[MUSIC PLAYING] Are you making any predictions? I'll take on the campaign. You're backing the champion? Yeah. You better believe it. Good morning. Hey, today's a very special day. It is my daughter
in law's birthday. Jenny, I'm going to
embarrass you again. You got to come out. Got to come out again. Look, she's working
back on the platform. 35 years ago she was born. I shouldn't tell-- Yeah. You shouldn't be telling me. This-- I shouldn't be telling your age. Yeah. But I did. I can't I can't take that back. I like to believe I
stopped aging at 30. Oh, you look fabulous. Are you kidding? You look great. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Jenay. Happy birthday to you. Thank you. Thank you for marrying my son. Thank you for those two great
grandkids that are awesome. Would you turn in
your Bibles please. Thank you for
indulging me on that. We turn in to your Bibles
to the book of Jude. Jude is a short
little book right before the Book of Revelation. Has one chapter. We've been working our
way through that book in this series called
fight for the house. Falling down is a part of life. Every human being does it when
they're learning how to walk. But falling down
can be dangerous. You can get injured. You could become disabled. And believe it or not,
a good number of people have died in just falling. According to the World
Health Organization falling is the second leading cause
of unintentional injury deaths worldwide. According to their estimations,
600 and 84,000 people die every year from falling. That's mostly in low income
and middle income countries. Age is a factor. Unattended children
is another factor. Poor working conditions
is another one. And lack of regulation,
safety regulations in place. Old age is
especially, dangerous. One out of four, elderly
people fall down every year. And less than half of them,
ever tell their doctor that they did. Now, a number of these
people become hospitalized. It's estimated that
800,000 people a year are hospitalized from injuries
like a hip, fracture or a head injury, due to a fall. Several years ago I
went to go visit my mom. She was in her 80s at the time. I drove up to her
house in California. Get out. I'm walking toward
the front door and I hear a voice above
me calling from above. I knew it's not an angel. I know it was not God
because it sounded an awful lot like my mother. But I was astonished
that I would hear my mom's voice from above. So I look up and on top
of the roof, is my mom. And I said, "Mom first
of all, you're a nurse. So you know better. This is not something
you should be doing." She goes, "Oh, I know. But something broke with
the air conditioner." and I'm thinking what, and
you are suddenly an air conditioning repair person? In your 80s you've become that? I mean, how does that work? So I said you come down. And I made her promise me,
you will never do that again. That's dangerous. Now just as certain
conditions make falling down easier physically,
I think that there are certain conditions
that make falling away spiritually easier. And I would even
say that the church today is more susceptible
than ever before to people falling away. And I'll lay that at the
feet of church leadership, pulpits pastors. I think that there
is an enormous amount of biblical ignorance. Not just culturally, but
I mean in the church, that there is a biblical
illiteracy even. If you were to compare
the average sermon today, with the average sermon
say 100 years ago, you'd find it a
massive difference. If you were to compare a
Christian book written today by a Christian author,
Christian pastor leader, with a book written
hundreds years ago, you would see a huge difference
for a lot of reasons. If you were to compare a
Christian seminar or conference to one that was done
a century ago again, you would see a
marked difference. What has happened is Bible
teaching has been dumbed down. And it has been made shallow. It has become oversimplified. It has been reduced to slogans. And why is that? Well, for a number of
reasons, and I'm not here to tell you all those reasons. But I think Christian leaders
think that people just don't have it in
them to understand the depth of doctrine and what
the Bible really has to say. So since they have a
short attention span, let me just pander to
that short attention span. Or maybe my audience
doesn't truly believe or they're just
not as interested. So I will dumb it down. And then the subject of
so many sermons is anemic. It's often about successful
living, or self-esteem, or a number of felt
needs, or cultural fads. In fact, let's be
honest, sermons have become sermonettes. And last time I
checked, sermonettes are for a Christian acts. We need the real deal. We need the Bible truth full
strength holding nothing back. But today, discernment isn't
really important depth. Really is an important doctrine
really is an important. What's important is dazzle. So sometime ago, one
of my associate pastors was driving me to the airport. Brian, you were the pastor. Thank you for taking me
that day to the airport. So I had to catch a flight
