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Contend for the Faith: Uncovering the Truth in Jude
Pastor Josh Massaro leads a profound discussion on the importance of contending for the faith in the face of false teachings, drawing insights from the Book of Jude. He emphasizes that the central theme is to urge believers to fight for the truth, especially as false teachers infiltrate the church with ungodly messages and lifestyles. Throughout the sermon, Pastor Josh highlights the significance of understanding one's own spiritual state and the necessity of building up one's faith through prayer and reliance on the Holy Spirit. He also addresses the need for Christians to remain vigilant and grounded in Scripture, recalling the warnings from the apostles about the challenges that lie ahead. As the episode unfolds, listeners are encouraged to reflect on their faith and the transformative power of God's love and mercy in their lives.
Pastor Josh Massaro opens the podcast with a warm welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church community, emphasizing the importance of truth in the Christian faith. He introduces a deep dive into the Book of Jude, a short yet profound epistle that addresses critical themes relevant to believers today. The episode explores the necessity for Christians to contend for their faith in the face of rising false teachings that distort the grace of God for selfish ends. Pastor Josh outlines how Jude calls believers to recognize the subtlety of these false teachers, who have infiltrated the church and are leading many astray. The discussion includes the identification of specific groups judged for their rebellion against God, drawing parallels between their actions and contemporary issues facing the church. Through this examination, listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own beliefs and the state of their spiritual lives, reinforcing the message that vigilance and adherence to the truth are essential for a thriving faith community.
Takeaways:
- The Book of Jude emphasizes the importance of contending for the faith amid false teachings.
- Believers are called to fight for the essentials of the gospel, not personal preferences.
- The theme of Jude warns against false teachers who twist God's grace for sensuality.
- Christians should build themselves up in faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
- Jude teaches that God will ultimately judge the ungodly for their actions and words.
- To contend for the faith, one must first reflect on their own spiritual state.
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This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of the Ask Ralph Podcast, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.askralphpodcast.com/
Transcript
Hello, and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Pastor Josh:My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.
Pastor Josh:I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.
Pastor Josh:Now, come along.
Pastor Josh:Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
Speaker B:All right, let's get into our Bible study tonight.
Speaker B:If you have your Bibles, turn there with me to the Book of Jude.
Speaker B:Who knew that we could spend so much time just on one chapter?
Speaker B:It's one book, but it's also one chapter, 25 verses.
Speaker B:But there's so much here.
Speaker B:And one of the things about the Book of Jude is that there are some really obscure references that we see that are exclusive to this book.
Speaker B:Even though he does reference the Old Testament quite frequently, he does reference even the Jewish tradition and some other Jewish literature, which we're going to talk about here this evening.
Speaker B:But there's a lot for us to learn.
Speaker B:But to.
Speaker B:To go back and remind ourselves, what is the theme of the Book of Jude?
Speaker B:It is found all the way back there in verse number three.
Speaker B:Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith.
Speaker B:And so the whole theme of the Book of Jude is to exhort believers to contend for the faith.
Speaker B: So let's use it in: Speaker B:He's challenging Christians to fight for the truth.
Speaker B:And the reason being is because the truth is under attack.
Speaker B:And in this case, in this context, in this book, there were false teachers that had come into the church that were preaching and teaching and demonstrating ungodly ways.
Speaker B:They were teaching the wrong things.
Speaker B:They were living the wrong way.
Speaker B:And so he says that in verse four, they crept in unawares, so secretively under the radar.
Speaker B:They came in and they began to lead the people astray from the truth.
Speaker B:And he says, okay, they're ungodly.
Speaker B:And he tells us specifically how they were ungodly and specifically where they were going astray.
Speaker B:It said that they were using the grace of God.
Speaker B:They were turning or twisting the grace of God into lasciviousness or sensuality.
Speaker B:And in so doing, they were denying Jesus.
Speaker B:They were denying the deity of Christ by what they were teaching and by what they were doing.
Speaker B:So I think it's important for us to go back to understand that so that we can apply what he's been talking about.
Speaker B:So so he says, fight for the faith.
Speaker B:Well, it's not fighting for your preferences, it's not fighting for your opinion.
Speaker B:It's not fighting for the way that, you know, you think church should be run.
Speaker B:It's not talking about that.
Speaker B:It's talking about the fighting for the essentials, fighting for the faith, the gospel.
Speaker B:And, and so he goes on to talk about three groups that were judged for their rebellion.
Speaker B:He says, so these false teachers are in rebellion.
Speaker B:So this is what's going to happen to these false teachers who were in rebellion.
Speaker B:And he talked about the Israelites traveling in, out of Egypt into the wilderness.
Speaker B:They were judged for their rebellion.
Speaker B:The angels that left their own habitation and went into sin.
Speaker B:There were an everlasting judgment in verse 6, verse 7, Sodom and Gomorrah was punished for their sin of fornication, as it says there in verse seven.
Speaker B:And, and chasing after the strange flesh, as it says in verse seven.
Speaker B:And then he goes on to describe more about these false teachers.
Speaker B:He calls them filthy dreamers.
Speaker B:He calls them individuals who defile the flesh.
Speaker B:He calls them individuals who despise dominion or authority.
