Text: Jude 20-21, Title: Prescription for Defense, Date/Place: LSCC, 10/1/06, AM
A. Opening illustration: All the doctors giving Junior the run around while this cancer is eating him up. Can you imagine a doctor giving you a 3-hour discourse on the particular disease that you have, and then dismissing you without giving you some meds or instructions about what to do? The answer from Who Wants to Be A Millionaire about what class is required for med students “Advanced Scribbling.”
B. Background to passage: After all this preaching about these false teachers and their identifying sins, Jude finally takes a few lines to tell the believers what to do and how to contend for the faith. Note the great Trinitarian reference in this verb. In this passage, it looks like there are four short imperatives, and in one sense there are. But if you look closely at the verb forms, which are well reflected in most of the good translations, (by the way, let’s talk briefly on bible translations: if you are going to really study the bible, you need a good formal equivalence, word-to-word, literal translation—KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV) you will notice that there is only one imperative verb, and three participles. So Jude is really saying that if you want to contend for the faith earnestly, you must keep yourself (explicit in the text) in the love of God. This word means to “be careful with” or “guard.” Remind them of the balance between you keeping, and God keeping, both expressed in this epistle. It is a locative of sphere; meaning keeping yourself within the sphere of the love of God. There is a path of blessing in which the visible love of God is most readily seen. We know that we can never be separated from the love of God in Christ. And then he gives them three ways to do it.
C. Main thought: So, this morning, we will look at the three ways God prescribes for these believers to prepare to contend earnestly for the faith.
A. Work toward edification (v. 20)
1. Jude says to build yourself up upon the “most holy faith.” The word he uses can be translated “to build further” indicating the translation of “on” is probably correct, meaning that he is speaking in terms of “the most holy faith” being a foundation that has been laid. Again this “faith” is the body of doctrine once handed down to the saints. Jude says to focus on your spiritual maturity and grow. Be about the business of making sure that your faith is not stagnating. Put yourself on the path that leads to sanctification and growth in holiness. Don’t simply be content with being a Christian, strive to be a disciple. Have a plan.
2. Heb 5:12-14, Eph 4:16, 1 Pet 2:2, 5, 1 John 2:14,
3. Illustration: “If you don’t have a plan, you are probably not thinking about it much.” –Jeff Crabtree, In a typical week, during how many days, if any, would you read the Bible, not including the time you are at church? Daily, 13%; 3 times a week, 32%; not at all, 43%. –Barna Research, Bible memorization-see below, The Dead Sea is so salty that it contains no fish or plant life. What accounts for this unusual condition? There are absolutely no outlets! A great volume of water pours into this area, but nothing flows out. Many inlets plus no outlets equal a dead sea.
4. How do you do this? In the faith! You learn doctrine. You should study the bible, not just read it. You should memorize parts of it. You need read wonderfully edifying books written by godly men who have sought the Lord before you and received great insight. Read things related to how God is working in your life. Ask for my recommendations. Set your heart and mind to seek the Lord, and constantly be increasing your knowledge of and your experience with Him. Go to conferences, listen to WBCI, and come to church more than once a week. Commit to coming to FCW every night. Be trained in evangelism, financial responsibility, etc. One of the most edifying things is to be in His service. You need to get involved in ministry. God will strengthen and establish you when you are expending your talent and energy doing His work. Many of you should come out and help us reach out to the community once a month. You should get involved with the Men’s or Ladies’ ministry. You should go with Derek and Alan out to USM and witness to people. You should help with the nursery or children’s church or Wed night children’s ministry. You should labor in prayer with the Wednesday Prayer Warriors that help sustain the life of LSCC.
B. Be empowered in supplication (v. 20)
1. The second way Jude says to maintain your walk within the sphere of the love of God is to pray in the Spirit. This is not speaking about praying in tongues. Remember that he is talking about how you can participate in keeping yourself in the love of God. Nor is Jude speaking of the intratrinitarian intercession that takes place in times when we do not know what to pray (Rom 8:26). The construction in Greek is again a locative of sphere. He is saying that in order to guard your life and maintain it in groove that the love of God flows into, you must pray in the sphere of the Holy Spirit. This is prayer that is empowered by, led by, in dependence on, in accordance with the will of the Holy Spirit. This is prayer where God the Spirit is moving upon you as you pray. Similar to the “keeping” of God and believers; It is experiential AND positional. There are times when we consciously feel His presence in prayer. AND we are commanded to pray this way. Same way with being filled with the Spirit.
