Jude 1:23

1 comment

Verse of the Day: Jude 23

“save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.” – Jude 23

The book of Jude is the shortest book in the Bible, but says a lot about what we, as Christians, need to do as well as be careful of. He wanted to write about their ‘common salvation’, which was a very positive idea, but he felt compelled, by God, to encourage his brothers and sisters to stand firm in the faith. “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” Jude 1:3. This was important because people were sneaking in to speak against what the Christian faith was all about. “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jude 1:4. These are dangerous people who have secretly entered the Church fellowship with the purpose of deceiving believers to believe the same ungodly things they did.

Jude then uses a term that fully explains what he meant. Licentiousness or lewdness is not a sign of weakness but one of willful disobedience. Licentious people do things that are really wild. Some look upon God’s grace and kindness as an excuse to sin, saying, in effect, His kindness does away with law, so we are free to do as we please. Essentially, they suppose that, somehow or other, the more they practice sin, the more grace they will receive. And they also deny Christ. It is not that they say Christ never existed or is not the Savior. It is that everything they say and do, everything they believe, contradicts God’s way. If one denies a statement, he is contradicting the person who says it. Jude is using “deny” in this sense. The false teachers contradict Jesus Christ in all things. They can appear to be doing what they are supposed to, but inside deny the truth of God.

However, Jude knew this was happening. Therefore, instead of writing, at this time, about their ‘common salvation’ he felt it important to help them contend for the faith, to come against what the false teachers were teaching, and remind them of the truth of the Gospel. He was not saying to speak against the false teachers, but their teachings. He gave several examples of similar actions; the angels including Lucifer, the unbelievers in Sodom and Gomorrah, and those who were rescued out of Egypt and denied God, the one who rescued them. Jude then tells them “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.” Jude 1:14-15.

Then Jude encourages them to keep themselves in a manner that is pleasing to God. “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 1:17-19. He is telling his readers that these activities described above were prophesied by Jesus’s apostles. It simply means they foretold it before it came to pass. In essence, it was inevitable. Paul was quoted by Luke in the Book of Acts, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves’ men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Acts 20:29-30. But he told them to keep themselves in God’s love. “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 1:20-21. Jude has finished what he had to say about the ungodly, and now turns to more positive teaching. For the second time he calls them dear friends, and on each occasion, it is in contrast to the false teachers. He encourages them to build up the faith they have in Christ, pray in the Holy Spirit, and wait anxiously for Christ’s mercy and the eternal life He has promised.

But he also reminds them of their mission here. “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 1:22-23. Having exhorted his readers on how to behave in general and encouraging them as to their hope, Jude now turns back to the issue of the false teachers and their followers. How should they treat these people? Are they to be hated, fought, feared, or simply shunned? Jude implicitly rejects all of these approaches toward teaching considered to be false and thus misleading many Christians. But also, as said so clearly in our focus verse, we are to rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives, but loving those trapped in those beliefs and practices. While the doubters may not have been sure who was right and thus may have held back from committing to either set of practices, some were already getting involved with the practices of the teachers Jude is opposing. Jude’s counsel is to “snatch” them ‘from the fire’ and ‘save them.’

This is what we are called to do, help the doubters understand the truth and accept it, and declare the reality of what they are doing to those who are purposefully practicing what is wrong, knowing that it is wrong, so they can stop their sinful practices. Chuck Smith wrote this regarding this idea. “You can’t witness the same way to everybody. People are different, people have different temperaments. Some you’ve got to scare the hell out of them. Others are drawn by love. Some with compassion, making a difference, others, by fear, pulling them out of the fire. I mean, what does that mean? Now, it means that we have got to be led by the Spirit as we deal with people, hating even the garment that has been spotted by the flesh, pull them out of the fire. But hate the garment spotted by the flesh.”

Our purpose is to bring people into the faith of God and help them to grow such that they can then do the same. We are not called to simply do the do’s and not do the don’ts. We are called to help people become believers, and believers that spread the truth of the Christian life, helping others to grow in the faith.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.

Jude 22

Verse of the Day: Jude 22

“And have mercy on some, who are doubting.” – Jude 22

When we go out to share the love of God and introduce people to Christ, we are going to find various type of people.  One group we tend to mis-understand are those who have doubts about the gospel message.  I have seen Christians who speak with them about Christ and when they express their doubts, they walk away to another who may accept the message more readily.  This is easy to do, but not the right thing to do.

Now you will come across those who are hostile to the gospel.  However, these are not the ones I am referring to.  I am referring to those who express doubts, are asking legitimate questions and show they really want to know.  They are not hostile; they just do not understand.  Have mercy on them.  We do not know their past and what they have gone through.  Take the time to answer their questions.  Be patient with them.  Give them the time they need.  God brought them to you to help them.  If you need to, introduce them to someone who can help you answer their questions.

