WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.240 Uh well, if you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab them. 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:06.400 Um, we are in the book of Jude this morning, as Sam read for us. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:12.640 Jude is the tiny little book right at the end of your Bibles, just before Revelation. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.839 And throughout the month of July, we've been studying our way through this book. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:20.640 We've seen that it's weird, it's challenging, it's often convicting. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.079 And this morning we're going to close this book together. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:32.159 Before I transitioned recently into the role as young adults pastor, I served here for six years as the student pastor. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.479 And this was an amazing experience for me. 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:37.119 I got to see students come alive to the love of Jesus. 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:42.719 I got to see them explore the scriptures, wrestle with their doubts and questions. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:46.560 I saw a lot of students find freedom from pornography and eating disorders. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:50.719 It was a really amazing time, but it wasn't always pretty. 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:54.000 There was a lot of suffering that our students walked through. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:58.320 There were a lot of tears in my six years in student ministry. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:09.359 But as I came to learn is that if you're in student ministry for any amount of time, you're going to see students who used to follow Jesus go to college and no longer identify as Christians. 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:14.959 If you're here, if you're a parent in here or you've been around the church for a while, you know this feeling well, right? 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:19.439 You've seen people in previous stages of life follow Jesus closely. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:26.079 You've prayed with them, maybe you've been in small groups with them, and now you've seen them drift away into unbelief. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:29.120 The reasons for this are almost infinite, right? 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:39.599 For many of my former students, they lost touch with their childhood faith when they got to college and had a philosophy professor just deconstruct everything they thought to be true of their faith. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:50.879 Or maybe they got to college and experienced new temptations that they had never experienced before, and then all of a sudden, six to eight months have gone by and they haven't stepped foot in a church and no longer find it to be relatable. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:02:00.959 Pastor Jerome Gay at Vision Church in North Carolina, he lists seven main reasons why people deconstruct, and they all start with S because he's a good pastor. 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:04.719 And each one of these honestly is a sermon in and of themselves. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:06.560 So number one, Satan, right? 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:08.240 How much power does he have? 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:10.319 Or two, suffering. 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:13.439 I would love to for y'all to see if any of these relate to you. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:15.120 Why does God allow it? 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:17.919 And how could a loving God send people to hell? 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:19.120 Slavery. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:21.680 Does God side with the oppressor? 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:26.000 Okay, sexuality, number four, does God hate LGBTQ people? 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:28.319 Five, sexism. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:29.919 Does God dislike women? 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:31.840 Is Paul a misogynist? 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:34.000 Six, spiritual abuse. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.280 Why do we keep platforming tyrannical leaders? 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:42.639 And seven, syncretism, which essentially is getting at why is there only one way to God? 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:47.199 And I just want to say these are all incredibly valid questions. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:52.960 And beloved, these are questions we are going to increasingly see young people especially ask. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:57.199 These are the questions your teenagers are hearing on Instagram and TikTok. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:01.759 These are the questions professors and universities are asking. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:04.240 And Jude is so compassionate. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:06.960 Have mercy on those who doubt. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:21.199 So look at this. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.120 Number one, acknowledge. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:27.680 First step, recognize the questions, doubts, and pain that are present. 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:32.560 So often this step begins because the person has gone through suffering. 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:32.960 Right? 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:40.879 Maybe a family member died, maybe a relationship ended, a deep spiritual friendship ended up with a lot of pain, cancer. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:42.159 The list goes on. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:48.560 So the person begins here honestly asking questions about the faith that no longer is working in some ways, right? 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:54.080 And the question will probably fall into one of those seven categories we talked about, right? 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:56.960 How could God have allowed this to happen? 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:02.080 I know that family member who died wasn't a Christian, so is hell really a thing? 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:06.400 How could the reality of hell coexist with a God who is love? 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:10.479 There's space to hold, it's good to hold space for these questions. 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:11.759 So that's number one, acknowledge. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:14.479 Number two, it goes a little deeper, assess, right? 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:21.439 Examine the validity of the doubts and determine if other worldviews are more helpful. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:29.360 I just want to say every Christian who is thinking deeply about their faith has gone through number one and likely into number two. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:34.000 So I just want to say thinking deeply about your faith is a good thing. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:41.360 But step two is when it moves from good, thoughtful wrestling into the dangerous place of unbelief. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:43.360 And that's number three. