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”.
Notice that we are to “build” ourselves on the faith. That means that you are under construction and you are the contractor. You are supplying the tools, the materials and the energy to get your faith built into a stronghold in your life.
We can’t count on the preacher to build our faith. Yes he can help by expounding upon the Word of God for us, but it’s still up to each one of us to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” and to contend for the faith that we know is truth. We are to be on guard against every little wind of doctrine that comes along, and we are to stay on the right foundation if we want to stand. If we don’t stand for something, especially for what is truth, then we will fall into anything!
By staying on the right foundation and continuing to build our lives on that faith in God, we can rest assured that God will never let us fall and we will build spiritual security for our soul.
2) Verse 20 also says, “praying in the Holy Ghost”. That’s the second thing that we can do to build spiritual security.
Everyone wants security. We all work for financial security. We all do our best to build strong relationships for our family security. We want to feel secure. So, in order to have “spiritual security” we must learn to pray consistently and as the Holy Ghost would lead us to pray.
“Praying in the Holy Ghost”, to me, means that we should allow the Holy Ghost to take control of our lives completely. In fact, we should seek after and be filled with the Baptism in the Holy Ghost before we can really pray “in the Holy Ghost”. Now I also believe that God hears and answers prayer when you pray even though you haven’t received the Baptism in the Holy Ghost because, if you have accepted Christ, and given your life to Jesus, then you are still in the family of God and you are still anointed by the same Holy Ghost!
We should spend time talking to Jesus, after all, He is not just your elder brother by spiritual adoption, but He is your Lord, your Savior and your God! Speak to Him! Talk to Him! Ask Him whatever you desire to! And then get ready for Jesus to answer.
It has been said that, “If you are down on your knees, you can’t go over the fence.” If we continue in prayer, seeking the face and will of God for our lives, then we are still building on our most holy faith, and we are spiritually secure.
3) Verse 21 says that we should “keep ourselves” in the love of God. In other words, stay close to God and his infinite love and mercy. Don’t be swayed by the things of the world. Don’t give up on your only source of real love and real hope. If you keep yourself in God’s love, your eternal security will be guaranteed.
4) The next thing that Jude says that we should do is to “look for eternal life through the mercy of our God.
That tells me that we should think on things eternal. We forget that this life is nothing more than a preparation time. We don’t want to let our unborn children grow for 9 months and then see them with a birth defect. We want them to be perfect.
God has given us a time and space on this earth to prepare for the eternity that lies before us. We are all going there, one way or another. No matter how much you diet, exercise, and keep yourself in shape, you have a destiny, and an appointment with death that you cannot escape unless Jesus comes back first.
Too many people are far more concerned about the condition of their muscles and don’t give a thought to the true condition of their heart. Eternity is a long time. I would rather sacrifice the time I have now, and gain that eternity with Christ in a wonderful Heaven that He has prepared for me.
If we will keep our heart on things eternal, and put our hope on the other side, and focus only on what it will take for us to get there and obtain that eternal life, I believe that we will have a continual spiritual security.
5) Verse 22 says that we should “have compassion” and “make a difference”.
That means that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. In fact Philippians 2:4 says, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." Romans 12:10 also says, "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another;"
It is no surprise that God made this one of the 10 Commandments. If we love others as much as we love ourselves we won’t be selfish or self-serving. If we would rather see others blessed than to take all the blessing for ourselves, then we are showing true Christian love. That kind of love can only come from the source of Love, God, who is Love. If we have the love of God in us then we can continue to trust in the security of our spiritual life.
6) Verse 23 says that we should “save others”, “pulling” them out of the fire, and that we should “hate the garment spotted by the flesh”.
What a picture this give to us! I can see us walking around the rim of Hell itself. Everyone around us is walking over the Lake of Fire and the only thing holding them up and out of the flames is the unseen hand of God and His mercy.
Someone asked the question a little while ago, “How can God bring the tsunami wave and other disasters on the earth and kill so many innocent people?”
I heard what I consider as the best answer yet. One preacher said it this way. “God is a just and Holy God! All men are sinners. All of us deserve to be drowned in a tsunami or some other manner of death. It’s only God’s infinite mercy and grace that any of us are still alive. It’s not God’s fault that sin came into the world, and death by that sin. If you want to blame someone, blame the devil, not God. God is willing that everyone would be saved. It is Satan whose goal is to utterly destroy every living human being to get even with God.”
Yes we need to be reaching out and grabbing the heart of everyone we can. Pull them out of the fire whatever it takes for if we don’t they will all surely burn. We have to hate the sin of this world, and the sin in other people’s lives, but not the person. We should desire to see them washed in the Blood of Jesus and wearing Robes of Righteousness just like ours.
If we have a love for the lost and we are ever reaching out to them, then we will have to stay close to God ourselves in order to be effective witnesses. In doing so, we will gain our own spiritual security.
7) The last two verses, 24 and 25, speak to us about our continual worship and service to “him that is able to keep you”.
That’s the final key to spiritual security! It’s a life of worship of the Lord Jesus Christ! Everything in life should be done as unto the Lord. Whether its on a secular job, or a ministry in the church, or a hobby that you just like to do, it should be done for God’s glory.
A life that is dedicated to worshipping and serving the Lord will make Heaven rejoice! We should ever praise our God, our Savior, and our Lord! Unto Him is glory and majesty and dominion and praise, in the life and in the eternity to come.
If we will adhere to these 7 things we will surely build spiritual security for our own soul. I, along with Jude, the brother of Jesus, will also say, AMEN. It is done! Thank you Jesus for making a way for me to have eternal life and spiritual security. AMEN.
