Tonight, we are looking at the book of Jude and concluding our study in the book of Jude. So I invite you to turn to that, to page 1308, 1308 in your pew Bible. And since I've read this over and over the past few weeks, I will pick up tonight at verse 14 and read to the end, since I'll be referring back. You'll remember there was the call to contend earnestly for the faith, once for all delivered to the saints. You will remember that the reason that he gave that call is because people creep in into the church and corrupt the truth of the gospel and turn it into license to live however they want to live. He gave a series of examples for that. And then after he gave those examples of three sweeping apostasies in history and three as we looked at last time examples of apostates now he brings this to a close by looking at tonight in verse 14 the expectation of the lord's return and how we as believers can contend as we anticipate that second coming so that's the the end of the book here this is the word of god beginning tonight we'll read at verse 14 it was also about these that enoch the seventh from adam prophesied saying behold the lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him these are grumblers malcontents following their own sinful desires they are loud-mouthed boasters showing favoritism to gain advantage but you must remember beloved the predictions of the apostles of our lord jesus christ they said to you in the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. to others show mercy with fear hating even the garment stained by the flesh now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy 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 and there ends the reading of god's word and the ending of the book of jude well tonight as i said we are concluding this study in the book of jude and if uh i have been clear at all and done anything that's helpful then i hope i have made in this case, a case for in this study, to take seriously and contend for your faith because we are in a battle and spiritual warfare is all around us and in us. I've tried to press us not to fall into the trap of ignorance on this matter or being passive on this matter. Jude is calling us to be an alert people, a watching people, as Jesus constantly talked about in the ministry to be a watching people ready for the second coming of the lord and and this is one of those great applications and how we can be watching and ready for it gives us real purpose in the present as we are called to contend for our faith and we looked at all that these past weeks as all the reasons why we need to the question then as we close this series is what does contending look like i've called you to it the word of god has called you to it the scriptures called you to it i i don't think we come in the same kind of authority as the apostle paul to run around calling people sons of the devil do we so what does contending look like for us that's where this book helps us so much to understand how to fight how to contend and give you a beautiful way forward that I think you'll see is not hard in the sense of not difficult to figure out, but a beautiful way forward to help us in this great call. And that's what the end of this book does. So what we have here to end the study is we have a way forward, one of the most powerful ways forward in the changing times in which we live. And you'll see that here in three ways that he gives us tonight an explanation of to lead us there where all this is going then he explains how we are to guard ourselves and then he explains how we are to help others it's very simple that way where is this going because it's going that direction here's how you guard yourself and here's how you help others in your contending so that's the way we'll look at this to conclude our study remember last time we looked at three apostate movements and then three apostate figures that was the outline of the book of jude all to make the case for us to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints and now jude turns tonight to the subject that he wants to get to to let you know this is all very short-lived in other words it's going somewhere and it's going somewhere fast so he leads us then to a brief discussion and reference to the second coming of jesus you'll notice that there in verse 14 and enoch it was also about these that enoch the seventh from adam prophesied saying behold the lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all of the ungodly of all of their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him ungodly ungodly ungodly ungodly hear it how many times did he have to say it this is a very important section that he leads us to the practical applications that is a direct quote from the book of first enoch first enoch was a very important sort of apocryphal book in jewish literature of the day it was never to be considered to be inspired but it was considered to be history and something that the people read and took seriously so he used it there's truth in first enoch so i brought to you first enoch tonight and i want you to listen to where this was taken and a little bit of the context so you hear what jude is doing listen to this the holy great one will come forth from his dwelling and the eternal god will tread upon the earth even on mount sinai and appear from his camp and appear in the strength of his might from the heavens of heavens and all shall be smitten with fear and the watchers shall quake and great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the ends of the earth and the high mountains shall be shaken and the high hills shall be made low and shall melt like wax before the flame and the earth shall be wholly rent in sunder and all that is upon the earth shall perish and there shall be a judgment upon all but with the righteous he will make peace he will protect the elect and mercy shall be upon them and they shall all belong to God and they shall be prospered and they shall all be blessed and he will help them all and light shall appear unto them and he will make peace with them and then here it is and you can compare it with what I just read in verse 14 but behold he comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to destroy all the ungodly and to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have which they have ungodly committed and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him well there it is right in the book of first enoch tonight that jude used to convey the truth of the matter jude took this and used it because He wanted us to take seriously the call to contend and to think about where all of this is going. You'll remember that Enoch was mentioned in the book of Genesis. And Enoch was one of those preachers who preached right before the coming flood, in the days and years before the flood. And he was a preacher of righteousness. He was one who preached warning of the coming