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:48.319 After assessing the issues, begin to adopt the new beliefs as their own. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:05:01.040 Where the person will begin to take things from all the religions and worldviews that they like and reject the ones they don't, right? 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:04.480 So, okay, I like that the God of Christianity is love. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:10.399 So I'm gonna take that but and put it in my smoothie, but I don't like that he's holy and that he's Lord, so I'm gonna keep that over there. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:16.079 I'm gonna apply his loving kindness into my life, but his judgment I'm gonna I'm gonna keep at a distance. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:16.639 Right? 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:23.439 Oh, I like I like the grace of Jesus, but I don't really love that he makes exclusive claims about himself. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:24.879 And then the list goes on. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:27.920 Then the person will go to step four, apply. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:28.560 Right? 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:35.839 These new beliefs that have been acknowledged, assessed, adopted, are then lived out in practice and began shaping the person's identity. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:40.079 Thomas Jefferson is a perfect example of this, founding father. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:46.959 He took the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and he literally cut out with scissors the things he didn't like. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:54.000 And he left with a published work called The Life and Teachings, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:55.040 You can go read it. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:02.240 He cut out everything that included the miracles, Jesus' divine claims about himself, the resurrection. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:02.879 Right? 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:06.639 He wanted Jesus as a good moral example, but not Lord. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:10.720 Maybe you're here this morning and you find yourself somewhere on that spectrum. 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:12.480 I'm glad you're here. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:14.720 There is space for you to wrestle. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:26.160 After my dad's sudden death in 2021, I've spent the last five years in seminary struggling, wrestling, asking questions, moving from step one to ebbing and flowing. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:28.800 Doubt is a scary place to be, isn't it? 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:35.360 There is no one in the universe more compassionate and welcoming than Jesus Christ to those who doubt. 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:37.279 So bring your doubts to Him. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:44.720 Now, it's easy in the world we're living in as we see culture moving to get overwhelmed, scared, and discouraged. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:50.240 Well, I love how Carl Truman in his book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self encourages us. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:54.480 He says this every age has had its darkness and dangers. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:07:04.000 The task of the Christian is not to whine about the moment in which he or she lives, but to understand its problems and respond appropriately to them. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:13.680 So the place Jude is bringing us this morning, the question I want to ask today and think through is what is the role of the church to those who wander? 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:17.360 What is the role of the church to those who wander? 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:23.759 So here in these verses, Jude 22 and 23, Jude addresses the church. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:28.560 And he tells the church how to love or how to show mercy to three groups of people. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:30.160 Look at the verses again. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:33.279 Jude writes, And have mercy on those who doubt. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:36.800 Save others by snatching them out of the fire. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:42.959 To others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:54.319 My wife Grace is a clinical mental health therapist, which often means that our marriage is the start of a bad joke, which is a pastor and a therapist walk into a bar and then you see what happens. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:02.879 But it's amazing to see and learn from her about mental health as it relates to spirituality and spiritual formation. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:15.439 And one of the most fascinating things I've learned from her is that people can be experiencing very similar negative patterns in their life, but different diagnoses result in different forms of treatment. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:20.879 So for example, somebody can walk into Grace's office with severe anxiety. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:25.199 And then another person can walk into her office also with severe anxiety. 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:31.439 But Grace discovers that one of them is suffering simply from anxiety and the other one is suffering from OCD. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:39.840 So what Grace has learned is that treatment that can help somebody with anxiety can actually reinforce compulsions for somebody with OCD. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.799 And so she has to develop very specific treatment plans and care for each person. 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:47.600 And this is what Jude is getting towards, right? 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:56.639 People are complex, their stories are complex, their reasons for wandering and leaving the church and asking questions are complex. 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:02.399 So the spiritual care we give to people cannot be simplistic. 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:04.320 So let's look at each case study, right? 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:07.200 First, have mercy on those who doubt. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:11.759 Perhaps in the four A's, perhaps this person is somewhere between one and two, right? 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:16.320 They've honestly recognized the doubts they have, they're assessing them. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:19.039 And think about Jude's context here. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:26.399 Jude's whole purpose for writing this letter is for the church across all time to contend for the faith. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:27.840 And he explains why. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:34.879 False teachers have crept in and are leading people astray, so it's no wonder people are doubting, right? 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:44.480 They've been hearing the gospel their whole whole lives, and then these authoritative teacher figures are coming in and saying, hey, maybe Jesus isn't who he said he was, right? 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:49.279 Hey, maybe the Bible isn't actually something that can be trusted and has been corrupted over time. 