Contend: Keep Loving Jesus as He Keeps You - Jude 17-25

The pressure to “keep up” with the culture is real, and so is the quiet fear many Christians carry: What if I don’t make it? 

In this sermon, Pastor Trent opens Jude 17-25 where we find a better kind of strength, the kind that doesn’t come from being loud, winning debates, or trying to grip Jesus hard enough to stay saved. 

Jude gives us a clearer path: remember what God already told us, remain close through ordinary faithfulness, rescue people with mercy, and rest in the God who keeps his children.

Transcript

Why Jude And Why Now

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If you have a copy of God's Word, go ahead and open it up. We're going to be in Jude this morning. While we are walking through Luke over a two-year period, our students this past week were in the book of Jude. And so we're going to look at the book of Jude together. I'm going to kind of summarize a little bit of what they learned this past week. Book of Jude, it's the second to last book in the entire Bible and one of the shortest books. So if you get to Revelation, you've gone too far. If you're in one of the Johns, first, second, or third John, you're not far enough. So right in between the Johns and Revelation. Our theme at camp this year was contend. Like I said, we've had around 400 students. And what we do every morning is we have written curriculum for them for a quiet time to walk through the book of Jude. And then our four directors, of which I am one, we teach the morning sessions. And we teach through a book of the Bible this year. Again, was Jude. And I was the final teacher, final preacher, and my charge was from Jude 17 through 25, which is the conclusion of all Jude has had to say in 25 verses. Now, if you're not familiar with the book of Jude, the book of Jude begins like this in the Greek, Eudas, a servant of the Lord. Eudas is Jude's name. So Jude's actual name is Judas. In English, we just go by Jude, and it's helpful because it kind of removes some confusion about other Judases, namely Judas Iscariot. People might think upon first reading that's who's writing this book. It's not who's writing this book. I argue, along with many other scholars, that the writer of the book of Jude was, as he says, James' brother. James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was Jesus' brother. And so I believe Judas, the writer of Jude, was Jesus' brother. Judas, or Jude, Jesus' brother. And he is writing contextually because there were false teachers that had come into the church and they distorted the grace of God teaching as if it was like a permission to give in to sinful proclivities. So because God saves you, you can do whatever you want. Fire insurance, right? You've prayed the prayer, you've walked a walk, you can go on living however you want to. That was a pervasive teaching that Jude wanted to annihilate, to destroy, to get rid of. Jude answers the question how should Christians respond when false teaching threatens the church? And here's how he says to respond. You see it in verse 3 Contend for the faith once and for all, delivered to the saints. Just to rid some confusion, the word saints is used over 60 times in the New Testament, and every time it is talking to all Christians. When we refer to Christians, we refer to Christians as Christians. The Bible tends to refer to Christians as saints. This is not a higher class of Christian or a few deceased Christians. This is all Christians. And if you begin to build on any other foundation, you're not only another entity, another group, but you coming inside of the church teaching a false doctrine must be clarified and removed and the truth must be taught. So he says to the church, contend for the faith once and for all, delivered to the saints. Jude talks about contending a lot. And when you think of the word contending, you might think of what you saw on the screen, like boxing gloves, like fighting, arguments, debates, owning people online, or just always being angry. But a unique thing happens in the book of Jude because the way he ends the book, he does not end with a command to fight. Jude ends with a reminder of hope. Because Christianity has never survived because Christians were strong enough. Christianity has survived 2,000 years ago because of God's promises and because Jesus is faithful enough. There's a massive difference there. So my goal this morning to teach and to send you home after church is to send you home, not with the idea that I've got to hold on to Christ enough, gotta hold on to him, but to send you home maybe to Sunday rest, believing Jesus is holding on to me. And that changes everything. So there's four things that I want you to walk away with this morning. Four things. In your notes, you see four kind of points you can put down. And this summarizes, these four points are intended to summarize verses 17 through 25. The first is this Jude encourages us to remember, to remember what God has already told us. Verse 17, but you must