judgment upon the earth. and the point that jude is using here is to say this message has been proclaimed for a long time the lord has told us that a judgment is coming in the days that were before the flood in the world that then was enoch's prophecy came true didn't it and just like that it's going to happen again except with fire the bible tells us what is most moving about it is we rarely focus in on the apostasy of what one of the things that jude says that jude uses that i think is the most moving thing that justifies the judgment what is it the lord's going to come and convict all isn't it something and not just of all their evil deeds but of all the harsh things they've said against him do you look at the world and see it do you look at the world and see the hatred of him all that you're seeing unfold in the world is an utter hatred of him they lash out against him they speak against him all the rebellion can be summed up in this way that the world hates god And it's gotten worse and worse and worse in their hatred of Him. And this stuff, as Jude has warned, infiltrates the church. Jude sums it up with another round of blows to them. They're grumblers, they're malcontents, they're following their own sinful desires, they're loudmouth boasters, showing favoritism, as we've seen over and over again, to gain, to gain advantage. Why is he telling us this? why is he so strong with this i think jude fears as i listen to him and read him and know the human heart i think jude fears that the church will not take this judgment seriously i think jude wants us to think a lot about the seriousness of the coming judgment upon those who don't believe like this now Jude's been a book of comfort for you Jude's been a book that's saying you're not falling under that judgment we just read what at first Enoch said that he's going to to bless his people he's going to keep his people the whole ending to this book is assuring you of that the beginning of this book assured you of that but if we don't take seriously what's happening we forget the mission if we don't take seriously that there's a judgment coming we forget why we're here then life just becomes about eating and drinking and being merry having the good life and we forget why god left us here on the earth so judas is reminding the church at this point and he speaks directly to us this way notice this but you must remember beloved see that plea there you must remember the predictions of the apostles they told us over and over and over they said to us in the last time this is how people will act this is how people will live they will live in an unbelieving way a scoffing way they will follow and live dictating dictated by their own inward lusts and their own inward passions that is how that will govern their lives and he says it's these people that are causing the divisions it's these people that are devoid of the spirit i think you'll remember that uh peter used the same language as jew when he said in second peter chapter three knowing this first of all that scoffers will come in the last day scoffing following their own sinful desires they will say where is this promise coming forever since the fathers fell asleep all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation it just keeps going on and on nothing changes come on you don't expect us to believe all these years in 2018 this is going to judgment it's always gone on it continues to go on where's the coming and he says well they deliberately forget that that's how the people of Noah's day thought when Enoch was preaching they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished but by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly don't overlook this fact he says remember this why why do we have to keep that in front of us why are we here if you forget that you forget your mission don't you you see why this would become such a crucial subject right before he applies it because he's saying this is coming a judgment i know it's the last thing the church wants to talk about today but if we don't understand this we don't know what we're doing you see so he's explaining then why we need to contend and it's earnest contending this is another way of looking then at the great commission tonight what is the first giant application if we're going to be effective in contending for our faith and in the great commission notice what he does he does two things to close out the book and the first is he says you have to guard yourself i love this if you're a note taker tonight this is some of the easiest note taking you can do right there are four ways he gives you to guard yourselves and it's right here he lists them look at verse 20 in verse 20 he says but you beloved building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the holy spirit keep yourselves in the love of god waiting for the mercy of our lord jesus christ that leads to eternal life What an excellent set. What an excellent help for us to contend in guarding ourselves. How do we do that? First thing he says here is build up, build upon, you'll notice here, build up in your most holy faith. He's thinking of the church. He's thinking of us together as a building project of people he's saying the way to go forward is to remember to be built up be built up what he has in mind is here he says in the most holy faith remember the beginning of the book you've been given a deposit of the faith once for all a deposit in the word so he's saying the way to remain the way to keep yourselves the way to hold fast the way to contend among us is to build one another up in the word in the faith in the deposit he's encouraging us to this build yourselves up in these truths know the truth learn the truth study the truth keep yourselves sit under the word read the word study the word encourage one another in the word gather around the word but what do we do to help people in building one another up in the truth well i know there's lots of things that go on and there's opportunities every week here there's bible studies and there's gatherings and there's fellowship we have this opportunity right now most important to sit under the word i i love the passage in hebrews it says therefore we must give the most earnest heed to the things that we have heard lest we what drift drifters you can be a good drifter in the church drifting if you're not growing and being built up you're rotting i'm not saying you're losing your salvation you know you know the human heart you know how it goes there's a a beautiful way that the lord gives us together to encourage one another in the word of god that's that's one of the ways jude is describing for us to go forward together to remain in my word said jesus to stay there to grow in that word don't rot away with indifference to the word love the truth i think we all would agree that one of the great besetting sins of christians who've been in this a long time