Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:
2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
The Sin and Doom of Godless Men
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord... these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.
11 Woe to them! …12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
A Call to Persevere
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Doxology
24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
My Understanding: As I read through this passage of scripture, I was struck in my mind and heart with how the Holy Spirit of God, through Jude, was contrasting the false gospel with the true gospel message, as well as he was, and still is urging his listeners to contend for (insist on; assert; declare) the true gospel, i.e. the true faith, in contrast to the false gospel. As well, when I read this passage, I could not help but see many parallels to how this false gospel is prevailing in today’s church here in the USA and has superseded the true gospel message on many fronts. So, rather than going through this passage verse by verse, looking for understanding of what the author was speaking about in his time, I believe the Lord would, rather, have me take the principles set forth in this scripture passage and apply them directly to today’s church in the USA, which is where I live and have knowledge and experience, from which I also speak. So, I will follow this same pattern set forth by Jude in contrasting today’s false gospel message with what the true gospel message comprises, and then, as well, I will follow Jude’s example in urging my readers to contend for the true faith.
False Gospel
Based upon years of personal experience in the institutional church here in the USA, as well as having the Lord Jesus, via the Holy Spirit, speak to my heart, and confirm to my mind, on numerous occasions how he views today’s church in the USA, I will share with you, my readers, the false gospel that I believe is prevalent in today’s church here in America. This does not apply across the board to all church congregations, yet its influence and practice is felt and is nurtured by sweeping numbers across the country via false teachers who have infiltrated today’s church with this false teaching. The following, thus, are the characteristics of this false gospel that I have observed and have been a witness of in today’s church:
• More concerned with attracting large numbers of people and doing what it takes…
• More concerned with outward appearance and stage presence; video presentations
• Appeals to the flesh of man and man’s wants and desires (tickles man’s ears)
• Does what will attract the world to their meetings – the world attracts the world
• Provides a cleaned-up version of the same things the world is offering
• Waters down the gospel message to where it is not recognizable as the gospel
• Removes the need for repentance (dying to sin and living for God) and obedience
• Opens the door, thus, to giving its followers a free license for immorality
• Removes the need for fruit (works) as evidence of true faith and belief
• Removes the cross of Christ, i.e. what it means to come to the cross (Gal. 2:20)
• Minimizes or removes the need to die to our old sinful natures as part of faith
• Removes or minimizes the need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds
• Uses same marketing tools as the world for how to grow a business
• Turns the institutional church into a money and profit-making business
• Divides the church by demanding loyalty to man-made teachings and practices
• Follows these same man-made teachings over and above the word of God
• Accuses true followers of Jesus Christ and of the true gospel with “divisiveness”
• Turns away anyone who might be a threat to the continuance of its false teaching
• Promises to deliver true hope of salvation but gives a false hope – empty
• Perverts (distorts; changes; alters) the gospel of grace for its own advantage
True Faith
God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ - God the Son – to the earth to take upon himself human flesh, to be tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin, and to suffer as we suffer, so that he can be our sympathetic, compassionate and merciful high priest. He also sent him to die on the cross for our sins, taking upon himself the sins of the entire world. Thus, our sins were crucified and buried with Christ, yet when he rose from the grave, he left our sins buried, and he rose over them triumphantly and in victory over the grave, hell, Satan and sin – the penalty of sin and the control of sin over our daily lives. He did this because he loved us and because he did not want us to be controlled by sin any longer or for us to have to suffer the ultimate penalty of sin – eternal separation from God and torment in hell. As well, he did this because he wanted us free from sin so that we could be free to walk humbly before him in faith and obedience, i.e. in perfect fellowship with Him.
So, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, and we make him our Savior and Lord, what this means for us is that we bring ourselves to the cross of Christ, dying with Christ to our sinful lifestyles, leaving our lives of sin behind us, then being raised with Christ to newness of life, having been given new birth and new life by the Holy Spirit, so that we can walk now in faith and obedience and to follow the Lord Jesus wherever he leads us. Our physical baptism (by immersion, in particular) symbolizes this inward faith in that it represents this dying to our old lives of sin, burying our sin and then rising to new life in Christ Jesus, being filled now with the Spirit of God in our lives. All of this is a work of God’s grace in our hearts. We cannot produce any of this through human effort. God the Father draws us to Jesus Christ, he gives us the faith to believe, he changes our hearts and crucifies our old sin natures and he raises us to walk in obedience to Christ in all things. So, this is not works-based salvation. This is the true meaning of God’s grace and what it means to believe in Jesus Christ and in what he did for us in dying for our sins and in being raised from the grave in gaining victory over our sin. He did not go through all of that so that we would remain in our sin, i.e. by still living to please ourselves while ignoring God’s grace in our lives.
Our Response
We are being called upon to make sure we have true faith, first and foremost, and that we are not trusting in a false gospel and a false hope to save us, which is no hope at all. Then, when we are in true faith, which was lovingly and graciously provided for us by Jesus’ death and resurrection, then we need to contend for (insist on and declare) that true faith, i.e. the true gospel, which is a gospel of repentance (turning away from sin) and obedience, i.e. it is faith that brings us to the cross to die to our old lives and to be raised to walk in newness of life, being transformed by the renewing of our minds, and no longer living to please our flesh and our flesh natures, but now living to please God and to walk humbly in obedience to him. We need to declare this true gospel in contrast to this false gospel, because the salvation of human lives is at stake here. We need to snatch people from the fires of hell and bring them, through our witness, to saving knowledge in Jesus Christ. And, we need to stand in opposition to corrupted flesh and its deceptive influence on today’s church. The true gospel is under attack! We need to be living and witnessing to the true gospel that saves lives and that does not fill minds with false hope. May we come humbly before God.
Awestruck Grief / An Original Work / April 21, 2011
When in awestruck grief o’er my sins, Lord, I bow,
Will You hear me, Lord, and forgive me just now?
I am so amazed that You could love me so.
Yet, Your love and kindness ever fill my soul.
Lord, You are amazing, and gracious and kind
To have offered Yourself for us when we’re blind.
You were crucified on that hill, Calvary,
When they hung Your body to die on a tree.
Now that You’ve redeemed us and, thus, set us free,
I pray, Lord, for all on this earth to believe
In Your sacrifice, Lord, cleansing all our sin,
So that we can live for You, and die within.
Music, Page 1
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Music, Page 2
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