to go to Canada to speak. And Brian asked me a
question which goes, how many pastors
under the age of 40 Or he put it this way "can you
name five pastors under the age of 40 who are Bible expositor." And I got to admit
I was flummoxed. I just like that word. I was flummoxed. And I did know how to answer. I uttered and I named
one and then two. And I said, "That's an
interesting question. Why do you ask that"
because well, actually, it's a question that was asked by
one of our School of ministry students. She said "Can you name five
pastors under the age of 40, because I'm a millennial. Can you name five pastors
under the age of 40 who are Bible expositor." And she had written that
on her Facebook page. And she wrote this, "we're
done with Glam Rock liturgy, and preaching for
pizzazz that masks the lack of biblical preaching. We want our souls fed,
not our emotions tickled. And I thought bravo, for her. That's such a great
sentiment to say. What she is saying is,
we don't want the show. We want to know. There's things we want to
know about, teach us that. Well, that takes us to the
book of Jude and in verse 20, Jude says, "but you, beloved,
building yourselves up on the most holy faith. Praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in
the love of God. Looking for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some, have compassion
making a distinction. But others save with fear
pulling them out of the fire. Hating even the garment
defiled by the flesh." You will note how
verse 20 begins. It begins with a shift. He's been talking about them,
about these people, those guys, those spots, in your love face. Those water-less clouds. Those false teachers. Those apostates. The whole book. This short little book has been
filled with Jude's description of them. But in verse 20 he pivots and
he says "but you beloved." So he turns away from
them and he turns to us. They may be falling,
you should be standing. And saw what he does
in these short verses. And Jude was a master at
using the economy of words to give us a bulwark
of strong principles. We have some ingredients
of how to stand when others are falling. When you see people falling from
the faith, falling around you, how do you stand? Well, there are
a few ingredients I want to draw your
attention to them. First, is keep
building your faith. If people are destroying
the faith of others, if people are falling from the
faith, then the solution for us is to be building
up our own faith. That's what the beginning
of verse 20 is all about, "But you beloved,
building yourselves up and your most holy faith." Now, remember how Jude
begins this letter. He sat down and he wanted
to write a sweet little note of encouragement. He said, "I wanted to write to
you about our common salvation. But I found it
necessary to exhort you to contend earnestly
for the faith, once for all delivered
to the Saints." Conten means, put up a
good fight for the faith. And he calls it, that faith. And that term is not referring
to your personal faith. It's not your
believing subjectively. It's that faith. Objectively, it's the bulk
of Christian doctrine, Christian belief. It's what's called in Acts
2:42, the Apostles' doctrine. So the faith are all
those basic principles that we hold as truth. That's the faith. So with that in mind, he
says, "building yourselves up on your most holy
faith" The faith has become your personal faith. And that is because,
so many people were abandoning the faith. They were leaving the faith. We told you how Paul
wrote to Timothy and said, "The spirit expressly
says, that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith. Giving heed to seducing
spirits and doctrines taught by demons." So if people are
leaving the faith, then you should be
loving the faith. If people are deserting
the faith, and you should be determined
in your faith. If people are going to be
forsaking the faith in you then I need to be
fortifying our faith. In other words, if they're
going to tear theirs down, we need to be building ours up. That's the antidote
to their falling. I like this. Anything left to itself
just goes to ruin. It's like part of life. It's the second law
of thermodynamics. Things tend toward
disintegration, deterioration. Take your house for instance,
you buy a house, Oh, goody. Yeah. Oh, goody. But you're going to have to
patch the roof, eventually. Or put a new one on, eventually. You're going to have to
address stuccoed deterioration on the outside, eventually. You're going to have to
deal with that heater or air conditioning, eventually. Right? There's a number of things
that take regular maintenance. So to with our spiritual life. Our spiritual life
requires maintenance. Any life left to
itself, will fall apart. So we need to be building it up. There's a parallel
passage to this found in the book of
Peter, second Peter. In fact, second
Peter and Jude some of the wording of both of those
letters, is almost identical. But even where
it's not identical, some of the principles
are the same. And this idea of
building up your faith is part of second Peter. Second Peter chapter
