This is a part of a sermon series on the book of Jude. You can watch more here.
Sermon Manuscript
This morning we are continuing in our series in Jude. Jude is in the New Testament. Jude is only one chapter, so might be hard to find, but Jude is right before Revelation toward the end of the New Testament. Or you can turn to page 182 in our devotional.
We have been studying through Jude, verses 1-18 to see “creepers are creep’n into the church to create confusion.” This is the primary focus of Jude, so that toward the end of the letter we would be asking, “What are we supposed to do with these creepers practically?”
Jude wasn’t written to study 8 verses at a time over 4-weeks. Jude was written so that we would read Jude in one sitting, so that we would see a fire hydrant of these characteristic about creepers, fire hydrant of Old Testament references and by the time you get to verse 18 you are supposed to be asking, “What does this look like practically?”
Are we supposed to group these creepers together and run them out of the local church? Are we supposed cut off electricity and live in the middle of nowhere so these creepers don’t get us?
What about on a personal level? What do we do when these creepers are our friends? What do we do when these creepers are in our family? What about when these creepers are us? What does this look like practically? Let’s look at verse 19:
Jude 1:19, “19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.”
In verse 19 we see the phrase “these are the ones who cause division.” Verse 19 is talking about the characteristics of these creepers. Back in verses 4 and 8 Jude describes the characteristics of these creepers as sexually immoral and denying the authority of Jesus.
Back verse 12, last Sunday, Jude describes these creepers as hidden reefs, clouds without water, autumn trees with not fruit. In verse 13 wild waves and wandering stars. Back in verse 16 grumblers and complainers and in verse 19 these are men and women create divisions through their creep’n ways!
In some ways, Jude expects us to read this list of characteristics with discouragement. Don’t you feel that sometimes? We see these characteristics in our local church, we see these characteristics in ourselves and it’s easy to read Jude and feel overwhelmed.
That’s why the primary focus of Jude is to “Contend.” Remember, back in verse 3 Jude writes, “While I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to appeal to you that you would “contend earnestly” for the faith.”
The word “Contend” means to fight. Jude knows it is discouraging to see creepers creep’n, therefore, God’s Word encourages to not give up, don’t shrink back, stay in the fight and CONTEND!
The word “Contend” is an athletic term with a connotation of pushing ourselves beyond that which is comfortable, so that God’s Word calls the follower of Jesus to fight!
It’s why we see words like “armor of God” in Ephesians 6. Or words like “fellow soldiers” in Philippians 2. Or describing the follower of Jesus as “seeking to please our Commanding Officer” in 2 Timothy 2.
I wish I could tell you that Jesus calls us to a life of ease and comfort. I wish I could tell you that if you follow Jesus all your dreams will come true. God’s Word makes it clear that Jesus call on our life to follow Him is going to be a fight! Let’s look at verse 20-21:
Jude 1:20-21, “20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.”
In verses 20-21 we see practical application for how we contend for the faith against these creepers. Do you see it?
There are four practical points of application; building ourselves up in the faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping ourselves in the love of God and waiting. Let’s touch on each one quickly.
The first one is building ourselves up in the faith. How do we respond to creepers practically? We make our faith in Jesus a priority. God’s Word is the best way to build up our faith in Jesus. Grabbing our devotional and engaging Gods Word every day is a great way to build up our faith in Jesus.
Our Ministry Team Groups are kicking off right now and the purpose of our Ministry Team Groups is to not only focus on a task but also to help one another build up their faith in Jesus. If you’re not in a Ministry Team Group, come let us know!
The fact that you are here on Sunday morning and making Sunday morning worship a priority is a practical way to build up our faith and fight against the creepers of our day.
The second application is praying in the Holy Spirit. Praying in the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean we are tapping into a special prayer.
Praying in the Holy Spirit is what every follower of Jesus does when we pray. Does that make sense? Through faith in Jesus we are reconciled to God and indwelled with the Holy Spirit, so that every time we bow our head in prayer we are praying in the Holy Spirit.
This evening at 6pm we will meet as a church family to pray with one another, so that we are building up one another in prayer to guard against those creepers. Children are welcome. You can come alone. You can bring a friend. The intent is to pray together as the body of Christ, so that we might build up one another in our faith in Jesus.
