’s a day of mercy. It’s a day of manifestation we read in Romans 819. What does that mean? Manifestation. But when Christ, when Christ, appears, you’re going to appear with him in glory. You shall be made like him. Have a glorious body like under Christ’s glorious body. You will be robed in splendor and glory in glory. You’ll have this glorified body. It will be a day of perfection with no more sin, no more sorrow, no more tears, or grief. A day when all the people, people of God, of every age, are gathered together around the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ for the greatest worship service that ever really has ever been imagined. It’s a day of reward. The scripture says in James 213 that mercy rejoiceth against judgment. Do you remember when Paul was imprisoned that we read in 2. Timothy? chapter one, how everybody deserted him, but the Lord didn’t desert him. And then he mentions one fellow, Onessa Forrest, who went to see him despite the fact that everybody else was afraid, he went. And what did Paul say about that individual? May he find mercy in that day? You see? He expected God to be very merciful to Onesa Force in that day because of his faithfulness to the apostle. So it’s a day of great blessing for you. Now, how should you look for Christ’s return? Well, the first thing is you have to believe in Christ’s return. You’re never going to look for it if you don’t believe it’s true. It’s going to happen. But the Lord cometh. Now, the early church, you remember, was shocked. When the imprisoned Peter, who they were praying for ended up showing up at the door. And so I think it was Rhoda when she answered the door, she’s surprised. And when she tells the people they didn’t believe her. Here they are. I’m praying for his release, and yet they’re surprised. Expect him. Now, let’s not have that attitude with regard to the promise of Christ to return. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. and receive you unto myself, that where I am there, you may be also. John 14. Do you believe that promise? Most people believe that things will always continue as they have in the past. You know, week after week and time after time, everything seems to be the same. But faith grabs onto that promise of God and expects God to do just as he said he would, that he shall come in like manner as you have seen him go. He will come visibly, personally, physically, triumphantly. Believe in Christ’s return. Engage in frequent meditation upon Christ’s return. This world is such a world of sight and sense to us that the people of God often don’t give enough thought to the coming of the Lord Jesus. We get caught up. in our weekly activities and so forth, and our daily retune, and maybe we think, you know, my Lord, Delayeth is coming, you know, he doesn’t come yet, and I guess he’s not going to come for a while. It’s true that we may die before Christ returns, but in a sense he comes back for us and will take us to be with himself, to die is gain, to be with Christ forever. I like what Manton said on this in his commentary on James, or excuse me, on Jude in this case. He said, thoughts are the spies and messengers of hope. It sendeth them into the promised land to bring the soul tidings from thence. It is impossible a man can hope for a thing, but he will be thinking of it. If we really hope for, we’re we can meditate, we’ll be thinking about it. So if we hope for Christ, if we’re looking for the blessed hope, our thinking will be on the blessed hope. Who can live in this body of sin and death without feeling like the Apostle Paul? Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. When Christ comes, you’re going to get me out of this situation. We groan in ourselves waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies, Romans 8, 23. Are you not an heir of the kingdom of heaven? Are you not a joint heir with the Lord Jesus Christ? So there should be a joyous anticipation that he’s going to come again. You should be preparing for Christ’s return. Here’s a third thought. Everyone that has this hope that Christ, Christ is going to return, purifies himself as Christ is pure, according to 1st John 3. Do you have this hope? Then how’s that affecting your life? It’s the servant who thought, my Lord, is delaying, his coming that goes out and mistreats his fellow servants and beats them and harms them and acts in a very wicked way. But if you’re looking for Jesus Christ, then you are working to mortify sin. in your life. Anything that would disappoint the bridegroom when he comes. The apostle Paul tells Titus about denying ungodliness and worldly lust, and what is he immediately say after that, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ in Titus chapter 2, verse 1213. You know, deny, you know, worldliness and ungodly lust and so forth. and as you’re doing that, one of the things we ought to be looking forward to is Christ’s return. He connects that together too. Peter tells of Christ’s return and he says at the end there in 2 Peter 311 as he goes through that whole aspect of Christ’s coming. What does he say? What manner of persons ought we to be? Knowing that this is the case. So a bride wishes to look her best for her husband on the wedding day. and so the people of God, the saints of God, should desire to be as holy as possible when Christ returns, that we might be presented as a chase version to the Lord. Well, let me close tonight by saying this. Skinny cows do not give us non-fat milk. Sadly, some Christians talk cream, but they live skin milk. If you have a personal. concern for faithfulness to God and to be kept from being deceived by false teachers. You will promote the love of God in your heart, and you will earnestly look for and prepare for Christ coming again. Let us close.