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[0:00] To be found in the Epistle of Jude, the 20th and the 21st verses, Epistle of Jude, the Last Epistle before the Book of Revelation, the 20th and 21st verses, But ye, beloved, in building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.

[0:49] Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

[1:01] It is very obvious what the subject is in these two verses.

[1:14] The individual establishment, the construction of a spiritual life and faith in the believer.

[1:35] Can there be anything more vital or more precious? You see, religion can be simply a notion.

[1:53] In the previous verse, it says, These be they who separate themselves. Well, there are a great many people who call themselves by various names and titles, who separate themselves and consider themselves to be separated from their fellow man.

[2:19] But as the Word of God says, They are sensual, that means to say, natural and not spiritual.

[2:32] Having not the spirit. Now that is said immediately in rigid contrast to the subject of our text, which is the construction of true godliness, faith, and of the life of God in the believer's heart.

[3:01] And where religion is something more than notion, something that is daily felt and experienced, this is the kind of religion that the people of God will possess.

[3:24] And this kind of religion involves the believer in all kinds of labor and working.

[3:35] When we speak of works, people shudder, shrink, because of the truth that we so dearly cling to and believe in, that salvation is not by works.

[3:56] But you see, if you take a truth and carry it too far, so to speak, make it as if it were the only truth, and so follow that, you may well come to a position where you are not able to lift a little finger or to do a single thing in your own interest and for the glory and honor of God.

[4:37] Now God is so wonderfully balanced. He makes it as if they can only get to heaven, providing that they strive and stretch out their very hearts and wrestle with all energy and earnestness.

[5:07] And if they give up for one moment, they must utterly fail and fall and become lost and living. Now God puts it in that way in order to cause his people to strive, as he says, as the Lord Jesus said, strive to enter into the straitening.

[5:32] You know that every striving must be the result of the Spirit's work, and yet we have to strive.

[5:44] You see, as I've said so often here, salvation is not just an automatic machine. We're living in a time, in a day of automating.

[5:56] and we press buttons. We have computers. And the other day I read how a church has turned themselves into a computer.

[6:11] They did not need a throne of grace. They've got a computer. And if they put a request in the computer, the answer came out. Terrible, enormous diversity and obnoxious process is all this.

[6:37] And the child, the real believer, is not an automatic creature simply being carried along without consciousness by a power outside.

[6:54] But the truth is this, that where God calls his people and puts the fear of God in their hearts and the life of God in their hearts, he brings them into sweet and glorious cooperation with himself so that they begin to long for things that he intends to give to them.

[7:15] He makes them look in ways where he determines to leave them. He closes their eyes from things that he would not have them enter into.

[7:31] And he gives them a real desire and purpose to work with all their might and recognizing as they do so that it must be God that works in them to will and to do of his good faith.

[7:53] Now, have I made it quite clear as to what the reality of true faith is? Now, this dear man of God, Judas, who was one of the twelve chosen disciples of the Lord, who had asked the Lord a question when he was with him, and as an answer to that question which the Lord gave to him, we find how much his whole life has been changed, his whole attitude towards things have altered.

[8:38] And he comes to see now what the manifestation of the Lord Jesus means, of which he spake when he answered the question that he put to him.

[8:51] He now sees how vital that manifestation is. he shows us how it's a kind of a building in the heart and in the conscience and in the life of the believer that is gradually and wonderfully being built up, a construction, an edifice that will never be pulled out.

[9:21] this is the life of God in the soul. This is faith. Now, he says first, and we were dealing with this somewhat this morning, but, gee, beloved, building up yourself on your most holy faith.

[9:42] There's some certain things that I might mention tonight which are very important and may help us to understand the meaning of this word.

[9:55] A person that is building something does not stand at the distance and look on. If you're building a house, you do not go across the road and up the meadow and look down at the place and hope that it will be somehow or other gradually erected, you go down right into the very heart of the whole thing and you get familiar with the material.

[10:31] You make yourself well acquainted with the various things that will be needful for building this construction, whatever it takes.

[10:42] that's an important point, familiarity with the material by which the building will be made. Now, we can apply that to the things of God.

[11:00] If you feel sometimes like I feel, that how very little do I seem to know and how much there is to know.

[11:10] when you come to this wonderful word of God, how really little do we know of it. But are we content with leaving the matter here?

[11:24] Do we not wish daily to come into more acquaintance with the word of truth? things? We want to be more familiar with the material with which we shall be built, and this is how we shall be built, by the word of truth.

