Ishmael LaBiosa: Welcome to 40 Days Through the New Testament. This podcast is led by Pastor Rusty Small at Liberty Baptist Church in Appomattox, Virginia. Listen as he guides you through all 27 books of the New Testament in preparation for Easter. Get your Bible ready. Here's today's message. Well, we spent some time today on the book of Jude, a very brief book, only 25 verses long. Another unique biblical author indeed. Jude, probably real name Judas, is one of Jesus's brothers. So we have two biblical authors or two New Testament authors that are Jesus's siblings. Jesus' half siblings indeed. Joseph and Mary do have children after Mary is conceived with the Holy Spirit and Jesus is born. And then after that, Joseph and Mary have children and James and Jude or Judas. Nobody wants the name Judas after Judas Iscariot messed it up. So we have Jude. The theme of false teaching is really at the heart of this book. I've said previously that it is 2 Peter and Jude that are often studied together. And I want you to see that Jude would desire to write about something more positive but ends up needing to address false teaching in the church. Verse three, Dear friends, although I was eager to write about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all. For some people who were destined for this judgment long ago have come in by stealth. They are ungodly turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ our only master and Lord. So a key theme here is contend for the faith or fight for the faith or wrestle for the faith. The idea is in every generation, the faith is challenged, tested, questioned, and sometimes just downright misrepresented. And Jude says, you're gonna have to contend for it. Why? because he says there's always people who have teaching positions who want to undermine the faith that is in Jesus Christ. And notice how they do this. Verse four, for some people who were destined for this judgment long ago, notice the characteristics, they come in by stealth. False teachers don't announce, I am now going to ruin your life, listen to me. Nope, they come in in a stealthy way. They also turn the grace of our God into sensuality. God's grace means there's no standards. You can do what you want to do. Live how you want to live. Be who you want to be. Sounds good, but it's wrong. And if you give them long enough, they'll deny Jesus. And all of that can lead you down a very bad path. Jude does what 2 Peter does here, and that is he points to Old Testament examples and shows that false teaching, people being misled, this is not a new thing, it's an old thing, and that we should be able to see both in the Old Testament and in past generations how people have been misled. We ought to take note of the contours and characteristics so that in our own life we know how to spot people and spot teachings that don't align with the Bible. That we should not be naive, we should be discerning. We should say, that's not right, that's not what the Bible says, that's not proper application of the grace of God. And so verse five to verse 19, what Jude is trying to do is to give you the profile of a false teacher so that you can spot them. And you are able to say, you know what? I'm not going to align my life around that teaching. We get to verse 20 and Jude is not just being here's how to spot false teaching. He gives us some practical advice here on what to do to be ready to live a life that is faithful. And he says, notice it, but you dear friends, this is verse 20, as you build yourself up, in the most holy faith like you're doing here. You're reading through the New Testament and guess what? You are learning and you're able to understand what the deposit of faith is in the New Testament. So build yourself up in the most holy faith. Secondly, praying in the Holy Spirit. This is not just a religion of the head, it's a religion of the heart. And we pray. in the power of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God, praise with us, for us, interceding. 20 verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God, understanding the unconditional grace of God and love demonstrated to us, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life and looking expectantly to the future. These are key practices. We get to verse 22 and 23, we have some really good advice. What about people who are struggling? Even those who are struggling in the church? There's a word now that we use, people deconstruct their faith, they struggle in doubt. verse 22, Jude says, have mercy on those who waver. If people are struggling, we ought to be merciful to them. We ought to have a listening ear. We ought to have instruction with our mouth. But then there is a caution. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. Have mercy on others with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. Here's the simple truth. While you are helping those who are struggling, here's what Jude says. Don't you start struggling in the process. I like the analogy that if someone is drowning, if you don't carefully think about how you're going to achieve the rescue, you may drown too. And Jude says right here, save others by snatching them out of the fire, have mercy on others with fear, but always hating the garment defiled by the flesh. The whole love of the sinner hate the sin. Sometimes people start loving the sinner and fall into sin. And Jude says, we ought to be careful. I can think of no better way to end the book of Jude than how it ends. With one of the most beautiful prayers of the Bible, I read it today in conclusion. In a world where we have to contend for the faith and there are false teachers and people who are doubting, listen to this wonderful prayer. Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory without blemish and with great joy to the only God, our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen. Thank you for listening to this podcast, A Ministry of Liberty Baptist Church. We pray that this is an encouragement to study God's Word and that you will join us for the next episode.