Good morning. Today's scripture reading is from the book of Jude, chapter 1 verses 17
through 23, and that is page 1055 in the pew bibles. But you, dear friends, remember what
was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They told you in the end time
there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires. These people create divisions
and are worldly, not having the spirit. But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your
most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly
for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. Save others by snatching them from the fire.
Have mercy on others with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. This is God's word.
I'll invite you, if you do have a Bible or you would like to grab the one in the pews,
please turn over there to Jude. Jude is the second to last book in the Bible. If you get
to Revelation, you've gone too far. If you find any of the first, second, or third Johns,
you're right before it. So Jude is right between there and you can turn over to Jude. It's really
just one chapter and we're in verses 17 through 23 this morning.
In recent years, we've witnessed a concerning trend in Christianity. The phenomenon of believers
falling away from the faith goes by different names. It can be mass under the name deconstruction,
or you might call them apostasy or those who just reject the faith outright. But studies paint a
sobering picture. According to a 2019 Pew Research Center report, the percentage of Americans
identifying as Christian has dropped by 12% over the past decade. And from 77% in 2009 to 65% in
2019. So that's a big drop there. But even more alarming is a 2022 Gallup poll that found church
membership in the US has fallen below 50% for the first time in over eight decades.
But why is this happening? And more importantly, what can we do about it? Interestingly,
as we see this decline, we're also witnessing something else. And that is a hunger for
Christians. And that is a hunger among the current generation for something deeper,
something more substantial in their faith journey. Many young Christians are no longer satisfied
with surface level feel good messages that resemble Ted talks more than biblical teaching.
Instead, we're seeing with the new generation that they are craving biblical clarity and a thick
liturgy, a return to the roots of the faith. Here's a quote from a millennial. We're kind of done
with glam rock liturgy and preaching for pizzazz that masks the lack of biblical preaching. We want
our souls fed, not our emotions tickled. This generation is seeking authenticity in their
lives. They want to grapple with the hard questions of the faith to understand the rich
traditions and the deep theological truths that have sustained believers century after century.
They're looking for a faith that can withstand the challenges of our complex world.
Not one that shies away from difficult topics or offers overly simplistic answers.
This hunger for substance is precisely why the words of Jude, though written 2000 millennia ago
are timely for today. How do we stand when others are falling away? How do we make sure that we
don't drift, but are kept in Christ as Nick pointed out? What is Jude's instruction for us today?
A quick recap of the last few weeks. Jude wanted to write to a group of believers about their
common salvation. He wanted to write an endearing letter sharing and then glorying in their faith.
And yet he felt compelled to snatch up his pen, to write to them, to warn them about false teachers
who were creeping up within the church and to tell them to contend for the faith. For the sake of
contend for the faith, fight for the faith, meet effort with efforts, rise up church.
Because there are teachers and people among Christians who are using the grace of God,
the grace that God accepts sinners through repentance and faith, God accepts sinners.
These teachers were using that and saying, well, if God accepts sinners, let's keep sinning. God
accepts sinners. God is love. God wouldn't even judge. He accepts everyone as they are.
And they would promote all kinds of weakness in the church. Jude could, the book of Jude could
very well be written by any number of Christian leaders today and it would be 100% relevant
to what we see in our time. And so he began today's scripture by reminding them that this was
predicted by the apostles of Jesus Christ, that in the end times, in the last times that scoffers
would live among us in their ungodly desires, that they would mock the things of God, they would mock
the goodness of God and the things that God laid out that were good and they would say no to those
things. And instead through their desires for sensuality, they would promote all kinds of evil
in these last days. And these people are not out there and us in here, but they're in here.
They're among us. And among us, they creep up with little teachings or little thoughts,
backroom discussions to worm their way or slither their way or stealth their way into the church
and to lead many astray. And so the call was to be on the garden now within the church,
within the context of who we are as the body of believers. These people are creating divisions
and these people are worldly, he says in verse 19, not having the spirit. They're unregistered.
A regenerate believer receives the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ. When they receive
salvation, the Holy Spirit comes. These are not in the Spirit. But they can talk a good talk,
can't they? They can say all kinds of things that sound right to the undiscerning ear.