[11:45] You see, Jude said, building up yourselves on your most holy pain, not on everything, not on man's opinion, not on creature works, not on creeds or doctrines, but on your holy faith, the faith of God's elect, the glorious truths of the gospel, the economy of salvation, as revealed in the word of God and in Christ.

[12:19] Now, the vital thing is for the builders to become more and more familiar with the material, whereby they are the deliver.

[12:32] Now, that's a question for us, our conscience is. Are we daily concerned with familiarizing ourselves more and more with the truths of God?

[12:47] Oh, what an expanse there is in the word of God, to lay hold of that, to enter into the discovery, and as we do so, we find an amazing interest awakened, an amazing discovery brought about in our own experience.

[13:11] There are things that we never realized were there right before our very eyes and we hadn't before come and made ourselves acquainted with them.

[13:23] when you read tonight the fourth chapter of Nehemiah, perhaps you might never have noticed that little word in the middle of the chapter where Nehemiah says to his servants and the people that were building with him on the wall of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who had their eyes looking out beyond Jerusalem's walls to the gathering forces of Sambalat and Tobiah, who were coming, determined to destroy the works that were being done.

[14:04] But Jerusalem, their eyes were out there on the other side of the wall and they were thinking, what is their next move? how strong are they?

[14:15] When will they start their attack upon us? But Nehemiah said this, and this calmed the whole of his people. Be ye not afraid of them.

[14:27] Remember the Lord. Now, you see, there was a gem of truth right in the middle of the history of the word of God. And we need to be familiar with these things.

[14:41] The more we are, the more we shall find our strength built up, our confidence established, our experience advanced and extended in the knowledge of Christ and his holy word.

[15:01] Now, I say this as the first thing tonight. The all important thing is to familiarize yourself with the material that is the building.

[15:14] And secondly, where there is a building that must have necessitated mean effort, endeavor, enterprise, and hard labor, and to come to the world.

[15:31] When this place was in the state it was ten days ago, I thought myself, my heart was really cast down. I thought, we shall hardly see returning to this place for weeks.

[15:49] Sometimes I wondered whether we ever should again. Such was the state and condition into which we had come.

[16:01] Then, you see, I hadn't calculated the interest and the endeavor and the hard labor of those who were willing to expend freely, without reward, and with no consideration of themselves.

[16:20] until they had completed the world. And it was a great encouragement, wonderful encouragement, to those who have the interest of the place of their hearts.

[16:40] Now, there was a hard labor, and be sure of this, in the building of the spiritual building. The construction of the vital thing in the heart and life.

[16:56] There will be hard labor. Building up yourself on your most holy place. There's always one thing that has to be kept in mind.

[17:11] It must be on the holy place, not on man's appearance, whim and notion that comes along.

[17:22] And God's word warns us that in the latter days there will be notions and sentiments and all kinds of claims made by men.

[17:38] men will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, heavy, high-minded, and so on.

[17:52] And it tells us, from such turn away, says the word of God, because your health, your life, your real interest must ever lie on the truth of the holy truth of God, on the holy faith, and on nothing else.

[18:17] So we are very clear about this. Whatever we contend with and for must lie foursquare on the word of God.

[18:30] And any deflection from that position must be regarded by you and everyone else as suspect and to be regarded at all costs, for it is something that will bring down the construction and cause the building of each to cease.

[18:57] Now, keeping yourselves, the first thing then we have is the building. And then secondly we have the prayer. Building yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.

[19:19] Now this gives a clear line as to how the construction of this building is to proceed. what kind of attitude has to be adopted by the builders.

[19:37] It shows us that all the plans of the building are not in our hands, they are in the hands of God. And therefore every change and every movement that may be made, every advance, every alteration in the structure must first of all be received, the guidance and the permission, so to speak, must come from God.

[20:09] There's only one way whereby a believer can obtain this vital information and that is by prayer, praying in the Holy God.

[20:24] Praying in the Spirit. You read in the eighth chapter of Romans, you'll find what a vital place and position the Holy Spirit occupies with the believer in the matter of prayer.

[20:42] He prays for the believer. He makes intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered. and he knows the mind of God.

[20:56] We do know it. We want to know it. We ask the Lord to reveal it and we want as we pray as the Lord Jesus taught his people to pray.

[21:07] Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But it's only by the Holy Ghost that we can really this comfort will of God.

[21:24] Therefore, as we build, so we pray. What a simple plan this is, but what an important plan.

[21:34] God is if you and I would be among the builders, the spiritual builders, building up ourselves in the holy faith of God, coming to a situation of stability, things, then we must not only do it, but we must pray and pray in the Spirit, with the Spirit, and in the Spirit, praying in the Holy Ghost.

