This presentation continues to focus on the instructions Jude gives to the church concerning the apostate leaders that had come in among them.

1. Jude
Contending for the Faith
Instruction To the Church – Part 2
Jude – Contending for the Faith

2. Review of 17-19
Instruction to the Church
Jude – Contending for the Faith

3. "But you, beloved, ought to remember the
words that were spoken beforehand by the
apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they
were saying to you, ―In the last time there will
be mockers, following after their own ungodly
lusts.‖ These are the ones who cause
divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the
Spirit."
(Jude 17-19)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

4. Exposition of 20-23
Instruction to the Church – Part 2
Jude – Contending for the Faith

5. "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your
most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep
yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save
others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some
have mercy with fear, hating even the garment
polluted by the flesh."
(Jude 20-23)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

6. Questions to Consider
What does it mean to ―pray in the Holy Spirit‖?
How do Christians build up their faith?
How does one keep oneself in the love of God?
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting;
save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating
even the garment polluted by the flesh."
(Jude 20-23)
What ―mercy‖ are Christians waiting for?
What ‗doubts‘ does Jude‘s audience have?
Is it a sin/wrong to doubt?
What does ―have mercy with fear‖ mean?
Jude – Contending for the Faith

7. "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God,
waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal
life‖
-Jude 20
1. Building
2. Praying
3. Keeping
4. Waiting
Jude – Contending for the Faith

8. “building yourselves up on your most holy faith…”
What is Jude asking his readers to
build themselves up upon? Their faith
or THE faith? Or is this a false
dilemma? Jude asked his audience in
vs. 3 to contend for the faith that once
for all delivered to the saints, and his
readers are believers who have made
this faith their own, so perhaps it is
both.
In any event, the faith is ―holy‖, which
means separate. It comes from God
and does not include any other
teaching or doctrine.
Jude – Contending for the Faith

9. "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so
walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built
up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were
instructed, and overflowing with gratitude."
(Colossians 2:6-7)
"And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets,
and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the
building up of the body of Christ;"
(Ephesians 4:11-12)
"Therefore encourage one another and build up one
another, just as you also are doing."
(1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

10. “building yourselves up on your most holy faith…”
How does a Christian primarily build
themselves up?
"―And now I commend you to God and to the
word of His grace, which is able to build you
up and to give you the inheritance among all
those who are sanctified."
(Acts 20:32)
" Therefore, putting aside all malice and all
deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,
like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of
the word, so that by it you may grow in respect
to salvation,"
(1 Peter 2:1-2)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

11. ―How can you live out your faith without
truly understanding it?"
- John Hannah
Jude – Contending for the Faith

12. “Praying in the Holy Spirit…”
This does not refer to speaking in
tongues as some might teach – the Bible
specifically asks the rhetorical question
―All do not speak with tongues, do
they?"
(1 Corinthians 12:30) .
Praying in the Holy Spirit is ―praying
out of hearts and souls that are indwelt,
illuminated, and filled with the Holy
Spirit‖ (George Lawrence Lawlor,
Translation and Exposition of the
Epistle of Jude, p. 127). It is praying in
the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jude – Contending for the Faith

13. "With all prayer and petition pray at all
times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be
on the alert with all perseverance and
petition for all the saints"
(Ephesians 6:18)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

14. “Praying in the Holy Spirit…”
The Word of God and prayer
certainly go together (Acts 6:4).
Evangelist Billy Sunday used to
give his converts three rules for
success in the Christian life. Each
day they were to read the Bible
and let God talk to them. They
were to pray; in other words, they
were to talk to God. And they
were to witness and talk to others
about God.
Jude – Contending for the Faith

15. The Christian’s Building Process
1. The Word of God
2. The Spirit of God
3. Prayer in the Spirit
Jude – Contending for the Faith

16. “Keep yourselves in the Love of God…”
―Keep yourselves in the love of God‖
does not mean that our salvation
depends on our efforts; we‘ve already
learned in this study that we are kept
and preserved by God Himself (Jude
1).
Instead, a believer is nurtured as he is
occupied with God‘s love for him, and is
in fellowship with Him. Note the
contrast here with believers who keep
themselves in God‘s love vs. the
rebellious angels who ―did not keep their
own domain‖ (vs. 6).
Jude – Contending for the Faith

17. "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have
also loved you; abide in My love. If you
keep My commandments, you will abide in
My love; just as I have kept My Father‘s
commandments and abide in His love.‖
(John 15:9-10)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