It is important to be prepared for any questions about Christianity.  Paul wrote the following to Timothy, 2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”  Let’s all study to be prepared for what/who God brings our way.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

Jude 17

Verse of the Day Devotion.  Jude 17

“But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,” – Jude 17

Jude finishes up his letter by reminding his readers of the warning given by Jesus’ apostles regarding the time of the end. “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 shall 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 gives an ugly picture of what will happen in the last days. He describes people who renounce their religious/Christian beliefs or principles, and he describes them in the darkest sense, informing them there will come in the last time mockers, and with them separatists and sensualists, all of whom will assail the church of the living God. And we see in verse nineteen they will be the ones who bring division into the ‘true’ Church, who they leave behind because they believe they have a superior wisdom regarding how the Church should be. These are not spiritually, but worldly minded, devoid of the Holy Spirit.

But instead, we should live as Christ wants us to live. “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 20-21. It is important that we build ourselves up in the truths of the faith as a whole. The primary reference in most holy faith is the opposite to those unholy scoffers and deceivers. Jude thus addresses the saints just because it is a faith of the sanctified in the Holy One, in whom they are and become holy. We are to spend time in prayer, building up our faith and the knowledge of the truth. By building up ourselves in the most holy faith, and praying in the Holy Spirit, we will do much to keep ourselves in the love of God, and thus waiting with great desire for the eternal life that is in our future.

Then Jude finishes up this thought with the following. “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. Some professing Christians are not living consistently with their profession, in whom you can see signs of some sin. Yet there may traces of repentance, which is a  reason to hope that they will forsake the evil when they see it to be evil. These we should have mercy and compassion on. We must understand that those who are in error are not all equally guilty. Some are true deceivers and their intent is to fool us, while others have been duped into believing the sin they are doing is OK. We must restore all we can, but their error must be severely dealt with so that they understand their error. They must know their wrong activity is absolutely wrong and must repent of and completely stop doing it. As Charles Spurgeon puts it, “charity to error is cruelty to souls.”

Peter wrote the following regarding who God desires to be saved. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. God does not want any to perish, therefore we should do all we can to help those in sin, professing or pretending Christians. If they refuse to listen, then there is nothing we can do. But we must tell everyone where they are in error and that God requires us to stop all activities not pleasing to Him. I fell into error early in my Christian walk and I was absolutely grateful that someone loved me enough to take the time to correct me. This is our calling per Jude’s words in his letter. Let us all look to make a difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ where, in love, we help them to understand where they are wrong and guide them to the truth of God’s word.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.

Jude 4

Verse of the Day Devotion.  Jude 4

“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” – Jude 4

This particular verse is critical because we are seeing a rise in false teachings in our churches and ministries today. And because Jude wrote this, it is something we need to give some credence to. Jude was a half-brother of Jesus and brother of James, leader of the first Jerusalem church. This Jude was the son of Mary and Joseph and would have been raised as a brother to Jesus Christ. And while Jesus was teaching in the Synagogue in His hometown, those listening to Him said, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.” Mark 6:3. In fact, His brothers did not believe He was who He declared Himself to be. “His brothers therefore said to Him, Depart from here, and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may behold Your works which You are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world. For not even His brothers were believing in Him.” John 7:3-5.

However, Jude eventually believed and became a strong teacher regarding Christ. “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude 3. And the areas he taught passionately about were those who proclaimed a false gospel of Jesus.  In our focus verse we read, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jude 4. The basic idea of the Greek word for licentiousness is understood in what Mark declared in his gospel, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.” Mark 7:21-22. They did not boldly avow their heresy when they came in for they would not have been allowed to enter if they had. But they sneaked in. They climbed into the Church, professing to be preachers of the gospel when they knew all the while they intended to undermine it. Those who act this way are basest of all men. We can see here the faith Jude had developed regarding his half brother for he understood what Jesus taught and what He did not.

He then gives three examples of what he insinuates these false preachers were doing. “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” Jude 5-7. Each one of these examples are regarding not believing what is true.

  1. Having delivered them out of Egypt, the Israelites who did not believe died in the wilderness and were not allowed to enter the promised land.
  2. Angels who chose to give up their allegiance to God were cast out of Heaven because they did not believe God was truly God.
  3. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah who would indulge in gross immorality were destroyed.

What Jude means to say is that these false teachers and their followers were as unbelieving and disobedient as the Israelites in the wilderness, as rebellious against the authority of God as the fallen angels, and as impure and unholy as the Sodomites; and that consequently they must expect similar punishment. And because of this, they like Cain corrupt the beliefs of God by way of their false doctrines, and as Balaam whereby they corrupt the Word of God and change it’s meaning for their own gain.

These are harsh examples, but this shows just how God sees false Christian doctrine, and the ones who present it. We must study His word so that when we hear false doctrine we will know it is false and not accept it. And if there is a person who continually teaches falsely we will know it and reject what they are saying. We must study His word so that we will teach it correctly while rejecting what is wrong. Jude made it clear how God views false teachers and the teachings they give. We are to go out and spread the truth. Just be careful that what are spreading is the truth.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.