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:51.519 Maybe God isn't actually good. 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:52.879 And all of a sudden, right? 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:57.919 This this really old, weird, ancient book feels pretty poignant, doesn't it? 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:02.480 The reality is that doubt is actually part of our faith journey with Jesus, right? 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:05.279 The Bible is tremendously complicated. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:13.279 The claims of Jesus sometimes can be hard to grasp, and so Jude commands the church, have mercy on those who doubt. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:16.000 Well, what does it mean to have mercy? 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:18.320 What is mercy? 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:24.480 Well, the idea behind this word in Jude's mind is active compassion. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:26.559 Active compassion. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:31.279 Jude has mentioned the theme of mercy twice before this verse. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:32.799 Verse 2 and verse 21. 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:33.759 Look at this. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:37.279 May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:40.480 And I actually liked how the NIV translated it better. 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:46.480 And then verse 21, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:54.159 So the prayer of Jude at the beginning is to have mercy in abundance, and then he gives us instructions to wait for that mercy. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:57.360 So, how does this shape our command to have mercy? 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:05.759 Well, in order to properly extend mercy, we need to both be one, full of it, and two, patient in it. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:10.559 Otherwise, we'll be tempted to be anxious around people with questions, right? 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:15.919 We'll be threatened by their questions instead of warm and compassionate to them. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:19.200 I mean, put yourself in the doubter's shoes. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:26.559 How fragile, disorienting, and unsteady must it feel to be overcome with doubt. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:33.919 The last thing someone struggling with deep spiritual doubts needs is to be shamed or condemned for wrestling. 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:38.480 There ought to be nowhere in the world safer than the church for those who doubt. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:47.360 The last thing we need to do is to let the church become a place where doubters, skeptics, and those who are deconstructing are no longer welcome. 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:49.360 It's the last thing we need to let happen. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:51.759 So imagine you're in a small group, right? 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:59.440 One night someone in the group is clearly troubled, maybe they're quieter than normal, you can just tell on their face that something's bother them. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:04.399 And so they begin to open up and they say, Hey, I I've been really struggling with Christianity lately. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:06.080 You say, okay, how so? 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:07.279 They say, I don't know. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:09.519 I mean, look at the Christians in the world, right? 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:10.559 Look at the church. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:12.960 And sometimes I just don't know what to do with it. 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:17.279 I mean, look at the way Christians have treated certain groups of people throughout history. 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:20.639 Look at the number of pastors who have been exposed in abuse scandals. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:21.840 Look at the hypocrisy. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.000 I don't know what to do with this. 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:26.559 Now, what do you do in that moment? 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:30.240 It would be very easy to respond anxiously, wouldn't it? 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:33.600 You might immediately feel like you need to defend Christianity. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:37.519 You might even explain that, hey, not every Christian is like that. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:41.759 You might begin listing all the reasons Christianity is true. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:48.320 But Jude 22 reminds us that there is also a time to have mercy on those who doubt. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:53.840 So perhaps instead of immediately arguing, maybe you say, hey, thanks for saying that. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:56.080 Thanks for opening up about that. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:59.360 I I can understand why those things trouble you. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:01.360 Because they trouble me too, right? 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:04.080 The abuse and the hypocrisy you've seen are not okay. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:06.320 Christians should not pretend like it is. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:10.320 Tell me more about what's been hardest for you, and you listen. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:14.960 You don't treat your friends' questions as a threat to your faith, right? 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:17.039 You don't shame them for asking. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:20.960 You don't assume that because they're doubting, that they're all of a sudden an enemy. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:25.279 You remember in that moment that this is a person who is hurting. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:31.200 And so you move toward them with mercy as Christ has moved toward you with mercy. 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:36.559 Now, mercy does not mean that you affirm every conclusion that they reached. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:40.799 It does not mean you say, you're right, Christianity must be false. 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:43.360 And it does not mean you never answer their questions. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:47.600 It means you love them enough to listen before you object. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:52.080 You care more about the person than you do about arguing for your faith. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:14:03.440 And perhaps over time you get to help them see that the hypocrisy of Christians does not disprove the holiness of Christ, that the failings of pastors does not mean the failings of Jesus. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:09.200 But you probably won't get to that conversation if your first response is to be defensive, right? 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:12.399 Jude says, Have mercy on those who doubt. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:17.919 Sometimes the most loving thing we can do for someone doubting is to not give them an immediate answer. