STAYING SAVED (JUDE
21)
Of
the first 100 colleges founded in
Famous
schools such as Harvard, Yale, and
The
first president of
Cursed be all
learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.
Cursed be all
learning that is not consistent with the cross of Christ.
Cursed be all learning that is not subservient to the cross of Christ.
Most know that these schools have lost their strong religious foundation.
The religious faith of years ago is gone.
No one associated with these institutions is saying, “all learning contrary to the cross of Christ is cursed.”
Rather, people from these schools frequently curse Christ and system called Christianity.
IF THE FIRST 100 COLLEGES STARTED OUT AS RELIGIOUS
SCHOOLS, WHY ARE THINGS IN OUR DAY SO DIFFERENT? WHY ARE FORMERLY RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS LIKE YALE,
HARVARD, AND
a) The answer is apostasy. Many schools were started with good intentions & a religious foundation.
b) Little by little these schools drifted from the plotted course.
c)
What has happened to dozens of colleges in the
d) In Jude 21 there is a small but simple statement – keep yourselves in the love of God.
e) Some believe that this expression describes God’s love for mankind.
f) Others have concluded that Jude describes our love for God.
g) Whichever view is right, the application of the thought is essentially the same.
h) We obey God because we love Him. God loves us because of our obedience.
i) Christians are familiar with the “love of God” and they are the recipients of this special love.
j) Jude says we are to keep ourselves in God’s love.
k)
This means that we are to continue to be obedient
to heaven’s will, Heb. 5:8-9.
l) Rev. 14:12 ties together our faith in Christ with keeping the commandments of God.
m) American colleges did not keep themselves dedicated to the Bible and Christianity.
n) The resulted in apostasy and these schools are now filled with worldliness.
o) A similar thing can happen to Christians.
p) We can become a child of God, read the Bible, pray, and attend worship.
q) We teach our children and others. The years pass and then something happens.
r) For one reason or another we stop keeping ourselves in the love of God.
s) We abandon the type of life that we used to live.
t) The obedience that we once rendered is shrugged or cast off and we go our own way.
2) IF YOU HAVE EVER THOUGHT, “I WOULD NEVER DO THAT. I WILL ALWAYS BE A FAITHFUL CHILD OF GOD. OTHERS MAY APOSTASIZE BUT GOD CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON ME…WATCH OUT.
a) Before we become too confident in ourselves let’s
take look at some people who lived before us.
b) We are going to start with David, 2 Chron. 17:3.
c) David was a good man. He was a king. The Bible says he was a man after God’s own
heart.
d) If we have studied about this man we know his good
points.
e) The Chronicle writer describes David’s commitment to
God in this way, 2 Chron.
17:3.
f) The author of this book used the expression, “first
ways.”
g) This is a revealing comment. For a time David was a godly man.
h) His “first ways” consisted of a life that was
obedient to God.
i) However, David had some other ways that were not too
good.
j) The expression “first ways” implies that there were
some “later ways.” In these later ways…
k) David became involved with Bathsheba and arranged
for her husband to be killed.
l) David counted the people of
m) This man started out so well but he failed to keep himself
in the love of God.
n) David was not the only one to fail in this way.
o) In an earlier book (1 Kgs. 13) there is a story
about a “man of God” (verse 7).
p) This man was told to present a message to a king and
then leave.
q) He was to go directly home after his mission. This was a direct command from God (verses
8-9).
r) The prophet delivered his message to a king and then
received an invitation, verses
6-7.
s) At this point the prophet was “keeping himself in
the love of God” (Jude 21).
t) He was doing what was right. He said that he could not take advantage of
the king’s hospitality.
u) The prophet’s obedience didn’t last for very long.
v) According to the 11th verse in this
chapter there was an old prophet who lived in
w) This old prophet found the prophet who was supposed
to go right home verses
14-15.
x) The Old prophet was told that his invitation had to
be rejected – verses
16-17.
y) The Old prophet persisted – verse 18.
z) The young prophet agreed (verse 19) and went to the
old man’s house.
aa) The consequence for this is in verses 21-22, 24, and 26.
bb) Never say to yourself, “I’m
safe. I will never fall.”
cc) “The rest of the church may be guilty of apostasy
but not me.”
dd) Was this not the claim made by Peter?
ee) Peter said, “Lord, if everyone else leaves you I
will stand by your side”, Mt. 26:33.
ff) The apostle affirmed that He would never
depart from the Lord.
gg) We know how that story ended. Peter departed. He did come back, but he did depart.
hh) He also denied in the most emphatic way that he was
associated with Jesus.
