Study In Jude
by Sandy Simpson

Lesson 6 – Vs. 20-25

Vs. 20 - 23 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

OUR TASK

Build ourselves up in the faith – God will help us build our faith.

Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
God wrote the book of our lives.  He knows every word, including the last chapter.  He is the author, the One on Whom our faith is built, the Object of our faith. We have to live the story out that God has written because of His foreknowledge, but we do not know how it ends or even what's on the next page beyond today.  Therefore we must trust Him. He will perfect that faith as we submit to Him daily. Faith-building is a two-way street. It is clear in many places in the Bible that we also have a duty to hold on to our faith,
Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
We must keep the faith.
1 Timothy 3:9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.
2 Timothy 1:13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
We must persevere in sound doctrine.
1 Timothy 4:16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
We must overcome by faith.
1 John 5:4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
We are to add to our faith.
2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge …
We must strengthen our faith by continuing to meet together to study the Word.
Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another— and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
We must be prepared to defend the "faith once for all delivered to the saints".
Philippians 1:16 The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Pray in the Spirit – God guides our prayers by the Holy Spirit. We must pray for people who are falling into deception as the Holy Spirit directs, through His Word. We cannot know the hearts of people, but the Holy Spirit knows them all.
Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
It is amazing how, sometimes in prayer, the Lord brings things to our minds to pray about. We then become a partner with God in His work for that individual or situation. We must always continue to pray.
Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
1 John 5:16 If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life.
Keep in God's love - Don't start to hate people who hate you or persecute you.
Luke 6:28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Remember how God rescued you through Jesus Christ when you were deceived and living in sin. Though it is harder to forgive someone who claims to be a Christian and says that you are judging them and persecutes you, still you must learn how to keep in God’s love for them. Remember that we are to reconcile people to God, as Jesus Christ reconciled us to the Father.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Remember you will "have this conversation again" someday and you will be accountable for the way you handled people who are deceived or who have wandered away from the Faith.
Matthew 12:36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
Wait on the Lord - God has been merciful to you and still may be to them. God is not willing that any should perish. Neither should you be.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Be merciful to those in doubt – This is talking about those in-between. Those who are just being deceived or who are just realizing they have been deceived. The Holy Spirit may be convicting them of their sins. Many people are in-between these days. We must help them to see the truth in love.
Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Snatch others from the fire – Some are almost in the fire, but some are in the fires already. But we still must try to rescue them. They must be taken from fire or they will be burned. They must be told to avoid meetings of false teachers and false prophets.
Mark 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect— if that were possible.
They must be advised to not allow strangers to pray over them. If they have been in the fire for a long time, they may need prayer for deliverance from another spirit. They must be willing to renounce what they have believed and are doing in order to be rescued.
Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Show mercy mixed with fear – Be careful not to fall into the fire when you are trying to rescue others. Don’t go to their meetings with them just to be friends, even if they beg you. Stay away and get the facts without going to hear false teachers because they are dangerous and can deceive you too. We must still show mercy to those who are in the fire—but mercy mixed with fear, always being aware of the deception, apostasy, and demonism with which they may be involved. Touch not the unclean thing!
2 Corinthians 6:17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
This does not mean we fear men or demons if we are in Christ. We are to fear the One who can damn souls to hell. We are to fear God’s judgment if we fall into the fire with them. We must not participate with them in their false teaching, false worship, false anointings. Be aware that there is little hope for false teachers, leaders of the Third Wave. Very few have repented as far as I know. I don’t expect many more will. More are diving into apostasy everyday. Few leaders will come out but the followers still have hope of being saved. So we must not give up in doing what the Lord wants.
Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Psalms 82:4 Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Vs. 24-25 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Jesus Christ is able to keep us from falling into the traps of false doctrine and practice. He is able to bring us to Himself in the Rapture and to give us new clothes of righteousness that will last forever. Only God can do this. Because God is able to rescue us from our own self-deception and the deception of false teachers, we owe Him praise because He deserves all the glory, majesty, power and authority. Remember that God holds all the power and authority over all creation, including death, Hades, the devil and hell. If we hold on to Jesus Christ, He will see us through. Jesus Christ is Almighty God from eternity past to eternity future. We can depend on Him because He is faithful and everlasting.

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