Jude’s Warning About False Teachers

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remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, In the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the spirit. Jude contrasts the false teachers with, but you, church. And he says, you must, and what does he say you must do? Remember. He says, you must remember the apostles predicted difficult days to come for the church. In fact, that teaching originates with Jesus. For anyone wishing to save his life will lose their life. He talked about ravenous wolves that would come in. Difficulty that we may face as believers is no indication that God has lost control of our lives or the world. Opposition against biblical truth isn't proof that Christianity is failing. Rather, it's confirmation, as sad as it may be, that Jesus told the truth. Jesus prepared us for this. My wife and I enjoy kayaking and we like hiking. And before we moved up here to the Smoky Mountain area, we had taken a few different trips to the Smoky Mountains. And I can think of a few different trips that we took where we found some different paths, some trails to walk. And some of those trails, as you probably know, are very steep. And the Smoky Mountains are, as you can imagine, smoky. And sometimes there'll be kind of clouds and fog that kind of rolls in that distorts your view of what's ahead of you. Maybe you're headed up to the top of a small summit or a peak or a kind of an overlook and things get foggy and you kind of forget where you are and you're worried about what's ahead of you. Well, if you had no map whatsoever and you didn't talk to the person who's walked those trap uh those paths so many times before, and others who've walked those paths so many times before, you might get very scared. You might feel like you're just absolutely lost. If I can't see the top, maybe I'm lost. But if the park ranger already handed you a map and said, hey, this is what to expect, you don't panic when you don't understand some things around you. You trust what was already true, laid out for you. You're reminded of what's coming. Culture is the fog that will inevitably roll in as we pursue faithfulness to Jesus and walk after him. Scripture is the map, so our hearts are already prepared for what's coming. Don't let cultural fog cloud biblical truth. That's Jude. That's what he's saying. Don't let cultural fog cloud what has already been written, what I've already told you, what I've prepared you for. Hide God's word in your heart, hold it close and remember it. You'll need it. You do need it. Hidden my God's word in my heart that I may not sin against him. Sometimes in difficult days, we're more prone to sin. Culture changes every year. Christ does not change. In 2015, there was a historic Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, the Burgefeld decision. And that was a big topic of discussion politically across the United States. I remember uh hearing different um future candidates for president being interviewed on that subject. What do you think about this? So on and so forth. And one particular presidential candidate was being interviewed at a historic university. And this particular candidate was and is a Christian. And so he was being interviewed by students about what he believes should be the case, the law of the land, as far as marriage goes. And he said that if we begin to define marriage by anything other than the simple definition given in the Bible, orchestrated by God, it will inevitably lead to other sorts of sins that you think are bad now but won't in the future. This is the book of Judges, by the way. When you define love by a blanket statement like love, and everyone defines it by themselves and what they want, everyone will do what is right in their own eyes, and things will become chaotic and deadly, dangerous. You know what?

Remember The Map In The Fog

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He said, if you begin to define marriage by anything other than one woman, one man in a covenant before God, you will eventually be okay with polygamy. You know what happened? 2015, they laughed at him. They thought, no, no way, that's crazy. Ten years later, in 2026, the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America, the PCUSA, just had a debate in their general assembly whether or not clergy could be practicing polyamorists. Ten years time. Ten years time. Changing definitions, leaving biblical truth. Now, I want to clarify that is not all Presbyterian denominations. That's a particular one. Formerly the most prominent one, now largely devoid of the Spirit of God. People, leaders who claim to be within the church, but verse four in Jude, pervert the grace of God into sensuality. Denying we have a master in our lives who calls the shots, who has written out a word for us on ethical subjects like marriage. The Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, where the Bible speaks, Jesus speaks. And he's spoken definitively. Jesus' word on theological matters and ethical matters is not up for debate. And one of the things Jesus said was, in the last time, there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions, causing divisions, but they are devoid of the spirit. Verse 4. Devoid of the Spirit mean meaning lacking spiritual conviction to obey the master, Jesus, and what he says. Do not follow them. Be in the Word. Remember, Jesus predicted these things. Remember the words of your master. And not only remember the words of your master, remember he is good and follow him. God is not surprised by the world that you or I are living in. The Bible predicted the headlines before they happened, but you, you need to remember God's word so that you're not surprised at every new cultural phenomenon or surprised by the persecution or accusation it may bring. Remember and be faithful. Open God's word, know it. Hide it in your heart. Hold on to what he has said and remember he's so good. The second thing that Jude wants us to remember or to know is to remain, remain,