2. Eph 6:18, 1 Cor 14:14-15,
3. Illustration: “…all true prayer is exercised in the sphere of the Holy Spirit, motivated and empowered by Him. That means that if the saint expects to really pray, he must be Spirit-filled or Spirit-controlled” –Kenneth Wuest, tell about seasons of prayer where the Spirit of God is manifestly or consciously present upon the believer or believers in my own life, the practice of George Mueller, WIDDG, Piper p. 164-5, “if there are no set and disciplined times of Bible reading and meditation and memorization, the spontaneity and continual communion will dry up…the plants of ceaseless prayer grow in the gardens of consistent discipline” --Piper
4. You cannot be Spirit-filled and Spirit-controlled if you do not pray in the Spirit. The winds of the Spirit come and go as He pleases, and my exhortation to you and your prayer life is that when He (the Spirit is not an “it”) shows up unexpectedly, go with Him! Pray as long as you feel his presence lingering over you. But also we need to consciously, purposefully, intentionally prepare our minds and hearts for prayer time with Jesus that will honor Him and produce an environment in which He has promised to bless and work. You don’t have to clear your mind of all non-spiritual things (as if there were such things). But you must bring everything into the realm of the Spirit and the Kingdom. You must rid yourself of sin as much as is within your power and knowledge. You might try to still distractions, sanctify time. This is why prayer meeting can be such a rich time.
C. Live with anticipation (v. 21)
1. This statement is probably two-fold in its effect. Jude says that another way to keep yourself in the sphere of the love of God is to be looking for mercy and Jesus to come back and mercifully deliver us unto eternal life. This word means to look forward to, to expect, to anticipate or to remain in a place and/or state, with expectancy concerning a future event. It is usually used to speak of Christ’s coming, but not exclusively. Jude reminds them that God is for them, and is always giving them grace to live by. His grace and mercy is sufficient for any situation. And therefore trials simply give us an opportunity to see God do something big.
2. Luke 12:37, Titus 2:13, 2 Pet 3:12, Ps 23:6,
3. Illustration: bumper sticker that I saw that said, “I believe in life before death.” Basic laws of frustration, see below, the other bumper sticker that you put on your dashboard that says, “In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned.” Mackenzie saying “I love you” while disobeying,
4. Don’t be a Murphy’s Law kind of person. God is out for your good, and every event in your life is an expression of God’s mercy. Don’t be a pessimist like Thomas the disciple. That doesn’t make your Christ very winsome. Be one of those people that sees the glass half full instead of half empty; that looks for the bright side; that seems to have something positive to say—not just so that you are well liked and popular, but because you are confident in a continual stream of mercy that flows directly from God into your life. Walk in obedience knowing that God will shower mercy upon you because of His love and your faith. Your spiritual life will dramatically improve if you live as if Jesus was coming back this afternoon. And he could! Are you ready? If He came back today do you know that you would be with Him in glory?
A. Closing illustration: Sometimes we tell people, “be strong…”
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
Bible Memorization
Noted Bible teacher E. Schuyler English told of Michael Billester, a Bible distributor who visited a small hamlet in Poland shortly before World War II. Billester gave a Bible to a villager, who was converted by reading it. The new believer then passed the Book on to others. The cycle of conversions and sharing continued until 200 people had become believers through that one Bible.
When Billester returned in 1940, this group of Christians met together for a worship service in which he was to preach the Word. He normally asked for testimonies, but this time he suggested that several in the audience recite verses of Scripture. One man stood and said, “Perhaps we have misunderstood. Did you mean verses or chapters?”
These villagers had not memorized a few select verses of the Bible but whole chapters and books. Thirteen people knew Matthew, Luke, and half of Genesis. Another person had committed to memory the Psalms. That single copy of the Bible given by Billester had done its work. Transformed lives bore witness to the power of the Word.
Chisholm Effect: Basic laws of frustration, mishap, and delay
1st law of human interaction. If anything can go wrong, it will.
Corollary: If anything just can’t go wrong, it will anyway.
2nd law. When things are going well, something will go wrong.
Corollary: When things just can’t get any worse, they will.
Corollary 2: Anytime things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.
3rd law. Purposes, as understood by the purposer, will be judged otherwise by others.
Corollary: If you explain so clearly that nobody can misunderstand, somebody will.
Corollary 2: If you do something which you are sure will meet with everybody’s approval, somebody won’t like it.
Corollary 3: Procedures devised to implement the purpose won’t quite work.
Corollary 4: No matter how long or how many times you explain, no one is listening.
