Sermon #10 of 11
Jude: A Call to Defend
Fighting the Battle
Jude 22-23
Introduction
Illus:
In warfare, there is always an objective. In many wars, the objective is land. For example, in the Middle East, Israel and the Palestinians are fighting because they both want to have the same land. In Afghanistan we’re fighting because we want to destroy the power base of terrorism. Hitler fought because he wanted to create a “superior” race. The Southern states fought the Civil War because they wanted to be free from the oppression of the Northern States. The Gulf War was fought because the U.S. wanted to end the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, so they could have access to oil. I mention all of these wars, not because I want to say who was right or wrong, but to show that in every war, there is an objective. There is a reason we are fighting the war. And the same is true with spiritual warfare. If we are going to wage war on Satan’s kingdom, we have to know what our objective is. Our objective, our mission is to rescue people from Satan’s grip. To free them from his control. Just as Jesus said at the start of his ministry.
The faith will not be preserved simply by attacking false teaching and false living and revealing their errors.
It is preserved by doing it God’s way. It is done by love, not by hate. It is done by the Spirit, not by brute force.
Passage
22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
How do we fight the battle?
1. Convince those who doubt.
It is tempting to give up on those who doubt, to lose patience with them and leave them behind for “bigger and better things.” We must resist that temptation and continue to walk with people on their spiritual journey with Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:24-26
24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
You see then enemy does not attack the strongholds, but instead he attacks the weak points.
2 Timothy 3:6
6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,
For someone who is confused, someone who is young in the faith, the enemy will attack that person and it is up to us, their brothers and sisters in Christ to be merciful to them and walk with them on their spiritual journey.
2. Save people from God’s judgment.
Through Jude we have learned that not only does Satan work outside the church to prevent people from coming to the Gospel, He works inside the church as well.
There are “Bible teachers” inside Christianity that teach a false gospel.
There are “Christians” who live false lives and teach people through their actions a false gospel.
It is up to us to snatch those who are teaching false truths as well as those who have been taught these false truths from God’s judgment.
How? 4x4 Plan
Identify
Identify at least four people who you are unsure of their
salvation.
Intercede
Pray for these people at least 4 times a week
Pray for their salvation..
Pray that they will respond to Jesus in faith.
Pray for opportunities for you to share your faith with them.
Invest
Invest your life into these people.
Build bridges of trust with them by spending time with them.
Let them see Jesus in you through your actions and your
speech.
Win an opportunity to do the last thing.
Invite
At the very least, invite them to church so that they can hear
the Gospel.
Better yet share the Gospel with them yourself. The best
change of them coming to Jesus is when they are invited to
do so by a friend.
3. Work under the umbrella of merciful fear.
Show mercy to everyone.
We have heard the phrase “Hate the sin, love the sinner.”
That justly applies here.
We must remember that God has shown us mercy, we need to show mercy to others as well.
Way too often in our convention we treat the sinner with hatred instead of mercy.
We fan the flames of anger instead of offering the love of Jesus Christ.
The attitude of change your ways and then you will be accepted is a falsehood.
The truth we need to communicate is come to Jesus and allow Him to change you.
You can’t yell at people, scream at people, or condemn people without grace --- for such were you. We are to love them to Christ without lambasting them at church. ---
Rev. Wade Burleson
But no matter how ugly and gross their actions are to a holy God, He still loves them unconditionally and His greatest desire is for them to repent and to trust Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
Brothers and sisters, we can’t do that by flaming the fires of anger and by building walls between the church and the sinner.
The gospel cannot be communicated effectively, if we the Church, continue to build walls of anger and hatred to those who hate us.
We do not fight hate and lies with hate and insults. We fight it with godly love and mercy.
We stand on and communicate the truth of Scripture, but we also love the sinner.
However, when we offer mercy to those who are full of sin and without Jesus, we must watch ourselves that we do not fall into sin.
We must respect the power of temptation in our life.
We must know our weaknesses and stay away from things that will cause us to sin.
We must be careful that as we show mercy and love to the sinner, we stand on the truth of God’s word that their actions, not them, but their actions are ugly and gross to a holy God.
Conclusion
Illus: Wade Burleson, Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid Oklahoma.
Wade was the president of the Baptist General Convention of
Oklahoma.
During his tenure as president of the BGCO he had a
homosexual militant group threaten to picket his church
You see, Rev. Burleson had preached a message of truth from
God’s Word that said anyone who fought for sinful behavior
to be normalized in society was disapproved of by God.
The group invited Rev. Burleson to meet with them and he
accepted. He and another pastor friend drove to Tulsa to
meet with the 5 group leaders.
They asked why Rev. Burleson hated them, he said he did
not, but He told them the truth of scripture.
The group tried to convince Rev. Burleson and his friend that
their lifestyle was acceptable.
One member in anger told the two pastors that his partner was
dying in the hospital. Rev. Burleson asked to pray for him.
It stunned the group.
What are you going to pray for, the partner demanded. Rev.
Burleson responed, “I’m praying for healing, for peace, for
comfort.”
The two preachers joined hands with the 5 from this group
and prayed just that.
Everyone took their seat and after some time of stunned
silence, the group leader said, “We plan on picketing your
church for your stance against us.”
Rev. Burleson told them they were welcome to come and
picket his church and that if they needed to eat after the
services, his church would provide a meal for them.
They reiterated their intentions thinking Rev. Burleson had
not heard them correctly. He stated he had, and he
reiterated what he would do to minister to them if they
chose to come.
They never came to picket Rev. Burleson’s church.
But you see, Rev. Burleson started building a bridge to them.
A few months later at the SBC convention, that group was there picketing the SBC as the messengers went into the convention center.
Everyone tried their best to avoid them. Rev. Burleson and his pastor friend was there. Someone from the crowd called their name. It was the people they had met a few months earlier, the people who threatened to picket Emmauel Baptist in Enid.
Rev. Burleson and his friend walked over to them, greeted them with hugs and handshakes, and visited with them a good ten minutes. There was no protesting going on. The protesters grew silent and yes there were strange looks from the SBC messengers at was going on as well.
Rev. Burleson said this about the encounter.
We (SBC) are really good at passing resolutions of condemnation against homosexuality, but it was at Indianopolis I saw the results of actually accepting the homosexual (not their lifestyle, but the person). I don’t believe my five homosexual friends have yet come to faith in Christ, but I know that God may very well use my goodness and kindness to them to help them understand the grace of Christianity.
Folks we are called to defend the gospel, the truth of God’s Word.
We are called to do it in unconventional ways.
Ephesians 4:15
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
We are asked to fight this war against truth by
Convincing those who doubt
Saving people from God’s wrath with the Gospel.
Work under the umbrella of merciful fear.
We do not fight to kill, we fight to save!
What an awesome battle we are called to be in. Are you in the battle?
