BUILDING UP YOURSELVES ON YOUR MOST HOLY FAITH
                                                                                                                                                                       Jude 20-25 

Prayer

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  

I want to take this time to thank the folks of Trinity Lutheran Church for the opportunity to fellowship with you during the past few days during the Hauge Lutheran Innermission Conference.  Thank you for your kindness and hospitality.   

For those of you that may not have had the opportunity to attend the conference, we have had the opportunity to hear Pastor Wayne Almlie’s messages on THE GOSPEL, REGENERATION and ASSURANCE and also the messages on “Godly Christian Living:  Hindrances and Victory.”  We have observed how the “old nature” and a lack of repentance in a Believer’s life can be a real hindrance to a Godly Christian life.  

Today, if you have your Bibles with you, please turn to the Epistle of Jude.  If you have been a believer for some time, you may have experienced times of spiritual weakness and times of refreshing.  The human author of the Epistle of Jude, thought by many to be the ½ brother of Jesus, calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ.  He spells out a warning in the first many verses about particular hindrances to a Godly Christian life:
          1.  Ungodly men crept into the fellowships
          2.  Filthy dreamers
These ungodly infiltrators brought in ungodly practices and teachings that Jude exposes.  In verse 11 we see 3 of the heresies being brought into the fellowship:
          1.  The way of Cain - or rejection of the need of the blood of Christ - Garden of Eden - sacrifice
          2.  Error of Balaam - or enticed by the “love of money”
          3.  Gainsaying of Core - or rejection of Moses, a type of Christ and were swallowed up by the earth

In verse 3, (read) Jude exhorts the believers to “earnestly contend for the faith.”  So, let us not be surprised or defeated when we see this type of happenings in the churches but recognize errors and hold them up to the Holy Word of God and march forward in the power of the Holy Spirit.   

Our sermon text for today is verses 20-25, follow along with me in your Bibles.  (Read)  

In these few verses we are blessed by God’s Holy Word to see at least 6 steps of admonishment to “building up yourselves on your most holy faith” and in so doing, overcoming the hindrances to a Godly Christian life mentioned throughout this weekend.  Let us be sure to understand that the sermon today is not a “self-help” message but it points us to the Holy Scriptures for our help.

     A.  Building - verse 20
     B.  Praying -   verse 20
     C.  Keeping -  verse 21 and 24
     D.  Looking -  verse 21
     E.  Pulling -    verse 23
     F.  Praising -   verse 24 and 25
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A.  Building - verse 20 (read)

      As we ponder on this idea of “building” we may allow our minds to go back to our childhood.  Maybe we had some wooden building blocks.  Remember?  When you dumped them out of the box, you had quite a scattering/mess of blocks and there was no semblance of organization to them.  It was necessary to realize that there needed to be a plan to start building a structure of some sort.  

Spiritually speaking, this verse 20 gives to us the idea that our lives need building up and it also tells us what to build upon.   It is important for us to realize who Jude is talking to:  “But ye, beloved…”  He is writing to the believers/brethren.  What a beautiful word he uses, “beloved”- not only beloved by Jude but also beloved by our Lord Jesus Christ.  