And so Jude is encouraging us to discern. It was told about, it was predicted, it's come to pass,
and it remains even 2,000 millennia later. But we're gonna spend the bulk of our time in
verse 20 through 23. So having predicted that these folks would come and expounded on who they
are in verse 19, he moves into verse 20. And we're gonna look at verse 20 and 21 under the heading
of strengthen and wait, strengthen and wait. Jude has said they're falling, they're drifting,
or they've fallen away already. What are you doing? What does it take to make a stand?
And so I'm gonna cover four points out of Jude 20 and 21 under the heading of strengthen and wait.
And the first one is this, he says, build up. How do we keep from falling? How do we maintain our
stand? Number one, build up. But you, dear friends, dear friends is also dear beloved or my
beloved. It's a term of endearment. It says you are children, you're accepted in the family. It's a
familial name. You, friends, children in the faith, build yourselves up in your most holy faith.
Build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Jude says, take responsibility for your spiritual
formation. Take responsibility for it. And back in verse three of Jude, he wrote that they needed to
contend for the faith that was delivered once for all. Now that's not a faith that is subjective.
That's not a faith that is subjective to the person, but that's an objective faith,
something outside of us that we believe in, in an act that was called the apostle's teaching.
The apostle's teaching represented the orthodox teaching about who Jesus was.
It represented the standard, and it was the standard by which every other claim of truth
was to be weighed against. The apostle's teaching. And so when he says build yourself up in your most
holy faith, it's not a personal subjective faith. It's the faith handed down to us once for all.
How do we come to know stuff? As people, as humans, how do we come to know stuff?
What do we do with our kids? We put them in a classroom, right? And they get taught,
and for years and years they study, right? And they dig deeper and they build upon one concept,
another concept, and another concept until they have a sturdy building of teaching.
And he comes and he says, take responsibility for your formation. Build yourself up in this most
holy faith. Learn, observe, study. As you know, with most professions, right, the more important
the profession and the more like life or death the profession is, the more study there is, right?
I don't know exactly how long it is, but I know if you want to become a medical doctor,
seven to 10 years, that's what Kimberly just said, seven to 10 years of study to become a medical
doctor, and I'll tell you, I'm grateful. Anytime you ever go to the doctor, I'm sure you're grateful
too that they had study and they just, they didn't hop in there and wing it or watch a YouTube video
before they got in there to see if they could perform heart surgery on you, right?
The more important, the more dedicated you have to be to that study. And I can't think of anything
more great and more important than the foundations of our faith. That which we stand on, not just
in this world, but in the world to come. That's which, that which carries us forward, the
foundations of our faith. And Jude says, you want to know how to stand whenever other people are
falling, build yourself up in this most holy faith. It's not automatic. It doesn't just happen.
Right? It's not like osmosis where you just plop yourself in a pew and it seeps in through your
skin. And over a few years, you're good. It's not automatic. It requires effort. In fact, Peter,
Peter says that it is something that you must make every effort or strain to do.
In second Peter one, beginning in verse five, he says, for this very reason, make every effort
to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control,
self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection
and brotherly affection with love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure,
they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The person who lacks these things is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten the cleansing
from his past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your
calling and election because if you do these things, you will never stumble. For in this way,
entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for
you. Some tear down, some bring division. Jude says, build yourself up. Build yourself up in
this most holy faith. Add, is what Peter says, supplement or add to your faith goodness, knowledge,
self-control, brotherly affection, endurance and so on. And possessing these qualities help us to
see and understand better this faith and this knowledge of Jesus Christ than if we didn't.
The sad truth in reality is, and you guys know this, some people
never strengthen their faith. They are like infants. They are like babies in the faith.
The great preacher, Charles Spurgeon, talking about the need for spiritual fathers in the
church who will mentor and grow folks up in the faith, said this. He said, in the church of God,
there are children who are 70 years old. Yes, little children displaying all the infirmities
of declining years. It is not a pleasant sight to see gray-headed babies. But on the other hand,
there are fathers in the church of God, wise, stable, instructed, who are comparatively young
men. The Lord can cause his people to go rapidly and far outstrip their years.