Speaker B:And they speak evil, evil of dignities or leaders.
Speaker B:They speak evil of leadership.
Speaker B:And he says, hey, the reason why this is wrong is because they're basically exercising their own flesh as their guide.
Speaker B:And he says, even the angel, verse nine, even Michael the archangel, when he disputed against the enemy, what did he do?
Speaker B:He didn't use his power, which he had a lot of power, even though he's not God, he's the most powerful angel.
Speaker B:As it says, they're the archangel.
Speaker B:What did he do at the end of verse nine when he fought against Satan?
Speaker B:He said, the Lord rebuke thee.
Speaker B:So, so he uses the power of God, the name of God, the truth of God in his defense.
Speaker B:And so that tells us how we contend for the faith, how we fight for the truth.
Speaker B:We fight for the truth and the power of God and the word of God and the strength and the direction of the Spirit.
Speaker B:So he goes on further and, and last week we talked about the, the three different paths that these false teachers took.
Speaker B:I'm giving you guys a summary, uh, so hopefully you guys can appreciate a, a five minute Jude summary.
Speaker B:Three ways.
Speaker B:The way of Cain.
Speaker B:What was the way of Cain?
Speaker B:The way of Cain was the faithless path to religion, empty religion, man centered religion.
Speaker B:Um, the way of Cain was, hey, I'm gonna try to worship God the way that I wanna worship instead of the way that God told me to worship.
Speaker B:So there's the way of Cain.
Speaker B:And then we saw that there was the, the heir of Balaam, which was for fleshly reward, for, for financial gain, for compromising the truth when it came to selling ourselves for the almighty dollar, so to speak, in our culture today.
Speaker B:Um, and then he went on to talk about the gain sayings of core, which was basically this.
Speaker B:They were, they were individuals who were trying to take authority, inappropriate authority.
Speaker B:Remember what Korah did?
Speaker B:Korah came to Moses and said, hey, Moses, I know that God instituted you and Aaron as the leaders, but you guys do too much.
Speaker B:We need to come alongside and we need to take control and help you.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:In the guise of helping, they were coming to hurt.
Speaker B:Uh, so he says these are all tendencies of false teachers.
Speaker B:And so we look out for those things.
Speaker B:We, we keep our eyes open.
Speaker B:And he talked about the danger of that.
Speaker B:He says, these individuals who do this, they're spots in your feast of charity.
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker B:They're hindrances to your love, they're hindrances to your growth.
Speaker B:And he goes on to give a bunch of examples.
Speaker B:Clouds without water, um, they're carried about with the wind.
Speaker B:Trees without fruit, um, so he says, they're, they're empty, they're hip, they're hypocrites, they're fruitless.
Speaker B:They, they come forward with the, you know, sounding of the truth.
Speaker B:But yet at the end of the day, there, there's emptiness.
Speaker B:Verse 13 tells us that.
Speaker B:So all of that to say, we're in verse 14.
Speaker B:He's going to continue now to talk about the certainty of the judgment upon these certain men.
Speaker B:So in context, if the certain men that are preaching and teaching false teachings within the church.
Speaker B:And so verse 14, he says, and Enoch, also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them.
Speaker B:Of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him, you might say.
Speaker B:What is he talking about here?
Speaker B:He references Enoch.
Speaker B:Most of you probably know that name, Enoch he's mentioned in Genesis chapter 5.
Speaker B:He is the individual that was caught up into heaven without dying in Genesis chapter 5.
Speaker B:And he's also referenced in Hebrews chapter 11 for his faith.
Speaker B:So there was in the Jewish culture an ancient book of Enoch.
Speaker B:It was not received as scripture, but it was highly respected among the Jews and the early Christians.
Speaker B:So there's a big debate Right.
Speaker B:And some of you, I've already heard.
Speaker B:I mentioned the word Enoch.
Speaker B:I've read the Book of Enoch.
Speaker B:That's great.
Speaker B:But we have to understand that it has not been canonized.
Speaker B:We believe that God preserved his Word.
Speaker B:There's a theological term called preservation.
Speaker B:And so we don't believe that God had hid His Word for a time.
Speaker B:And then now we found these new documents.
Speaker B:We believe that the Book of Enoch is not canonized, therefore it is not the inspired word of God.
Speaker B:But we do know that here Jude references the Book of Enoch.
Speaker B:So the reference of the Book of Enoch now has become inspired in the word of God.
Speaker B:You say, wait, wait, wait.
Speaker B:That doesn't make any sense to me.
Speaker B:Well, if that doesn't make sense to you, then the three references that Paul makes to worldly writers would not make sense either.
Speaker B:Paul mentions in Acts 17 and 1 Corinthians and in Titus chapter 1, References of literature outside of Scripture.
Speaker B:But when it's referenced in Scripture, it now becomes the inspired word of God.
Speaker B:So what happens here is Jude quotes a prophecy from the Book of Enoch.
Speaker B:It doesn't mean that the whole Book of Enoch is scripture, but that this, this portion, this prophecy is.
Speaker B:So Paul quoted pagan poets.
Speaker B:Jude is quoting Enoch.
Speaker B:So what does he say?