Culture Shifts But Christ Does Not

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to stay close to Jesus. Read verses, uh, if you'll read with me, verses 20 and 21. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. So he says, but you, beloved, build yourselves up. Now notice something here. You cannot read that and conclude that in any way faith is passive. Here's a command: build yourself up. You might consider Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Bible concludes for us that growth in godliness requires intentional work on our behalf. Nobody accidentally matures. No one drifts slowly toward holiness. This is why you read in the book of Colossians to put to death what is earthly in you. And to now that you have been raised with Christ, look up, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Every command in this passage, verse 20 and 21, build, pray, keep, wait. Each of them are daily callings to be diligent in your walk with Christ. To walk close to him, to be rooted in his word, to grow in him, and in prayer close to his heart. Now, I may be encouraging you towards some really ordinary Christian things this morning. But let me just tell you, the strongest Christians in life are not those that live the craziest lives. That live by supernatural story by supernatural story. The strongest Christians don't necessarily have the craziest lives, but have been the most consistent in ordinary Christian habits. Seeking the Lord where he is to be found in his word and in prayer. Amongst his church, and on your knees. The strongest Christians are most consistent in ordinary habits. They built their lives with a strong foundation, brick by brick, morning by morning, with an open Bible, eyes then closed, seeking the Lord in prayer, considering the words they just read. Christian, God has given us the means by which we approach Him in prayer, in His Word, with His church and by His Spirit. So don't neglect meeting God by the avenues he has given us. Through the avenues he has given us by the ordinary means. And be weak. What does he say next? Keep yourselves in the love of God. This part of the text brings a lot of questions, especially with how I will conclude and how Jude concludes the letter in verses 24 and 25. Because I'm going to conclude, as I believe is faithful to Jude's message, that you can put your soul to rest, believing, as Jude says, that God will present you blameless when he returns for you. I'll conclude by teaching that you need not

Remain Close Through Ordinary Faithfulness

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worry as you struggle against sin, pursuing holiness, as if by your sin you would lose God's love for you. But keep yourselves in the love of God. What does Jude mean here? After all, if God is the one who keeps believers, why is Jude inspired by the Holy Spirit commanding us to keep ourselves in the love of God? Well, I think Jude's primary concern here is a real concern, and that is that a sinful people's love for God may grow cold over time in the fog. In fact, that's why he says not only to wait patiently, but to pray in the Holy Spirit. Let me say something here. Prayer and our personal access to God in prayer by his spirit is one of the ways God keeps us persevering until he returns. Prayer is not only seeking the presence of God in our lives for right now, but expressing our absolute total dependence upon him for our entire life. I mean, think about it. I mean, the act of prayer is an act of dependency. Why would I pray to a God without believing he can hear me and I need his help? Prayer is submitting myself to a sovereign ruler of the universe, saying, Help me. I used to try to teach on prayer with students by saying, Hey, by the act of prayer, three things. By the act of prayer, we profess God's sovereign power. You are in control. I seek you. We confess our desperation for his provision. I need you to provide for me. I can't alone. And we express our desire for his presence. I want you. Profess his power, confess our desperation, express our desire for his presence. So then prayerlessness comes from pride and produces cold, hopeless Christians. Prayerlessness comes from pride, not acknowledging your need for help. Prayerlessness produces cold Christians. You become cold with the person you love if you never spend time with them. Prayerlessness produces hopeless Christians trying to do life alone and forgetting about your future with the one you pray to. So Jude says, You want to keep yourself in the love of God? You should. You must. How do you do it? Prayer. Prayer. Seek Him. Prayer is necessary. It's essential. In fact, prayer is as necessary as breathing. Prayer is the breath of the Christian life. So that we can continue pursuing the Lord faithfully. But here's the thing: your prayer life must continually be rekindled because it naturally grows cold. I have a good friend, he pastors a church in Tallahassee, and he tells this story, and I tell it to you today. The illustration goes something like this He said, Can you imagine a husband and wife now in their we'll say 40s? And they were high school sweethearts. They both grew up together. In high school, they had an old Bronco, or imagine an old truck. And old trucks, uh, they would

