The Epistle of Jude 22-25

 

 

This is the conclusion of Jude’s short, but powerful epistle.

22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:

23 And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

I don’t think he’s talking about the false teachers. I think he’s talking about those who have been lured away by them, captured by their false teaching and lascivious living. Let’s be honest, “You can believe in Jesus AND live any way you want to. You don’t have to be held back, suppressed by those old-fashioned, legalistic, hateful rules” is much more attractive to the flesh than

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence*, even as the Gentiles which know not God

(1 Thessalonians 4:3-5) [*passion for forbidden things]

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 6:17 - 7:1)

So we want to keep ourselves in the love of God and seek to rescue the fallen and wayward.

Jude ends with a doxology. Nearly every book after Acts ends with a doxology, a praise to God. This is beautiful.

24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

He began with, “ye are preserved (kept) by Jesus Christ”, then in the middle of the letter he urges us to “keep yourselves in the love of God”. Now he closes with the focus once again on the Lord who is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the Father.

“To the only wise God - He alone who is the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, who alone can teach, who alone has declared the truth; that truth in which ye now stand.

Our Savior - Who has by his blood washed us from our sins, and made us kings and priests unto God the Father.

Be glory - Be ascribed all light, excellence, and splendor.

Majesty - All power, authority, and pre-eminence.

Dominion - All rule and government in the world and in the Church, in earth and in heaven.

And power - All energy and operation to every thing that is wise, great, good, holy, and excellent.

Both now - In the present state of life and things.

And ever - To the end of all states, places, dispensations, and worlds; and to a state which knows no termination, being that Eternity in which this glory, majesty, dominion, and power ineffably and incomprehensibly dwell.

Amen - So let it be, so ought it to be, and so it shall be.”¹

 

Amen!

1 Adam Clarke, commentary on Jude. You can read it here.

Praying in the Holy Spirit

 

(I quoted A.B. Simpson in my last post. That quote was very good (which is why I used it!), but he had more to say about praying in the Spirit, which is also very good, and I wanted to share that as well.)

1. The Holy Spirit lays upon us the desire and burden of prayer. Sometimes we understand it; sometimes we do not. Sometimes it is a joyful consciousness of spiritual elevation; sometimes it is an unutterable and inarticulate groan. Sometimes it is a definite sense of need, a consciousness of personal defect, or a heart-searching sense of our own emptiness and failure. It is a blessed thing to “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” The sense of need is the shadow side of the blessing. Let us thank the Holy Spirit when He gives us the burden of prayer.

2. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray according to the will of God. He gives us direction in our prayers. He saves us from wasting our breath and asking at random. He illuminates our mind to understand the Scriptural foundations of prayer, and makes us understand the things that are agreeable to the will of God, enabling us to ask with confidence that it is His will, and that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

3. The Holy Spirit gives us access into the presence of God. He creates for us the atmosphere of prayer. He gives us the sense of the Father’s presence. He leads us to the door of mercy and steadies our hand as we hold out the scepter of prayer, and reveals to us that inner world of divine things which none but he that feels it, knows.

4. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray in the name of Jesus. He shows us our redemption rights through the great Mediator, and coming in His name we can ask even as He, and humbly, yet confidently claim, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me, and I know that Thou hearest Me always.”

5. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray in faith, “for He that cometh unto God, must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.”

He enables us when we pray to “believe that we receive the things that we ask,” and to rest in the Master’s word, without anxiety or fear. He witnesses to the heart the quiet assurance of acceptance and He sustains us in the trial of our faith which follows, enabling us still to trust and not be afraid.

6. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray the prayer of love, as well as the prayer of faith. The Holy Spirit leads us into the dignity and power of our holy priesthood, laying upon us the burdens of the Great High Priest, and permitting us to be partakers of “that which remaineth of the sufferings of Christ for His Body, the Church.” In this blessed ministry we are often made conscious of the needs of others, and permitted to hold up some suffering or tempted life in the hour of peril; and we shall find some day that many a life was saved, many a victory won, and many a blessing enjoyed through this hallowed ministry that reaches those we love by way of the throne, when we never could have reached them directly.

When we become wholly emancipated from our own selfish cares and worries, and fully at leisure for the burdens of the Master, the Spirit is glad to lay upon us the needs of the multitudes of God’s people, and the burdens of the whole Church and Kingdom of Christ, so that it is possible to have a ministry as wide as the world, and as high as that of our great High Priest, before the Throne.

7. The Holy Spirit leads us into the spirit of communion, so that when we have nothing to ask we are held in the blessed silence and wordless fellowship in the bosom of God. This should become the very atmosphere of our being.