one Peter says, "also for this very reason
giving all diligence listen add to your faith
virtue to virtue knowledge. In to knowledge self-control. And to self-control
perseverance. And to perseverance godliness. brotherly kindness. And the brotherly
kindness love." And then he says, "If these
things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." So that's an interesting
way of putting it. Giving all diligence
means, exerting yourself. Do you realize that Christian
growth is not Automatic? It has to be intentional. If you think you can fall
back on that little saying, that just sounds so good, but
it happens to be poor advice. Let go. And let God. It's not going to work. You don't let go. You build up. You add to your faith. Exerting all effort, add to
your faith, virtue, et cetera. The Chinese church
the church used to have a saying very, very
simple but profound saying. And the saying was
this, "No Bible. No breakfast." What, no Bible, no breakfast. What do you mean? How am I going to live? Read your Bible. Then eat breakfast. No Bible no breakfast. I just thought
that's interesting. I think what they're
doing is summing up what Job said in his
book, where job said, "I've esteemed the
words of his mouth more than my
necessary food" But I read that, no
Bible no breakfast, and I thought, boy, if we
followed that in America. How many of us would go
hungry or at least lose a lot of weight? So the question is this,
are you growing up? Are you growing strong? Or are you just growing old? Because spiritual
growth is not always proportional to physical age. I wish I could say it was. I wish I could say
that a person once they're a Christian,
give it enough time, they're going to become mature. But you know you
can be an old baby. Charles Spurgeon said,
"in the Church of God, there are children
who are 70 years old. Yes, little children
displaying all the infirmities of declining years. One would not like to
say, of a man of 80 that he is scarcely
cut his wisdom teeth. And yet there are such. On the other hand, there are
fathers in the church wives, stable, instructed, who are
comparatively young men. The Lord can cause his people
to grow rapidly and far outstrip their years." So build yourselves up. Don't settle for junk food. Don't allow yourself to be
starved to death spiritually. And I'm just going to
recommend this to you but-- I'm going to recommend that you
start coming to our Wednesday night Bible study. I mean, it's great to come
to Sunday morning or Saturday or whatever. But on Wednesday
night, we're able to go through every verse, of
every chapter, of every book, of the Bible. Now eventually, it won't
happen all at once, obviously. But we do that. We'll go through
a chapter or two. And we have a longer time. And we can go deeper. And we can go longer. And give a person
what Paul called the whole counsel of God. Not just a snippet of a
Bible verse here and there. But the whole counsel of God. So keep that in mind. But that's the first ingredient. Keep building your faith. The second ingredient is
keep praying with fervor. Back to verse 20,
"but you beloved, building yourselves up on the
most holy faith, your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Spirit." You probably by now know
that the word of God, reading the word
building yourselves up in the most holy
faith and prayer, go together because it completes
the cycle of communication in this relationship
we have with God. When you read the Bible,
that is God speaking to you. When you pray, that is
you speaking to God. And you need both to balance
out your spiritual life. So if all I do is
read and not pray, I'll have a lot of
light but no heat. If all I do is
pray but not read, I'll have a lot of
heat but no light. So to get both light and heat, I
need to read the word and pray. Now I'm going to bring up a
question because it's not often asked but these are questions
I have asked, why pray? I mean if God already
knows my needs any way, in advance he knows
everything I need. I believe he does. And he's a good Father. Why has he set this
relationship with him up where it requires prayer? It's almost like he's
waiting or going, I haven't heard a prayer yet. So what's up with that? Why prayer? Why is it so important? Why make a big deal out of it? I'll give you one word to answer
that question, dependence. God likes dependence. God loves dependence. God loves trust. God loves to be asked. In fact, I'll go a step further,
God is attracted to need. I'll even go a step further,
God is attracted to weakness. Oh, I feel so week. God's attracted to that. The Bible says, God has
chosen the foolish things of this world. He's chosen the weak
things of this world. And then Paul the
apostle when he asked God to heal
them of something he said, "I prayed three times. And the Lord said, my
grace is enough for you." But then he said, my strength is
made perfect in your weakness. God is attracted to weakness. I remember hearing a story from
an old play that became a stage play, that became a movie. I think it was called The
Barretts of Wimple Street. I don't ever expect