Speaker B:He says about this judgment, that.
Speaker B:That God is going to execute judgment upon all, and he's coming with his saints.
Speaker B:And we.
Speaker B:And we know that this is a reference to the end times.
Speaker B:We know that this is God's ultimate judgment upon the world.
Speaker B:God is judging right and wrong now, obviously.
Speaker B:But if we are honest with ourselves, we can feel maybe that God is allowing things to happen.
Speaker B:Maybe you've never.
Speaker B:Maybe you've never thought about this, but you're like, hey, what?
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker B:Why didn't God make it right right now?
Speaker B:Why is God allowing all this evil in the world?
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:Well, many people call, you know, inequity, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker B:But the Bible says that God one day is going to make this all right.
Speaker B:We know that at the end he will.
Speaker B:And so it says that he comes to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds.
Speaker B:And so this speaks to this idea of conviction in this quotation.
Speaker B:The Bible says that God is going to judge all of the ungodly.
Speaker B:Now, ungodly here means without God, meaning they don't have faith.
Speaker B:This isn't talking about Christians who have sinned.
Speaker B:This is talking about the ungodly in rejection.
Speaker B:And so those will be faced with judgment.
Speaker B:Many people take the judgment of God lightly.
Speaker B:You know, you maybe even hear jokes in, in the news or in, in movies like, oh, you know what?
Speaker B:I've even heard people say, I'm glad to go to hell because that's where all my friends are.
Speaker B:Folks, that is a misunderstanding of God's judgment and his righteous indignation against those that are evil.
Speaker B:None of us want God's judgment.
Speaker B:But I will say that all of us deserve God's judgment.
Speaker B:By the way, I think that when we read verse 15, it's easy for us to say, well, that's what they deserve.
Speaker B:That's what those ungodly people deserve.
Speaker B:Those people that were in rebellion to God, that's what they deserve.
Speaker B:Let me tell you something folks, here tonight.
Speaker B:The gospel says that all of us deserve what verse 15 says, all of us deserve it.
Speaker B:From the very beginning, the Bible says, there is none good, no, not one.
Speaker B:And the Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Speaker B:So we say, so what makes the difference between someone who is not going to face God's judgment and someone who is going to face God's judgment?
Speaker B:The Bible says very clearly that it's faith, it's our identity in Christ.
Speaker B:So when we trust in Jesus Christ, we're not trusting in him to help us.
Speaker B:We're trusting in him to save us from destruction.
Speaker B:I want you to see a cool passage of scripture that I think will help us kind of frame in our minds the difference between someone who is on the side of judgment and who is on the side of grace.
Speaker B:It's in First John, chapter two, not far away if you turn back left in your Bibles, probably just a few pages.
Speaker B:First John, chapter two speaks of who we are in Christ and how we can escape the judgment of God going back, theologically speaking, all of us deserve God's judgment.
Speaker B:All of us deserve separation.
Speaker B:All of us deserve eternal punishment from him.
Speaker B:But First John, chapter two, verse one says this, my little children.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So John is referencing Christians, those that are in the faith.
Speaker B:These things write I unto you that ye sin not so.
Speaker B:So John says, guys, I'm writing you these things so that you don't sin.
Speaker B:And all of us would say, that sounds good.
Speaker B:But then he says something interesting.
Speaker B:And if any man sin, meaning this, you shouldn't want to sin, you should strive not to sin.
Speaker B:But the reality is, is that you will sin.
Speaker B:So what happens?
Speaker B:Well, now we're facing God's judgment again.
Speaker B:No, what does it say?
Speaker B:It says, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
Speaker B:Who's the advocate?
Speaker B:Jesus Christ, the righteous.
Speaker B:It's Jesus's righteousness that allows us to not face the judgment of God.
Speaker B:And so it's not a matter of good people versus bad people.
Speaker B:I want to be very clear about that.
Speaker B:I think a lot of times we think, well, my goods outweigh my bad, so therefore God's not going to judge me.
Speaker B:That's not what it's about.
Speaker B:The Bible says if you've offended one sin, you've offended them all.
Speaker B:And so I think so many times we wrap up our Christian life with pride because we're like, hey, we aren't those bad people over there that, that God's going to judge.
Speaker B:And we, and we put a label on whoever we think is really bad.
Speaker B:And it depends on who you are.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:You know, some of us have our pet sins that we hate, and we should hate sin.
Speaker B:But the truth is, is that scripture says very clearly here that the distinction between those that are judged and those that are not judged, it's those who have faith in Jesus Christ and have his righteousness on their account.
Speaker B:And Jesus is their advocate, their, their lawyer, so to speak.
Speaker B:And so think of like a throne room or not a throne room, let's say a courtroom.
Speaker B:God the Father is sitting up there in the judgment seat and, and we're standing before him, Guilty, guilty as charged.
Speaker B:But then you have the advocate, Jesus, he comes in the scene, he says, hey, look, I paid the price.
Speaker B:I took the payment, I took the cross.
Speaker B:I'm the one who knew no sin, and he was the one that took that sin for us.
Speaker B:So therefore we can celebrate that we are not part of verse 15.