Finally, as we thus “pray in the Holy Spirit” we shall be enabled to “build ourselves up on our most holy faith,” we shall “keep ourselves in the love of God,” and we shall “look” in heavenly vision “for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” And the benediction of this beautiful epistle shall be fulfilled in our lives. “Now unto Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.”

 

A.B. Simpson, Power From On High, vol 2; chapter 25 "The Holy Spirit In Jude".

Simpson originally entitled this section, "Now, what is the prayer of the Holy Ghost?" But I confess, that doesn't make sense to me, so I altered it to "Praying in the Holy Spirit" because that is what he is describing and explaining. You can read the entire chapter here.

The Epistle of Jude 20-21

 

Ah, we have now arrived where I began and where all this was taking us. This is a great passage: compact and powerful! There is only one imperative or command here: keep yourselves in the love of God.

This does not mean we have to work hard at getting God to love us. He does that unbidden. The love of God refers to that place where His love and mercy, grace and blessing, are freely and without hindrance enjoyed and experienced. This is where grace, mercy, salvation, deliverance, power, and victory abound. I can keep myself in the love of God or I can carelessly wander away.

This is why I went through the first 19 verses of Jude. False teachers have come who “separate themselves, are natural, having not the Spirit.” Clearly, they are not in the love of God. And their teaching and influence could cause us to drop out of or depart from the love of God. So the Holy Spirit says, keep yourselves in the love of God. The cool thing is, he tells us exactly how to do it in this passage.

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

There are three steps involved in keeping ourselves in the love of God and they are marked out by those three -ing words. There is one verb, an imperative, keep; there are three participles, building up, praying, looking. What is a participle? “A participle is considered a "verbal adjective". It is often a word that ends with an "-ing" in English (such as "building," "praying," or "looking"). It can be used as an adjective, in that it can modify a noun, or it can be used as an adverb and further explain or define the action of a verb.”¹ In other words, building up, praying, looking explain how we keep ourselves in the love of God. It is God who is working in us, and yet we also have a vital part to play. As the apostle Peter says, Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You see to the growing.

(1) building up yourselves on your most holy faith

Spend time in the Word, reading and meditating on it

Believe what you read

Confess the truth of what you read

Make sure you are hearing the Word taught and preached

Be careful to be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only

Fellowship (spend time) with other believers

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection [mind, thoughts] on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 2:6-7; 3:1-3)

(2) praying in the Holy Spirit

The Bible teaches three ways to pray in the Spirit

+ groans or sighs too deep for words (Romans 8:26) 

+ praying in tongues, the blessing of having a prayer language (1 Corinthians 14:14-15)

+ depending on and being led by the Spirit as I pray.

Before we read and pray, it is very helpful to ask the Holy Spirit to teach you, speak to you, and guide you in your praying. One good practice is to read the Word, then begin to pray that passage for you and others; you will often find the Spirit then lifting you in prayer.

“This, beloved, is the secret of many an experience which you have not perhaps understood. This is the explanation of that depression that sometimes falls upon your heart and brings the tears gushing to your eyes, or makes you bury your head in your hands and pour out a supplication which you cannot comprehend. He sees some need, some peril, which you cannot comprehend, and He is praying against some evil which some day you will know. When you are about to take a false step, to enter upon a wrong path, to miss some important call, or to be deceived by some subtle wile of Satan, He is there to pray the prayer within you which may be only a groan that cannot be uttered; but if you are wise you will yield to it, and you will answer to His touch. Often it is a prayer for some other life, some soul in peril, somebody in dire distress or disease, some cause that needs assistance, some wrong that needs resistance, some need of the Master’s heart which He is letting you share with Him.”²

(3) looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life

Set your focus, faith, hope on the return of Christ and the salvation he is bringing. Our focus and hope is so often fixed on vacation, the next season for our sports team, the next election, payday, that raise or bonus, the weekend. We all do that to some degree, these aren’t bad, but they can be distracting, so we need to be careful, I mean the Lord talked about the cares of this life choking the seed.³ The Lord Jesus promised us eternal life, which he will bring with him when he comes. This is, as Peter says, our lively hope; truly our only hope. We should be looking for him, living in expectation of his coming! Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Maranatha!

Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

 

NEXT: Jude 22-25

 

1 Simple Definition of the Participle, https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/participles.htm

2 A.B. Simpson, Power From On High, vol 2; chapter 25 The Holy Spirit In Jude. You can read it here. 

3 Matthew 13:22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

The Epistle of Jude 17-19

 

There’s a dramatic shift in Jude’s tone. When he was speaking of the false teachers there was a harshness, he had not one nice word to say about them; now in 17 and 20 he says, But ye, beloved. They were truly beloved: loved by the Father, and loved by Jude. He has two exhortations for them in 17 and 20.