Prayer Keeps Love From Growing Cold

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have one bench seat, right? And they would drive through downtown on a Friday night, dating 16, 17, 18 years old. And where do you think the girlfriend would sit? Right next to him. He's got the big old wheel in front of him, he's holding on to the wheel, and his girlfriend's right here. They're driving to Sonic or wherever. Well, now they're 40 years old and they're on a date together. Their kids have started to grow up, and the wife is now seated at the other end of the bench seat. He restored the car. They're driving it around again. And she's sitting on the other side, and she looks at her husband and just says, What happened to us? Back in high school, I used to sit right next to you. I loved it. We were so in love, so infatuated with one another. But now here I am and I'm on the opposite side, and what's going on? And the husband responds, I haven't moved. Now, whether you think he was wise in his response in that moment, the truth is clear. Have we distanced ourselves from the Lord when he remains the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow? He is not far from his children. And we've just over time our affections have grown cold. We've not sought him in prayer, we've not spoken with him. Every one of us knows that to keep a relationship strong, you have to do what? Communicate. Jesus has opened for us access to the Father, to God, the curtain torn in two from top to bottom. We now can approach God in prayer, not one day a year, but every day wherever we are. Do not neglect to approach God as He has called us to approach Him in prayer and let your love grow called. If you want to be closer to Christ, you move toward Him intentionally. Love for God is not strengthened over time by moments of adrenaline, but by habits of faith. The quality of your personal relationship with Jesus is directly related to the time you spend with him in prayer. You can't live without error. You can't live the Christian life without prayer. So let me encourage you. Breathe. Breathe. Pray. Why is prayer so important? Because Jude says it is one of the means by which God preserves your heart. It's a way your love for God won't grow cold as you wait, see it? Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus. God will be merciful on the last day when he returns for all of his children. All those who bowed their knee in faith before him, all who trusted in him, we have a great future to look forward to. The Christian life could be said in some way, today might be hard, tomorrow's better. Tomorrow Jesus will return. Not necessarily tomorrow, tomorrow, but tomorrow Jesus will return. And we look forward to that day. It's one of the reasons why as a church we participate in the Lord's Supper every Sunday. Not only does it seem to be the pattern of the New Testament church, it was the pattern of the early church, but because Jesus said on the night when he was betrayed, he said, I will not celebrate this meal with you until I return. So the Lord's Supper in some ways is an appetizer as we await the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation chapter 19, satiating our appetite until we look forward to that day. As we long for that day. Christian hope is not only that Jesus has come, Jesus has paid the punishment for our sin upon a bloody cross, that the fine has been paid, but the Christian hope is that three days later he resurrected bodily out of the grave. The writer of 1 Corinthians, Paul, says, Because Jesus resurrected, you know what your hope is? You will resurrect too.