Speaker B:We are not the ones that are going to receive the judgments upon us, but we are gonna be the ones that can celebrate the truth of Jesus's righteousness, not celebrating our goodness.
Speaker B:Because sometimes what can happen is Christians can get together and we can start talking about how good we are and how bad they are, but the truth is, is that we need to talk more often about how bad we are and how good God is and how much he has changed us.
Speaker B:So anything that you do in your life that reflects anything that I do, that I reflect Christ in it's glory to him, it's glory to his power, and it's his transformation in my life, not my own.
Speaker B:I didn't clean myself up.
Speaker B:My flesh still wants what my flesh wanted before I got saved.
Speaker B:I, I, some of you might look at me like what your flesh wants, what your flesh wants and the Bible speaks of this idea that we die to the flesh.
Speaker B:And now we allow the Spirit to guide us.
Speaker B:And the Spirit guiding us allows us to respond in righteousness.
Speaker B:But again, it's not our righteousness.
Speaker B:It's the Spirit working through us.
Speaker B:And so I.
Speaker B:I think that that's so important for us to understand.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So think of somebody arrested for a crime.
Speaker B:It is Jesus who breaks the shackles of our guilt.
Speaker B:And so we're back to Jude, verse 15.
Speaker B:He says they've committed these ungodly works.
Speaker B:And he gets specific here, and he says of all their hard speeches.
Speaker B:What's he talking about here?
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker B:They're hard speeches.
Speaker B:I think that that's important to.
Speaker B:To see because we.
Speaker B:We think of a hard speech as like, man, I got a.
Speaker B:I got a big speech I have to give here.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's not what he's talking about here.
Speaker B:He's talking about their.
Speaker B:Their.
Speaker B:Their harsh speech.
Speaker B:It's harsh.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's grading.
Speaker B:So he's characterizing these individuals that.
Speaker B:In rebellion to God.
Speaker B:And so he says harsh speech.
Speaker B:And that harsh speech allows them.
Speaker B:I like Spurgeon.
Speaker B:Some of you know, Spurgeon.
Speaker B:Charles Spurgeon, great prince of preachers there in England.
Speaker B:I like this quote that he said.
Speaker B:He said, you know, the sort of people alluded to here.
Speaker B:Nothing ever satisfies him.
Speaker B:Satisfies them.
Speaker B:They're discontented even with the gospel.
Speaker B:The bread of heaven must be cut into three pieces and served on dainty napkins, or else they cannot eat it.
Speaker B:And very soon their soul hates even this light bread.
Speaker B:There is no way by which a Christian man can serve God so as to please them.
Speaker B:They will pick holes in every preacher's coat.
Speaker B:And if the great high priest himself were here, they would find fault with the color of the stones of his breastplate.
Speaker B:Spurgeon said that in a sermon.
Speaker B:And, man, that's pretty strong word.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:By the way, that wasn't Pastor Josh.
Speaker B:That was Charles Spurgeon.
Speaker B:If you have any problem with him, uh, you can take it up with him in heaven when you meet him one day.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But the truth is, is that sometimes that's what happens in our life.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We have all these great things, but yet we can't see the blessing in the midst of the.
Speaker B:The problem.
Speaker B:And, and so they.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They managed themselves to get to a place where they were trying to flatter people.
Speaker B:These certain men, in this case, knew how to talk smooth ways and, And.
Speaker B:And flattering Words, they would say anything good or bad, to get an advantage, to get up.
Speaker B:You know, you've ever met someone like that, they'll tell you anything as long as it's them on top.
Speaker B:So you would say, so how do we be different?
Speaker B:How, how, how do we distinguish ourselves in a different manner than this?
Speaker B:And then how do we watch out for this?
Speaker B:Well, he gives us what we should do.
Speaker B:How do we keep ourselves in this way?
Speaker B:Because that's the way culture goes.
Speaker B:That's the norm.
Speaker B:That's the world.
Speaker B:Verse 17, he says, but beloved, again, referencing Christians, referencing believers.
Speaker B:Remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:Remember what you've been taught about the truth.
Speaker B:We are to be different.
Speaker B:We are to remember what Jesus taught.
Speaker B:The word of God is always the answer to danger and division within the church.
Speaker B:It's always the word of God.
Speaker B:That's what he's saying here.
Speaker B:Jude is saying, hey, you know what?
Speaker B:You know how you be different?
Speaker B:You know how you're different than these false teachers?
Speaker B:You know how you're different than the world?
Speaker B:You know how you're different than the ungodly?
Speaker B:You center everything and remember the word.
Speaker B:You remember scripture.
Speaker B:So we can allow divisions to happen.
Speaker B:We can allow conflict to happen.
Speaker B:We can even allow attacks to the truth happen.
Speaker B:But at the end of the day, what we have to do is we have to recenter ourselves in scripture.
Speaker B:More and more, I am learning that if scripture doesn't mention it, I'm going to tell you, if someone comes up and says, hey, what do you think about this?
Speaker B:Sometimes I'm even cautious to say what I think about it because if scripture doesn't mention it, I don't know.
Speaker B:Whoa, whoa.
Speaker B:You can't say you don't know.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:Scripture doesn't mention it.