you to remember that or even know what that is. But it's about Robert Browning
the author, and his wife, and the relationship they had. And she was growing
weaker over time. And she felt so
embarrassed by that. And finally, the husband
said to the wife, "Sweetheart, don't you
realize that my strength needs your weakness just as much
as your weakness needs my strength." And I thought, boy that
captures the heart of God when it comes to prayer. God loves our dependence. He loves our need. He loves and is attracted
to our weakness. And so he says, ask, pray. By the way, I need to
say that God is not attracted to self-sufficiency. He is not attracted
to, no I can do this. God has not attracted the pride. In fact, do you know
God resists the proud. But he gives grace
to the humble. So build yourselves up on
your most holy faith and pray. Read the word. Here from God. And talk to God. You've heard me talk over
the years about Billy Sunday. He was an evangelist
in fact, he was a revivalist in the
classic sense of the word. He was also before that a
professional baseball player in America. He became a believer and
one of his early mentors. A friend said to
him, William, that's what he called Billy
Sunday, "William there are three simple rules
that you should practice. If you do no one will ever
be able to write the word backslider after your name." He said, "take 15 minutes a
day to let God talk to you. Take 15 minutes for
you to talk to him. And spend 15 minutes
a day, telling others about the Savior." Said, "If you do that, you
will never be a backslider." Billy Sunday made that
the practice of his life. Every day, he's going
to hear from God. Every day, he's going to
talk to God in prayer. And every day, he would tell
somebody about the Savior. He became an incredible
evangelist, with that in mind. So he says, "building yourselves
up in the most holy faith. Praying in the Holy Spirit. By the way, what does that mean,
praying in the Holy Spirit. Some will say, well, it must
mean praying with tongues. Well, maybe. But I don't think so. I think it's just
simpler than that. And that would not be
the understood meaning. I'll tell you what
I think it means. Go back to verse 19. The verse right
before that, speaking about apostates falling
away, false teachers. "These are sensual persons,
who caused divisions, not having what? They don't have the Holy Spirit. They're unsaved. They're unregenerate. The Holy Spirit is not in them. But you beloved
building yourselves up on your most holy faith
praying in the Holy Spirit" that the Holy
Spirit lives in you. And it's simply a way of saying,
let the Holy Spirit direct you when you talk to him. He'll guide you. He'll direct you. It'll be in accordance
with his will. A lot of times people say, well
Skip, how can I pray for you? And I think I probably frustrate
them when I say, praise the Lord leads you. And they don't
want to hear that. They want to hear some specific
thing that I'm dealing with. But I just say you know what
the Lord will speak to you. Maybe something I
need to be prayed for. But I don't know what that is so
just as the Lord leads do that. Now why am that general? Here's why. The purpose of prayer is not
to get my will done in heaven. The purpose of prayer is to
get God's will done on Earth. That's why Jesus said,
when you pray, say our Father, who art in
heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom coming. Your will be done, on
Earth as it is in heaven. So pray. Praying in the Holy Spirit. Let me give you a
third ingredient. And that is keep
living in favor. Keep living in favor. Go to verse 21. "Keep yourselves in
the love of God." This happens to be one
of my favorite verses in all of the New Testament. And probably, my favorite
verse in the book of Jude. "Keep yourselves in
the love of God." What does that mean. How do I keep myself
in the love of God? I'll tell you what
it doesn't mean he's not saying that
your salvation depends on your effort. He is not saying keep yourself
saved, because you cant. You didn't save you. And you don't keep
yourself that way. God gives. Right? It's his sovereign work. That's what a lot
of the scripture, re-contradict a lot
of the Book of Jude. Verse one says we are
preserved by Jesus Christ. Verse 24, "now to him who is
able to keep you from stumbling and present you faultless". So he's not saying
keep yourself saved. Nor is he saying keep
yourself in a place where God can love you. I have people all
the time saying, I don't know how
God can love me. And I'm thinking,
I don't know how he can love you
either, because I don't know how he can love me. But I've gotten past
that so long ago. I've discovered that
God loves the unlovable. It's not like, well, I got to
do something so God can love me. He is not saying keep
yourself in a place where God can love you,
because he loved us when we were at our worst. Paul said, while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. So what does it mean keep
yourself in the love of God? Simply this, keep yourself
in a place where you are experiencing the love of God. Keep yourself in