18. God’s Sovereignty and our Responsibility
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created
thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Romans 8:38-39)
―Keep yourselves in the love of God‖
(Jude 21)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

19. "Hate evil, you who love the Lord, Who
preserves the souls of His godly ones;
He delivers them from the hand of the
wicked."
(Psalm 97:10)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

20. “Waiting Anxiously for the mercy…”
Lastly, Jude points his readers to the
hope that awaits them – the parousia
(second coming) of Jesus Christ.
The apostates have no hope – only
one thing awaits them, which Jude has
reiterated constantly in his letter:
judgment. By stark contrast, those
who are true believers have the hope
of mercy found in the sacrifice made
by Jesus for them, which they have
trusted. True believers receive mercy;
all others receive judgment.
Jude – Contending for the Faith

21. "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing
salvation to all men, instructing us to deny
ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly,
righteously and godly in the present age, looking for
the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of
our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave
Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed,
and to purify for Himself a people for His own
possession, zealous for good deeds."
(Titus 2:11-14)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

22. "For the anxious longing of the creation waits
eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God."
(Romans 8:19)
"And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die
once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also,
having been offered once to bear the sins of many,
will appear a second time for salvation without
reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him."
(Hebrews 9:27-28)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

23. "And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and
on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.―
(Jude 22-23)
Jude instructs his readers to help three classes of people:
1. Those who are doubting
2. Those who are unsaved
3. Those who are sinfully dangerous
Jude – Contending for the Faith

24. “And Have mercy on some who are doubting …”
Is doubt wrong …
is doubt a sin … ?
Jude – Contending for the Faith

25. “And Have mercy on some who are doubting …”
:A new, innocuously titled book, Mother Teresa:
Come Be My Light (Doubleday), consisting
primarily of correspondence between Teresa and
her confessors and superiors over a period of 66
years, provides the spiritual counterpoint to a life
known mostly through its works. The letters, many
of them preserved against her wishes (she had
requested that they be destroyed but was overruled
by her church), reveal that for the last nearly half-
century of her life she felt no presence of God
whatsoever — or, as the book's compiler and editor,
the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, writes, "neither in her
heart or in the eucharist.―‖ – Time Article.
―She was no more exempt from the realization that
religion is a human fabrication than any other
person, and that her attempted cure was more and
more professions of faith could only have
deepened the pit that she had dug for herself.‖
- Atheist Christopher Hitchens
Jude – Contending for the Faith

26. “And Have mercy on some who are doubting …”
―The disclosure of previous secret letters from
Mother Teresa indicates that she was deeply
troubled by doubts and a sense of Christ's
absence. The fact is that many Christians
struggle with doubt. Indeed, the most thoughtful
believers are most likely of all to understand what
is at stake, and thus to suffer pangs and seasons
of doubt. Doubt can be healthy. It can drive
believers to a deeper knowledge of what we
believe and a deeper embrace of the truth of the
Gospel. It can deepen our trust in God and
mature our faith. At the same time, doubt can be
a form of sin . . . a refusal to trust God and his
promises.‖
- Al Mohler
Jude – Contending for the Faith

27. “And Have mercy on some who are doubting …”
What are the top
causes of doubt in
the lives of
Christians?
Jude – Contending for the Faith

28. “And Have mercy on some who are doubting …”
What are the top causes of doubt in the lives of
Christians?
False Teaching
Jude – Contending for the Faith

29. “And Have mercy on some who are doubting …”
What are the top causes of doubt in the lives of
Christians?
Pain and Suffering
Jude – Contending for the Faith

30. "And Jesus answered and said to them, ―Truly I say to you,
if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what
was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this
mountain, ‗Be taken up and cast into the sea,‘ it will
happen."
(Matthew 21:21)
"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who
gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be
given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting,
for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and
tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that
he will receive anything from the Lord,"
(James 1:5-7)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

31. “And Have mercy on some who are doubting …”
No doubt that God exists…
"And without faith it is impossible to please
Him, for he who comes to God must believe
that He is and that He is a rewarder of those
who seek Him."
(Hebrews 11:6)
… No doubt in the God Who exists
Jude – Contending for the Faith

32. “And Have mercy on some who are doubting …”
"for our gospel did not come to you in
word only, but also in power and in the
Holy Spirit and with full conviction‖
(1 Thessalonians 1:5)
―Full conviction‖ is actually a singular
Greek term It is found in only three
other places in the New Testament
(once in Colossians and twice in
Hebrews), with the word meaning ‗A
state of complete certainty‘ (Danker,
2000). It is produced in believers by
God‘s Holy Spirit.
Jude – Contending for the Faith