Speaker B:So we're not sure.
Speaker B:You can believe what you want to believe about that.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:And it's fun sometimes to have a gospel imagination.
Speaker B:I like that, by the way.
Speaker B:I do like that.
Speaker B:But we have to be very careful when we take anything outside of scripture and make that the importance.
Speaker B:The gospel is the gospel for a reason.
Speaker B:And you know, I was listening to another Spurgeon.
Speaker B:I wasn't listening to it.
Speaker B:Spurgeon.
Speaker B:I was reading Spurgeon's sermon.
Speaker B:Dictated to me.
Speaker B:So it wasn't his voice.
Speaker B:But he was saying that when a church gets tired of hearing the gospel is an indication that they are not where they need to be.
Speaker B:He said sometimes churches will get like, hey, why are you preaching the gospel, we're all saved.
Speaker B:We all know the truth of Jesus.
Speaker B:Teach us something else.
Speaker B:Everything is based in the gospel.
Speaker B:Therefore, if we want to talk about morality, if we want to talk about conflict resolution, if we want to talk about husband and wife relationships, if we want to talk about defending the faith, it all goes back to the gospel, Jesus.
Speaker B:If.
Speaker B:If we don't have Jesus and Jesus resurrected, what's the point?
Speaker B:We're just like every other false religion out there.
Speaker B:And so it's Jesus at the heart of these things.
Speaker B:And Jesus marks it with grace and truth and compassion.
Speaker B:And so the apostles had warned the early church that this would happen.
Speaker B:Verse 18, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time.
Speaker B:So what is he saying here?
Speaker B:He says, don't be shocked that people are mocking Christ.
Speaker B:I think so much we're.
Speaker B:We're so shocked at the evil of this world that it takes us back too far to the point where we're off guard.
Speaker B:Expect.
Speaker B:I know this isn't revolutionary, but expect unsaved people to act like unsafe people.
Speaker B:Expect complainers to complain.
Speaker B:Expect people that are filled with hate to act in hate.
Speaker B:That's what the Bible says.
Speaker B:And so we don't get shocked when the world is that way.
Speaker B:I mean, we can turn away from sin and we can recoil from sin, which we should.
Speaker B:But there is a point in our minds where we know the Bible says that in the last time, which, by the way, we are in the last time.
Speaker B:And someone says, wait, you believe we're at the very last days?
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker B:But the Bible actually teaches theologically that from the moment of Jesus resurrection, we have been in the last days, and we're just getting closer and closer.
Speaker B: So just as it was true: Speaker B:So there will be mockers in the last times who should walk after their own ungodly lust.
Speaker B:You see a theme with these guys that he's talking about.
Speaker B:It always goes back to they're walking their way.
Speaker B:They're walking the fleshly path, the ungodly path.
Speaker B:So he says, don't be shocked with this.
Speaker B:A passage of scripture that maybe some of you are familiar with is in second Timothy, chapter four.
Speaker B:You could turn there with me if you'd like.
Speaker B:It's again, another prophecy of what it'll be like in the last times.
Speaker B:And I think that when you read this, or when you listen to me read this, you will see where we are.
Speaker B:Second Timothy, chapter four, verses three and four.
Speaker B:For the time will come when they people will not endure sound doctrine.
Speaker B:So, so what is he saying here?
Speaker B:He says there will be a day which in this case Paul was talking to Timothy and he says in your day, so it's even maybe worse now that people will not want to endure or listen to or accept sound teaching.
Speaker B:Says, but after their own lust.
Speaker B:There's a theme there.
Speaker B:Right back to their lust shall they heap to themselves, meaning they'll, they'll bring in, they'll attract, they will basically hunger after heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.
Speaker B:And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables, meaning this people will bring in and be attracted to what they want to hear.
Speaker B:And there will be people, there always will be people that will tell them what they want to hear.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:So like if I got up and I, I, what I could do is this, I could say, hey everybody, we're going to take a survey.
Speaker B:Surveys aren't a bad thing.
Speaker B:We're actually going to be doing a survey this Sunday about opportunities for you to get involved here at the church.
Speaker B:But if I, if I said, okay, let's, I'm going to take a survey and I want to hear what you guys want to hear preached to you.
Speaker B:And okay, I get all these opinions and they come in and okay, now I want to ask you what you don't want to have preached to you.
Speaker B:And I get all those opinions, in I go, okay, I know that this area right here is something that I can't preach because everyone's going to get upset.
Speaker B:So what do I do?
Speaker B:I take that off the table.
Speaker B:I don't necessarily out and out deny it, but what I do is I'll just preach the stuff that's palatable for the church.
Speaker B:And that sounds good and it might even be, it might even be truthful to a, to a degree.
Speaker B:But when we don't tell the whole story, we, we are, we are essentially lying.
Speaker B:Have you ever taught your children that?
Speaker B:If our kids come into our house and hey, so what happened here?
Speaker B:And they tell you something, is that the whole truth?
Speaker B:If it's not the whole truth, it's a lie.
Speaker B:And, and, and so there's that idea of sometimes we always think that false teachers and people that are trying to divide the church are going to come in with like, you know, a pitchfork and horns and come in and ah, we're gonna get you and we're terrible people.