Hope That Anchors The Long Wait

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You will be given life eternal, a new body fit for heaven, to enjoy all the pleasures of heaven in the presence of Christ forevermore. You look forward to that. Don't take your eye off the finish line. Keep moving forward to that. Be prayerful in the meantime. And Jesus will return. Here's the third thing Jude has for us: rescue. Love people who are lost. There have been evil people that have come into the church, perverting the grace of God. Jude says there are a lot that have been duped by his teaching, by their teaching. He does not say destroy the doubters or embarrass the sinners. He says, Have mercy and rescue those who are headed to their death. Do you see that phrase? Snatch them like they're going to fire. Verses 22 and 23. Have mercy on those who doubt. To others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Can I make something clear? There is a reason that you are still here and that Christ has not returned yet. And here's the reason: God still intends to use you for the people that you're around to be his mouthpiece and rescue them, sharing the good news of the gospel. God intends to use you for the sake of seeking and saving the lost and bringing them into the fold. That's why you're still alive. That's why Jesus hasn't returned. Now he mentions three kind of groups of people, three categories: those who doubt, verse 22, those near destruction, 23, and those deeply entangled in sin. And he seems to tell us that these different people may require different approaches. This takes wisdom. Some, you know, may need patience. Some need careful compassion. All need urgency. When we fulfill the task of being God's ambassadors, his witnesses in a world that needs Jesus, we have the same message. But there are different situations that may call for unique responses. And it is right and good to seek wisdom from God's Holy Spirit, discerning what a person may need in the moment. Pastors do this all the time, by the way. If you've known a pastor, you may know this. Pastors, someone comes up to them, they're a new member in the church, and they come up and share something going on in their life. Pastor in that moment may need to discern: is this person sharing this sin with me a believer struggling in sin? Or an unbeliever proving their unbelief? Pastor seeks wisdom from the Holy Spirit in the moment. Okay, do I remind them that God's grace is sufficient and that they should repent and run from that sin, that God will keep them, or should I tell them that they are headed to hell and they need to run to Jesus for mercy that he provides? Because they don't know him. Maybe there's just someone who attended the church one time, and that's the discernment. Are they apathetic because they have no heart for Christ? Or they are they a war-torn Christian struggling because of this season of life? God has chosen to use you, Christian, to call people to faith, to communicate the gospel. You are a person who has gone through many things in life, telling people who

Rescue Doubters With Mercy And Urgency

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are struggling in many different ways in life where hope is found. As a pastor for a long time, I'm often asked, how should I reach this friend or that friend? And sometimes I just say, with the gospel, but you know your friend. Be faithful. Have you shared anything with them? Tell them you're praying for them. Here's some ideas, but you know your friend. There are some that are going down a wayward path and they know it. Go and grab them. There are some that have really, really struggled through a season of a lot of death around them. And maybe you need to be compassionate in a unique way. You always need to be compassionate, but in a unique way as you reach them. Contending for the faith, as Jude calls us to, isn't merely defending truth and winning arguments. It is rescuing people and winning souls. A few key texts to keep in mind that perfectly balance contending in compassion as Christ has called us to, both. Contending for the faith with a compassionate heart. 1 Corinthians 13 would teach us that if we contend for truth without love, we're nothing more than a noisy gong. 2 Corinthians 10 5, we're called to contend for truth by destroying arguments, not people. 1 Peter 3 15, be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within you, snatching them out of the fire, but do it with gentleness and respect mercy. James 1.20, truth without love does not produce righteousness, no matter our intention, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Love without truth becomes compromised. The church at Thyatira. Listen to me, truth and tenderness belong together. As Christians, we should be courageous enough to confront and compassionate enough to care. This is Jude. Contend. If you're to contend without love, you are nothing more than a noisy gong and quarrelsome. If you love without confronting, well, really you're not helping anybody. You need to have enough conviction to confront your friend with the gospel and enough care to have their ear. So be gentle and respectful, faithful and patient, merciful, and get them out of the fire. Rescue. We have but a limited time until Christ returns. How are you taking the most of the time, using the most of the time that you have before Christ returns? There is one thing you cannot do in heaven. You can't really evangelize everyone there knows Jesus. We have but a limited time. Use it wisely. Bring everyone with you that you can, trusting the Lord to do what you can't to heaven. Number four, the fourth thing that Jude has for us is to rest. Rest.

