“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.”
“Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
“And of some have compassion, making a difference:”
“And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,”
“To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” - Jude, 20-25.
HE BOOK OF JUDE is a picture of the declension and apostasy of many in the primitive church of God, one of the signs of the coming of the Son of Man. Even in the days of Jude it was necessary to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. - Jude, 4.
The letter is a series of warnings to the church about the danger of these departures, and the principles upon which they are dealt with by God. Three examples are given of God’s judgment on them who turned away from Him:
I. The children of Israel, ver. 5.
II. The fallen angels, ver. 6.
III. Sodom and Gomorrah, ver. 7.
Three pictures are given is this epistle:
I. The picture of a worldly church.
II. The picture of true Christians.
III. The picture of the Lord Himself.
I.
The worldly church. Three types sum up the three forms of declension from God, ver. 11.
The way of Cain,
The error of Balaam,
The gainsaying of Core, or Korah.
1. The way of Cain was the way of unbelief in the blood of Christ. He rejected it and depended on his own works, his own righteousness and morality. His offering expressed no faith in the blood of the Lamb. He despised God’s way of atonement for sin. The cross of Jesus divides the world today into two classes. One denies the blood and brings flowers and fruits instead, but this soon leads to the stain of murder and every other sin. Reject the blood and soon will come envy, hate, jealousy, and worldliness. Cain went away to the land of Nod east of Eden, and there was soon surrounded with culture and art. This followed rejecting the blood and love and will of God. Musical instruments, and working in brass and iron all come in the way of Cain. The first beginning of apostasy is getting away from the blood of the Lamb. It is the way of Cain. If you do not like the blood you will get blood on you before you are through.
2. The error of Balaam. This is a type of a different sin from the other. This man wished to obey God on the one hand and please Balak on the other. He loved the wages of unrighteousness. He was a compromising man, the precursor of a long list in the Bible of which Demas brings up the rear in the New Testament. He had no real hold on God, and before long found a way to get the wages of unrighteousness and defile the children of Israel, in the midst of which he fell himself under the sword of vengeance. There was a wider and wider divergence in his course from the right path till, like one of the pilgrims who started for the city of Zion, before long he found that city behind him and himself, facing again the city of destruction. Love not the world is the lesson this teaches. The language here is exceedingly strong. They ran greedily after the error of Balaam. They were avaricious, going after their unlimited, unrestrained desire. Their chief aim was their own pleasure. Sin has an accelerated movement, until the running ends in the final plunge into the pit of Korah. Sin does not go rapidly always. It begins gently and imperceptibly but it slides gradually into a quicker motion and finally ends in a plunge into the bottomless abyss.
3. The gainsaying of Korah. This prince of Israel became tired of the rule of Moses and the priesthood of Aaron. He was not willing to submit to them, and rose in proud disobedience and rebellion against them and so against God, for it is written “He that despiseth you despiseth Me.” He that rejected Moses and Aaron, God’s servants and appointed ministers and teachers rejected God. These men rose in presumption, rebellion and disobedience against the authority of God’s church and people. The next step was soon taken, open defiance. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God.” “Be clothed with humility.” “ Pride goeth before destruction.” This same spirit of Korah is in the world today, the spirit of independence and license, demanding freedom and throwing off all authority in the home and the state. Socialists, Nihilists, the bomb throwers of Chicago, are all precursors of the lawlessness of anti-Christ.
The three forms of evil we are especially guarded against in this epistle are the unbelief of Cain, the spirit of Balaam, who began where Cain ended in worldliness, and finally the disobedience of Korah. One act of disobedience may soon lead to open rebellion and defiance of God. There is no license given in God’s word to the most trifling act of disobedience. It is the essence of sin to dare to admit the right to disobey in the smallest trifle. It is the spirit of Korah and may end in apostasy and rebellion. It is written in fiery letters all over the history of the past, that the disobedient shall perish. That is a terrible figure, given in the Old Testament of the old prophet of God who was sent to cry out against Jeroboam’s sin, and who so fearlessly obeyed. When the king stretched out his arm against him; at the word of faith that arm shriveled up, and at the word of prayer it was restored again. But before the next day closed the dead body of the old prophet was lying by the wayside. He was slain by the indignation of God, because he had dared to disobey Him. An old prophet like himself had seduced him, pretending to have a revelation, and he perished, because he dared to listen to him after God had spoken to him. In all this there are three steps, first, going easily, then a faster descent and then the plunge. It is like getting in the Maelstrom off Norway. The motion is imperceptible at first, then it gently increases, gets faster and faster; now the boat is whirling in a circle, and now madly rushing into the awful vortex. So in human life bitter strife and jealousies and envy draw the heart further and further from God. At first it seems but little, but ere long the heart is running greedily in the error of Balaam, and the end is the plunge of the cataract.