Speaker B:No, it's coming in, in a way, the way of Cain, the, the, the, the heir of Balaam, it could be any of those paths.
Speaker B:But what we can see there in second Timothy chapter four is that there is going to be a day.
Speaker B:And he says, but Watch thou, verse 5.
Speaker B:But watch thou in all things.
Speaker B:Endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of the ministry.
Speaker B:For I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departure is at hand.
Speaker B:And so we have Paul saying, be ready, just do what you need to do.
Speaker B:And as Christians, that's what we have to do in our society.
Speaker B:We have to recognize the difference between a truth and a lie, deception.
Speaker B:And scripture verse 19, they.
Speaker B:These be they who separate themselves.
Speaker B:That's an interesting way to put it.
Speaker B:They separate themselves.
Speaker B:Essentially it means this.
Speaker B:They themselves cause the separation.
Speaker B:It's not that they're saying like, oh, we're separating from these good people.
Speaker B:It's that they come in and they're characterized by division.
Speaker B:So wherever they go, division happens.
Speaker B:And, and if you read Jesus's high priestly prayer in John 17, it's, it's Jesus's prayer for the church.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker B:Jesus could have prayed a lot of things, and he did.
Speaker B:But one of the things that were at the top of his prayer was this, that they be unified, that they be together.
Speaker B:Um, we see what was the mark of a healthy church in Acts chapter two.
Speaker B:They were in one accord.
Speaker B:And so what does Satan do?
Speaker B:Satan wants the opposite of what God wants.
Speaker B:So therefore he wants to cause division.
Speaker B:So he says these individuals that cause division are sensual, having not the spirit.
Speaker B:So there, there we get to the deepest, darkest problem.
Speaker B:There's no spirit.
Speaker B:There's no spirit involved.
Speaker B:There's no indwelling of the spirit.
Speaker B:There's no guidance of the spirit.
Speaker B:So what we can see is this, and I think this is important for us to see here this evening.
Speaker B:If we are unsaved, there's a person in our midst that's unsaved.
Speaker B:We should expect them to act unsaved and therefore living without the Spirit.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:I mean, that's, that's the distinction of a believer.
Speaker B:A believer is someone who has the spirit living within them.
Speaker B:But the Bible also speaks of individuals who have the spirit living within them.
Speaker B:So that, so that's called the indwelling of the spirit.
Speaker B:But there's also individuals that are not living filled with the spirit.
Speaker B:Meaning I have the spirit living within me, but I've suppressed the conviction of the spirit so much.
Speaker B:The Bible says quench not the spirit.
Speaker B:Okay, quenching the spirit means the spirit convicts, I reject.
Speaker B:And there's a time when I have rejected the Spirit so much in my life.
Speaker B:I've quenched the Spirit so much in my life that Paul speaks of what's called a seared conscience.
Speaker B:And when we have that seared conscience, we can get to a place in our life that we are living still in the family of God, in our position, but living away from the Spirit because the Spirit has no longer has any meaning to us.
Speaker B:And we can be living just like this.
Speaker B:And so what we can see is this.
Speaker B:There are Christians who are living outside of what a Christian should be living like.
Speaker B:And so I think that that's something that we need to be aware of when it comes to our own life.
Speaker B:We, we, we have to take a look at ourselves, take a look at our own life.
Speaker B:So I, I, I read the New Testament and you know what I naturally do?
Speaker B:I naturally put myself in the shoes of the apostles.
Speaker B:That's what we, of course, we're, we're the star of the show.
Speaker B:We're the best.
Speaker B:But often I, I have tried now, I should say, to read the New Testament through the eyes of a Pharisee.
Speaker B:Am I that guy?
Speaker B:Am I the Pharisee?
Speaker B:Am I the one that's living outside of these truths of scripture?
Speaker B:And so I think the first step, and we're gonna look just at the first step.
Speaker B:There's actually three steps in how to contend for the faith.
Speaker B:We're gonna just look at the first step tonight.
Speaker B:I'm gonna summarize it and then we're gonna close out verse number 20.
Speaker B:Look inward.
Speaker B:The, the first thing that we do when it comes to being ready to contend for the faith is not to start looking at all the people on the outside and going, okay, how many people can I go after?
Speaker B:You know, we're gonna storm em.
Speaker B:The truth is, is that what did Jesus teach when, when we're.
Speaker B:The Bible never says don't judge completely.
Speaker B:It, it does speak against condemnation.
Speaker B:I have no right to condemn anybody.
Speaker B:But the Bible does say, when you're going to make a judgment call about a believer and come and exhort them, pick the beam out of your eye before you try to go after their spec.
Speaker B:That's not saying never try to help another Christian.
Speaker B:That's a lot of people take that out of context.
Speaker B:They say, well, you know what?
Speaker B:You shouldn't go around and try to help people in their sin because you've got a beam in your eye.
Speaker B:No, Jesus is teaching, hey, get yourself ready to go where you're walking in the Spirit.
Speaker B:So that you can help other people.
Speaker B:We should help other people.
Speaker B:And so what we do first when we're going to contend for the faith is we look inward.
Speaker B:So, so that's what verse 20 is.