What are we told to build upon?  “On your most holy faith”.  We see again, he is directing these words to those who have faith.  Do you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ today?  If so, your faith will be tested?  If you do not have faith today, you may be asking in your heart, “where can I find this faith”.  Romans 10:17 tells us, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  Friends, faith is not something that we can manufacture in our own strength.  Faith is not something that you purchase. You can’t obtain it by simply being around Christians.  No, faith is, “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Heb. 11:1  If you have a desire to please God, it is necessary to have faith in Jesus Christ and Him alone.  Hebrews 11:6 tells us that, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”  In the booklet called THE MIRROR OF THE HEART, page 23 it reads, “ God, through Christ, offers to the broken and contrite heart grace, forgiveness, eternal life and salvation.  If the sinner now accepts this offer in true faith and sincere confidence, lays hold of Jesus Christ and His merits, and in a living faith believes that all this is bestowed upon him purely out of mercy and grace, then he receives the witness of the Holy Spirit that all his sins are forgiven and that he is a true child of God (Rom. 8:16).  The Holy Spirit enlightens the heart with righteousness, peace, and joy.  Then verily the kingdom of God has come.  Tears may still fall, but now it will be only tears of gratitude, affection, and joy, because he has been cleansed from sin and filled with the Spirit.  In body and soul he now rejoices in the living God.  The star will beam in his heart because of a living faith.” 
For the Believer, the commentator, Matthew Henry says, “the way to hold fast our profession is to hold on in it.  Having laid our foundation well in a sound faith, and a sincere upright heart, we must build upon it, make further progress continually;”  The building blocks can best be described by Isaiah 28:9-10, “Whom shall He teach knowledge?  And whom shall He make to understand doctrine?  Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.”
And another encouraging truth is found in I John 5:4-5 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God”?  Yes,  praise God.  Now hear the words from I Cor. 3:11, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”  Remember friends, to build up our faith, we must first have faith, in Jesus Christ our Lord, He is our Chief Cornerstone, the Chief Building Block.
     B.  Praying - verse 20 (read)
     
           “Praying in the Holy Ghost…”.  This is the Christian’s most blessed privilege - to come to our Heavenly 
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Father in prayer.  “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 

How is your prayer life?  Do you struggle with taking the time to pray and keeping your mind focused during prayer?  Do you have struggles praying with doubts in your heart.  If so, you may have much company.  I know for sure, I can relate to the struggles in taking time to pray, persevering in prayer and being confident in prayer.  We see here that we should be “…praying in the Holy Ghost,”  Whatever can this mean?  Matt. Henry says, “Prayer is the nurse of faith; the way to build up ourselves in our most holy faith is to continue instant in prayer.” Rom. 12:12  Our prayers are then most likely to prevail when we pray in the Holy Ghost, that is, under His guidance and influence, according to the rule of His Word, with faith, fervency, and  constant persevering importunity; this is praying in the Holy Ghost,…”
The Apostle Paul has written to us in Romans 8:26-27, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought:  but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

In the book, THE HAUGE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA, says, “The prayer meeting must also be encouraged as a strong factor in all lay activity.”  Yes, even as has been done this very weekend.  Do our church fellowships spend time in prayer.  It is so very important for our church fellowships to commune in prayer with the Chief Cornerstone of the church.  As someone has said, “A church on its knees cannot stumble”.

Dear friends, just as the object of our faith is Jesus Christ, let the focus of our prayer life be to our Heavenly Father and He will build us up.  

     C.  Keeping - verses 21 & 24 (read)
     1)  “Keep yourselves in the love of God…”  vs. 21 
           A.  According to James 1:27b “Pure religion and undefiled before God is …” “…keep himself unspotted from the world.”  This is not to be noted as making a listing of dos and don’ts for every believer.  However, when we bury ourselves in God’s holy Word, He will give us discernment and desires that will honor Him and “eschew evil” and stay away from all appearances of evil.  Do you see the Devine power here:  If we are obedient to God’s Word, He will give us the power and the desire to walk that “highway of holiness”.  God’s love is righteous in all its entirety and He does not co-exist with evil.  Let us allow Him to keep us in His love.    
     