a place where you are enjoying the love of God. That's what it means. The living Bible
renders this verse, stay always within
the boundaries where the love of God
can reach and bless you. If you were to go
out in the sun, and I was just out in
the sun with some of you before the service
enjoying the sunshine, it's a beautiful sunny day out. It's not like yesterday,
with the wind and crazy. And it's just it's gorgeous. And if you go outside
and the sun is shining, and you are keeping yourself
in the sunshine, right? Do you know that you
can be in the sun, but not experience
or enjoy the sun? He said come on, once
you step outside, you're in the sunlight. How do you keep yourself
from enjoying it? Well, I'm glad you asked. You could, if you wanted to
carry one of these with you. Right? I don't know why you
would on a day like this, but the sun's out. And you could do this. Come on, you need
to get a new one. Oh, there you go. OK. So I'm in the sun but
I'm not feeling it. In fact, that breeze
feels a little cold. OK. Well, take your
umbrella down, stupid. OK. Oh, Yeah. There it is. That's good. But I don't feel it right now. All right. So I'm in the sun but I'm not
keeping myself in the sun. There's an impediment
called an umbrella. So it is possible
to have God love you but you're not enjoying. You're not experiencing it
because something's in the way. I'll give you an example
in the scriptures in the upper room
when Jesus had, I'll give you this example. Are twirling my umbrella
because it's just so fun to do. This is just fun. I've seen this in the movies. And the upper room, there
were a couple of disciples. There were 12 of them. But there were two of
them right next to Jesus. One on either side of
him one was named John, one was named Judas. Jesus love John. And Jesus love Judas. John was keeping himself
in that love of Jesus. Judas was not. John next to Jesus, leaned in
leaned his head on the bosom on the breast of Jesus,
to be close to his heart. He was keeping
himself in the love. Judas was in that room next
to Jesus with an umbrella. He was not keeping himself. In fact, he was
plotting how he was going to leave and lay his
hand on Jesus, to betray him to the Roman government. Jesus loved them both. One was keeping himself
in the love of God. One was not keeping
himself in the love of God. So simple thought be occupied. Or even preoccupied with the
thought that God loves you. Let that thought
dominate your life. Remind yourself of that
frequently, God loves me. I'm his beloved. I'm his treasure. He loves me. Keep yourself in
the love of God. One way to do that is
to respond in obedience to what he said, to obey him. You'll find that when
you live to please God. You are more pleased
with yourself, and when you live to please yourself. In that upper room Jesus
said a number of things. But one of the things
he said was this, "As the Father loved me,
I also have loved you. Here it is abide in my love. Continue to stay
plugged in to my love. Biden my love, if you
keep my commandments. You will abide in my
love just as I have kept my father's commandments. And Biden his love". So an easy way to keep yourself. And the love of God isn't
just to remind yourself, God loves me. God loves me. God loves me. But you know what, when God
tells me to do something when I find a principle in the
scripture, I'm going to do it. I'm going to obey it. I'm going to make
that a quick response. That's one good way to keep
yourself in the love of God. Let me give you a
fourth ingredient, I keep expecting the future. Keep expecting. Or keep anticipating the future. Now look in verse 21 again "keep
yourself in the love of God." Here, it is "Looking for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Almost every commentator,
every Bible scholar that treats this verse
says, without a doubt, Judas referring to the
coming of Jesus Christ, for his Saints
for his believers. We are told to look forward to
his coming, which by the way, is one of the great themes
in the New Testament. So many of the books
of the New Testament have that as its theme. The word looking for,
means to look earnestly for or to live with expectation for. And it describes an
eager anticipation for the coming of Jesus Christ. We are looking
for Jesus to come. Now when you hear that,
when somebody says to you Jesus is coming soon, I
wonder how you hear that. I wonder what you
think about that. I wonder if you are
a little bit fearful. And somebody says Jesus is
coming and you think, he is? Why? What do I do wrong? Like when I was a
kid, my mom would say, your dad will be home soon. It's like Woo. It's like, I'll straighten up. Right? Because that meant
something to me. It meant I'm going
to face judgment for what I did with my mom. If on the other hand you
hear Jesus is coming in you go, Oh, Yeah. I can't wait. That's a good indication
that you're keeping yourself in the love of God. And part of that is
an eager anticipation, an eager expectation
for him to come. Sadly the teaching
on Jesus return is also silent in
many churches today. It used to be taught a lot more. Second coming rapture,
millennial kingdom, a lot of these
