1 Jude,
the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified
by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2 Mercy unto
you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. 3 Beloved, when I gave all
diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to
write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints. 4 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
1:1-4 )
The Book of Jude is deceptively brief for its immensity of beauty and truth.
It is a counsel of admonition to all churches who have abandoned their First
Love as have the overwhelming numbers of American churches and denominations.
The answer to rampant apostasy is for true men and women of God to stand up and
contend against error; however, our modern society has blinded the eyes of
faithful people to never contend for ANYTHING. Whatever mammon dictates, or the
state legislates, is, to the timid and luke-warm modern Christian the immutable
law that supersedes even the Commandments laid down by God Almighty.
Jude, the Apostle, speaks just as certainly to us, and perhaps even more so,
than to those of the first century believers following the crucifixion of our
Lord. Even the theology of our day has become a soft and compromising, Irenic
theology rather than the Polemic, biblical theology of the Reformers. Our
ministers no longer preach expositorily from the biblical text itself but,
rather pick a single verse around which to build a disjointed and rambling
sermon. So heed the counsel of this Epistle, and awake from the stupor of the
times.
A key and salient point of the opening verse is the authority of the writer and
his sanctification. 1" Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ,
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ, and called." Jude is brother of
James (who was also brother to Christ), the bishop of Jerusalem, though
possibly not a near brother in blood relationship. He is speaking to those who
are of the Household of Faith - the sanctified. All who are of Christ's Church
are sanctified by God the Father, through Jesus Christ, and called by the Holy
Spirit. We are IN Christ in our sanctuary.: "Sanctified in Christ
Jesus.” (1 Corinthians 1:2). This comes BY God the Father: “Sanctified
by God the Father.” (Jude 1:1): and through the calling of the
Holy Spirit: “Through sanctification of the Spirit.” (1 Peter
1:2). In all, Jude claims the same benefit and authority of all who serve God.
He is a SERVANT of God, not a ruthless master over His flock. In this opening
line, Jude is validating his apostleship under authority of the Holy Trinity.
The Trinity, being three Persons, is One in unity and purpose. Is this a
contradiction? Not at all, for every believer must be One with God, and One
with each other. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD."
The problem of weak-kneed apostasy is not a new thing in the church even if
more visible today. See what counsel is given to avoid the same by a 17th
century cleric:"We can never hope to advance Christianity above its
Primitive Excellency (as some would vainly pretend to do): It's enough if we can
but arrive at the ancient Path, and be Continuers of the Truth, and the Honour
of it, as becomes the Churches of Christ." Thomas Grantham, Christianismus
Primitivus: or, the Ancient Christian Religion.
A great and wonderful salutation here: 2"Mercy unto you, and
peace, and love, be multiplied." As the prayers and collects
of the church suggests, we have all wholesomeness and healing if we first have
the mercies of God. Those last two qualities of peace and love come to those
who seek and obtain the mercies of God. The effulgent rays of beauty love,
peace, and mercy are multiplied fold upon fold to those who are steadfast in
faith.
3 "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto
you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and
exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints." The modern pulpit is called upon
to "water down" the Gospel. 'It is well and good,' the detractors
say, "to speak of the mercies of God, but please avoid the hard preaching
of sin and repentance. Modern man does not respond well to it." Too bad
about that, for modern man will certainly respond to the judgments of God when
the curtain of their lives has fallen. They will hear plenty about their sins
before the Judgment Seat of God. One towering characteristic of the man called
of God is his diligence in exhorting and contending for the faith. He
will not excuse the great sins of the wealthy and condemn the smaller sins of
the poor. God is no respecter of persons. His Word applies equally across all
lines of class and social standing. Which faith is it that we are to diligently
contend for? It is that of the Apostles as taught them by the Lord Himself! Not
some soft and sterile gospel that pleases the ear and wicked spirit of man. It
excuses no action by ungodly government or ungodly man.
Next comes the answer to our amazement of the gross apostasy that has
overwhelmed the church in our time: 4 "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." Remember the
warning of Christ in Matthew 13:31-32? "The
kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and
sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is
grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds
of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. " Christ
has already, in the same chapter, identified those fowl as demons who steal
away the Word of God. Now He describes a Mustard plant (the Kingdom of Heaven,
or Church) that grows unnaturally large - so large that those same fowl come
and live in the branches of the overgrown Mustard Tree " certain
men crept in unawares" They have usurped the Office of
Minister pretending to be that which they are not. They are 'wolves in sheep's
clothing./ We have experienced the same in the AOC, and will doubtless
experience the same again, for such deceivers are relentless in their ambition
to usurp the place of Christ. We must be ever watchful to guard against
political compromisers in the Church of God. They will loudly proclaim love and
cordiality over obedience to God and opposition to wickedness in high places -
even government. These same men have exalted their pride above the Word of God
in claiming their right to alter, amend, and corrupt the very Word Itself
through so-called modern translations. They thereby deny God the Father as well
as His Beloved Son.
So Jude opens with a grave warning to us and to all Christian people. A warning
is not delivered out of malice, but out of a tender and fatherly love. We do
not warn our children to avoid playing in the street out of malice, but out of
love. This warning does not originate with Jude, but from God the Father whom
He serves. Jude feels the burden to warn us. We should feel that same burden to
warn those around us of the calamity of apostasy engendered by the preaching of
certain wicked men who have "crept in unawares."