Truth And Tenderness Belong Together

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This is the most quoted part of Jude, and rightfully so. It is one of the greatest doxologies in the Bible. Now in Jude, the commands stop, and God is the center of our attention. Verse 24. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. Now I ask you a question here. Who is able to present you Christian blameless on the last day when he returns? God is. God is. You don't work your Christian life so that you might be presentable. You work to purify yourself of sin as the Holy Spirit works in you, but you don't work that you might be presentable. You serve the Lord faithfully, trusting that he is able to and will present you blameless. I mean, even empowered by God's Spirit, this side of heaven, you will struggle against sin. Some days it may feel like you're losing the battle, but take heart. God is able, not maybe, able to keep you, able to present you blameless, able to finish what he started. Notice this: he saves, he keeps, he presents, he receives glory. These verses contain the doctrine of perseverance wrapped inside of worship. And these verses teach that the same God who saved you by his first coming will sustain you for his second coming. Your confidence is not your grip on Christ, but rather his grip on you. I've never been to Manhattan, the busy streets of New York, but I've seen videos. And my wife and kids, we've taken a number of trips to different places. I remember walking on a trail in the smokies with my son holding his hand real tight so he doesn't veer off to the left because, well, it's the Smoky Mountains.

Rest In God’s Grip And Perseverance

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But can you imagine fathers who are taking their kids in the busy streets of Manhattan, crowds surrounding? What does a good father do? Doesn't let go. And the kid may be distracted. The kid may want to run off this direction. One of the greatest pictures of who God is in our life is a father, and one of the greatest assurances that we have in John 10 is that he doesn't loosen his grip. He may be distracted. You may look at beautiful things to your right and to your left. He's not letting go. Perseverance is not ultimately, ultimately, ultimately about your ability to keep hold of Christ, but it is about God's commitment to keep hold of you. You aren't saved by the strength of your grip, but by the strength of your heavenly fathers. So take heart. God is committed to preparing you for purifying you until and presenting you blameless on the day of his return. Thrive Camp happens

