This is the tenth in an series of verse-by-verse expositions of the book of Jude. This message was delivered at Hillcrest Baptist Church on the evening of January 20, 2013. This message deals with staying in the love of God, by living an obedient life. This post contains an audio recording of the sermon, plus my sermon notes. Please note that the notes are not a full transcript. To get the entire message, you’ll need to listen to the Audio.
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Jude 21 / Keeping in God’ s Love
First we need to recognize that God loves the believer. Jude Addresses the believers as “beloved” v.20.
He did not write, “Keep yourselves saved!”
Keeping oneself “in the love of God” does not indicate that salvation depends on one’s own efforts, for that would contradict other Scripture, specifically Jude’s own letter.
Jude 1
Jude 24
This imperative establishes the believers responsibility to be obedient and faithful by living out his salvation, while God works out his will
Phil. 2:12-13
What we are seeing, is an exhortation to live an obedient life.
In the words of McGee “You cannot keep God from loving you, although you can put up an umbrella or a roof so that you will not feel the warmth of God’s love, Jude is saying keep yourself out there in the sunshine of God’s love. Let His love flood your heart and life.”
This is only possible through obedience. When we fail to live obediently, we are unable to adequately feel God’s love.
This is how we develop a closer relationship with Him. This goes along with what Jesus said, to abide in His love.
John 15:9-10
There you have it. If you keep His commandments. . .
You see, to love God means much more than to enjoy a special kind of feeling.
Of course, as we grow in grace, we do experience deeper fellowship with the Father (John 14:21–24), and we do have times when He seems very near.
The Bible compares this to the love of a husband and wife (Eph. 5:22, 25).
It is a love of submission, and that means obedience.
Any happily married couple can tell you that love deepens over the years.
But it takes more than ecstatic feelings to make a successful marriage—or a successful Christian life! There must also be obedience and mutual concern.
Therefore, love is demonstrated by obedience.
1 John 2:5
We grow in our love for God as we listen to His Word, obey it, and delight in doing what pleases Him. That is how we keep ourselves in God’s love.
The word translated “looking” means “earnestly expecting,” or “waiting.”
An eager anticipation of Christ’s second coming to provide eternal life in its ultimate, resurrection form.
Titus 2:13
The apostates can only look for judgment, but God’s people are looking for mercy.
Not only is our salvation from sin the gift of God’s mercy, but so also is the deliverance of His church from this evil world.
In His mercy, He will come for us and take us to Himself.
This is the supreme expression of God’s mercy on a sinner whom Christ’s righteousness has undeservedly been given. Its called grace!
Looking for the coming of the Lord is a great encouragement to Christian living.
Our hope in Christ is like an anchor that holds us in the storms of life.
Hebrews 6:19
This hope is essential in a world of apostates. We need never forget that our hope of eternal life is in Christ and Christ alone.
Christ is eternal life.
1 John 1:2
If we remember where our hope lies, and we keep ourselves in His love by an obedient life, then we will be much less susceptible to the false teachers Jude had warned about.
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Posted on January 21, 2013
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