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:25.519 Almost all the time in the Gospels, when Jesus gets a question, he responds with a question instead of answering. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:31.360 So the next case is to save others by snatching them out of the fire. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:37.759 This is probably a person who's gone past stages one and two, is into steps three or four. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:43.360 Maybe this person is beginning to reject the essential claims about Jesus in the Bible. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:45.679 And Jude's words here are sharp, aren't they? 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:47.759 Snatch them out of the fire. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.759 So the first question we need to ask is what does Jude mean by fire here? 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:56.639 Jude discussed fire one other time in this letter back in verse 7. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:04.960 He's talking about these Old Testament examples, Sodom, Gomorrah, and he says to serve as example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:12.480 Grace and I live just down the road from Michangelos, like I said, and we have a little bulldog named Wally. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:14.080 I think we have a picture of him. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:14.799 There's Wally. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:25.600 So our home uh that we live in is in a unique place. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:30.399 It's right off of Church Street, where people typically do about 65 and a 35. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:40.159 Uh it's right near the hospital, so often people are flying down the road in genuinely urgent situations, and it's right by the worst four-way stop in Marietta. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:46.960 So whenever Wally goes outside, I'm very conscious that people are flying down our street. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:55.039 Our yard is guarded by a little white picket fence, and about 99% of the time, Grace and I are really good about closing the gates. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:58.879 One time, however, the gate in our backyard somehow got open. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:00.799 And so Wally Wally got out. 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:06.399 I was gone, but Grace was terrified to go get that little guy. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:11.519 And one of Wally's favorite tricks, if you have dogs, maybe you can relate, is when you go after him, he runs away. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:12.799 It's a great trick. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:20.159 And so Grace was horrified that he's gonna dart the wrong way. 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:24.639 That he's gonna not dart away from the road, but he's gonna dart into the road. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:30.960 And so Grace in that moment was terrified to go get that little guy out of the road. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:35.759 In that moment, Grace was not casually going to get him, right? 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.879 And if you're a parent of a young kid, you know this feeling. 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:43.919 When that little guy is running towards danger, you go get him, right? 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:51.440 What Jude is getting at here is this the greater the danger, the more urgent the rescue. 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:57.919 Jude here, right, the brother of Jesus, is recognizing something. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:06.240 As much as we don't like to think about it, as much as we try to cognitively avoid it, God is holy and is a judge, and judgment is coming. 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:09.200 But Jude is encouraging us here as well. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:13.119 Take the holiness and judgment of God seriously. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:17.039 But by grace, there is still time to avoid it. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:18.720 And I want to pause. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:20.400 I'll be very honest. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:23.200 I hate that hell is real. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:24.799 I hate it. 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:29.839 Charles Spurgeon once said that preachers ought to preach about hell with tears in their eyes. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:36.079 When Jesus calls us to follow him, he doesn't tell us we have to like everything he said. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:37.119 Right? 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:40.960 He just calls us to deny ourselves and follow him. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:48.319 So this morning, and you're here, if you hear the idea of hell and it rubs you wrong and you don't like it, that's okay. 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:50.240 I feel that. 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:51.839 But I will give us caution. 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:54.079 I want to cite Pastor Jerome again. 00:17:54.160 --> 00:18:00.400 He says this Am I adapting the scriptures to me, or am I adapting to the scriptures? 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:06.480 There is space to wrestle with the parts of the Bible that bristle against us. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:19.440 But we need to caution against forming our spirituality in a way in which we are making God in our image, rather than letting the scriptures press upon us and form us more deeply into his image. 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:31.039 So the question that gets us to is hey, how do we have the maturity, the wisdom, the discernment, the patience to do any of this? 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:36.720 How do we discern if our friend is in the first A or is in the playing with fire stage, right? 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:39.759 How do we know if we're being too soft about sin? 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:48.160 How do we know if we need to invite another friend into the situation or tell a pastor, how do we, how do I love a person while also hating sin? 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:51.039 Or even the garment stained by it? 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:53.519 Look back at verse 20 here. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:19:07.839 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. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:15.039 I love how Jackie Hill Perry in her study on Jude, she comments on this section. 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:26.799 She says, Notice Jude made three distinctions on how to be merciful, which tells us that every believer or non-believer might not need the same method, even though they all need the same mercy. 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:32.720 Practically, it would take wisdom and even some level of depth in the relationship to discern between the three. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:36.400 The doubtful is different than the one who needs to be snatched out of the fire. 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:44.799 How you'd contend for the faith in an Ivy League school differs from how you'd contend for the faith with a doubting believer who's a member of a Baptist church in the Bible Belt. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:50.319 Situations such as these take us back to verse 20 and the need to pray in the Holy Spirit. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:20:00.880 When we find ourselves wanting to contend in a way that is full of mercy and yet appropriate for the person our mercy is toward, we look to God to guide us in the way of wisdom. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:06.799 Now let's turn to the closing of the book, some of the best words ever recorded in the Bible. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:08.559 Jude's Doxology. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:09.519 Verse 24. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:17.279 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. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:26.400 To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, and now and forever. 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:27.359 Amen. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:38.960 Judas spent a lot of time looking back to the Old Testament, looking around at the situation he finds himself in with this particular church, and now he closes this book by looking up. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:41.039 Now to him. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:50.880 And this doxology, what Jude is explaining, is not an impersonal, godlike force out there somewhere in the universe. 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:55.759 This is a personal communicative God explained as follows. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:58.160 One, he who is able. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:16.640 Maybe you feel that this morning. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:27.519 Maybe you feel the expectations placed on you by yourself, by others, and maybe you just feel tired because you don't feel like you're able to do what you feel like you wish you could. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:31.839 We not we might not be able, but there is one who is. 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:36.160 Okay, number two, to keep you from stumbling. 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:39.519 Jude uses a really rare word here for the word stumbling. 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:42.240 It's the only time it's ever used in the New Testament. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:45.359 And that idea brings us back to the beginning of the letter. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:52.319 Jude says to those who are kept, beloved, it is not your own willpower that will sustain you. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:55.279 It's not your own strength, your own white knuckling. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:22:02.720 You are not able to hold yourself and keep yourself in the faith, but he is, and he has promised that he will by his blood. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:06.319 Number three, to present you blameless. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:08.720 And is this not ultimately what we all want? 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:09.440 Right? 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:13.359 And it shows up in every person from a young age. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:22.160 If you've been around young kids and they're in trouble, what's the first move but to put blame on him? 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:24.720 I'm not I it wasn't my fault. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:26.240 It was his fault. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:34.319 We have faith in a God who not only takes our blame away, but he makes himself the recipient of it. 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:36.000 Last. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:39.759 Before his presence with great joy. 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:43.440 God is not begrudgingly accepting of you. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:48.960 It's not as though he's an apathetic father who's generally a little disappointed in you. 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:51.519 Maybe that's what your own earthly father was like. 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:53.119 God is not like that. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:56.720 He is radiating with joy over you, beloved. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:01.920 Jude stops now to praise this amazing God. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:08.240 To him be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, now and forever. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:09.200 Amen. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:15.440 The posture of our hearts and our fallen nature is to replace him with me. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:20.000 Now to Sam, be glory, majesty. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:20.559 Right? 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:25.839 We might believe in Jesus, we might not, but if we're honest, we want ourselves in that position, don't we? 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:34.960 We want ourselves to be put in the position of glory, of getting praise, of getting people to see us as worthy and glorious and smart and successful. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:39.920 What the gospel frees us from is the tyranny of self-worship. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:42.319 Don't we find that to be true? 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:56.079 The more we make our lives about our comfort, our pleasure, our happiness, typically the more anxious we are, the more easily frustrated we get, especially when other people get in the way of our throne. 00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:05.279 I wonder how our lives might become more joyful, more free, more happy. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:10.319 The more we live our lives, less with now to me and more now to him. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:17.119 Hey, if you have questions about the sermon, if you need prayer, if you're wrestling this morning, I would love to talk and pray with you. 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:18.799 After the service, I'll be down front. 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:20.400 Let's pray together. 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:33.920 Father, we come to your throne with confidence because we have a great high priest who by his blood took away the sins of the world. 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:37.759 Father, I am so grateful for the gospel this morning. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:41.039 So grateful for the compassionate words from Jude. 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:43.599 I'm challenged by the words of judgment. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:46.640 I'm brought back to praise as we look at you. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:57.440 Father, I pray for anybody in this room who's struggling with doubt or loneliness or addiction or a disorder, Lord, would you be a compassionate Savior today? 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:05.920 And Lord, I pray that if there's anybody with serious questions about their faith this morning, that they would feel confidence to bring them to you or to a safe person in their life. 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:11.680 Lord, I pray that as we come to the table to receive, Lord, that you would meet us in this space. 00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:12.400 We love you. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:14.559 We pray all this in Jesus' name and for his sake. 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:15.359 Amen.