3) In Jer.
4) That is, the Hebrews wandered from idol to idol;
they had a back and forth religious faith.
5) Some weeks they were committed to this god and in
six months they served another deity.
6) Christians can do a similar thing.
a) It is possible to serve God for 2, 3, 6 months or a
year.
b) But then we wander.
We are out of duty for several months or years.
c) Jude says to all Christians in the 21st
verse of his book, “Keep yourselves in the love of
God.”
7) This warning still needs to be sounded because of
what some other passages teach.
a) Jude 6 records how angels “left” their first
habitation (heaven).
b) The Hebrew people left the right way (Jude 5).
c) Korah and Balaam went down the wrong road (verse
11).
d) At the end of 1 Tim. Paul wrote about Alexander,
Hymenaeus and others.
e) Thes people had left the faith. The exact wording in the text says,
f) “Made shipwreck concerning the faith” (verse 19).
g) They “thrust” the faith from themselves.
h) These people were members of the first century church.
i) They may or may not have seen Jesus. If they had not seen the Lord they had seen
Paul.
j) These people had witnessed the performance of
miracles.
k) Perhaps they had even been given one or more gifts
from the Holy Spirit.
l) Yet, they left the faith.
m) This is still occurring in congregations of the
Lord’s body throughout the land.
n) Christians are leaving the faith.
o) We hear of preachers leaving. Elders and deacons leave. Young people leave.
p) Even the old who have been Christians for year
sometimes leave.
8) IN JUDE 21 THE INSPIRED WRITERS OFFERED TWO REASONS TO STAY WITH THE FAITH.
a) The first reason is found in the word mercy.
b) A man by the names of James MacKnight authored a
special translation on Paul’s epistles.
c) He inserted words to bring out the full meaning of
the Greek text.
d) Though Paul did not write the book of Jude, Mr.
MacKnight included this epistle in his translation.
e) Here is how he translated Jude 21:
f) “Keep one another in the constant exercise of love
to God and, in that method only, expect
pardon from our Lord Jesus Christ, together with eternal life, as the
consequence of pardon.”
g) If we keep ourselves in the love of God we will find
mercy (pardon).
h) Knowing that God will pardon us is an incentive to
live as a Christian.
9) If we make shipwreck of the faith as others have
done we will not to be pardoned.
10) If we thrust the faith from ourselves we will be
lost.
11) If we do not keep ourselves in the love of God (live
as obedient Christians) we will not be saved.
12) If we do obey God and we live as a Christian for all
of our days, we may expect & will receive a full pardon from our sins.
13) Our pardon will result in eternal life, Jude
21b.
a) We can keep ourselves in the love of God if we
remember that the Lord is coming back.
b) He may come back today and bring eternal life with
Him.
c) Thus today we are determined to live as Christian.
d) He may return tomorrow so we determine to live as a
Christian tomorrow.
e) We do not know when His final return will be so we
determine to live as a Christian each day.
f) Our goal each day is to be a Christian who is “kept”
(verse 1) for Jesus Christ.
14) At some point in our life we will all be challenged
by apostasy.
15) Something will tempt us to leave the faith.
16) Even the best people are tempted to leave the right
way as we see from David’s life.
17) If we are a Christian we must determine that nothing
will lure us away from God.
18) We will not sell our soul for a job, another
person, any amount of money, or worldly pleasure.
19) Difficult circumstances will not lead us away from
God.
a) Even though this is to be the way that things work,
what do we find?
b) Christians tell us, “I have slipped away from the
Lord because of hard times.”
c) “I have a lot of problems right now and I’m not too
interested in the church.”
d) Jude understood this and he knew the dangers
involved in slipping from the faith.
e) Thus in the precious few sentences he wrote he said,
“Keep yourselves in the love of God.”
20) We have only one soul and it is going to spend
eternity somewhere.
21) They key to salvation is keeping ourselves in the
love of God (always being obedient).
22) Is this what we are doing?