[22:14] Spirit, and that is indeed something that we need not go much further in, because I'm confident of this, that you, many of you here know what it is to be engaged in the prayer of the Spirit, not just making sentences, but looking unto the Lord, committing your way to the Lord, calling upon his holy name, and knowing full well that you need the guidance and the grace of the Holy Spirit, of God.

[23:00] Well then, let us pass on to the third point. Having praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping, keep yourselves in the love of God.

[23:17] Well, however, can we do that? We feel like falling out too often. We feel how easy it might be for us, to lose altogether the love of God.

[23:35] And because we've got such a changeable and fickle heart and being in ourselves, we might forfeit the love of God toward us.

[23:50] How, therefore, Jude, can we possibly keep ourselves in the love of God? Now, there are many ways in which this can be and must be done.

[24:09] Keep, if a young person finds themselves attached to another of the other sex, and there's a strong attachment springs up between the two, they don't separate and go off and take no further notice or interest in one another.

[24:35] They seek to become more acquainted. they want to have more contacts. If they are separated in circumstances geographically, well, then they communicate, finding every opportunity.

[25:03] I remember one of my schoolmasters, a bachelor, he fell in love with a young lady, and it was in the days, of course, before the phone was very common, and he sent off to his sweetheart about half a dozen cards every day.

[25:23] Such was his attitude and his feeling towards his beloved that he had to communicate, and every several times of the day we saw the post being, the cards being posted.

[25:41] And of course, as boys, there's always a little tittering and interest aroused and awakened when a schoolmaster shows something of human nature about him.

[25:55] that he will do it. Well, this is just to illustrate if we would love the Lord and really desire that we might know more of his love, we shall want more of his company, we shall want more of acquaintance with him, and we shall hate anything that is liable to separate or divide us.

[26:26] Therefore, we shall take very great interest in everything that promotes nearness, everything that attracts us more and more to the blessed person of the Lord.

[26:43] And as we do this, we shall virtually keep ourselves in the love of God. Now, this will not be all dependent upon ourselves.

[27:01] We shall have to say this at every point and at every stage of our experience. Not that we love him, but that he has loved us.

[27:14] And that will be imprinted upon the mind of these people, who desire to love more and more the dear Redeemer and the Lord.

[27:25] They will know this, that it was not their love that began to attract them. It was his love, his wonderful love, his amazing love, that settled itself upon such a poor, unworthy object.

[27:45] people. And we therefore, to keep yourselves in the love of God is a very vital thing indeed.

[27:56] We need to keep as near as possible and be in the place where he is most likely to come.

[28:07] There again, to refer to human relationship, them. When a person is attracted to another person, they will very least seek out the like most likely place where that person can be found.

[28:27] we've heard of some going into other parts of the world, other countries, to find one in whose, who they are interested in.

[28:43] And there's no or little limitation, really, to a person who is really in love. nothing can stand in the way of real true love.

[28:55] And nothing ought to stand in the way of spiritual love for the believer and the Lord. Let us always remember that. Let nothing ever stand in the way between your soul and the Lord.

[29:11] If there is anything, take it to him, lay it at his feet, confess it heartily to him and tell him your grief and sorrow that ever such a thing should be capable of raising itself up in your bosom.

[29:30] And you will find swift changes are made. You'll find the sweet moving of the hand of the Lord upon the lock of your heart and a melting of your very spirit and in such a composure of the soul experience.

[29:52] You will see how lovely he is and how wonderful is his love. Keep yourselves in the love of God.

[30:03] And then again, to use the same illustration, you do not violate the known interests and likings of the one you love.

[30:21] You do not violate their best interest, go just contrary to their best wishes. You'll be estranging yourselves most certainly if you do.

[30:37] no, on the contrary you'll go out to find what is desired and liked and if it is in agreement with your own spirit and mine, there's nothing that you will not seek to afford and give.

[30:59] Keep yourselves in the love of Christ. if we know that the Lord has those things which he tells us in the word of truth that are contrary to his mind, if we know that there are things and our conscience will tell us, we needn't wait for people to inform us.

[31:24] We shall know whether we are going contrary to the Lord and his way and if we do, we shall hasten to avoid all possibilities of offending him whom we love and we shall seek with all earnestness to have that love renewed and confirmed and re-established in our own hearts and bosom.

[31:56] Keep yourselves in the love of God. then the fourth thing, looking. You see how these things all sort of fit together?

[32:08] Building, praying, keeping, and now looking, looking. Yes, those people on the walls of Jerusalem, they had to look.

[32:22] As we read, and what a difficult task they had. they only had one hand to work, the other hand held a sword. How they got and did the work is amazing to me, and yet they achieved a great work indeed.