I need to clarify, it is a fight to show up for prayer as a church family. If you wait for things to get easy, it won’t happen. If you are waiting until prayer is convenient, it won’t happen. If you are waiting till you “feel” like coming, it won’t happen.
Often times, I don’t want to be there. I want to stay home. I want to get my list of to-do’s done. I want to get ready for the week, so that it is a fight to say, “No, I am going to go pray with my church family.”
Put it on the calendar. First Sunday of every month and come pray with us. Things will come up, things will try to get in the way and you say, “I am sorry. I am already doing something during that time. I am praying in the Holy Spirit with my church family.”
The third application is keeping ourselves in the love of God. We are going to see this tension in our passage this morning, so that Jesus is the one who is keeping us in the faith, verse 24, but God’s Word also calls us to keep ourselves in the love of God.
When we discipline ourselves to read God’s Word, study God’s Word, enjoy God’s Word and obey God’s Word we are keeping ourselves in the love of God. Does that make sense?
When we bow our heads in prayer we are keeping ourselves in the love of God. When we nurture our relationships with one another we are keeping ourselves in the love of God.
When we turn from sin to follow the Lord, when we reconcile with one another, when we gather in worship we are keeping ourselves in the love of God. It isn’t passive. It is active. It is intentionally choosing to turn from following our will and asking the Holy Spirit to help us follow His will.
The last application is waiting anxiously for the Lord’s return. The phrase “waiting anxiously” might sound odd but it is waiting with excitement that one day Jesus will return.
Yes, there are creepers. Yes, it is discouraging. Yes, we are fighting but this fight will not go on forever, so like waiting for a friend or family member to return home, so we who are in Christ are waiting eagerly for the day of Jesus’ returns. Does that make sense?
Sometimes our lives as followers of Jesus can feel like the focus is on attending a worship service on Sunday mornings. We’re glad you’re here but we don’t exist as a church family to host a worship service. We exist as a church family to help build up our faith in Jesus. Does that make sense?
This is why we have been focused on EMBOLDEN the last 12-months. This is why we are transitioning to IMMOVABLE the next 12-months. We are living in a world with creepers all around, therefore, now more than ever we want to be building up our faith in Jesus.
It is like the local church is a construction site where some people are laying a foundation, some people are digging trenches, some people are putting up sheetrock, some people are gathering supplies, some people are involved in decorations but together, each according to their gifts, we are working toward becoming men and women who are rooted and built up in Christ. Amen? Let’s look at verse 22-23:
Jude 1:22-23, “22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”
In verses 1-21 we CONTEND and we BUILD but in verses 22-23 we see application toward rescuing those who have been influenced by those creepers, so that in verses 22-23 we see three types of people who need to be RESCUED; soft-hearted, save and snatch! Let’s quickly look at all three.
In verse 22 Jude calls us to “Mercy” because when we extend “Mercy” toward those who are doubting it is to be tender, or soft-hearted with those people.
Consider the friend who is being influenced by some type of false-teaching or a family member that is turning from the Lord. How are we supposed to respond in those moments?
Do we pounce on them the first time we hear or see something? Do we put them in a head lock? Do we act like we didn’t see anything and hope it goes away?
God’s Word calls us to respond with “Mercy” while their hearts are still soft. Does that make sense? Personally, when I think a person might be influenced by false teaching my first response is to pray and wait on the Holy Spirit.
The best-case scenario is that the Holy Spirit convicts and exposes the error. The best-case is that the person hears from the Lord and turns, so the first time I hear or see something that is contrary to God’s Word I want to extend “Mercy” through prayer, waiting on the Holy Spirit and tenderness toward those people.
It’s possible that a person will entertain false teaching over a period of time, so that they become more deeply rooted in the false teaching so the second stage of “Save” is a little stronger.
In this stage we’ve tried to be soft-hearted but we are still seeing an interest toward false teaching so we can start asking more direct questions like, “Where do you think that teaching comes from? What’s your plan? Is it consistent with God’s Word? What do you think that teaching means?” Sometimes I don’t know the answers to these questions, so I am genuinely trying to create a dialogue with the person at this stage.
When people are wrestling with doubts or being influenced by false teachings we don’t need to be afraid. The glory of God is bigger than any doubts or questions we might come up with, so we want to convey to people that we are concerned, we have questions, and point them to the hope and life we have in Jesus.