Why is it not good that we remain infants? Why can't I say the prayer, one and done,
and just skate out the rest of my time, putting no effort into the formation of my faith?
Well, there's a few reasons I would say. The one reason is that the Lord is
the most vulnerable to predators. The first one is the most obvious. Infants are vulnerable to
predators. If you had a choice between someone who's an adult who can fight back or run really
fast, or someone who is incapable of moving and doesn't know up or down, you're probably going
after the infant if you're a predator, right? We see this in the animal kingdom all the time.
You're vulnerable to predators. It's not good to be an infant. You're vulnerable to false teaching.
You're vulnerable to those who come and will prey on you, who will sway you, who will convince you
of things. It's not good to remain an infant and be vulnerable. But it's also true that infants are
susceptible to lies. Infants are more susceptible to lies. And as infants or small children in the
family, you also can become conduits for spreading those lies to other people. Young children can be
taught to believe all kinds of things. And if they're taught to believe all kinds of things,
but they're in the body of a 50-year-old espousing those things as if they're true or fact,
they might very well convince a new believer to follow in their way and lead them right off the
hell. You can't be an infant and be strong in the truth. Infants are susceptible to be led even to
lies and to spreading lies. And remaining an infant, they also don't have the maturity to see
all good things as good. And this is huge. Those who remain in that infancy stage, even though
they're older, oftentimes lack the ability to see good things as good. And they'll even call good
things bad. My wife was telling me this illustration. I'd never heard of it before, but it's called
Sheep Dip. Anyone know what Sheep Dip is? It's not something you bring to a party. Sheep Dip
is a big old vat full of chemicals. There are insecticides and fungicides, insecticides and
fungicides filled up in a vat. And a shepherd will take a sheep who is prone to all kinds of,
you know, itching mites and things on their skins and fungus growing inside of their wool.
He'll take a sheep and he'll take it over to the vat and he'll put it in and he'll push it under.
And that sheep fights like nothing else to get out, kicking and screaming and whatever it is.
He'll push it under, hold it for a few seconds, pull it out, set it on the ground and it'll run off.
That sheep thinks he's dying. That sheep thinks that's abuse. That sheep thinks it's assault.
Call someone. Get them here. I need a police officer. I've been assaulted.
That shepherd knows it's good. As an infant, as a dumb sheep,
we oftentimes lack the immaturity to be able to see good things as good.
And it's only when we grow up in the faith that we can begin to see those things and say,
I see what God's doing. I see the good in that. I can understand my suffering better.
I can understand the season of life better. I can understand this person more fully because
I can see with mature eyes. It's not good to remain an infant, vulnerable to predators,
susceptible to lies and not being able to discern good from bad. And so the instruction is to first
build up, to feast on God's word for the nourishment of your soul. That it would be more
essential than breakfast, lunch, dinner, second dinner, third dinner. Study his word. Maybe
you're not a commentary person. Maybe those things intimidate you or you just want nothing
to do with them. That's fine. Read the Bible. Ask a lot of questions of spiritually mature
men and women. Don't believe yourself. Don't be wise in your own eyes. Go and be taught and learn.
Grow up in the faith. Ask lots of questions. Let spiritually mature men and women lead you.
Connect with a small group where you can discuss scripture. And if you got a funky little view
that you picked up along the way because you were led down a lie, maybe someone in that small group
will go, ew, what's that? That's not what the Bible is saying. That's not what the counsel of the word is.
Job chapter 23 verse 12 says, I have treasured the words from God's mouth more than my daily food.
Build yourself up. Build yourself up. The second one is pray in. Pray in the word.
Pray in. Pray in. We build up and we pray in. Verse 20 continues saying, praying in the Holy Spirit.
We build ourselves up in the faith, in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
Now some Charismatic folks think that this is all about praying in strange languages or tongues,
and I don't believe that's what this particularly means, to pray in the Holy Spirit. Earlier,
talking about the apostate ones, Jude said in verse 19 that they create divisions and are worldly,
not having the Spirit. But then he continues, but you, dear friends, as you build yourself up in the
most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, you have the Spirit. You have the Spirit is what he's
saying. And they don't. You have it, they don't. As children of God, you are led by the Spirit,
they are not. When they pray, they have no helper, the Holy Spirit, our advocate, when they pray,
they have no helper to get their prayers formed and aligned with God's word and delivered to the
Father through the Son. You do, the Bible says. You have an advocate. Samuel Zwimmer said,
true prayer is God the Holy Spirit, talking to God the Father in the name of God the Son,
and the believer's heart is the prayer room.