           B.   Let us be very careful that we don’t fall into the thinking that we in our own selves are able to keep ourselves in the love of God and from falling from His grace.  Verse 24 tells us, “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,”  We must also be careful not to just sit back and think that we’ll just let God do our protecting and blame Him if we fall into the spiritual doldrums and worldliness.  The Gospel of John 8:31 tells us, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My Word, then are ye my disciples indeed.”  Oh! Friends, don’t ever trust in yourself.  The old nature is only evil continually.  Let’s go back to the Old Testament to Jeremiah 17:9 and understand our old nature heart, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it”?  In his book, A FAITHFUL GUIDE TO PEACE WITH GOD, C.O.Rosenius quotes Martin Luther on page 277 as follows, “He who fears not himself has the greatest reason to fear.” Rosenius then goes
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on to say, “Not to fear oneself; not to suspect oneself; to live in secret sin, not regarding it as perilous; to be content with one’s own piety - these are some of the signs of hidden spiritual death, the prelude to eternal misery.”  
Pastor Ian Paisley talked about the 4 “nones” of Romans.  No he wasn’t speaking about Catholic nuns but:
     1.  “…there is none righteous, no not one:”  Rm. 3:10
     2.  “There is none that understand,”  Rm. 3:11
     3.  “…there is none that seeketh after God.”  Rm. 3:11
     4.  “…there is none that doeth good, no, not one,”  Rm. 3:12
It is humbling, is it not, as wretched as our flesh is, our souls can be filled with Christ’s righteousness.
Let us be encouraged this A.M. with the Colossians 3:2-3 passage as we concern ourselves with the keeping of our souls pure from the hindrances put in life’s way.  “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”  Being hid with Christ does not mean a secrecy but true security.  This is truly keeping ourselves in the love of God.

     D.  Looking - verse 21 (read)

          “…looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”  The thought of eternal life ought to cause us to look past hindrances in our Pilgrim journey in this life.  We need to be reminded from the Scriptures that our only hope of eternal life is through the mercy and grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Matt. Henry tells us, “mercy is our only plea,” Titus 3:5 reminds us, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”  Yes, as we are accosted by many winds of false doctrines in our time, such as “all roads lead to God”, let us again flee to the Word of God and rest in the truth of Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  What a joy it is to build up our faith on these words of truth from God’s Holy Word.  Yes, let us look past the hindrances and unto the face of our Saviour.

     E.  Pulling - verse 23 (read)

     As we have looked into these few verses of Scripture, we have had specific direction on how to be built up on our faith.  We now get a peak at reaching out to brethren that have gotten caught up in some of the hindrances that we may have experienced.    Friends, when we see a brother or sister that has been misled or somehow has fallen into a fleshly trap, let’s be very kind and compassionate as we try to restore them in the spirit of meekness.  Our motive needs to be an attempt of reconciliation and friendship that was experienced in an earlier time.  Galatians 6:1 tells us, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.”  Should our hearts refuse forgiveness, to a “backslider”, if God has forgiven them, may it never be so.

 “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire;…”.  Now, there may be someone who has not come to the end of their wonderings and have not expressed any desire to return to the faith they once enjoyed.  To these, we must be very careful to preach the Law to them in hopes that the law will jar them awake to their wayward condition.  Here again, let us be very careful that we don’t go beyond our spiritual maturity and fall into a trap like the brother in need.  We need to eschew evil and hate all appearance of evil as noted in I Thess. 5:22.  
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Brothers and Sisters, the enemy of our souls is out to cunningly lay spiritual hindrances in our paths.  Let us always be on guard, stay in His Word and build on our most Holy faith.

     F.  Praising - verses 24-25 (read)

     Jude concludes his Epistle with a charge to each of us to praise our Heavenly Father.  Praising our Lord Jesus drives away the enemy of our souls.  Should we be lax in our praise to the only One who is able to keep us from falling.  As we praise our Lord Jesus, He reminds us of His soon return to take us home.  Oh! what an encouragement to us to continue to build up ourselves on our most holy faith.  Our Lord Jesus will “present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”    Let us agree with the King David’s praise of our Heavenly Father in I Chron. 29:11-13, “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and Thou art exalted as head above all.  Both riches and honour come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all; and in Thine hand is power and might; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.  Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious Name.” 

In closing today:
We have seen that the Lord has given direction on how to overcome the spiritual hindrances by:
     1. Building - on our most Holy faith
     2. Praying - fervently	
     3. Keeping - close to the love of God
     4. Looking - for the mercy of our Lord
     5. Pulling - fallen brethren from the fire
     6. Praising - our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who is able to keep us from falling and Who will present us faultless before the presence of His glory.

In this life, our sin, faults, failures, false teachers and other spiritual hindrances, fill us with all sorts of fears and sorrows.  However, be encouraged today, look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith and praising our Heavenly Father for Phil. 1:6  “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
                                                                                                                                            Amen

Prayer