Sunday Sermons

Jude - Part 4: Verse 22-25

Mark Dunagan
11/20/05 - Sunday Evening

Obligations to the Erring

Jude 22-25

Jude 22 “And have mercy on some”: “Once we are firmly established as growing Christians, Jude wants us to become involved in the painful work of helping those who are coming under the influence of dangerous doctrine” (Stott p. 225). Jesus has mercy on us (verse 21), therefore we need to extend the same patience, kindness and forbearance to others (Matthew 5:7). “Salvation is not merely to be defined in the terms already given: faith, prayer, love, and hope. It involves service, men are indeed saved to serve” (Green p. 186). “Who are doubting”: This probably involves people who are at odds with themselves. “These are the people who are starting to weigh up the claims and arguments on both sides and finding themselves in two minds about the issues” (Stott p. 226). “We are not to go soft on the gospel or to hold out an illusory hope of salvation for everyone, irrespective of their relationship with God. But to those who have questions and who are thinking hard, there must always be a welcome and a patient understanding” (p. 226). “With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil” (2 Timothy 2:24-26). This would include people who doubt whether or not they can be forgiven, or people hesitating on making the decision to become a Christian, or Christians who are now doubting the foundation of their faith. Such peopleneed a Christian who will sit down with them and patiently explore their questions and the Scriptures, however the person who has such doubts must be willing to expend the time and energy in such study and conversation. It takes maturity to be able to listen to a person with doubts and let them air all their questions and then patiently walk through each question step by step. “And have mercy on the waverers” (Mof). The King James Version here reads, “And of some have compassion, making a difference”: Barclay reminds us, “Many a person would have been saved from error of thought or error of action, if someone else had only spoken in time. Sometimes we hesitate to speak” (pp. 242-243). How often had you heard someone say, “If only someone had told me that twenty years ago”? Yes, I know that often people who are wavering are not listening, or are resentingyour offer to help, but we must speak anyway (Ezekiel 3:18). Remember, the “mercy” in the above passages does not water down the truth, rather the “mercy” manifests itself in patient teaching of the truth. This equally requires that we must know what we believe (1 Peter 3:15). There is an urgency in Bible study and personal growth, for I might be called upon today to answer the doubts of a wavering brother! Am I prepared? I know that some people hide behind doubt and use it as an excuse to never obey God, yet I equally know that to live in a world of doubt is indeed a miserable existence, “for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind…being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6,8). The expression “all his ways” includes all his relationships.

Jude 23 “Save others, snatching them out of the fire”: “Jude’s second group of falling Christians has gone further than doubt; they are actually playing with fire. They have begun to engage with the thinking and lifestyle of those ‘who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality’ (Jude 4). The first part of our action must be to appreciate what a deadly position these people are in, our friends are already playing with fire” (Stott p. 226). “Save others”: I know that God actually does the saving through the blood of His Son, but notice that God gives to His servants the privilege of co-operating with Him in His saving work. God is not only to simply intervene in this person’s life—someone must reach out, “let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). We cannot naively say, “Well, if God really wants them saved things will just work out”. God really wants everyone saved (2 Peter 3:9)! And we are the human instruments that God uses for that task. God calls upon us to do the teaching, rebuking, exhorting, and comforting. Barclay notes, “When the power of reclaiming the lost dies out of the Church, it ceases to be the Church” (p. 242). “Snatching them”:Indicating urgency. No, this situation cannot wait; something must be done right now. This phrase reminds us when the angels literally pulled Lot and his family out of Sodom before it was destroyed (Genesis 19:15,16,24). “Out of the fire”: The fire here is not merely that they have gotten themselves into some earthly messy, that is, going from the flying pan into the fire, but rather the unquenchable fires of hell that they presently are hanging over by only their fragile life breath, “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44). Do we need any more motivation than this—that person over there is standing on the edge of eternal suffering and at any moment they might fall off? Does the word snatching indicate that we need to use force? “It is all very well to say that we must leave a man his freedom, that he must be free to make his own decisions, that he has a right to do what he likes. All these things are in one sense true, but there are times for action” (Barclay p. 243). Clearly we cannot force a person to repent or become a Christian, but we can urgently and strenuously appeal to them, we can press the claims in God’s word with all our might, we can even get a little pushy and confront them. Let us equally remember that we have been snatched from the fire as well and what worked for us? We certainly have a right to intervene or interfere, because someone did the same for us. Yes, at the moment we did not appreciate their efforts, but we are thankful now. “When there is a danger of fire, we hesitate not to snatch away violently whom we desire to save; for it would not be enough to beckon with the finger, or kindly to stretch for the hand” (Green p. 187). That is, more is required than just a token effort.