For believers, the Holy Spirit is the source and the sustainer of our spiritual life.
To pray in the Spirit means to pray in harmony with the word of God. You see how this one
connects to the first one. How can we even begin to pray if we are not building ourselves up
in our faith? To pray in the Spirit means to pray in harmony with the word of God, and God does not
speak with two voices. He does not say one thing in Scripture and then whisper something different
in your ear. He doesn't say, this is true in Scripture, this is good, this is my way,
this is my way, and then secretly give you knowledge about another way that you can walk in.
You know what I mean? Scripture and the Holy Spirit are in alignment.
No two voices. We will never, the Spirit will never move us to pray for something that's not
sanctioned by Scripture. H.W. Frost said, there is an inseparable union between the Spirit,
the word, and prayer, which indicates that the Spirit will always lead the saint
to make much of the word, and especially God's promises in the word. This explains the fact that
the great prayers have always been great students of the word. Prayer is not my will be done in
heaven. Prayer is your kingdom come and your will be done on earth. The supreme object of prayer is
God's glory. In prayer, we have two advocates available to aid us as well, and they plead for
us and plead our case. Nick made mention of this earlier. The Son, Jesus, intercedes for us before
the throne of God. In 1 John chapter 2 verse 1, he said, my little children, I am writing you these
things so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And so we have advocate number one, the Son, Jesus,
who's interceding for us before the Father, and it's his righteousness that we're receiving and
we're walking in. And we also have advocate number two, the Holy Spirit is Christ's advocate in our
heart. We are the vehicles of the Spirit's intercession. We're the vehicles of the Spirit's
intercession, which he carries on within us and through us. This wonderful news
means that the Holy Spirit is the one who is actively praying prayers.
Did you know that the Holy Spirit is praying prayers in you? The Holy Spirit is praying
prayers, and because the Holy Spirit is a part of the triune God, his prayers are always acceptable.
They're always heard, and they're always answered, and they're acceptable to the Father
through the Son. And the Holy Spirit then instructs us and inspires us and illuminates us
in our hearts and our minds so that we then begin to align with what the Holy Spirit is praying.
What the Holy Spirit is interceding within us, we come in alignment, and that's when our prayers
become effective. Our prayers aren't effective just because we say nice things, or we can
construct them in a certain way. Our prayers are effective because they align with God,
the power of the Holy Spirit within interceding, they come in alignment with that, and the Holy
Spirit direct access through Jesus Christ to the Father. He instructs us, inspires and illuminates,
and as long as the Holy Spirit is not grieved within our hearts by our willful disregard for
God's commands and his will, he is able to guide us in our prayers and petitions.
And with the Holy Spirit's guidance, our prayers will then be in agreement with the things he's
interceding for, and that is praying in the Spirit. Build up. Pray in. Third, keep in. Verse 21 begins,
keep yourself in the love of God. I have three boys, they're older now, it's really hard to
coordinate everything. I have three boys at home, they're all three live here at the house,
and I love my boys 24-7, as a father loves his children, as an imperfect father loves his
children in the best way that I can. I love them all the time, but my children as they've grown,
they've become more secluded. They have their room, they have their places to go, Kaia has his job to
get to, he can drive, so he will take the long way home sometimes, and I don't love him less
when he's out doing whatever he's doing or he's in his room. But that doesn't necessarily mean
that he has access to all the benefits of my love. See, when I go out with him, he's not
when I go out with him, I pay. When he takes the long way around, he pays. I don't pay. He access
a benefit that I joyfully give, I have no problem, no reservation about showering it on him,
but it's only in nearness to me that he accesses it. And Jude says, keep yourself in the love of
God. We have to keep ourselves positioned to experience the love of God that is always there
and is showered upon his children to allow those benefits and the pleasure of being his beloved.
