I want to pull this back a little bit in case you start throwing stones.
You know, I recall—a memory just came to me—when I’d only been saved maybe two or three months. I used to work in this laundromat at night. I had the simple task of going in there and closing up. Yeah, it took me about an hour and a half to do that.
But anyway, as you can well imagine, you’ve got this new, zealous young man in this scenario where he’s meeting all types of people. Because if you’ve been to a laundromat, you know what I’m talking about. It’s kind of like going to the DMV. All types of people show up there.
And what led me to the Lord really was Bible prophecy, and that’s kind of all I knew. I knew a little bit about Bible prophecy. I knew the Lord had died on the cross, and that’s all I knew. And that’s all I said.
And I would share that with a lot of people. One person that came there pretty regularly called me the prophet of doom, because I’d speak about what was going to happen in the last days. This person did not want to hear it. I always laugh about that when I think about that now.
But anyway, I want to also say, like Dorothy did and our young sister did, I just want to thank the saints for your prayers. I want to say that it is special.
When you take a person like me, who’s a strong introvert, and you stand him in front of an amount of people, that’s one thing. But when you stand him there and ask him to open his mouth, that’s a whole other thing. So I thank the Lord for your prayers.
That’s on the human side, because I can prepare. I can do a lot of donkey work, as our brother Ed Miller said. I can maybe even say all the right things. But unless we have that enabling of the Holy Spirit, these words are just going to fall in front of me. They’re not going to get any further than this piece of wood.
So again, I thank the saints for their prayers. We thank the saints for their prayers. I’m sure any brothers that stand up here are very appreciative of that.
Now, if you could, turn to the epistle, or letter, or book of Jude. We’re going to read through it. It’s only twenty-four verses.
I’m going to be reading primarily out of the NASB.
Starting in verse 1, it says:
Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.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.
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.
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 that 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.
Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.
But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
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.
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.
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.
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Let’s just have a word of prayer.
Lord, I do thank You for all the prayers that have gone up before. And I just do pray now, even with my brothers and sisters, Lord, as we look into Your Word, we are utterly dependent on You.
We’re utterly dependent on Your Holy Spirit to breathe upon the Word, to cause it to be living. Lord, that it could go forth in life, that it could go forth, Lord, and make a change.
In this all, Lord, to Your glory. We just commit this time now into Your hands, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, it’s probably pretty obvious what we’re going to look at this morning. We’re going to look at this letter of Jude.
And probably this letter is maybe more neglected than any letter or book in the Bible. I’m wondering how many people in here have read this letter more than once.
That might be because of the subject matter. The subject matter is around this issue of apostasy. It’s not an easy issue to think about, to talk about, or even to consider.
The book of Acts speaks mainly about the beginning of church history, but this letter of Jude primarily speaks to us of the conditions and times of the church in the end times.
Now, we know also apostasy began to creep in early in the church. How do we know that? Well, we find that Paul, when he was at Ephesus and speaking to the elders, declared the whole Word of God to them.
This is in Acts 20:28-30. He says:
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
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.
So, as the book of Acts is called the Acts of the Apostles, this book, Jude, is called the Acts of the Apostates.
Now, it’s interesting because when we look into this letter, the Greek word that we translate as apostasy is not found here. But through the examples, descriptions, and metaphors, it’s clear that it is speaking to this matter.
This word apostasy, in its noun form, we find in 2 Thessalonians 2. Speaking of the coming of our Lord and our gathering together to Him, it says in verse 3:
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come, speaking of the Lord’s coming, unless the apostasy comes first.
The King James Version says, “falling away.” We find the verb form of this Greek word in 1 Timothy 4:1 and Hebrews 3:12.
First Timothy 4:1 says:
But the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.
And Hebrews 3:12 says:
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
The Greek word is actually pronounced apostasia. It is a compound word which, broken down, is apo, which means “from,” and stasia, which means “stand.” So when you put these together, they mean “to stand from,” or you could translate it, “to fall from.”
Now, it’s impossible to fall from something you were never associated with. So in this matter of falling away from the faith, or from the living God, we find that these references are to believers.
This is further clarified in the Greek word that we find in Matthew 5:31, where, interestingly, it translates it as divorce. One could not stand from, or fall away from, one in marriage unless they were first associated with them in marriage.
Now, why am I trying to bring home this truth about apostasy having reference to believers? I think it’s because of these descriptions we see here in this letter. It seems improbable to us that believers could fall into some of these conditions.
But I think, if we all know and could look at our hearts, we would know that it could be true. Besides, God wouldn’t speak to it if it were not possible. So this word apostasy, then, again has reference mainly to believers.
