JUDE 20

In the book of Jude we have been told many things about false teachers and other ungodly people who inhabit the earth. We were told about their character, their terrible deeds, their false doctrines, and their certain judgment and horrible eternal destiny. Any believer who reads the book of Jude should be able to understand the situation of false teachers. Believers should be well-taught on how to recognize a false teacher. But that is not what we dwell on. We do not spend any more time than we must on the negatives. There are always wonderful things and good things to be reminded of. Jude reminds us of some of these at the end of his writings. Maybe we should say that the Holy Spirit reminds us of these things because the words came from the Holy Spirit. The Bible says in Jude verse 20, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.”

Jude calls the believers to whom he is writing: “beloved.” We are beloved of God through Christ. Every believer should start with that idea and then stay with it. The fact that God loves us is one of the most important teachings of the Bible. Jesus prayed about it in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prayed in John 17:23, “…and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” God is love. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. “We love Him, because he first loved us.” You must believe that God loves you, or you will not be able to live by faith. You must believe that God loves you, or you will not be able to have spiritual victory when the really bad things of life happen to you.

The Bible says in Jude verse 20 that believers should be “building up yourselves on your most holy faith.” This is a wonderful verse because it describes the Christian life, or at least what the Christian life should be all about. First notice the verb that is used: “to build” or we should say “to build upon.” It is a verb that is commonly used to speak of the construction of a real building upon a firm foundation. In this case the foundation is faith. If you do not have faith in Christ, you have nothing to build upon. First Corinthians 3:11 says, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

Notice that there is a certain responsibility for a believer to be involved in building up himself. If you are going to be building yourself up, then that implies that you are not going to be tearing yourself down. Believers should always be reminding themselves of the good things that Christ has done for them and the good position that Christ has put them in.

The adjective that is used in Jude verse 20 to describe our faith is: “most holy.” There is nothing more holy than faith. The things that are holy are spiritual not physical. Some people have it all wrong who look for holy “things.” Those who make such errors try to find holy water or a holy crucifix or a holy church building, or they try to designate some people to be more holy than others. To be holy means to be set apart. God has set apart faith as the most holy thing. That is not surprising. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” Jesus said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.”

We must build up ourselves on our most holy faith. We start with faith in Christ, and then for the rest of our lives we build on that in order to make a Christian character, and in order to have a strong and thriving spiritual life. How do we build up ourselves on the foundation of our most holy faith in Christ? We already mentioned one important thing: thinking about the good things that Christ has done for us and about the good spiritual condition that He has placed us in. Included with that is the reading of the Word of God. Included with that is the exercising of our faith. Do not face your circumstances of life or the problems that come your way in the same manner that the people of the world face them. Exercise your faith. Use it, and then it will grow. Trust in the Lord Jesus at all times, no matter what you are facing.

Jude verse 20 states one very important thing to do in order to build up yourself on your most holy faith: “praying in the Holy Ghost.” There is more than one kind of praying, but only one kind is real prayer. There is prayer made up of vain repetitions, and that is not real prayer. There is prayer that is made to someone other than the Father and Jesus Christ the only mediator, and that is not true prayer. There is prayer that is made in order to be heard of men, and that is not true prayer either. There is also prayer that is motivated by the selfish will of man, and that is prayer that will not be answered. True prayer that builds up faith is connected with, and associated with, and motivated by the Holy Spirit. All true prayer is similar to the first real prayer that anyone prays: the prayer to Jesus Christ for salvation. Such a prayer for salvation and forgiveness is motivated by the Holy Spirit. Such a prayer is Christ-centered. Such a prayer is totally dependent upon God and Christ. Such a prayer can only be made by a person who is very well aware of his own failures just like the publican who could not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but who bowed his head in humility and prayed, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”

In Jude verse 21 believers are told something that they should do in addition to building up their faith. It says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Notice first of all that we are commanded to “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” True Christianity is centered around the concept of the great, eternal love of God that is found only in Christ Jesus. God loves me. God loves every believer to a degree that we cannot fully imagine, but we can begin to. Experiencing the love of God and thinking about the love of God are vital to real Christianity. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:17-19, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” One of the worse things that happens to some Christians is that because of bad things that happen to them, they stop believing that God loves them. Your faith will be weakened tremendously if you stop believing that God loves you, or even if you stop thinking about the fact that He loves you through Christ. The thing to remember from Jude verse 21 is that it is each believer’s responsibility to “keep yourself in the love of God.” No one can do it for you. You must do it by what you think about and by what you remember.