is mere laziness in the word of god laziness build yourselves up in it this is god's way of preserving you and keeping you and helping you uh in the perilous times in which we live what's the second thing he says here lo and behold pray pray in the spirit i think we've learned a lot in acts about prayer together we've seen how praying matters and that the lord wants us constantly as a people who are talking to him relying upon him trusting him going to him in prayer we saw this morning the church leaning together so strongly in prayer for the mission of the church and look what the Lord did. Praying according to His will. Praying in the Spirit. Remember that Paul would describe that even when we don't know what to pray for as we ought, the Spirit helps us with groanings that cannot be uttered. The Spirit is guiding our prayers and bringing them and helping us in that. It's so beautiful here. I won't spend a lot of time on praying because I feel like I've emphasized that so much as of recent. third beautiful notice this here keep yourselves in the love of god that's an amazing statement that is a wonderful statement isn't it this sacrificial love of jesus has been proclaimed to you you are loved by him beloved by him because you're loved by god keep yourself in that love love what does that look like well doubt is the great enemy to perseverance and he doesn't want you living in doubt he's going to keep you to the end but one of the great ways that he keeps you to the end is through his love what am i saying i'm saying what a lot of pastors have said that not only do you need the gospel preached to you every sunday but you need to preach the gospel to yourself every day gospel means what good news every morning you get up you should be reminded and kept in that love that god gave his son for you because the first thing you'll do in your struggles is doubt him and begin because of sin to trust his word and his gospel keep yourselves in preach the gospel to yourselves remind yourselves constantly that the lord gave his son for you and because of that nothing can separate me from that love i can't be removed from that love i am i am i have been brought into the kingdom and joined to christ i am loved because the father loves his son and there's no greater love of the father's love for his son keep yourselves in abide in that love and doesn't that just make the fourth thing he says here so encouraging waiting for the mercy of our lord jesus christ that leads to eternal life anticipating it in other words live in that love anticipating fourthly that when he comes he will show you mercy it's done you see jude is not and none of the scriptural writers the bible writers want us to live thinking as believers that we were justified and then fall out of that declarated and declaration of justification so that then we could fall under the judgment of god by our works on that day that is not at all what the christian faith teaches keep yourselves in his love and live anticipating that when he comes you will be received in his mercy you're not going to fall under judgment there is therefore no condemnation how much do you need that you see why that's so important if those things aren't in place there's no way we're contending for the faith we're going to be a mess he wants us to think this way and practice this he's given you wonderful ways forward build yourselves up in the faith pray in the spirit keep yourselves in the love of god anticipate mercy i don't i don't know how much better you could make applications to the christian life and how to be ready for the second coming than those what jesus was talking about watching watching your life watching and praying for the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak what wonderful ways to go forward so that's the first way he applies this and then what he does here then is now provides us what he's saying and how to contend in helping others the worst reality is is that many the worst struggle is that many among us will blatantly choose not to live in those ways i just described they will many will blatantly choose to reject the truth and not walk in it many in the the life of the church will never take one step and show little involvement in the life of the body to build one another up in the most holy faith there will be little prayer they'll struggle with the love of god they'll live in constant fret and worry as to whether they're really forgiven they're struggling with the gospel you've got this all going on these listen to me are pray for apostates these are pray for apostates i think this is what jude is really having us think about for a moment hear the point of this some will live in fear some will live doubting some will live with troubled consciences some will live thinking they're condemned all of us will do it at some point i've already learned in the life of the church you come across everything and you see all this in yourself the worst thing is to see a loved one defect from the truth the most painful reality remember the parable of the sower again i'm not talking about losing salvation what i'm talking about is what the parable of the sower describes at times or those who have besetting sins who step away for a time judah's having us think about these phenomenons the most painful reality is to hear for me the older generation lament and mourn over the fact that their children and grandchildren are not walking in the ways of the lord do you know how many times i have heard that in the ministry that i'm so weary of hearing it it breaks my heart i don't even want to hear it anymore because i've heard it so much well we can't turn our eyes away from it right even though i don't want to hear it we can't turn our ears away from it we have to be willing to tackle these things head on so notice what jude says verse 22 so good and have mercy on those who doubt huh you know Jude was one Jude's a half brother Jesus remember in John 7 Jesus is preaching and it says they didn't believe in him his own brothers that was Jude you could read it in John 7 Jude was one who doubted Jude was one who was weak in doubting them people doubt people struggle what do you want to say to them just believe right it's not so easy at times is it life's confusing help them um i'll give you an example the young man who was killed that i talked about this morning in church 30 years old heart gave out on him and died last week son of an elder in my former church he grew up in a very a church that was very hard in in legalism for a while and had a really hard time in that gospel was not preached it was always the law the law the law angrily at him so he always struggled with church structure because of it so when he went down to college in seattle at the big booming church of mark driscoll he found his hero i can tell you uh he was just enamored with that whole phenomenon in seattle i was worried about it and i