Lastly, as an introduction, we find great similarities between this letter of Jude and 2 Peter. Both of them speak of this matter of false teachers in the church, and we will cross-reference these at times.
Now, we see in verse 1 that the writer of this letter is Jude, which literally in Greek is Judas. This was a common name at that time, even as Jesus was.
And when we think of Judas, it tends to be synonymous with Judas Iscariot, the one whom we know betrayed the Lord.
Most commentators agree that the writer of this letter is the brother of James, the one who went on to write the letter of James. Both of these guys were half-brothers of Jesus, as mentioned in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3.
We’re also told in Acts 1:14 that these two were part of the one hundred and twenty gathered on the day of Pentecost.
Now Jude here calls himself a bond-servant of Jesus Christ because he realizes his true position before the Lord, which is a bond-servant. He realizes the flesh counts as nothing. He knows we are to know the Lord only after the Spirit, not according to the flesh.
Now look at verse 2. I think generally we tend to gloss over greetings too quickly. But in verse 2, we find some blessed truths.
We know Jude is writing to all believers in general because of this description here:
To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ.
Jude starts in this greeting by calling them “the called.” We touched on that a little bit in our time around the table. Think about that: called of God. When did that begin?
It began in the heart of God before the foundation of the world. We read in Ephesians 1:4:
Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
And also we read in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14:
God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then he goes on to say, “beloved in God the Father.” We talked this morning about having favor, and that comes from the love of God.
This word love here is in the perfect tense in the Greek, and it indicates an action completed in the past with present, continuing results. God’s love was revealed at Calvary, where His Son died for all mankind.
His love that was manifested at Calvary is continually expressed to us without hindrance throughout eternity.
I want you to know, particularly you young people, that you can never be separated from the love of God.
Paul asks the question in Romans 8:35:
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Thank God, he goes on to answer that in verse 38:
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.
Those are the things we fear often—the things to come. But none of these things can separate us from the love of God.
And lastly, he writes, “kept for,” or “in,” Christ Jesus. This word kept carries the meaning of being carefully watched and guarded. It’s also in the perfect tense.
Based on that finished work on the cross, believers are secure in Christ. He will never leave nor forsake us. He said, “Nobody can snatch them out of My hand.”
Lastly, in his greeting, he says:
May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
Paul, in his letters, typically greeted the churches with grace and peace. But in 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, as we find here in Jude, he includes this word mercy.
Why do Jude and Timothy have mercy in it? I think it’s because these letters are addressing this issue of apostasy.
In these days of great conflict, in these days of false doctrine, in these days of shaking like we’ve never seen before, we need the mercy of God.
Who are we if we think that we can’t be deceived? Who are we if we think we can’t be drawn away by the lust of the flesh?
Hebrews 4:16 exhorts us:
Constantly draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy.
He also goes on to say, “Peace.” We need that peace that surpasses all comprehension, that peace that comes as we live in communion with God.
And, needless to say, lastly, love. We need to be grounded in the love of God.
Now, as we come to verse 3, we see that Jude was making every effort to write about our common salvation, the salvation that all believers share in common. But he received a check.
Being moved by the Holy Spirit, he writes to appeal, or exhort, that we contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
What is the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints? Simply put, this faith that is handed down once for all to the saints is the whole revelation of God. It’s the truth that has come to us through the prophets and the apostles.
And you remember, the apostles basically passed on what they had learned from Christ. So we now have the full truth of God. It’s all contained in the Holy Scriptures.
Now, it is true there is a present truth that’s applicable to different times and seasons, but it is always based on this full revelation that’s already been given to us in His Word.
Now, what does it mean to contend earnestly for the faith? There are those that interpret this to mean that we are to be the protectors, or guardians, of the truth revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures.
They say we are to guard the truth of the deity of Christ, of His virgin birth, and His vicarious death, and so on. Sure, we’re to stand and hold these truths. But to contend earnestly for the faith here carries actually a different meaning.
The word translated contend earnestly here is from an intensified form of a Greek word from which we get the word agonize. We find this Greek word in 1 Corinthians 9:25:
Everyone who competes—King James Version says “strives”—in the games exercises self-control in all things.
Also, in 1 Timothy 6:12, it says:
Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.
And in 2 Timothy 4:7, it says:
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith.
Strong’s Concordance translates this word as “to endeavor with strenuous zeal; strive to obtain something.” So we see this word being used in these verses in the context of running a race, taking hold of eternal life, and finishing the course.