And some folks have a hard time hearing that they're loved. Some folks, the moment they hear
something like I love you, they filter it through their own view of themselves.
They wonder if they're even lovable, and when they hear the words I love you from someone,
they doubt them. In their mind, they think if you only knew, or what do you want?
I think it's on purpose that this instruction to keep ourselves in the love of God
follows the instruction to pray in the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the Bible tells us so much
about the Holy Spirit, and here's just a few things that I think are really insightful.
That the Spirit reveals God in his word to us. That the Spirit empowers us to live like Christ.
That it enlivens us with the resurrection power. The power that raised Christ from the dead is at
work within us, and that it transforms us into Christ's image with increasing glory. Christ,
who was the acceptable one because of his sacrifice. It's the Holy Spirit who enables you
to taste and see that the Lord is good. You cannot keep yourself in the love of God,
except that the Holy Spirit is doing something in you to position you under the shower of his grace.
I don't know if you know this, but God loves to be trusted.
He is drawn to the brokenhearted. He is drawn to the weak. He is drawn to the humble. He loves,
loves, loves to display his faithful love. He loves to show that he will follow through on what
he said. Follow through on his promises. He loves when we're dependent on him. He loves when we're
weak so that he can strengthen us in the power of his might and he can receive the glory he is due
as being the perfect Almighty. He is. He loves us to maintain our position and status
as children of God and allow him to be father. Allow him to be father.
Keep yourself in the love of God. Allow the Holy Spirit to position you under the fountain of his
grace. Trust him. Allow him to follow through with his faithful love. The reformer Martin Luther
said that the sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent, that we cannot trust
the love and grace of God and must take matters into our own hands. It's the lie. The lie is we
have to take it in our own. God's love won't follow through. He won't do what he said he was going
to do. We have to make it happen. That is an impediment to the experience of God's love
and is something that we must set aside in trust. Number four, we build up, we pray in, we keep in,
and finally we wait for verse 21. Waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.
Now we're told one of the promises that helps us to stand in the face of those who are falling,
in the face of those who are coming with false teaching, one of the promises is the expectant,
hopeful waiting of Christ's return. Waiting expectantly for him. And I would imagine there's
probably two responses when Jesus comes, right? Two responses. One response, well, there was a time
where I was out on our property. We have about six acres and we live in El Dorado County. Now El
Dorado County is different than Sacramento County in many ways, but in one way, we can own and shoot
guns on our property. My son back there is going, yeah, we can, we can do that. We own guns and we
can shoot them on our property so long as we're not shooting in the direction of a home. We're
shooting into a backstop. Well, I set up a backstop against a hill on our property and we went out
and I was shooting a gun with one of my sons, showing him how to use a handgun and we were
shooting responsibly as we should. Now, just because we're able lawfully doesn't mean that the
neighbors always liked the noise or that the neighbors liked the direction that we're doing it.
And so we had a neighbor who came, drove down around this winding and he yelled out from his car,
Hey, I don't have a problem with guns, but I think where you're shooting is a problem. So I've
called the sheriff and he's on his way. Now, what do you think I felt in that moment? I wasn't doing
anything wrong, but I could think of, I thought I was going to be walking away like this. I'd be
handing in my resignation letter. You guys would be like, Oh, pastor's in prison. He was shooting
guns and never own a gun again, right? So as I waited for the sheriff to arrive, I did not wait.
And when he did arrive and pulled in, I was shaken. I was like, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Whatever you want.
I'll do anything. He showed up to finish the story. He showed up, walked down to where I was,
stood in the position and said, Hey, our sheriff loves the second amendment and he wants everyone
in here to shoot. So teach your kids and shoot. And that's a great place right there where you
were shooting. Good job. But I need to stay down here a little bit longer. So he thinks
that we're talking a little bit more. And I'm just instructing you on how to be safe. But he's like,
this is awesome. What a great spot. Excellent. And he got back in his car and left and there was no
problem after that. And I've talked to the neighbor since and I think we're good. But when I was
waiting, I was not waiting with hope. I dreamt up every scenario. I dreamt up he was going to jump
out of that cruiser and well, I'm armed, right? He knows I'm armed. The guy called on me. He's
going to come out armed, drawn. I'm going to have to get on the ground. It's going to be a scene.
