HAVING been myself comforted and encouraged of late by this epistle, I desire by God’s grace to briefly notice a few thoughts therefrom for the encouragement of my young fellow-believers on our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is doubtless one of the most awfully solemn portions of God’s Word, and yet so full of precious teaching for even the feeblest saint of God.
At the very outset we get a beautiful threefold cord of love―
1. Sanctified by God the Father;
2. Preserved in Christ Jesus; and,
3. Called.
Ought not this to give strength and stability to our souls, even though we see the truth being given up around us on every hand, and find that because iniquity abounds, the love of many is waxing cold. To know that, first, we are objects of the Father’s love and choice. When Peter confessed Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” our blessed Lord’s reply was, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven” (see Matt. 16:16, 17, 1816And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:16‑18)). Again in John 6 we read that, “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” And again in 1 John 5:11Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. (1 John 5:1), “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”
Secondly, that although everything is breaking up around us, and the professing Church, like Paul’s ship in Acts 27, is going to atoms, yet as truly as every soul was saved and “they escaped all safe to land,” so is the very feeblest believer in Jesus, yea, every truly converted person, all who are born of God, “preserved in Christ Jesus,” safe till that blessed moment when the Lord himself shall come and call every redeemed one to be with Himself forever.
Thirdly, “Called.” We sometimes sing—
“Called from above, and heavenly men by birth,
(Who once were but the citizens of earth),
As pilgrims here, we seek a heavenly home,
Our portion in the ages yet to come.”
Our Lord Jesus Himself said, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:4444No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44)); and in Romans 8 we read— “Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (see vers. 28-32).
After the salutations of “Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied,” although giving all diligence to write of the common salvation, Jude finds it useful to write and exhort them to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints,” and that not so much in view of opposition from without, but because of ungodly men from within—men who have crept in unawares, making no doubt a loud profession, but in whom there had never been any real work of God in the soul.
And here I would remark that it remains as true to-day as when the blessed Lord uttered those words to Nicodemus recorded in John 3, “Ye must be born again.”
“By their fruits ye shall know them” are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and are they not wholesome words for these last days? In writing to Titus, Paul by the Spirit says, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared,... teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” But here we find they “turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We then get a threefold testimony (to their condemnation but for our comfort), that although God may bear long with evil, yet eventually He will bring it into judgment (see vers. 5, 6, and 7 of our chapter).
We read in Ecclesiastes 8:1111Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11), that “because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil,” and how we see this verified in the professing Church today. But, dear reader, the same inspired portion of God’s Word declares that eventually “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil” (ch. 12:14).
We next get the threefold way the apostasy will take, with a solemn “Woe unto them” who take part in it. In the first place the way of Cain is spoken of. And how prevalent we find Cain’s religion in the present day. An ignoring altogether of man’s lost condition, because of a sinful nature derived from fallen parents, refusing to own that “except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and seeking to approach God in some way other than only through the death and blood shedding of a sacrifice.
Secondly, “Running greedily after the error of Balaam for reward.” Unconverted, ungodly men, professing to be the Lord’s servants, but who are really working not from love to the Lord or His people, but for gain.
Thirdly, “The gainsaying of Core,” who had the presumption to claim as much right to the priesthood as Aaron, who was “called of God,” and who is set before us as a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, who ever liveth to make intercession for us.
Then after a vivid description, by the Holy Spirit, through Jude, of these “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” together with Enoch’s prophecy concerning them, we are exhorted as “beloved” ones to remember the words spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, who told us that there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lust; and then adds, “These be they who separate themselves, having not the Spirit”! And here I would remark that they “separate themselves” not from Christians but to Christians—that is, they have crept in amongst them, but without there having been a divine work in the soul, and so stand in bold contrast with those who, however feeble, are objects of the Father’s choice, and have been drawn by Him to the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
And now again as “beloved” ones we are exhorted— (1) To build up ourselves on our most holy faith; (2) to pray in the Holy Ghost; (3) to keep ourselves in the love of God; and (4) to be “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
Dear fellow-believer, how we need to turn to the Word of God for strength, comfort, and guidance in these last days, to use it as the lamp to our feet and the light to our path, to remember that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
What resources are ours amidst all the darkness that prevails around us, and what comfort in all the trials that beset our path—God’s blessed Word to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path; a throne of grace to which we may come boldly to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need; the unchanging love of God for our hearts to rest in; and the “blessed hope” that at any moment the Lord may come and take us out of this scene of sorrow to be with Himself forever in that bright home above.
Then, as a grand climax to the whole epistle, we are commended to One who not only died for us upon Calvary’s cross, but who now lives for us in the presence of God; One able to keep us from falling, and to present us 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.
C.Sk.