Jude verse 21 also says, “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Of course, there is a close connection between the love of God and the mercy of Christ. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” We can look for the mercy of Christ because we know that He offers His mercy. We certainly need His mercy. We rely upon His mercy because we are sinners. We do not rely upon our own goodness: we rely upon His mercy. The result of “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ” is “eternal life.” Mercy refers to the forgiveness of sins. If you have received mercy, then you will not be punished for your sins. You will have eternal life. That is what the gospel of Christ is all about. The gospel of Christ does not center on what is happening in this life: the gospel of Christ centers on what is going to happen in the next life. And it is all based upon the mercy of Christ. I know that I am going to have eternal life because I know that I have received the mercy of Christ; and I know that God offered me that mercy and God gave me that mercy because of His great, eternal love.

One more thing to notice about Jude verses 20 and 21 is the reference to the trinity. This is one of the countless times in the Bible where the trinity can be seen. Verse 20 mentions “praying in the Holy Ghost.” Verse 21 mentions the “love of God,” and verse 21 also mentions “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son are all mentioned, and all three are a part of the life of the truly spiritual person. It is important to point out that Jesus Christ is the one who shows mercy because He is the One who forgives sins. Who can forgive sins, but God only? That is why Jesus can forgive sins: because He is God.

Jude verses 20 and 21 tell the believer what he should be doing for himself. The believer should be building up himself on the foundation of his most holy faith, praying in connection with and by means of the Holy Spirit, keeping himself in the love of God, and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you are doing those things in your mind and heart and in your own spiritual life, then you can start thinking about how you might be able to help others. Galatians 6:1 gives that principle. It says, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

What should be done for others who have spiritual needs? That depends on a lot of things. Actually only God knows what should be done. That is one reason that you must be led by the Spirit or you will do or say the wrong thing. Your words will not have any lasting spiritual effect. Jude verses 22 and 23 say, “And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Some people at a certain time in their life will respond to the message of compassion about the love of Christ for their souls. Other people at another time in their life will not respond to such a message, but they might respond with the right kind of reverential fear to the message of judgment and damnation that will surely come if they do not repent. Which message should you give? That depends. Make sure that your own heart is right with God, and then maybe you will know. Jesus said in Matthew 7:3, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”

The Bible says in Jude verse 24, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” Notice the relationship between this verse and verse 21. Verse 21 said, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” This verse says that God “is able to keep you from falling.” You will not be able to “keep” anything without God’s help. You certainly will not be able to keep yourself from falling without God guiding you, assisting you, and blessing you. That is why Jesus told us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Even so, there is a need to have the right balance between human responsibility and human dependence upon God.

The believer depends totally upon the mercy that is in Christ Jesus for eternal life. Jude verse 21 reminds us to be “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” We need His mercy because we are sinners. We need His mercy because we have fallen many times. We can rely on His mercy because Jesus is merciful. He can be merciful because He died for our sins. But even though we have eternal life because of His mercy, we still will be held responsible for our actions. We still must have the goal of doing the right thing all of the time. Our goal must be to not fall into sin or out of faith. We will give an account. God wants “to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” The implication is that for some believers there will not be “exceeding joy” at the judgment. Some will be ashamed when they stand before the Savior and must give an account of what kind of building they built upon the foundation of faith in Christ.

The last verse of Jude points our attention to the Savior Jesus Christ: the One who will be the central figure at the judgment and in heaven. Verse 24 says, “To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” Of course, we notice that once again the Savior is called God. If you do not worship Jesus as God, then you are not a Christian. You can change that by bowing before the Christ and receiving His forgiveness of sins. Notice that Jesus Christ already has “glory and majesty, dominion and power.” Jesus is being glorified in the magnificence of heaven at this very moment. Therefore, only those who are willing to join in saying “amen” to the glory of Christ will be in heaven. Jesus certainly deserves to receive all of the glory and all of the honor from human beings because of all that He did for us on the cross of Calvary. Be careful about giving honor and praise to human beings. That will not be happening in heaven.

In this verse Jesus is called “wise.” Compared to Him, no one else is wise. First Corinthians 1:25-31 says this about God’s wisdom, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” You need wisdom, so make sure that you go to Christ for that wisdom. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

One last thing said about Jesus is that He has “dominion and power” and He has them both now and forever. “Dominion” is a word that means “strength” and “might.” You would be wise to pray to Christ and trust in Him because of His strength and might. There is nothing too hard for Him. He can straighten out any problem, He can heal any disease, and He can forgive any sin. His arm is not weakened that it cannot save. “Power” is a word that means authority. Christ has all authority. Every other power and authority is ultimately subservient to Him. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. “Even the wind and the waves obey Him.” Make sure that you obey Him by bowing before Him and making Him your Lord and Savior. Make sure that you can say what Jude said about Christ, “To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

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