Sermon #31[1] Jude Sermons
Title: “Keep Yourselves in the Love of God”
Text: Jude 1:21
Subject: Persevering in God’s Love
Date: Tuesday
Evening — May 31, 2005
Tape # Jude #31
Readings: Bobbie Estes and David Burge
Introduction:
(Jude 1:20-21) “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on
your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, (21) Keep yourselves in
the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life.”
After the service last
Tuesday night, Bro. Lindsay asked me, “Why do you suppose the exhortation in
verse 21, ‘Keep yourselves in the love of God,’ is not given in the
present tense, as are the three in these verses?”
Lindsay’s observation should
not be overlooked. The other three verbs in these two verses (“building,”
“praying,” and “looking”) are all present, participles. But when
Jude says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God,” the exhortation is
given as an imperative command.
In the message last week, I presented these two verses as though we are here given four gracious exhortation, because I wanted to set before you the need for us to be diligent in…
·
Building ourselves up on our most holy faith.
·
“Praying in the Holy Ghost.”
·
Keeping ourselves in the love of God.
·
And “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life.”
But, in reality, Jude is
here giving us one great, urgent, imperative command. — “Keep yourselves in
the love of God.” And he tells us how we are to do so. We must keep
ourselves in the love of God by building ourselves up on “our most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, and looking for the mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
Tonight, I want to look at
this exhortation together. I pray that God the Holy Spirit will cause it to
ring in our hearts and give us grace to obey it. — “Keep yourselves in the
love of God.”
Throughout this epistle,
Jude warns us against false religion and apostasy. He speaks of multitudes who
have fallen away, being seduced from the simplicity that is in Christ. His aim is
not merely to denounce heresy, but to comfort, edify, strengthen and fortify us
in the face of the constant onslaught of heresy we have to face in this world.
Jude, I do not doubt, was praying as he wrote this letter to God’s church, —
“Blessed Spirit of God, what is the best thing I can say to these dear tried,
tested, harassed saints in the face of such evil? What will best secure them?
What instruction can I give them that will help them to avoid Satan’s cunning
craftiness?” And this is what he was inspired of God to write. — “Keep
yourselves in the love of God.”
Proposition: That which is our best
preservative from evil is the love of God; and the surest and best way for us
to persevere in faith is to keep ourselves in the love of God.
An
Unguarded Exhortation
I am sure that
some will hear this message, or read it, and immediately object, saying, “We
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. To exhort people to
keep themselves in the love of God is legalism and the preaching of works. If
we use texts like this, we must guard our words, lest men get the idea that
they must keep themselves.”
I want you to
observe that God the Holy Spirit, whose words these are, puts the exhortation
before us completely unguarded. — “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” There
it stands in the Book of God. And I have neither the right nor the desire to
blot it out of the Book. Indeed, there are many exhortations given in the Word
of God, and given without qualification, against which the same kind of objections
are raised. I am determined neither to twist them into something else, nor
avoid proclaiming them, for fear of men accusing me of heresy. That which is
written in the Book of God is to be preached just as it is written.
Anyone with half
an eye can see that while we are clearly taught that we can do nothing of
ourselves, nothing without Christ, nothing without God the Holy Spirit, nothing
without God’s enabling grace, we are exhorted and commanded to do many things,
things that are utterly impossible, except God work in us and give us the grace
to do them.
·
Faith is the gift of God. No man can believe except God
give him faith. Yet, we are commanded to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
promised eternal life if we trust God’s Son?
·
We are dead in trespasses and in sins. And no man can raise
himself from the dead. Yet, it is written, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
If there is any
inconsistency in such exhortations, it is the inconsistency of Holy Scripture,
and I bow to the Book . I will leave it to others, who imagine that they are
smarter than God, to carp and cavil if they choose.
The word of God
is not to be guarded and hedged, but proclaimed and obeyed. Yet many preachers
are so fearful that they might be considered unorthodox if they dare say what
God says, that if they are forced to deal with such exhortations as we have
before us, they spoil the effect them with their explanations, conditions, and
qualifications.
Gospel truth
needs no armor. Its naked beauty is its strength and its protection. Who would
think about wrapping the sun in a blanket to make its light more clear? Who
would dream of painting a rose to make it look and smell more like a rose?
