After all the discussion over those who are false teachers, anyone who reads the book of Jude will know completely that Jude has no favor toward those who lead people away from a relationship with Jesus Christ. He has been thorough with his descriptions and has been emphatic in his emphasis that these pernicious individuals must not be followed. Today we find him turning his attention from the false teachers to the believers as he begins to instruct us as to how we must live in light of the false doctrine that surrounds us. He wrote in verse twenty:
But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Once again the word “but” is employed. Remember this dissociative conjunction means “in contrast to” or “pay attention to what is coming next because it has greater emphasis or importance”. Jude writes, “but you, building up yourselves on your most holy faith.” In other words we are to be building our faith, growing our faith, adding to our faith as we walk with Jesus. We must be about growing in our trust in Jesus every day. Rather than seeking and listening to false teachings and teachers who could draw us away from a deeper walk with God, we should be about coming closer and closer to Him. The Bible is very clear about how we do this. In the book of Romans in chapter ten and verse seventeen Paul the apostle wrote:
So then faith [comes] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Building ourselves up on our most holy faith comes by hearing the word of God. When we read God's word, study God's word, meditate upon God's word, we build ourselves up in our most holy faith. The reason is simple: we get our focus off us and our ability to handle circumstances, and we turn our focus to God and His ability. There is nothing to difficult for God, and when we read His word, we discover occasion after occasion where He was and is victorious. We must stay in the word of God, learn from the word of God, and learn to trust the word of God more than anything else if we are going to build in our holy faith.
Jude next gives us another key to keeping in the faith. He wrote, “praying in the Holy Ghost.” We are to be people of prayer. Talking with God, sharing with God, and going to God with whatever is on our mind is significant to not being drawn away by false teachers and doctrine. When we stay in communication with God, “in the Holy Ghost”. We are to be constantly attuned to His desires, His way of living, and His answers for life's trials. The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit was given to guide us into all truth, and the Spirit of God is available to all who believe in Jesus. Once again these are Jesus' words as recorded by John the apostle in John 16:13:
However when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
By continuing in our communication with God through prayer, we will know when false teaching comes along, and by reading and studying the word of God, we will be alert to pernicious attacks that attempt to draw us away. By the way, the idea behind “hearing by the word of God” is “hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing, etc. the word of God. It's not a one time thing. We must build our faith, pray, build our faith, pray, build our faith, pray, build our faith, pray, etc. in a continuum. By doing these things, we will build ourselves up in our most holy faith, and when distractions come along, they will easily be exposed.
Next time we will continue to see the exhortation that Jude gives us in our walk of faith with Jesus, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
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