II.
Let us look now at the other picture given in the twentieth verse:
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God.”
1. The element in Christian character that is opposed to the unbelief of Cain is faith, the most important of all the graces.
2. It is most holy faith. It leads to purity of heart, of life, of word, and of deed. It is not possible to keep faith without obedience. “Holding a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.” If the conscience is not kept clear, pure, and open before God, it is not possible to believe. Most holy faith is faith that leads to obedience.
3. This faith is to be built up. It is to be constantly growing, maturing. Faith begins as a holy thing, but it grows after that. It is complete faith at first, but it is like the completion of a baby. It is all there, all the parts, but it has to grow up into manhood. Christ gives a clean heart, or better, He gives His heart, but it is an infant life. It is infant holiness. Afterward there must be growth. We are to build on day by day, expecting more of Christ in us, and getting more, and so growing up in Him. Today there is more of His life in us than yesterday; tomorrow more than today. The next day there is a still higher mount to climb. There will come more victories with more life.
4. How is this growth to be obtained? By praying in the Holy Ghost and keeping in the love of God. We will not have much of the divine element of holy faith in us unless we feed it day by day with prayer. We must live a life of constant prayer. Praying in the Holy Ghost means simply this: When the Holy Ghost comes He comes as a loving person and takes charge of the whole life, planning for us, watching over us, fitting into our every need for every moment, there is not a moment but He is trying to pray in you some prayer. Watch the Holy Ghost and vigilantly obey His least whisper. He takes charge of the spiritual development and will not let anything be lost, but fills up in life all the fulness of God’s highest will.
The element in this growth is love. We must have the spirit of confidence or we shall not grow. We need to hear His whisper every moment, “My darling child!” We must know that He is not wroth with us. If there is any cloud of condemnation over us we will not grow. We must have God ever with us to grow. The least shadow of sin or judgment will hinder our growth. We must sweetly rest in God’s bosom always, and so keep ourselves in His love, being ever obedient to His will.
5. What is the outlook of this life? We are to build up on our most holy faith here by prayer and love, but we are to look for something better. There is an upper chamber from whose windows we can see the land that is very far off. This is to be a life of confidence and its pole-star the hope of His coming.
1. Beloved, have you entered into this life of faith? Has it given you justification and holiness forever?
2. Are you growing in this life?
3. Is it a life of prayer in the Holy Ghost?
4. Is it a life of love? Are you keeping in the love of God? Is it the land of Beulah with sweet perfumes upon the breeze?
5. What is your attitude to the future? Are you turning with bright face toward the sun rising or the sun setting? Are you looking for His coming?
III.
Jude gives one more picture in his epistle, that of the Lord Himself, ver. 24-25.
God is able to keep us from falling. He has just been speaking about the people who stumble in the intervening verses. There is a difference between falling away and falling by the way. If a person falls away, he is an apostate, and there is no hope for him. If you should stumble, get up quickly and go on again, even if the face is all scarred and the garments torn. But there is no need of stumbling. I don’t think that all of you honestly believe God is able to keep you from stumbling. You say it is not possible for you or any man to keep from falling. Of course not. But God is able to keep you. Has He not all dominion. The doxology at the close of this letter so declares. Has He not dominion over you as well as over nature? Do you give God the right to have dominion over you? You know He is able and He would pour in on your soul such a glory as never has been there, if you would see that it is possible never to lose the sweetness of His smile, never to be down in the dust again. It is a solemn trust to carry the standard of the Lord, and it will be a proud moment when you hand it back to Him, never having been taken by the enemy. We are under a power that is able to keep us above every loss, every temptation that can possibly come to us. If we have in our heart the thought that we have got to fall, let us take it out as unfit to be there. It will make the heart weaker to resist Satan. He is able to keep you from slipping. Not perhaps from what the world may think a slip. The world does not know as God sees in your heart. There may be errors of judgment, but what the world calls an error of judgment may be for you an act of obedience to God. They that please all men cannot please God. It is enough to carry in the breast at all times the sweet consciousness of pleasing Him.
Then there is another thought. He is not only able to keep us here, but He is able to present us faultless there. If we let Him do it, it will be with exceeding joy. This is not being barely saved. They that keep their garments here undefiled shall shine in the kingdom of the Father, and sit with Christ upon His throne. Let that thought be with us evermore. We can be without blame here, kept from all willful disobedience. But there we shall be without fault in the presence of His glory. We do not know how this is to be done. The power belongs to God. I lay myself in the dust, for I cannot do it. I lay you in the dust for you cannot do it. Failure is stamped on all our endeavors, worthless are all our efforts. But He is able to keep you from stumbling, able to save to the uttermost, able to present you faultless. Unto Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.