This contending earnestly is in the matter of running, laying hold of, and finishing the course. It is in reference to our faith.
We mentioned earlier that we would reference 2 Peter. The best commentary on Jude 3 is chapter 1 of 2 Peter. There we find Peter speaking of the maturing of our faith, which will lead to an abundant entrance into the kingdom.
He exhorted that we are to apply all diligence. Diligence means earnestness in accomplishing or striving after something.
Does it not sound similar to Jude 3 here? To apply all diligence, supplying or adding to our faith seven qualities or virtues. So this contending earnestly for the faith has reference to maturing in the faith.
Now, when we come to verse 4, we see why Jude has written to contend earnestly for the faith. It’s because there are some among them currently who have already fallen away from the faith. They’re already in this state of apostasy.
These apostates were seeking ones that they could make merchandise of. They had crept in.
This is how apostasy comes about in the church, or into the lives of believers: it creeps in. It’s a slow, progressive falling away.
You remember our Lord gave the parable in Matthew 13 about leaven. We know leaven in the Scripture has a reference to sin. We read in Matthew 13:33:
The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.
If leaven is added to flour, it eventually will permeate the whole loaf, especially if it’s kept in a lukewarm temperature—that is, being in a position of neither hot nor cold.
Is this not the condition of the church today? When we look about in the church, particularly, I think, in this country, she is neither hot nor cold; she is lukewarm. It’s perfect breeding ground for apostasy.
We have to be careful. We’re not immune to this, no matter what kind of teaching we receive. It matters not.
Look how he describes these ones in verse 4. These ones who have been marked out for condemnation—or you could say judgment—it says of them that they are ungodly ones who have turned the grace of our God into licentiousness, and they deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
It says these ones have turned the grace of God into licentiousness. How is this done?
I think it comes about when one sees God purely through a “God is merciful, God is gracious, God is ever-loving and forgiving” lens only.
Now, it’s true. God is merciful. He is gracious. He is forgiving. His blood is able to cleanse us of every sin. But we need to remember God is holy. He is just. He is righteous.
He puts us into this position of total acceptance before Him, and that is according to His righteousness, so that He can continue to be merciful to us, that He can continue to be gracious to us in supplying the grace we need.
That grace enables us to walk before Him in a pleasing manner, that we can live a life worthy of His name. Justification by faith should lead us to sanctification by faith.
But we find many are content to be justified by faith before God only, having their sins forgiven, having a positional righteousness. And we do thank God for this truth of justification by faith.
But ones who are content in this truth only find that, though they may have peace with God, they are going to lack the peace of God. Because they’re not pressing on in the faith. They’re not contending for the faith.
These ones here in verse 4, who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness, cared not for contending for the faith. They wanted to live to please themselves, to be their own master of their destiny.
Isn’t that what we hear today? “Be your own master. Command your destiny.”
It says that they denied their only Master and Lord. Speaking of such ones in 2 Peter 2, the latter half of the verse says:
They deny the Master who bought them.
The Lord Jesus has bought us with a price. We no longer have any rights. He is now our Master, and we should live unto Him, not ourselves. We should bow the knee unto Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.
The word master here is from a Greek word from which we derive the word despot. A despot is one who rules with absolute power and authority.
Now, when fallen man enters into such a position of authority, he generally lords it over the people for his own welfare, his own good. But our Lord Jesus, as Master, rules according to His character.
He rules for the welfare and good of His church. He loved the church and gave Himself for her. We should not shrink from or fear His rule.
We’ve been considering lately that the Lord is our good Shepherd.
Now Jude goes on in verses 5 through 7 with examples of those who have fallen away or left their original positions. In the first example, let us read verse 5 again:
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.
Here Jude is referring to the children of Israel who were led out of Egypt under Moses. God’s intent was to take them out of Egypt and into the promised land. We know the story.
God delivered the people out of Egypt. They were saved by the Paschal Lamb. They were His people. But we find they murmured, they complained, grumbled against their circumstances.
And then, with the exception of two—do you remember who they were? Joshua and Caleb—they refused to go into the land, though God had shown Himself strong in their behalf through many miracles.
They rejected God’s appointed leader, Moses. They desired to set up and appoint a leader of their own, and they wanted to return back to Egypt.
Through disobedience, unbelief, and unfaithfulness, they disqualified themselves, and they were destroyed in the wilderness. They remained God’s people, but their lives were wasted as to the full calling and choosing of God.
In view of this incident—and we read it earlier in Hebrews 3—the writer exhorts us:
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
We are, by His grace, to remain faithful to Him who is ever faithful to us, to not allow unbelief to seep into our lives, but to contend earnestly for the faith.