That's one way. One response to Jesus is coming. The other response I was thinking about as a kid,
we lived on a block and it was a typical urban environment in San Jose, California.
And where I lived as a kid, the ice cream truck came by every day at the same time.
And we knew, we knew what time it was. And we would all, the three, my four sibling,
three siblings, I'm the fourth, we would all go to the couch, which was against that front window
facing inward. And we would get on it and look over the top of it and just wait at the window
for the ice cream truck to, as soon as it came, we'd take off running with either mom or dad in
the rears coming up with the money, right? Cause we couldn't buy anything. We'd run out there,
whether we bought anything either way, we'd run out there just to wave at him. I mean, he was like a
superstar in our neighborhood and we knew when he was coming and we were excited to see him.
That's another response to Jesus is coming.
Waiting expectantly. And that's what Jude says, wait expectantly for the mercy of Jesus Christ
when he returns. Wait expectantly. Your response to those words, Jesus is coming,
is a really good indicator as to whether or not you are keeping yourself in the love of God.
If you are under the shower of his grace, then when I say Jesus is coming,
the corners of your mouth curl up just a little bit as you think about Jesus is coming.
He's coming. Over 1,845 times in the Bible, the end times are predicted
or they're alluded to. It is a major theme in the Bible.
I've heard a joke before, the joke was something like, I'm not pre-millennial,
I'm not post-millennial and I'm not all millennial, I'm panmillennial.
In the end, it'll all pan out, right? And it's funny and it will pan out, it will.
Whatever you believe in, it will. It will. It will. It will. It will.
It will. Whatever you believe. But it panning out can't mean that we put it out of our mind
and go on living without it in our minds. Jude says, you want to stand firm? You build up,
you pray up, you keep it, and you wait for him. You wait for him expectantly. Wait on him,
and you wait until he comes to you. And that is the end of it.
But if you want to stand firm, it's not the end of it. It's the end of it.
It's a great hope. It's a great hope. It's a great hope. It's a great hope.
It's something that helps us stand while others are falling away.
Okay, really quickly, verse 22 and 23. What about the drifters though? What about those among us
What should we think toward them?
What should we do?
Have mercy on those who waver.
Save others by snatching them from the fire.
Have mercy on others, but with fear,
hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
I think Jude is laying out at least two kinds of drifters.
The first one is the doubting drifter.
The doubting one is what Peter called unstable souls,
or what James called double-minded waves
being tossed here and there by every teaching.
The doubter is one who has moments of fire,
moments of spiritual ecstasy, and long periods of,
ah, I'm gonna go find something else.
I'm gonna go entertain myself over here.
I'm gonna go find some pleasure to entertain myself here,
and then maybe comes back around
only to do it again and again.
And you can see over time, there's a slipping away.
We make a joke that, I've made it before here,
that you can tell when someone's on their way
out of a church as they move their way back
in the sanctuary until they're out the door, right?
That's just a joke.
I don't think that actually represents anything.
That's just a joke, I don't think that actually
represents anything necessarily,
but there's something to be said about repeating
over and over in that drifting and that doubting,
and you begin to see it take its toll.
And so the question is, how should we treat them?
What should we do for the drifter?
And James says that we're supposed to have mercy on them.
Should we attack them?
Hey, I thought you were a Christian.
I thought you were, why are you doing that?
I thought you said you were a Christian.
Should we club them over the head for doubting?
Just believe, you don't need to know anything,
you don't have to have firmness in your faith, just believe.
James says no, I mean Jude says no.
We're to give them undeserved kindness.
That's what mercy is.
We're to give them undeserved kindness.
Mercy throughout the Bible has to do with forgiveness
and withholding or delaying deserved punishment.
We're supposed to withhold deserved punishment,
delay punishment, we're supposed to give forgiveness,
we're supposed to give undeserved kindness
to the drifter, to the doubter.
It is our mercy that very well could win them back.
It is our kindness, it's the kindness that God showed to us
that first won us over in the first place,
it's our kindness to those who doubt and those who drift
that could win them back.