[32:41] they healed the breaches of the wall of the city. They re-established Jerusalem in a livable place, a place where there was defense, and yet they only had one hand to do it, because of their enemies, and the dangers that the enemies were by.

[33:01] enemies, and yet they were looking, and they were always looking, and the Nehemiah enjoined upon them to keep watch both day and night.

[33:15] There were those who were weary with their labor during the day, and needed rest and sleep during the night, and then there were those who took their places, and watched for the animated come.

[33:28] And so the whole comfort of the people of God kept in safety. Now this is the greatest thing. We need to be looking, constantly looking, on the watch, looking for the mercy of the Lord, looking for that precious mercy that we need, mercy that is built up to heaven, mercy that provides for every possible need, looking for it, looking for it to come, looking how it will come, looking to him who is the giver of it, knowing the need we have of that mercy, and oh, my dear friends, how much we need the mercy of God.

[34:21] And what a rich thing it is that God delighteth in mercy. If he was, if he declared himself a God all the wrath and justice and truth, we might not have any confidence whatever in our salvation, but he declares himself a God that delighted in mercy.

[34:51] And because he is what he is, our hope is great, our life is secure, and our salvation is sure because he delighted in mercy.

[35:06] mercy, now you will be looking for that. You'll be looking in all kinds of ways, you'll want to see it in your providential circumstances and events.

[35:20] Oh, how I have seen mercy in the things that I've passed through in my life, in the coming of our children, what mercy there was there.

[35:32] See them as they came full in health and faculty and with no blemish or anything whatsoever, wonderful thing that is.

[35:43] I always feel what a great mercy to have a healthy, living child full of the faculties that nature possesses.

[35:56] Now you'll want this mercy not only in those things, but you'll want them in your daily life, in your provision, protection, in your traveling.

[36:07] Wherever you go, we hear some terrible things, people struck down and in a moment hurled into eternity. We feel here daily of such things.

[36:22] And what a wonderful thing it is that none so far of those associated with us have been in such ways struck down.

[36:33] they've been preserved. And do we realize what a mercy there is in us? We shall be looking for this mercy, not only in providence, not only in preservation.

[36:47] We shall be looking for the Lord's mercy in our own souls to save us and to cleanse us, to help us to believe and to follow him and to obey his voice.

[36:59] We shall want mercy to live and we shall need mercy to die. And God's mercy will extend to that time and go beyond it.

[37:10] It will provide for us in every way possible. And therefore, the last thing that we have here in our text is this, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

[37:33] That means to say, to the complete fulfillment, the absolute completion of everything that pertains unto eternal life.

[37:48] that's a great thing, to feel assured of this, that our salvation will be complete. There will be nothing lacking in the faith that God gives you.

[38:04] It will be a triumphing faith, it will be a conquering, overcoming faith, and it will last till we shall need faith no more.

[38:16] because when the dying hour comes of every saint of God, their faith will turn to sight.

[38:28] And then faith will be forever gone in the glories of Emmanuel building up yourself.

[38:40] May these things come home to us today. help us, strengthen us, give us the direction we need and the purpose of God to go on to lay hold of the things of God.

[38:59] Amen. God's love water Fuck joyeye Come, dear, sweet, wonderful life, tender and true.

[39:29] Out on the heart of the heart of the heart, dreaming to me and to you, wonderful life.

[39:47] Filting up on皇 Jesus, in the Jeg, hir's lost 101, joyfully mead.

[40:08] Friend in his almaw's McMaw to heaven, To Him have sorrow and sex Thine,org the Lord Simply free King that segurled connect Jesus is seeking to wander us yet Oyed?」 Thank you.

[41:20] Thank you.

[41:50] Thank you.

[42:20] Thank you. Thank you.

[43:20] Thank you. Thank you.

[43:52] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[44:04] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[44:16] Who shall I stand and who will come? Who shall I stand and who will come?

[44:28] Who shall I stand and who will come? Here I am lost and free.

[44:46] Here I am lost and free.

[45:16] Here I am lost and free. Here I am lost and free.

[45:30] Here I am lost and free. Here I am lost and free.

[45:46] Here I am lost and free. Here I am lost and free. Here I am lost and free.

[46:02] Here I am lost and free. Here I am lost and free.

[46:16] Here I am lost and free. Here I am lost and free. Here I am lost and free. Here I am lost and free.

[46:27] Because the Savior shades His light to watch the way His feet.

[46:41] Make Him the pure and precious light, because they white and green.

[46:57] Sing it glory, glory, glory. Sing it glory, glory.