eschatological themes are frequently
taught in churches. But it seems that
more and more today, churches are either
confused about eschatology. Or pastors can't even
pronounce the word eschatology. Or they just decide
to remain silent on this subject that is spoken
about so often in scripture. I was invited to speak
at a church back East. And one of the assistant
pastors ministry leaders said that I should
talk about something related to end time events. I said, I'd love to do that. So much of the
Bible is about that. It would be a great
word of encouragement. So I was preparing to do that. That day I got a call
from the pastor who said don't talk on that. He said my church is
not ready to hear that. I said, wait a minute, you've
been doing this 11 years. They're not ready
yet after 11 years? I mean Paul the apostle was
talking about that three weeks in after he planted the
Thessalonians church. And he thought they
were ready to hear it. But OK. I mean, this is your gig. This is due before the Lord. I won't talk. There's a number
of other subjects I can talk about that
are biblical subjects. But I found that interesting. Don't talk on that. Be silent on that. Do you realize that all the
historical church creeds, the Orthodox Church creeds
that talk about what the church believes in. All of the creeds include an
emphasis on the second coming. We're waiting for
him to come back. We're looking for him to return. And the reason for that
is the church fathers understood that is an emphasis
that is a biblical emphasis. They understood that
roughly 1,845 times, that's a lot of
times in the Bible, it talks about,
predicts, or alludes to the second coming of Jesus. So naturally, you would
think Jude would say, listen, you want to stay strong? You want to keep from falling? You stay in the world. You stay praying. You keep yourself
in a place where you're enjoying God's love. And you are living in
anticipation and expectation for him to return. Listen to the words of
Alexander McLaren, one of my favorite
Scottish preachers. He said, "The primitive
church thought more about the second coming
of Jesus Christ and about death or about heaven. They were not
looking for a cleft in the ground called a grave. But for a cleavage in
the sky called glory. They were not watching
for the Undertaker but for the upper taker." He nailed it. That's right. Now what I want you
to notice in verse 21 is how he talks about waiting
for the return of Christ. He calls it a mercy. Did you notice that? Looking for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. So waiting for
Jesus to return is waiting for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Why does he call it that? Well, think about it. The rapture of the church is
one of the most merciful things God could do. To say I'm going to
snatch believers up before a time of judgment on
the Earth, the great tribulation period. That is like the pinnacle, the
apotheosis, the consummating expression of mercy. By the way, just
in case you wonder this, because I
get unbelievers who say, why do you Christians
always look for signs? You're always looking at signs? COVID-19 happens, you go,
is this a sign for Jesus coming back? Or what's happening in
Israel in the Middle East? This must be a sign. It's because the
Bible conditions us to look at life that way,
because he said he's coming. And he said,
there's a whole list of signs that are
going to happen. So naturally, we're
going to start interpreting all the headlines
that happen around us as, well, does that fit
the biblical narrative? Is that a sign of his coming? That's part of the
eager anticipation. We want to know what time it
is and see if that fits in. By the way, something else. To live this way is one of the
most purifying ways to live. You see, if you
consider the possibility that Jesus Christ could
come before I say Amen at the end of this
sermon, you're going to live a different way. You're going to be pure. John said whoever has this
hope, the hope of his coming, keeps himself pure
just as he is pure. Though it is like my mom saying,
your dad will be home soon. OK. I'll smile. I'll be good. I'll do it. I mean, there's
something to be said for living in the
fear of the Lord, because Jesus is going
to come into very, very purifying motivation. So keep building your faith. Keep praying with fervor. Keep living in favor. Keep expecting the future. I want to close on
a final ingredient, keep reaching the faithless. I'll try to make this quick. Look at the last two
verses "And on some have compassion making a difference. But others save with fear,
pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment
defiled by the flesh." You know what he's
talking about here? The people he's been talking
about the whole book, the apostates. People who have fallen away. The defectors. The detractors. The backsliders. The people who
don't want anything to do with it or perhaps are
still part of the congregation. But are dug in. He's talking about them. And he's saying by these
two verses, don't completely write them off. It's the easiest thing to do,