Speaker B:But ye beloved, referencing now the Christians again, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.
Speaker B:And so what he says is this.
Speaker B:He says, keep yourselves, verse 21.
Speaker B:Keep yourselves, allow yourselves to live in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Speaker B:That is probably not the first thing we would think about when we think about contending for the faith.
Speaker B:He doesn't say hey, go and go to Bible college and make sure you have all the arguments.
Speaker B:He doesn't say hey you know what, go out and start attacking people.
Speaker B:He says first and foremost, inwardly, where are you at spiritually?
Speaker B:Build up yourselves on your most holy faith.
Speaker B:Build your Christian faith.
Speaker B:Grow in your faith.
Speaker B:Pray in the Holy Ghost.
Speaker B:Meaning pray asking God in the Spirit to allow you to live in the Spirit.
Speaker B:Keep yourselves in the love of God.
Speaker B:Be reminded.
Speaker B:Remember the love of God.
Speaker B:Look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Speaker B:Meaning you look to him, you try to be more like Christ.
Speaker B:We know that God loves even the ungodly.
Speaker B:Romans chapter five tells us that.
Speaker B:It says, for when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Speaker B:And you'd say, I don't think God sent Jesus to die for the ungodly.
Speaker B:Romans 5, verse 8.
Speaker B:But God commended his love towards us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Speaker B:It says it right there.
Speaker B:God loved us enough to die for us even when we were ungodly.
Speaker B:Not so that we would stay ungodly, but that we would live in that transformative life.
Speaker B:And so what does he say?
Speaker B:Go back to the love of God.
Speaker B:It means to keep yourself in constant reminders of God's ever present love in our life.
Speaker B:The Bible does say to love the ungodly.
Speaker B:The Bible does not say to accept the ungodly.
Speaker B:The Bible says to demonstrate our love for the ungodly.
Speaker B:It doesn't mean that we should build up the ungodly in their ungodly ways.
Speaker B:So therefore what we have to do is we have to be prepared to profess and to live out the love of Christ to those around us.
Speaker B:And so the one way that we can build up our faith is to be reminded about what Christ has done for us.
Speaker B:The Gospel.
Speaker B:We see their prayer.
Speaker B:We say that we see there the reminder of God's Mercy.
Speaker B:And so this is the faith that Jude was talking about all the way back in verse three.
Speaker B:Remember, in verse three, he says, contend for the faith.
Speaker B:You're contending for this very thing that you're trying to grow in the truth of God.
Speaker B:Another way to keep yourself in the love of God is to confess your sins before God.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:First John, chapter one, verse nine.
Speaker B:If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Speaker B:So part of our prayer lives is to confess before God where we have fallen short.
Speaker B:God already knows where we are.
Speaker B:God already knows that you've fallen short.
Speaker B:The word confession means to just say the same thing.
Speaker B:To agree.
Speaker B:To agree on my sin before God.
Speaker B:God to agree.
Speaker B:I know my sin is wrong.
Speaker B:I know that I've walked away from you.
Speaker B:I know that I've allowed myself to turn my ways to the flesh.
Speaker B:And so therefore, Lord, I want you to restore me back into your fellowship, not restore salvation.
Speaker B:But the Bible does say to restore the joy of our salvation.
Speaker B:And so the Holy Spirit may help us pray by giving us the right words to say we should pray to the.
Speaker B:By the way, biblically speaking, I think this is a controversial topic, but I think I can show you scripture to talk about this.
Speaker B:I believe the model prayer is to pray to the Father in the power of the Spirit in the name of Jesus.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I believe that's the path that we should take.
Speaker B:Now, some people say, can I pray to Jesus?
Speaker B:That's a kind of an interesting topic.
Speaker B:I believe you can.
Speaker B:I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Speaker B:But I believe when Jesus was asked, how should you pray?
Speaker B:He says, to thou, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Speaker B:So we say we address the Father through the power of the Spirit, verse 20, praying in the Holy Ghost, and then obviously in the name of Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:And the way it.
Speaker B:It doesn't mean that your prayer is actually more magical when you say in Jesus's name at the end.
Speaker B:It just means that you're praying in the fact that you could only approach God in his throne room because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:So someone says, well, I didn't say Jesus at the end of my prayer.
Speaker B:Is that prayer not valid?
Speaker B:No, you're praying on the fact that you're in.
Speaker B:You're in the standing in the family of God because of Jesus.
Speaker B:And so I think that's important for us to understand there in that essence of prayer.
Speaker B:And so the third way I think that we can keep ourselves in the love of God is that we just keep our eyes fixed on the Gospel.
Speaker B:We keep our eyes fixed, as it says in verse 21, the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Speaker B:That's what he's saying there.
Speaker B:That would be a fancy way to say your salvation.
Speaker B:The mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Speaker B:Eternal life is salvation.
Speaker B:John 3:16.
Speaker B:For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Speaker B:So it's meditating upon living in celebrating, proclaiming the gospel.
Speaker B:And then he's going to say, yeah, there, there are other steps.
Speaker B:You look inward first, but then you gotta look outward.
Speaker B:And that's what the next step, step is to look outward.