A Midnight Rescue That Mirrors Grace

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at Panama City Beach, Florida, just outside of Panama City Beach. It's actually a Laguna Beach between Panama City and 30A. And there are, of course, a number of people there vacationing all the time. Thrive Camp started on Sunday, Sunday night, Monday night. I ended my responsibilities as the kind of director guy around midnight. I went to go get Taco Bell. I like Taco Bell. And I was hungry. And so me and a few other directors went to Taco Bell as all the chaperones are in the rooms watching the kids. We're kind of going over the day. We get back to uh one of the many kitchens that we have reserved. We're sitting in the kitchen and I get a phone call from a youth pastor. And my tiredness is like, no. Right. So I get a phone call from a youth pastor, and he says, Hey, we had our church huddle from 11 to 12. There was a girl who came up to us distraught and drunk. And she doesn't know where she's at. And we don't want to leave her. So what do we do? Well, I don't always know what to do in the moment. So I take a moment, I pray, I walk out the door, I go and find the girl. She's 19 years old. Her name's Alyssa. She's sitting by the pool that we have on our campus. She shouldn't be there, by the way, but she's there. And I go up and I approach Alyssa with uh another youth pastor who called me and two adult leader ladies that are there talking with her and praying with her and comforting her. And she is just absolutely distraught. She has no idea where she's at. She doesn't have her phone. Uh she was on the beach that day and overdrank, and her friends left her. And so she's now slowly in the process of coming to, and she has no idea where she stays. And so I'm all the kids, thankfully, are in their rooms and they're asleep or whatever, maybe asleep. And so I'm talking with her, and I just think, okay, Alyssa, do you have an ID on you? No. You don't have your phone on you? No. Do you know your mom's number? I do, but she's in prison. Do you have your dad's number? I don't have a dad. Okay. Do you know any of your friends' numbers by heart who left you? No. Okay. Instagram. Okay, let's let's let's find them on Instagram. And let's see if we can message them on Instagram and see if they'll respond. So I find her friends that she remembers her friends' names, I message them. And mind you, this is just a girl who came from with her friends down to the beach. And so I message her friends, there's no response. And so I pull another director aside and I say, hey, we got two options. If we can't get any of an information, we're gonna try to get any information out of her that we can for where she's staying, or we're gonna have to call the police and they're gonna have to have her for the night. So we go back to the girl, we kind of know our game plan. We say, okay, can you help us with where you're staying? And she says, No. We're like, I don't know what to do. Can you remember anything about where you're staying? And she remembers there's an M, an A, and a G in the name of a street that it's on. Not much to go on. And so we're literally having our phones. The ladies are taking care of her and comforting her, praying with her, sharing the gospel with her, and we're just like zooming in everywhere we can to try to figure out where Alyssa stays. And we find a street, Megala. We think that might be it. So we go to Alyssa and say, Megala Street. She's like, that sounds right. Not super comforting there, but okay, Megala Street. All right, do you remember anything about the house? And she's coming to and and she starts to remember, nah, that's not right. So, okay, here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna get two of our lady directors. We're gonna walk with you, and we're gonna go to Megala Street. It's about a mile down. And instead of driving, we're gonna walk because maybe friends are looking for you and maybe they'll see you. Again, this is about now one o'clock in the morning. Okay. And so we decide, okay, we're gonna walk on the main road on the sidewalk, see if any friends see you. We're gonna go to Megala Street and we're gonna walk up Megala Street, and hopefully as she's coming to more, she'll remember things about the place that she stayed at. So we're walking with her, and I just keep telling her, Alyssa, we're gonna get you home. Can you imagine if she stumbled around the wrong party that night? Young, 19-year-old girl. We're gonna get you home. We're gonna get you there. So we walk, we walk to Megala Street. We walk up Megala Street and she's like, Blue house. And we're like, ah, great information. Blue house. Okay, we'll look for a blue house. There's a few blue houses, not that one. Do you remember anything about the trucks at the blue house? Yeah, or cars at the blue house. Yes, there's a black truck. Okay, perfect. We'll look for a blue house, black truck. We're praying with her. God, please get Alyssa home tonight. Few houses down, blue house, black truck, gray Nissan car. That's it. So we walk her up to the door, doors unlocked, phones right there. Friends are in the other rooms. We stay back, let her go check. Friends are in there. And all I could think was, God, thank you for getting Alyssa home. I don't know if you know this. The Bible tells Christians we're exiles. This isn't our final home. There are places here that are dangerous and deadly. Alyssa couldn't help much at all. What she could, she helped. I think Blue House. Jude is telling us this, inspired by the Holy Spirit. God is saying, I'm gonna get you home. I'll get you there. The way might be dark. The road might be tough.

Final Charge To Contend And Be Diligent

SPEAKER_00 45:11

You might not be able to help all that much. But I'm gonna get you home. This is Jude in 24 and 25. So maybe you think, Christian, I looked again. I did it again. How am I gonna make it? Will he keep me? Hear me. You are in his hand, in God's hand, sealed with the Holy Spirit. You will make it home. So here's Jude. To all Christians who've ever felt I'm not going to make it. I know what I'm struggling with. I don't know if I can get through it. Will he keep me? To all the Christians who know the call to pursue holiness, restlessly wrestling in their sin, with their sin. To all the Christians who know well the immeasurable difference between God's holiness and their holiness, he hears you, he knows you. He loves you. He cares for you. He holds you. He will come for you. He will present you blameless. He will do it. Your future ultimately rests on God's faithfulness. So you can rest. For the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. The God who saved you won't abandon you. The God who called you will keep you. You can rest. You can rest because your future doesn't ultimately rest on your hold on to Jesus, but on Jesus' hold on to you. So hear me. God watches over you and he will keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. So with that confidence, contend for the faith once and for all, delivered to the saints. And be diligent.