Faith, Thats The Way It Goes (Cont.)! Series

Faith, that’s the way it goes! - Jude part 3

Thesis: Faith is built up in our lives as we learn to pray in the Holy Spirit, Keep ourselves in the love of God, learn to wait, reach out with the Gospel to the lost and by having a hatred of evil’s corruptions.

Scripture Text:

Jude 1:20-25 NIV

20But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22Be merciful to those who doubt; 23snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

24To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—25to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

The Message Jude 1:20-25:

But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!

Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith. Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven.

And now to him who can keep you on your feet, standing tall in his bright presence, fresh and celebrating—to our one God, our only Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Master, be glory, majesty, strength, and rule before all time, and now, and to the end of all time. Yes.

Introduction:

We have been exploring the book of Jude. Jude reminds us how important - urgent it is to contend for the faith and fight against the attacks of evil on us personally, on our family, on our friends, on our local community and on our nation. Two weeks ago we learned the following from Jude:

• Contend for the Faith – Fight for it, hold on to the truth in spite of what others do!

• Stay away from Evil – Don’t play with it! It will bite you.

• Learn to recognize what sin looks like and acts like so you can stay away from it.

• Never allow sin to influence your choices in life.

Jude last week progressed on in his letter exhorting the Christians to build up their faith. He then lists a series of things we can all do to build up and strengthen our faith. Last week we talked about 2 things we should do to strengthen our faith:

• Pray in the Holy Spirit

• Keep ourselves in the Love of God

This week we will continue to look at 3 other things we should do to build up – strengthen - mature our faith.

1. Wait for the mercy of the Lord - in other words be patient!

2. Show mercy to those in doubt and snatch them from the fire – in other words be evangelistic.

3. Fear and hate any thing that is evil – in other words be holy.

1. Jude tells that we will build up our faith if we learn to “Wait for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life.” In other words be patient!

a. 21Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

b. The Message states: But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!

i. Key here is to keep in close contact with God. Don’t give up! Don’t quit! Don’t become impatient with God and His promises.

1. He will keep them, He is coming again, your patience will be greatly rewarded.

ii. Remember God is love were God is His love is.

1. We need to stay saturated in God because as we do we will stay saturated in His love.

2. When you stay under the umbrella of God’s love it builds up your faith in him. The same is true in any love relationship the longer you are attached to a person and stay connected in love the more your trust is placed in that person.

a. The truth is the more you love someone the more patient you are with them.