Speaker B:And, and ultimately at the end of all of this, it is to look upward.
Speaker B:And so for, for the, this week and next week, we're gonna look at those three steps.
Speaker B:To look inward, to look outward, and then to look upward.
Speaker B:And that is really how we contend for the faith.
Speaker B:It's not about having a bunch of conflicts.
Speaker B:You know, there are Christians who enjoy confrontation and to, to the point where it's like, okay, I'm gonna cause confrontation.
Speaker B:And the Bible says, no, be led in the Spirit.
Speaker B:God will get.
Speaker B:If you're walking in the Spirit, God will give you the discernment to know when to share your faith and when not to share the faith.
Speaker B:There is a time and a place not to say something.
Speaker B:We know that because Jesus didn't say the same thing every single time he dealt with people.
Speaker B:There were times where Jesus did walk away.
Speaker B:If you remember where he was preaching there in Nazareth, his own town.
Speaker B:They weren't receiving him because they, they, they were not respecting him because that's where he was from.
Speaker B:So Jesus didn't say, well, I'm going to stay in Nazareth till everyone hears me.
Speaker B:Jesus moved and, and so there is a time and a place, Paul did that.
Speaker B:Paul left certain places and said, you know what?
Speaker B:God's work isn't here anymore.
Speaker B:The Holy Spirit sometimes closes the door.
Speaker B:And so if we're, if, if we're going to look at this from the perspective of as a church, we're going go into all the world.
Speaker B:It's the Holy Spirit guiding us to say, okay, this is a gospel opportunity.
Speaker B:Maybe this isn't a gospel opportunity.
Speaker B:I can still live out the gospel, but maybe this isn't a confrontational opportunity.
Speaker B:So the point I'm trying To make is don't just go out looking for a fight.
Speaker B:If you live the gospel, the fights will find you.
Speaker B:Let me tell you, if you live long enough and you live for the truth of Christ, and you proclaim the love of Christ and you proclaim the word of God, there will be enough conflict for you, enough to contend for the faith.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And it will come in different routes.
Speaker B:It will come in different ways.
Speaker B:And so the book of Jude is all about how can we contend for the faith?
Speaker B:And how can we be the ones prepared to go out?
Speaker B:You, you can't contend for the faith.
Speaker B:If you go back and look at verse 15, 16 and say, you know what?
Speaker B:Ooh, I am someone who has grading speech.
Speaker B:I am someone that's a murmur, a complainer walking after my own lust, someone speaking swelling words.
Speaker B:Okay, There are some times in our life where we need to reinspect what we're doing, but that's the grace of God, because all of us, all of us deserve what we were talking about in verse 15, the judgment of God.
Speaker B:But yet we still have that grace.
Speaker B:And so it's never too late.
Speaker B:It's never too late to come back to him.
Speaker B:You know how I know it's not too late?
Speaker B:Because you're right here taking it in breath.
Speaker B:It's not too late.
Speaker B:Okay, we can continue on.
Speaker B:God's gonna give us another day, Lord willing.
Speaker B:If not, hey, then.
Speaker B:Then we're with him in glory.
Speaker B:Uh, so.
Speaker B:So we're gonna look at more.
Speaker B:We're gonna look at verse number 22 next week, which actually, actually has.
Speaker B:Has been misinterpreted in many ways.
Speaker B:Uh, I believe specifically, if you look at it from the perspective of what Jude is talking about here.
Speaker B:Uh, so, so there are.
Speaker B:There.
Speaker B:There is a way that we.
Speaker B:And there's different ways that we deal with people.
Speaker B:There's some people that we need to give compassion to.
Speaker B:There's some people that we need to save with fear, as it says.
Speaker B:There are some people that we need to pull out of the fire.
Speaker B:Um, so.
Speaker B:So there, there.
Speaker B:There are some different paths that we take when we deal with certain people depending on the Holy Spirit's guidance.
Speaker B:And so that's what we will talk about next week.
Speaker B:I will stop there.
Speaker B:Could love to talk about it more, but we are at our limit tonight, so appreciate your attention here, contending for the faith.
Speaker B:If you followed along with us here in the study of Jude, I.
Speaker B:I hope that it's been beneficial to you.
Speaker B:If you have any questions about any of this, I will try to answer the ones that I know and the ones that I don't know.
Speaker B:I will let you know that I will look it up.
Speaker B:After we get through the Book of Jude, we are going to this is kind of just a a plea for those that, you know, maybe are on the fence of coming back out for another study.
Speaker B:We are going to be studying the the Book of Philemon and and that's a book that is not talked about very often, but it's actually a very, very interesting book, one that I believe there's a really important message for us to learn there.
Speaker B:So a lot of times left out because of the uniqueness of the story.
Speaker B:So if you've never heard that or if you have heard it, appreciate you coming back and studying it together with me.
Pastor Josh:Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.
Pastor Josh:I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
Pastor Josh:You you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org.
Speaker B:Or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
Pastor Josh:You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro, Middletown BaptistChurch.com if you've enjoyed this podcast.
Pastor Josh:Please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.
Pastor Josh:Thank you so much.
Pastor Josh:God Bless.
Pastor Josh:Have a wonderful day.