Sometimes, a person doesn’t respond to the soft-hearted approach, they aren’t interested in a dialogue, and they are becoming more and more rooted in the false teaching, they are finding comfort in false teaching and sometimes they are sharing those false teachings with other, so that in those moments we want to be more direct, clearer, so as to “snatch them out of the fire.” Do you see that in verse 23?
Surely God’s Word doesn’t mean we grab people by physical force and shake them but metaphorically we try to get their attention, like a parent might “snatch” a child wandering into the street, so that there is an urgency in our tone, an urgency in our words, because there are matters of life and death, sometimes heaven and hell that are at play and it matters, so these conversations matter.
Personally, I can tell you these conversations are very difficult. I can tell you that we need to be praying as much as we can through these conversations. I can tell you they don’t always happen quickly, they are messy, but this is why we fight.
We fight for our own faith in Jesus, like we talked about in verses 20-21, we fight for those the Lord has placed in our life but sometimes people become so deeply rooted in false teachings that we have to let those people run with those false teachings.
We still pray for them, we might revisit the concern periodically but overall, we entrust those people to the Lord as we model the love of Christ to them from afar. Let’s look at verse 24-25:
Jude 1:24-25, “24 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, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
Just as we get to the point of the letter where we might feel overwhelmed by the CONTENDING, BUILDING and RESCUING we see Jude transition to verses 24-25, “Now to Him who is able!” Isn’t that encouraging?
God’s Word calls us to build up our faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep our hearts in the love God, eagerly wait on His return, and actively seek to rescue others but all of that can’t rest on our shoulders. Amen?
I am not strong enough. I am not wise enough. I am not winsome enough to preserve my faith in Jesus and or your faith in Jesus, therefore, Jude reminds us that Jesus is the Ultimate Keeper of our faith. Write that in your notes!
The word “Keep” in verse 24 in the original language isn’t the same word for “keep” in verse 21 but they are two different words in the original language. Does that make sense?
The word “Keep” in verse 21 has the connotation of observing but the word “keep” in verse 24 in the original language has the connotation of guarding. Verse 24 “Keep” is like a military force guarding the palace. It is the language of a lioness guarding her cubs.
Yes, there are creepers. Yes, there are times we are going to get disheartened and discouraged. Yes, there are times we are going to get influenced by those creepers and have friends and family members who will follow those creepers but Jesus is able to KEEP us till the end. Are you with me? He is the ULTIMATE KEEPER. He’s the Trapper Keeper!
This isn’t my attempt to try to be positive. This is just the truth of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Jesus is the One who came for us. Jesus is the One who took our judgment at the cross. Jesus is the One who conquered death in the resurrection. Jesus is the One who saved us, is saving us and will save us till the very end. Jesus is the ULTIMATE KEEPER.
In verse 24 we see it is not only Jesus who will keep us from stumbling but Jesus is the one who will present us in glory as blameless, so just take that in for a second.
Yes, we are in this world, yes there are days when we are getting distracted by sin, yes there are days when we are wandering from the Lord, yes there are days we are defeated and discouraged, but in Christ we are presented before the glory of God as blameless.
Listen to me church family, that isn’t’ just a promise to be fulfilled one day but that is how we are presented to our Heavenly Father the moment we trust in Jesus! Jesus takes our sin, we receive His righteousness, so that through faith in Jesus we are made clean, pure, and spotless. (Ephesians 5.)
So that as we contend for our faith in Jesus we can do so with great joy. Do you see that at the end of verse 24?
We aren’t walking on eggshells with the Lord. We aren’t wandering where we stand with the Lord because through faith in Jesus we belong to the Lord! We are secure in the Lord, so that Jesus is the ULTIMATE KEEPER.
Those creepers deny the authority of Jesus but Jude writes, “Child please, Jesus is the ONLY God our Savior.” He isn’t one of many. He is the only One. He is glorious. He is majestic. He has dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever.
North Village Church
This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in Austin. established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching.
Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
North Village Church is made up of professionals, married couples, singles, and families who are wanting to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus. If you are a family with children or teens, we can support you with either or both our Kids Ministry and Youth Ministry.
You are welcome to contact us if you would like more information.
NVC Online
Unable to attend this Christian Church in Austin? Don’t worry, because, through God’s provision, we have created NVC online, an Online Church streaming a worship service every Sunday from 10:30am Central Time. You can also watch our short, powerful sermons on demand and follow us on Instagram for daily Christ centered content.