TEXT: Jude 1.20-23
READING: 1 John 4:1-21
SUBJ: The exhortation of Jude that we keep ourselves aware and responsive to the Love of God toward us through the faith, praying and looking to the mercy of God.
AIM: That we might ever find ourselves in wonder of the great love wherewith He has loved us and that we be ever looking to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
INTR: While there are six distinct topics for thought here, they are not to be separated from each other in that they constitute a way of life in opposition to that which would destroy us. (see vv. 16-19).
1. We should recognize that these are mandates to human agency – these are things we are to do!
2. We should recognize that they are intended as a protective scheme designed to keep us in a consciousness of the love of God and drawing upon the grace of life He has provided.
3. To walk in this way is to walk in the Spirit and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
THESIS: The ability to love comes from God and is patterned after the love that He bestows upon His people. Our faith is in Christ Jesus and His work, and that was motivated by the eternal love of God. We do well to consider and be conscious of the fact of the love of God and the accountability we have to it.
I. The Love in Which we are to keep ourselves (Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,)
1. We realize His love in terms of what He has given. We remember John 3:16
1) The love that He had for the One given – the evidence of the relationship expressed from the cross. (remember the love of Abraham for Isaac).
2) What He was given to: Justice, Judgment, rejection, humiliation, and all such suffering.
3) For whom Christ died: Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
2. Assurances arising from His love and the intensity of it (He did not give His Son to fail).
1) Such thoughts as (Romans 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.) tell us that the Love of God will accomplish it purpose for those loved.
2) But it also shows the character of them: Romans 5:5 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.
3. There is great danger in neglect – To see some other motive in God that would produce some other result is unacceptable.
II. It is WE who are to keep ourselves (And here we would be reminded of the necessity of the faith and of praying in the Holy Spirit).
1. We are to keep (as in guard and maintain ourselves in His love)
2. The just shall live by his faith and to be so kept is the object of that faith.
3. Where there is an awareness of the love of God and keeping of the love of God in view, there is a zeal for the life of faith. There is intensity in life.
4. Keeping ourselves in the “love of God” is a precious safeguard against sin.
5. It is the proper place from which Satan and his devices may be thwarted.
6. It is the way of endearment to God – If God so loves us, we should strive to be lovable.
7. In keeping ourselves in the love of God we understand all that He bestows on us and such is the way that He brings glory to Himself.
III. We are to be looking – to the fact and result of mercy in that it underlies all that we have in Christ.
1. A definition: That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant. In this sense, there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy. – Scripture presents grace as preceding mercy in that mercy is that special application of grace wherein the sufferings of Christ result in us being delivered from what we deserve.
2. The word looking signifies expectation:
1) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (Titus 2:13)
2) Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. (2 Peter 3:14)
3. The sense of future grace is a guiding principle in all we do (see 2 Timothy 4:8).
IV. We are especially to be looking for mercy – we are reminded of salvation in three tenses.
1. In the past from eternal decree to the point of application it was never about merit to be found in men. It was quite the opposite -- saved from guilt and penalty.
2. In the present as we see what we have been made to be in Him and as we contend with this present world:
1) Pleading the merits of Christ against the forces of this world
2) Needing the assurance of mercy that we may believe that we are forgiven – anything else is presumption.
3. In the future the sweet savor of Christ will continue to come up before God in all that we enjoy. The pain of sin and affliction will be gone. The remembrance of mercy will not.
4. It is unto eternal life – Nothing we do nor anything we have can be separated from eternal life in Christ. Therefore, as we:
1) Build on our most Holy Faith let us remember that mercy is essential and
2) As we pray in the Holy Spirit let us plead for mercy still in that we still fail.
3) In keeping ourselves in the Love of God may we sense great expression of love to us in the realization of His mercy upon us – And so, we keep on looking.
5. Eternal life is defined to us by its nature and not by its duration. It is eternal because it is in Christ, and we are in Him.