It's not kindness that we're supposed to give,
it's not kindness that allows them to continue in their sin
and affirms their sin, no.
It's kindness to say I'm not gonna write you off,
I'm not gonna wipe my hands clean of you and be like,
well, you're dead to me.
It's the kind that says, hey, I'm gonna evangelize you,
I'm gonna remind you of the grace of God,
the shower of grace, the shower of God's love
that I'm standing under and that I'm being filled up with,
I'm gonna try to splash you a little bit with that,
just get a little bit onto you
so that you can experience and begin to taste
God's goodness again and maybe his kindness
will draw you back.
I'm not gonna write you off,
I'm not gonna get that disgusted feeling in my stomach,
oh, they once were a Christian,
but man, did they fall off the wagon.
He says mercy, mercy is what we're to show
to those who are wavering.
But there is another kind of drifter
and it's the obstinate drifter.
The obstinate drifter is the one
who is steadfast in their rebellion,
steadfast in their sin and you can begin to see them
descend further and further and further
into the darkness that they're walking in.
And so some people we need to talk sweet to,
some people we need to sprinkle with the grace of God
and the fountain of God's goodness
and we need to plead with them and preach the gospel
to them and love them and welcome them with kindness
and other people need rebuke.
Some people need to be snatched from the flame,
they're obstinate, they need to be shaken
from their position, they're falling away,
they're falling into sin, they're drifting away,
the fire of judgment is undeniable.
They are playing with fire and they will be burned
so we snatch them.
We say stop it.
Get your hand away from there, right?
You have no business being there,
you have no business doing that or acting that way,
stop now.
I've often thought in my stellar physical condition,
if I was ever put into a position where I had to rescue
someone, and I think about weird things,
if I was ever put in a situation where I had to rescue
someone from a car barreling down on them
and you see it in the movies, you run and you dive
and you push them out of the way and then I think,
man, that would hurt.
Like that would hurt a lot, that would hurt me.
Like I don't know if I would survive the fall.
I'd certainly come up with a lot of broken bones.
It's like, but what are you gonna do to get them
out of the way?
You see it barreling down on them,
you see it barreling down on them,
you see where this goes.
Those flames are hot.
Judgment fires that they have been sowing into
by their life and their rejection of Christ,
they're stoking, the flames are coming up,
what are you gonna do?
In the scenario I live in, I'd like to think that
I would just act and deal with the hospital costs later.
But when it comes to brothers and sisters who are drifting,
there's some we come and we say, man,
just remember the grace of God.
Remember his goodness, remember that testimony, that time.
Remember when he repaired your marriage
and it was about to fall apart.
Remember when he provided that financial thing for you
to get you through that time.
Remember when that one guy came alongside of you
and worked through that sin issue with you.
Remember the grace of God and the history and come back.
Come back to Christ and others, you just have to go,
wake up, fire.
It's hot.
Stop, get away.
I think it's easy for us to write folks off.
I've been here at this church for over six years.
There's lots of faces that are seen here
that I don't see now.
Some have moved on.
Some continue in the faith strong.
Others, I have no idea.
I don't know.
It'd be easy for me to say, oh, catch wind,
oh yeah, they're not a Christian anymore.
They're doing this, they're doing that, they're doing that.
I guess they're not my responsibility anymore.
And Jude says, man, it's gonna take a toll on the church.
It's gonna take a toll on the people.
All of this stuff that has come in,
the world is deceiving, the enemy is real
and he's working to try to snatch people away from God
and his good work.
What are we gonna do?
Are we just gonna sit by and let it happen?
Are we gonna let the enemy come in here
and plunder our church?
Or are we gonna say, you know what?
The feeling of embarrassment is staying in my lane.
You know what, I'm gonna set that aside.
I'm gonna give that call to that person.
I'm gonna say, hey, what's up?
Don't you remember?
Remember.
And if there's still off-center,
you're gonna say, stop that.
I know, I was there on that journey.
I know that's not you, stop that.
And if they reject, what can you do?
But you did what you could.
We can prevent it by building ourselves up,
but we also have to recognize that some will fall
and drift, and we have to be prepared
to show mercy to those who waver
and to snatch others from the fire.