shake your hands up and wipe the dust off your feet
and say, they're goners. Forget them. Let them go. And he's saying not so fast. Don't dismiss them. Those who pose the greatest
menace to the church can often become the greatest
mission of the church. Let's think about how
to rescue them back. Bring them back. Listen to James chapter five
"Brethren if anyone among you wanders from the truth and
somebody turns him back, let him know that he who
turns a sinner from error, the error of his way will
save his soul from death. And cover a multitude of sins." So we don't write them off. We do something with. And what do we do with them? Well, it depends on the
condition of their heart. Are they weak, and
failing, and doubtful. Or are they just their
heels are dug in. And they're obstinate. And they're just rebellious. It depends. And he seems to be talking about
both kinds in these two verses. So verse 22 he's referring to
the wavering, the doubting. Verse 22 "on some,
have compassion making a difference or a distinction." These are people who are
saved but not secure. They're converted but
they're not confident. They are what Peter calls
in second Peter chapter two, unstable souls. They are filled with doubt. They're filled with confusion. And the reason that they're
even waffling, and wavering, and doubting, is because
they've been attacked by wolves. And wolves attack sheep
just like false teachers attack weak Christians,
weak vacillating. Doubtful Christians
are easy prey. So what do we do with those
people who are unstable? Well, we don't antagonize them. We don't criticize them. We evangelize them. We don't say come on you wimp. Quit being a wimp. Men up. Follow Jesus. Now you want to have
compassion on them because your compassion will
make the Jesus you proclaim that much more attractive. And the false teachers
will lose that attraction. So in some have compassion
making a distinction. And a good example
of this Jesus. Jesus on one hand, stood up
and denounced the Pharisees. Woe unto you scribes,
Pharisees, hypocrites. I mean, he just
unloaded on them. Next chapter he's eating
dinner with the Pharisee. The next chapter he's eating
lunch with another Pharisee. Another time he's having
an evening conversation with another Pharisee. Well, why? Why denounce them as heretical,
and wrong, and arrogant, and apostate in Judaism. And yet go hang out with them? For this very reason,
and it paid off. Nicodemus was a Pharisee who
came to believe in Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea
was a Pharisee who came to believe in Jesus,
because of the compassion shown to them by Jesus himself. But then, there's verse 23. And this isn't the wavering. This speaks of
the wandering one. This is a person who's
left the fellowship and are a part of that
apostate group already, says, "but others say with fear
pulling them, or yanking them, seizing them out of the fire. Hating even the garment
defiled by the flesh." You remember what the angels did
in Sodom and Gomorrah with lot, remember said, get out of town. He's lingering. He's going to OK. See you guys. God bless you guys. And so an angel
took him by the hand and led him out of town
before that fire fell. And so was some people,
you're a compassionate. With other people,
you're confronting. To some people you are soft. With others who are more severe. It's like dude your house is
burning, you are like, get out. And the rebuke is stronger. So it depends on the heart. But here's the bottom line. It's not falling into
water that drowns a person. It's lying in it. It's staying in it. It's not falling into
sin but lying in sin that will destroy the soul. So if you have fallen,
you can get up. And the antidote
to your falling, weather you just sort
of weak and vacillating falling a little bit
and doubting, that's OK. Or you've taken several
steps away from God. I don't know about this. I don't know if I
believe in this. I'll keep coming. But I don't-- The solution to
falling is following. I challenge you
today to turn around, the Bible calls that repentance,
and follow the Savior. Bring to him your doubts. Bring to him your fears. Bring to him your rebellion. Confess that to him. Let him deal with it. He can handle it. He's handled a lot of people
like you and I, before. Give him your life. Commit your life to Him today. Or recommits your
life to Him today. Father thank you for
Jude's candor, his honesty. And how he with just a few
words could say, so much. And have such great meaning. What a timely letter this was
to the church that read it, 2000 years ago. And what a timely message
it is for us today. For we find that conditions
for falling away, were never better
than they are today. Lord, I pray that you
would raise up faithful men and women, who proclaim,
and teach, and instruct, and disciple. But Father, I pray that you
would send your Holy Spirit to do that work of convicting,
and drawing, and convincing, and showing your
compassionate love and plan, for those who have
dug their heels in. For others who have
just walked away a little bit, because they're
doubting, and struggling, and fearful Lord, I pray that