Then, in the second example in verses 6 through 7, I will just read the beginning:
And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode.
Here we find Jude speaking about angels that did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode. These angels fell away from the original position that they were created for. They were not content with their position or their lot.
We, as believers in the Lord, are new creatures in Christ. That’s our position. That’s our address. And we’re to remain where we have been placed.
How do we do that? We do that by abiding in Him. We do that by submitting to His lordship over us. We need to trust Him because He knows what’s best for us.
Now, after these two examples that Jude gives us, he returns to writing about those he wrote about in verse 4, those that fell into the same pattern. He writes in verse 8:
Yet in the same way these men, these apostates, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, reject—that is, disregard or set aside—authority, and revile angelic majesties.
Jude writes firstly that these ones are dreamers. Not unlike the children of Israel, because they dreamed of going back to Egypt. They dreamed of the garlic and the cucumbers, all that Egypt had to offer.
They desired to satisfy the lusts of the flesh rather than follow after the dream or vision that God had given them of going into the land.
Secondly, we see these ones reject authority, just like the angels who did not keep their proper abode. They want to disregard authority, to do what they desire to do, rather than submit and take the place assigned to them.
I think we find many in the church struggle in this area today of not being content with their lot, being jealous and envious of other brothers and sisters.
We need to be careful. We need to be careful of our attitude and how we speak about those in authority, whether they are in the church or in government.
Now, after these examples, as we go on in verse 11, Jude gives us some descriptions of how we can recognize apostates. We read in verse 11:
Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Jude starts here with writing, “Woe to them.” This was a heartfelt expression that the Lord used when He spoke to those that were on a bad course. It’s an exclamation of grief.
Our Lord never desired any to tread the way of destruction, the way of waste. And Jude here expresses the same thought toward those going the way of apostasy. That’s because it affects not only their lives, but others.
It says, “For they have gone the way of Cain.” Most of us know the story of Cain. When he brought his sacrifice before the Lord, he brought the fruit of the ground, whereas Abel, his brother, brought the firstlings of the flock.
Abel’s sacrifice was accepted, and Cain’s was not. You remember the story? Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 11:4:
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous.
Genesis tells us that Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. The Lord said to him:
If you do well—or some versions read, “If you sacrifice well”—will not your countenance be lifted up?
The way to be accepted was the way of a blood sacrifice, because without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.
But Cain was trying to establish his own righteousness, trying to do what seemed right in his own eyes, walking by sight, walking according to the flesh, rejecting the way of God.
God must have told Cain and Abel the way to approach Him. Otherwise, how could Abel have offered a correct sacrifice by faith? The Word tells us faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
So God must have told them the correct sacrifice to bring, but Cain went his own way. Cain’s way is the way of apostasy—a standing or falling away from the faith—because it is a refusing of the way of God.
It’s a going in a contrary direction, being governed by one’s own thoughts and ways.
The second description says:
And for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam.
Second Peter says of Balaam that he was one who loved the wages of unrighteousness. In Numbers 22 through 24, we find Balak hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel. But what happened? When he tried to curse them, God turned it into a blessing.
The error of Balaam—and 2 Peter says the way of Balaam—is the merchandising of one’s gifts in ministry just for the purpose of making money. It is using the spiritual to gain the material.
Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 2:5-6:
For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness—nor did we seek glory from men.
We don’t have to look far in the church for this error of Balaam. There is an expression that says, “Where God guides, God provides.”
I’m afraid this is a lost principle today in the church. Because of this, there is a wide opening for this error of Balaam to come forth.
In the last description, it says, “perished in the rebellion of Korah.” We touched on this characteristic earlier. We read of this incident of Korah in Numbers 16.
Korah and those that stood with him rose up to rebel against the authority of Moses and Aaron. They spoke evil of them, hoping to displace them because they desired to gain their position.
They wanted that power among the people. They were not content with their divinely appointed place and service, and they were aiming for something which did not belong to them.
They were self-ambitious, willing to stop at nothing to make a name for themselves. And what did we find? They were severely judged for this.
Jude then goes on to use metaphors to describe these apostates. We see in verses 12 through 13 that they are men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts, when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, and so on.
I think these ones here can be summed up by the words without fear and for themselves. The fear of the Lord was absent from these ones.
Their conscience had been seared over. They no longer had a respect or honor for the Lord. They’re in this condition where they care only for themselves.
Where they go, they bring death, not life. He goes on to say that to such is reserved the black darkness.