33. “Save Others, Snatching them out of the Fire …”
In this aspect of outreach, the challenge for
believers increases over simply dealing with
confused believers. It is no longer merely a
matter of showing mercy; it becomes the
difficult and eternally-important task of
rescuing those who are already convinced of
false teaching.
Snatching translates harpazō, and presents
the strong image of seizing something, or
taking something or somebody by force. Jude
undoubtedly borrowed this imagery from the
prophets, specifically Amos‘s statement
about Israel, ―You were like a firebrand
snatched from a blaze‖ (Amos 4:11;  Zech
cf.
3:2).
Jude – Contending for the Faith

34. “Save Others, Snatching them out of the Fire …”
―Is it not odd that God
would put the salvation
of men and women‘s
souls in our mouths?‖
- John Calvin
Jude – Contending for the Faith

35. “Save Others, Snatching them out of the Fire …”
The only way to rescue such people is to
crush and destroy the false ideologies they
have been infected with before it is too late.
The way to accomplish this is with God‘s
Truth:
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war according to the flesh, for the weapons of
our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely
powerful for the destruction of fortresses [lit.
prisons]. We are destroying speculations and
every lofty thing raised up against the
knowledge of God, and we are taking every
thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
and we are ready to punish all disobedience,
whenever your obedience is complete."
(2 Corinthians 10:3-6)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

36. “And on Some Have Mercy with Fear …”
The phrase with fear means ―with caution.‖ In
trying to help those who have erred, we must
be careful not to be trapped ourselves. Many
a would-be rescuer has been drowned himself.
When an unstable believer has been captured
by false doctrine, we must be very careful as
we try to help him, for Satan can use him to
defile us. In trying to save him, we may be
stained or burned ourselves.
The principle Jude was laying down was that
stronger believers must never think they are
beyond satanic influence. Even while serving
the Lord and seeking to rescue one of His
children, we can become defiled by those we
want to help.
Jude – Contending for the Faith

37. "Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any
trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a
one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking
to yourself, so that you too will not be
tempted."
(Galatians 6:1)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

38. "And Jesus said to them, ―Watch out and
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees.‖"
(Matthew 16:6)
"Your boasting is not good. Do you not know
that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of
dough?"
(1 Corinthians 5:6)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

39. “Hating even the garment polluted by the flesh…”
Jude used extremely graphic, coarse language
to highlight the degree of danger involved in
this type of outreach to those involved in sin.
The word ―garment‖ refers to the clothing
that the people of that day wore under their
outer tunics, i.e. their underwear. The word
translated ―polluted‖ means ―to stain,‖ or ―to
spot.‖ To be polluted by the flesh means ―to
be stained by bodily function.‖
Just as no one wants to handle someone
else‘s dirty underwear and be defiled
physically, so we should be extremely wary and
cautious of getting too close to the spiritual
and/or fleshly defilement of those corrupted
by false teachers.
Jude – Contending for the Faith

40. " ―To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has
the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‗I
know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive,
but you are dead. ‗Wake up, and strengthen the things that
remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your
deeds completed in the sight of My God. ‗So remember
what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent.
Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and
you will not know at what hour I will come to you. ‗But you
have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their
garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are
worthy."
(Revelation 3:1-4)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

41. "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take
heed that he does not fall."
(1 Corinthians 10:12)
"You therefore, beloved, knowing this
beforehand, be on your guard so that you are
not carried away by the error of unprincipled
men and fall from your own steadfastness,"
(2 Peter 3:17)
Jude – Contending for the Faith

42. Concluding Thoughts
• What is it that you wait eagerly for? Anxious longing for
Christ‘s return should result in a desire to live a pure and godly
life: "Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what
sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,"(2
Peter 3:11). We also have the hope of
• How ready are you to help those in doubt? Or those blinded by
false teaching? Or those entangled in sin? Can you live out what
Peter asks: "but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always
being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give
an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and
reverence;"(1 Peter 3:15)
• Ideas have consequences and false teaching can lead to eternal
consequences.
Jude – Contending for the Faith

43. Ideas Have Consequences
―To keep you is no
benefit. To destroy
you is no loss‖
-Pol Pot
The above mindset was built upon the
nihilistic philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre.
Jude – Contending for the Faith

44. Jude
Contending for the Faith
Instruction To the Church
Jude – Contending for the Faith