God’s Word does not need protecting, but proclaiming.
(Jeremiah
23:28) “The prophet that hath a dream,
let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word
faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.”
Jude’s Command
Now, let’s look at Jude’s
command, just as it stands. — “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” The
words might be translated, “Preserve yourselves by the love of God.”
When tempted of the devil, when faced with trials and temptations, when wicked
men would turn you away from the simplicity that is in Christ, “preserve
yourselves by the love of God.” When perplexed, troubled, and tossed about by
things you do not understand, take refuge in the love of God.
Certainly, all who are born of God and taught of
him, understand fully that God’s love for us does not depend upon us. There is
no danger of any who are loved of God falling from it or losing it!
·
God’s love for us is from everlasting (Jer. 31:3).
·
God’s love for us is immutable (Mal. 3:6).
·
And God’s love for us is in Christ. He will not cease to love us until
he ceases to love his Son!
Without question, we are to keep ourselves in love
with our God and Savior. Again, that love for God which he has given us by his Spirit can
never be lost. Yet, our love for Christ can and often does grow cold and indifferent.
We are to zealously guard it and seek to love our Savior more. And we are to
stir up one another’s love for God in every way we can.
·
Meditate upon and talk often and much to one another about the blessed
things revealed in the gospel.
·
Pray for yourself and for one another, in public as well as in private,
that we may be taught of God to love him as we ought, that our love may be
fervent for him.
·
Anxiously look for and anticipate the grace and mercy of Christ unto
everlasting life.
These things, by the blessing of God the Holy
Spirit, will help to stir our hearts’ love for Christ and revive it.
We are to keep ourselves in brotherly love, in the
sweet communion and fellowship of the love of God, too.
(Ephesians
4:1-6) “I therefore, the prisoner of the
Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
(2) With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one
another in love; (3) Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. (4) There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are
called in one hope of your calling; (5) One Lord, one faith, one
baptism, (6) One God and Father of all, who is above all, and
through all, and in you all.”
(1 John 3:16) “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because
he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren.”
(1 John
4:7-11) “Beloved, let us love one
another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God. (8) He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
(9) In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (10) Herein
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be
the propitiation for our sins. (11) Beloved, if God so loved us, we
ought also to love one another.”
(1 John
4:19-21) “We love him, because he first
loved us. (20) If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a
liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God
whom he hath not seen? (21) And this commandment have we from him, That
he who loveth God love his brother also.”
Let us preserve ourselves by the love of God, keep
ourselves in love with God, and do everything we can to promote and keep the
love of God among the brethren. But Jude’s words are — “Keep yourselves in
the love of God.” The Holy Spirit here commands us to keep ourselves
in the love of God, to keep ourselves in the grace, favor, and love of
God for us.
A Question
“Keep yourselves in the
love of God.” — There is an implication here. If we are commanded to keep
ourselves in the love of God, it is implied that we are in the love of God.
This is not an exhortation directed to everyone.
There are some who are not in the love of God. This exhortation is directed to
those who are in love of God.
So I must ask
you a question. — Are you in the love of God? Do you know his
love in Christ Jesus? Has the love of God been shed abroad in you by his
quickening Spirit? Have you believed in Jesus Christ unto eternal life, and
seen the Father’s love beaming in the face of his crucified Son?
If you trust
Christ, you are in the love of God, for the love of God has been shed abroad in
your heart by the Holy Spirit who is given to you. Perhaps you are thinking,
“Pastor, I cannot tell you how I wish I were in the love of God, how I wish the
love of God might be shed abroad in my heart.” I say to you, “Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall have what you crave.”
The Precept
Are you in the love of God? Do you trust the Lord
Jesus? Is the love of God shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit? If so,
this is God’s precept to you, the very precept of God the Holy Spirit who has
shed abroad the love of God in your heart. — “Keep yourselves in the love of
God.”
“Keep yourselves in the love of God” by
cherishing every intimation of it. Do not allow Satan to spoil and rob
you of anything the Lord may teach you by his grace, or of any communication of
his mercy, goodness, and love. And we foster it and cherish it most and best by
believing it. Indeed, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit as we believe on the Son of God.
