Jude 1:17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
We, as people, are creatures who desire comfort. A new born baby finds comfort in the arms of its mother. It finds comfort in being nursed by the mother. When the baby is fed and dry, and yet crying, we sometimes use a soother to try to comfort the child. They sometimes find comfort in that. Eventually we wean the child off the mother’s milk and off of the soother. Yet the child still wants to find comfort.
When we become adults, we are still seeking comfort in some way. We want to hear people speaking well of us. We like it when the boss praises our work. We like it when our spouse speaks well of us and treats us special. We like these types of comfort.
Most people take that same approach to the Word of God and the God they believe in. They want a God Who will make them feel good about themselves. Most people do not want to hear the truth. They want to hear what their imagination has told them should be truth.
Many preachers spend hours trying to find a message they can give to the people that will not be too hard on them. They want the people to keep coming and they want those who come to invite others to come as well. They want the people to speak well of them. They desire the praise of men.
When we read the Bible, we do not find a God Who scratches our itching ears. We do not find a God Who praises sin. We find a God Who Is Truth and Who speaks the Truth in love. This God knows that the Truth is what sets a person free, if that person will receive the Truth.
Jude is just a short book. Jude begins with a short introduction where he tells us who he is and what his purpose in writing this letter was. He wants the recipients to know the mercy, and peace, and love of God. He is then directed to challenge the saints to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints.
The first part of verse 3 talks of the desire to just talk of the common salvation. Nothing confrontational. Just some words of encouragement. We need to keep in mind that God is the Author of the Scriptures. God could speak pleasing words to Adam in the Garden. Adam was not a sinner when God created him. We are not told much of what God and Adam talked about. We know God gave him work to do and He also warned him of something he should not do. It did not take long for Adam to disobey God and that changed everything. From that time on, throughout the Bible, there is some good news, but there is also much warning and much recording of the consequences of disobedience against God.
When we study the Bible expositionally, we do not find a soothing book that ignores the realities of life. We find a God Who knows us intimately and Who loves us with a love that we seldom understand.
There is comfort in the Word of God for those who know Him. However, even those who know Him, need constant reminders of the danger of turning aside from the Truth.
In our text, Jude is addressing saints. He calls them “beloved”. That is a term of endearment. They were not enemies of God. They were redeemed and they were adopted into His family. They needed to remember the words spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is one common Saviour. That is “our Lord Jesus Christ”. The apostles were chosen by Jesus Christ to warn the saints that there would be mockers in the last time. We are living in the last time. There is an ever present danger facing those who are saved. There are many who walk after their own ungodly lusts. They want to have followers. They want to think they are good, caring people. They do not want to turn people away. Thus they want to give words of comfort to their listeners. They know that the Word of God has many warnings that must be taught and heeded. They also know those words of warning are offensive to the carnal and the lost.
The New Evangelical movement is designed to take the power of the Word of God out of it. It is designed to help lost and wayward people feel good about themselves. It cannot help anyone because it removes the Truth from the message.
In verse 19 Jude tells us that these people separate themselves. They are sensual. They are all about feelings. Jude also tells us they do not have the Spirit. Stop and think about that for a moment. They are lost people. However, they have learned the art of manipulation. They are constantly studying how to be better “salesmen”/ “politicians” with the Word of God. They are constantly competing with one another to keep relevant. They have to figure out what it is that will keep this generation of people coming to them. If they should happen to offend someone, they try to figure out a way to win that person back. Of course they do not mind offending those who are saved, because that is a minority of the people anyway. They might try to find a way to try to weaken those who are saved, but they have no problem drawing a crowd because there are far more lost people than saved.
Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will look at the contrast between those who are truly saved and those Jude spent the bulk of his time warning about.
Pastor Bartel