7 Keys To Spiritual Security

7 Keys to Spiritual Security

By Pastor Jim May

Jude 1:20-25, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 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, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."

Sometime around 66 A.D., about 33 years after Jesus was crucified, his half-brother, by the name of Judas wrote the Book of Jude. Jude’s father was Joseph, not the Holy Ghost, and his mother was Mary. He was raised in the same household as Jesus and he saw Jesus grow from a young child to enter into the ministry for the last 3 ½ years of Jesus’ life on earth. Jude knew every facet of Jesus’ life as a man, and he undoubtedly had been told the story of his elder brother’s very special birth time and time again.

There are some people in Christian circles who are convinced that Mary was a perpetual virgin but I do not believe that the scriptures back this view at all. After the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived together as husband and wife, and in Matthew 13 we can easily see that they had a sizable family with a number of other children beside Jesus.

Matthew 13:54-56, "And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?"

Every one of Jesus’ siblings grew up with him and were still ultimately convinced that Jesus was someone very special. I’m sure that they had a rough time at first accepting the fact that Jesus was the Son of God, the Savior of the world. But how could you live around a brother who never said a cross word, never was angry, never did anything selfish, never talked back to his parents, and seemed to be wiser and more knowledgeable of the scriptures than the greatest of the religious scholars, without finally coming to the knowledge that Jesus was more than he appeared to be in the flesh?

There was something powerful, even majestic, about Jesus’ words and his demeanor. You could sense a power within him. You could feel his words reach right down inside of you. And he was most likely constantly calming the storms in the home that all his brothers and sisters could make happen because they were born under sin just like every other child since the fall of Adam. Only Jesus was born without sin, not Mary his mother, not Joseph, and none of his brothers or sisters, and not one of us.

Through all of the events of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension in Heaven, Jude, James and all of Jesus’ earthly family seems to have accepted Jesus as their Savior. Now we find Jude defending the original gospel and the faith that had grown in his own life to believe in his own “brother” as the very Son of God. Already people were beginning to dilute, to change or to attempt to discredit the truth of who Jesus was and what He had done.

Jude was a strong contender for the faith and in the scriptures we have read in his book, written under the leading of the Holy Ghost, he lays out for each of us a pattern, or a seven step program to spiritual growth and security that will never fail. Let us look at the scriptures and see what those seven steps are.

1) In verse 20 we see these words, “…building up yourselves on your most holy faith”.

What does that mean? There is but one foundation to build your spiritual life upon. That foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of the World. What other foundation can we count on? There is no other!

We should build on “the foundation” which is our “most holy faith”. That faith that was planted in your heart like a mustard seed like we spoke about last week is the same faith that we must build upon. We must exercise that faith and make it come alive in us though our works of righteousness and our worship of the one who paid with His own blood so that we could enjoy “living by faith”.