they would feel all of them. Would feel compelled by
your great love for them. We never want to
dismiss anyone out of hand as being beyond
reach or beyond salvation. No matter what their
condition, only the true depth of the heart no matter what
that person is saying to us. Or what that person is
posting that we read. We don't know the heart. You do. More than that, you
created the heart. More than that, you
can work in a heart. More than that, you
can save a soul. And we pray that you would
save the souls of people whose names are already coming
to mind sons, and daughters, and neighbors, and parents,
friends, colleagues. Do your work in their lives. Lord, we pray for them now. And we pray for anybody
who is in this room, who has taken a step away
from you or maybe never has even come to you
in honesty, or in legitimacy, and authenticity. They've never made a
personal commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that you
would do a work today. Bringing some into your kingdom. As we are about to
close a service, in the last couple of
minutes, if you've never given your life to Jesus,
notice how I phrased that. I didn't say if you've
never come to church before. You may have come to
church your whole life. If you've never given
your life to Jesus. If you've never personally
surrendered your life to the Lord Jesus
Christ control. If you are willing
to do that today. If you're willing to believe
that he died for your sins. That he can empower you
to live a life for him. Or if you've fallen away and
taken steps, whether in doubt or in rebellion. But you are willing today,
to turn back to him. And to recommit to him. If any of that
describes you at all and you are willing to make a
decision to follow Jesus now, with our heads bowed, I want
you to raise your hand up. Raise it up in the air
so I can see your hand. Keep it up for just a moment. God bless you in the
back and in the front. A couple of you in the middle. Raise your hand up. Over here to my
right, on the side, right in the middle in the ail. Way in the back on my right. Anybody else? Raise that hand up. Raise it up high. If you're outside,
raise your hand up. There's a pastor out there
who will give you a shout out. Father, for all
these lives, I pray special strength, special
fortitude, to do what is right. To live what is right. I pray, Lord, that
you would break through the barrier of
whatever emotional baggage they might have. Let them feel, let them know
in the depth of their being that you love them. That they are so
precious to you. If they have felt
separated or felt anxiety, I pray that peace would
flood over their heart. In Jesus' name Amen. I'm going to ask
all the stand we're going to sing a final song. And if you raise
your hand, no matter where you were
sitting, now standing, I'm going to ask as we sing
this final song for you. Get up and find
the nearest aisle. And come walk that aisle. And stand right up here. I'm going to lead
you in a prayer, to make Jesus, your
Lord and Savior. This is the best
part of the service. We get to see Byrd. We get to celebrate
God's work in you. You raise your hand, come on
down and just make this public. Make it public. Make it real. Make it yours. Some of you away in
the back, on the sides, come to the doors
of the family room. Come down the balcony steps. Just come on all the
way up to the front. Follow the courageous
steps of this young man. How are you doing? What's your name? Jacob. Jacob. God bless you. Come on up. Let's get around these folks. Come on. Yeah. Congratulations. So good. We like to party here. And all the angels in heaven
party when one person says, yes to Jesus. When a sinner says yes to Jesus. I realize that's a free
flowing translation, don't actually say
they party down. But that's how I read it. They rejoice. And that's what we're doing. So-- Listen, real quickly. This is going to take long. Anyone else, if you know
you need to do this. There's a spot here for you. That's great. That's good. Come on now. OK. Now those of you who
have come forward, I'm going to lead
you now in a prayer. I'm going to pray out loud. I'm going to ask you to
pray out loud, after me. Say these words. But say them from your heart. Mean them as you
say them to God. OK. Say Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I believe he died on a cross. I believe he rose from the dead. And I believe he's coming again. I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus as my Savior. I want to follow him as my Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen. Congratulations. This is Pastor Antonio. What a good looking guy
he is, right Tamara? That's his wife. So would you follow
pastor Antonio, right over here with some
of our team members. We just want to spend
a couple of minutes, give you some stuff. God bless you guys. We hope you enjoyed this special
service from Calvary Church. We'd love to know how
this message impacted you. Email us at
mystory@CalvaryNM.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
Calvary.churchNM.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