Is this not a reference to the outer darkness that we read in Scripture? This is in contrast to the inheritance that is reserved in heaven for those who have kept the faith.
Now, the word translated forever here—“reserved in blackness forever”—is the word aion, from which we get the word age. There is actually no specific word in the Greek for eternity to describe it.
A compound word is used, which we would translate as “age unto age.” These ones here will lose the inheritance of the kingdom age.
As we’ve mentioned before, believers are secure in Christ as far as eternity goes, as far as heaven is concerned. But entering the kingdom, ruling and reigning with Christ, that is for those who have kept the faith—the overcomers.
We see in verse 14 it speaks about the Lord coming with many thousands of holy ones to execute judgment.
This ties back to the beginning of these verses, referring to those that we’ve been speaking about. There are different thoughts as to who these holy ones are, but I think the point is that judgment is coming, that God will execute judgment.
And it is in regard to these who have fallen away from the faith, to the apostates. Now, we know there are different degrees of apostasy. We see that in the warnings in the book of Hebrews.
But look how verses 15 and 16 describe such ones: ungodly, sinners, grumblers, finding fault—King James Version says complainers—speaking arrogantly, flatterers.
We find that Jude goes on and writes that we should not be surprised by those that go this way. He says in verse 17:
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.”
Mockers—those are ones who belittle, ones who ridicule, ones who scorn, ones who make light of the Word of God.
Second Peter 3:3-4 says:
Knowing this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”
Think he’s trying to make a point there?
Verse 19 points out that these ones cause divisions. They’re worldly-minded. They have no eternal perspective. They live for the here and now. They’re devoid of the Spirit.
This word devoid here means that they do not submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit. They rebel against the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Those are strong words, but we need to take heed lest we fall.
Now, as we come to verse 20, we find that the writer circles back to what he began to write in verse 3, where he had exhorted the readers to contend earnestly for the faith.
In verses 4 through 19, he has defined and described these ones who were apostates. But here he returns to encourage the readers in contending for the faith.
We find firstly in verse 20, he says:
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith.
We find this word building in Colossians 2:6-7:
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.
It says here that as you have received the Lord, walk in Him. How was it that you received the Lord? It was by faith. You heard the Word of the Lord Jesus, and you responded. You believed.
This verse exhorts us that how we have initially received Him, likewise we are now to walk in that same way.
What does that mean practically? It means when He speaks to us by His Word, when He gives us that rhema, that living Word, we respond to Him.
And when we do, we’ll find we’ll be built up in the faith. For, as we already mentioned, does it not say in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God?
But where does this enabling come from, so that we can respond to Him when He speaks to us? Verse 20 continues with “praying in the Holy Spirit.”
This praying in the Holy Spirit here simply means to rely on the Holy Spirit when we pray. In Romans 8, in the beginning of verse 26, it says:
The Spirit helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should.
We don’t have it in ourselves to strive on in the faith. It’s not there naturally. We have to pray. We have to ask for the grace to continue on in the faith.
And let me say, to the degree that you do not pray is the degree that you have not come to a realization of your inability to be truly built up in the faith, to truly live the Christian life.
This life is a life of dependence. It’s a life of looking away from ourselves to Jesus.
Now look at the beginning of verse 21. This may sound strange to us. It says:
Keep yourselves in the love of God.
Didn’t we read earlier that nothing can separate us from the love of God? Remember that when we read out of Romans? And yet, it is true. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
But even as we can lack the peace of God in our lives due to our not abiding in Christ, thus we can also lack the spiritual awareness of God’s love in our life if we’re not walking in obedience to Him.
Remember our Lord said in John 15:9-10:
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.
Verse 21 then concludes:
Waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
We have to ask the question: Are we waiting anxiously for the return of our Lord? Or are we weighed down with the busyness of this life, the glamour, the sparkles of this world?
But we can take heart, because the Lord loves to be merciful to us, and it will be by the mercy of God that we can be ready for His return.
Notice also in verses 22 and 23 that, as we receive this mercy of God, we’re able to be merciful to our brothers and sisters, coming to their aid in the time of need.
Lastly, we find in verse 24 one of the greatest promises in the Word, I think:
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy.
Paul found this to be true in his life. We read about it earlier, that he said at the end of his life:
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith.
How was he able to do this? I think he gives us a clue in Philippians 4:13. He says:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
That is, all that God requires of me, I can do through Christ who strengthens me.
So let us continue by His grace to contend earnestly for the faith.
And we will find ourselves saying with Jude in the latter part of verse 24:
To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority,
Before all time and now and forever. Amen.