would tell him i would say listen be careful well sure enough the whole thing imploded the damage that was done out of that church were still cleaning up the mess of young people's lives because of it the church was full thousands on sunday of young peoples in there when that thing went down and he went down those young people were scattered out on the hill what do you do with them he struggled with structure in the church and struggled with the church because of abusive shepherds well these are the kind of applications jude has in mind go get them think about them help them pull them out of the fire so hard sometimes we don't even know what to do and how to help people when they when they um when he they found his journal in the car after he had died and there were beautiful letters of trust in the lord it's just been a hard week to think about him and the ways we tried to help him and i've no doubt that he's a believer but he's just what jude's talking about have mercy on these people there's all sorts of these people who are prey for bad teachings and teachers who do great damage and have you ever thought in the course of your lives have you ever had anyone who's come when you've gone wayward and pulled you back i remember in in college at 20 years old moving in with all the kids from the christian school and it became a party house. And the elders came and talked to my father. I'll never forget it. That had such an effect on me. They cared. Go get them. Have mercy on some. Notice that. On those who doubt, care for them. It's hard. We fail at this. I understand that. Look at verse 22. He goes on. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. You see what he's saying here? He's saying, use discretion. There are those whom you can really help. You know that there will be some who are so hardened in their sin, it doesn't matter what you say, they're going to go do what they do and they're going to go live how they live. And Jude says, be wise in this. help help people think about them reach out to those who are not so hard reach out to those even if they are hard don't have the attitude of oh they're just doing what they're doing done with them that's what i do i struggle with that no that's wrong using dramatic language snatch them out of the fire fire's hell some people are choosing to live on the brink of it people who have not believed but have been brought in contact with christianity maybe even raised in it we're walking right up against hell's door and the life and they know better now think of the importance of prayer here right what do we do when we see someone caught in sin what do we do when when they're struggling we shake our heads and we turn the face from them we say hypocrites but that's not that's that's not really how we're going to go get them or use any kind of discretion in helping them if you knew somebody's house is going up in flames and you could go help them out of the house wouldn't you that's what james says brethren if anyone among you wanders from the truth there it is and someone turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the air of his way will save a soul from death eternal death right and cover a multitude of sins in other words set yourselves to realize that part of the great commission is a rescue mission at times and that's sometimes the greatest witness that'll ever occur on others have mercy with fear hating even the garment stained by the flesh i believe what he's saying there is be very discerning in this some people go and do things and get involved in things and helping people and it's an absolute disaster they get pulled right in it's that dangerous and your zeal to rescue them guard your lives i often think of what galatians says when somebody errs and and we admonish them do it with the spirit of gentleness why lest you are overtaken in some sin so this is is what he's after what a great task that we have but i think you see why then he would he would preach of the warning apostates want to destroy these people apostaties and movements want to sweep them away in it this is what the devil wants to do and these are ways that we can keep ourselves and help others that's what jude is is a way he's giving us forward to to contend and if all that isn't enough he gives us one of the most beautiful doxologies and praises in the book uh and recognitions of god's power it's somewhat it's not really a doxology but it's it's a it's a statement of the lord's preserving power to keep you and notice what he says here then at the end of this after all that now to him who's able who's able to keep ultimately it's the lord isn't it to him who's able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy i wouldn't be too excited tonight if this book ended by saying you keep yourselves ultimately without the lord's help and no he's saying ultimately the lord will do the keeping to him who's able to keep you from stumbling and not just do that but when we're there on that day and we're in the presence of the lord i just think of this beautiful thought here that's given that there is a presentation by the son of god these are mine i bought them presented faultless it says before the presence of his glory with great joy not terror on that day great joy to the only god our savior through jesus christ our lord be glory majesty dominion and authority before all time and now and forever what a beautiful little book and what a serious little book and it calls us to contend for the faith telling us why it's so serious telling us that a judgment's coming giving us ways forward but ends with the book in that it began with saying god will keep you he loves you keep yourselves in that love look for his mercy and remember why you're here contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints let's pray heavenly father thank you for your wonderful word tonight thank you for the truth that is revealed here that helps us in these times in which we live such a way forward that is given and tonight we have our full trust in you because of what jesus has done we have full confidence that you will keep us to the end not losing one of your sheep presenting all before the throne blameless before the presence of His glory. We are so thankful for our Savior Jesus, the Good Shepherd. So in the time that we have left here, as we anticipate His coming, and coming when we will receive mercy, help us to help others. Those who are prey for apostates. Those who doubt. Those who are wandering sheep. Those who are confused. Those who are walking towards hell's door. Let us, Lord, consider how to love and help these people and to contend for the faith. We are so thankful for this deposit of truth You've given to us in this age by which anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Thank You for keeping us. And to our only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority for all time now and forever. Amen.