(Romans
5:1-11) “Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (2) By whom
also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in
hope of the glory of God. (3) And not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; (4) And
patience, experience; and experience, hope: (5) And hope maketh not
ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. (6) For when we were yet without strength, in
due time Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
(8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, being now justified by
his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (10) For if, when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (11) And not only so,
but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now
received the atonement.”
(Galatians
4:4-6) “But when the fulness of the time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (5) To
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of
sons. (6) And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his
Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
(Ephesians
1:13-14) “In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also
after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
(14) Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the
purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
(Ephesians
3:14-19) “For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (15) Of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, (16) That he would grant you, according to
the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the
inner man; (17) That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love, (18) May be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
(19) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might
be filled with all the fulness of God.”
“Keep
yourselves in the love of God” by
determinately shunning and avoiding everything that tends to dampen it.
·
The love of the World
·
Over indulgence in Other Things
·
Anger, Wrath, Malice
·
Self-centeredness
“Keep
yourselves in the love of God” by
setting your hearts and minds upon the spiritual foundation on which that love
rests. Do not look into your own heart, your own emotions, your
own feelings, and your own experiences, hoping to find things there that will
draw forth the love of God. Look beyond yourself! Ever seek to behold the love
of God in the Son of his love.
God’s love for
us is not a transitory thing that is dependent upon what we do. It does not
rest upon the uncertainties of time, or the fickleness of the creature, but is
in his dear Son. The love of God is altogether in his Son. If
Christ is loved, we are loved for his sake. This is the firm foundation of the
love of God. It is not given to us mere mortals of earth, but to Christ, and to
us in Christ, in whom we stand complete! It stands as fast and firm as the Son
of God himself.
·
It is free and gracious.
·
It is eternal and everlasting.
·
It is unconditional and immutable.
The Means
Now, look at verses 20-21 together, and observe the
means by which we are encouraged to keep ourselves in the love of God.
“Keep
yourselves in the love of God” by building yourselves up on our most
holy faith. By the words, “most holy faith,” Jude intends the
grand truths of the everlasting gospel revealed unto and embraced by faith. And
they are called “your most holy faith,” because they reveal all the
holiness of God and covey to us that “holiness without which no man shall see
the Lord,” our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith.
The words “building
up” assume that there is a foundation laid. Christ is that foundation which
God has laid in Zion—a chief corner-stone, elect, precious; and where Christ is
revealed to the soul by divine power, a foundation is laid in the heart on
which every subsequent truth is to be built up.
The grand thing to be certain of in our own experience is, whether Christ has been laid as a foundation in our souls or not, and if he has, we have been driven from every other foundation, finding no rest nor peace but in him. If ever he has been revealed to our souls by the mighty power of God, then we have seen and felt in him that there is a foundation on which we can stand, and that for eternity. He has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and brought in an everlasting righteousness in which we stand justified. Christ is a foundation on which a poor, guilty soul may rest. When this foundation is brought near, and we, by the power of God’s grace, are lifted up to rest upon it—
“How firm a
foundation, you saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your
faith in his excellent word.”
“Other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor.
3:11). Now when Christ is made known to your soul by the power of God, “as
you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” We receive him by
faith. Walk in him by faith, looking to him alone for everything.
It is when we lose sight of Christ that
error creeps in. If you would keep yourself in the love of God, set your heart upon the
foundation, and meditate much upon the Person and work of Christ your Redeemer.
· His Godhead
· His Humanity
· His Suretyship
· His Sacrifice
· His Righteousness
· His Intercession
· His Dominion
· His Promises
“Keep
yourselves in the love of God” by “praying in the Holy Ghost.” The
life of faith is a life of constant dependence upon God and his grace. It is a
life of constant prayer.
(1 Thessalonians 5:17-25) "Pray without ceasing. (18) In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (19) Quench not the Spirit. (20) Despise not prophesyings. (21) Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (22) Abstain from all appearance of evil. (23) And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (24) Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. (25) Brethren, pray for us."
(Hebrews 4:14-16) "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. (15) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
“Keep
yourselves in the love of God” by “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ unto eternal life.”
·
Looking for Promised, Covenant Mercy
·
Looking for Daily, Providential Mercy
·
Looking for Redeeming, Pardoning Mercy
·
Looking for Keeping, Preserving Mercy
·
Looking for Mercy in the Last Day
·
Looking for all the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
·
“Looking for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
(Titus 2:13-14) “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (14) Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”