Jude 23 “and on some have mercy with fear”: “Such rescue work can never be done in any spirit of sanctimoniousness or superiority. It must be done in fear, in recognition that Christian workers have a sense of awe before the God who deigns to use us as His ambassadors” (Green p. 188). So first, there is the awe that we are God’s co-workers in saving the souls of men and that we are presenting Him to the world (1 Corinthians 3:9 “For we are God’s fellow workers”) So our attitudes and actions, even in such pressure-packed situations, must only glorify and bring honor to Him. There is equally the fear of sinning, that is, becoming frustrated and angry as we deal with such a person. Finally, there needs to be the wholesome fear of becoming tempted by the same sin, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). “There is danger to the sinner; but there is also danger to the rescuer. He who would cure an infectious disease always runs the risk of infection” (Barclay p. 243). Remember, this letter was written to many Christians and not just one Christian. I have an obligation to rescue the sinner, but there will be fallen Christians that someone else needs to rescue besides myself. The fallen Christian woman who is having marriage problems and is about to leave her husband—needs to be rescued, but rescued by women. “When a woman is crying on your shoulder, be careful! I am not suggesting that every woman who comes to you is out to get you or thinking sexual thoughts; I am simply pointing out that because she is hurting, your tendency will be to offer comfort. This comfort can very easily be misinterpreted and lead to sin. Always maintain a professional distance and do not sympathize too much” (Preparing the Young Man to Preach, Berry Kercheville, p. 124). We should equally fear that the person who fell might have been a very strong Christian at one time, and we need to be very sure of our faith as we cautiously attempt their salvation. “He must himself be a sturdy swimmer before he can save others who are in danger of being submerged in error. Those who would win others for Christ must themselves be very sure of Christ; and those who would fight the disease of sin must themselves have the strong antiseptic of a healthy faith. Ignorance can never be met with ignorance, not even with half-knowledge; it can be met only by the man who can say, ‘I know whom I have believed’” (Barlcay pp. 243-244). Sadly, what sometimes happens is that the person with has the zeal and love for souls to perform this rescue is the babe in Christ and not a seasoned Christian. Yet do not lose sight of the fact that mercy and fear are not opposites. True mercy is not naïve and neither it is gullible or trusting to a fault. Mercy will always act but it never forgets that sin is a messy business and that the devil is a dangerous opponent (1 Peter 5:8).

Jude 23 “Hating even the garment polluted by the flesh”: The Christian, while longing for the salvation of the sinner, never loses their disgust for sin (Romans 12:9). God never wants us to reach a point that we are no longer “shocked” by sin. One is not ignorant or naïve if one is taken back by what a person has done. Jesus, God in the flesh, was shocked when He encountered stubborn unbelief (Mark 6:6). “Garment polluted by the flesh”: This might be a hyperbole, that they are so corrupt their very clothes are defiled. This is the person who may be treating sin as normal and commonplace. The word “garment” can equally refer to our lives, as in one who has not soiled his garments (Revelation 3:4). Thus, here might be the most abandoned sinner, soiled through and through, and yet such a person can still be saved (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). God may equally be saying that when saving sinners we need to view them as God views them, as clothed in filthy garments. “There may be a superficial, or even a very real attractiveness about some forms of sin, else we would not be warned concerning some types of sinner. But beyond the surface, within the aura of glamour, gaiety, and seductive appearance, lurks the filthy garment of soul destroying sin” (Coder p. 119). Another idea is that the Christian must hate the atmosphere, the environment, and the alluring garments in which sin is sometimes arrayed. “Polluted by the flesh”: At times some people in the world accuse the Christian of being afraid of knowledge, science, freedom or the every common, “lighten up”. But behind sin and error is not freedom, nor true knowledge, nor science, but rather it is an attitude that seeks to rebel against what is right. “If the people Jude is describing are repenting, what we must expect of them is a compete reverse of lifestyle and a change of attitude toward their past. For their sake, we cannot afford to require anything less of them; their former lifestyle and attitude are what the gospel is saving them from, so we must show no compromise. We cannot lower God’s standards in the hope that if the terms are easier, more people will repent. That is to love the clothing and to hate the sinners, because it denies the seriousness of their plight” (Stott p. 229).

Jude 24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling”: After hearing all these warnings against apostasy and false teachers one might be tempted to think, “then who can be saved?” Those who remain with God will be saved. Remaining with God is not an impossible task, and God does not keep us from stumbling against our will, rather, when we cling to the faith (Jude 3), only then can we avoid the pitfalls of error and sin. Remember, Jude has been addressing temptations that surround all Christians. “He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber” (Psalm 121:3). Yes, this life can be a dangerous path, but if we walk with God, which means on a practical basis listening to His instruction, we will not stumble, rather we will be able to see clearly good and evil (Hebrews 5:14). “Make you stand in the presence of His glory”: Here is the reward for an obedient life, standing (not cowering) in the presence of God’s full glory, and not only standing but “blameless”:The truly amazing thing is not that the words and deeds of all men will be examined at the last day (2 Corinthians 5:10), but rather that after this examination some will be approved! The word rendered “blameless” is a sacrificial word, one connected with sacrifices without blemish. Do we long for such a blameless condition? “With great joy”: For the faithful there is nothing to fear about being in the all-knowing presence of God.

Jude 25 “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”

“And now”: The present godless condition of our world does not prove that God is non-existent or powerless. The Son of Godreigns now, and nothing will replace Him forever more. This is God’s universe, this is God’s reality, always has been, still is, and always will be. What chance then do rebels have?

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017