17 But ye, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

But ye beloved, remember - Preachers and teachers are often tempted to always have something new. We in the pews (chairs for those who have removed the pews) often clamor for something new. One of the more powerful idols in America is “New”. We don’t like old people or old ways, one of the worst things you can call someone is “old-fashioned”. But we need to remember. We have, many of us, forgotten the words of the Lord and his apostles. There is a great need for the ministry of reminder.

Remember the words of the apostles. What words in particular?

18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

I have said all along that there is a lot of agreement between Jude and 2 Peter. Peter begins chapter 3 with these words, This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:1-4)

Why does Jude tell us to remember? First of all, it is so easy to get discouraged – There are false teachers everywhere! Remember, we were told this would happen. Second, we are prepared. Our faith is up to date; we’re not fooled, we’re not deceived; our pastors are reminding us of what the Lord and his apostles said.

Jude has one more thing to say about false teachers.

19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

They separate themselves - From what? From the historic faith. They have “moved on”, “moved beyond” that old, out of date faith, to something “new, improved, and up to date, that better reflects who we are today”. They seek to lead the saints away from the faith and then from the fellowship.

They are sensual – The word means soulish, controlled by the soul. This is the natural man. What does natural man mean? He tells us…

Having not the Spirit - They don’t have the Holy Spirit. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor 2:14)

What does he mean, having not the Spirit? It could mean the Holy Spirit is not the source of their teaching, that he doesn’t anoint their ministry, he doesn’t agree with them. I think it more likely that he means they literally don’t have the Holy Spirit. They haven’t been born of the Spirit, nor baptized with the Spirit.

How did Jude know they didn’t have the Spirit? He doesn’t say. But you can’t deny the only God and Sovereign, our Lord Jesus Christ and have the Holy Spirit. They turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, a license to live a flagrantly immoral life. This is not the Holy Spirit. "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:4) Their teaching and their living do not line up with the gospel. Beloved, remember, there is no truth in them, their message is a lie. They have not the Spirit, they cannot minister life.

Remember, the apostles warned us there would be false teachers. How do we detect them? Listen to what they teach, do they deny the faith once delivered to the saints? Do they turn the grace of God to lasciviousness, telling you that what was once sin is now acceptable to God?

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.

 

NEXT: The Epistle of Jude 20-21

The Epistle of Jude 5-16

 

Last week I pointed out that Jude and 2 Peter 2 are very similar, and 2 Peter 2:9 provides an excellent summary of verses 5-16 in Jude, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished, except in Jude it’s mostly "reserve the unjust uno the day of judgment."

5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this,

“I’m not telling you something you don’t know or have never heard, but I am reminding you.” It’s good to be reminded, even of things we know full well.

He now provides three examples of judgment

5 how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

The twelve spies. The ten who believed not persuaded Israel into unbelief, which caused that entire generation to die in the wilderness.

6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

I believe this refers to Genesis 6:2 “The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” These angels are held in chains awaiting judgment day.

7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Sodom and Gomorrha, the third example of lasciviousness leading to eternal judgment.

 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

Likewise, in the same way, these false teachers defile the flesh, despise authority (“They will come under no restraints; they despise all law”¹), speak evil of dignities (angels).

9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

Michael the archangel – “Let it be observed that the word archangel is never found in the plural number in the sacred writings. There can be properly only one archangel, one chief or head of all the angelic host. Nor is the word devil, as applied to the great enemy of mankind, ever found in the plural; there can be but one monarch of all fallen spirits. Michael is this archangel, and head of all the angelic orders; the devil, great dragon, or Satan, is head of all the diabolic orders.”¹

Disputed about the body of Moses – “What this means I cannot tell; or from what source St. Jude drew it, unless from some tradition among his countrymen.”¹

Which they know not - These false teachers act like they are so smart, but they don’t know what they are talking about, and what they do say corrupts them.

11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.

What a summary! Their teaching causes people to perish, they teach whatever makes them the most money, and they rebel against God’s authority in the Church.

12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

He keeps piling it on! I think he’s saying, These people are terrible!

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard [speeches] which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

He quotes a prophecy of Enoch², who he says prophesied of these. I don’t think he means these teachers specifically, by name, but all false teachers. False teachers are a despicable lot; dangerous and doomed.

16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

I have come to the conclusion that these are character traits to avoid!

False teachers are a despicable lot; dangerous and doomed.

 

NEXT: Jude 17-19

 

1 Adam Clarke, commentary on Jude; read it here.

2 There is a Book of Enoch, and in Enoch 1:9 we find a verse very similar to this. What can we say about this? Since I’m not trying to fully teach Jude, or writing a commentary, I will just say, This prophecy “is nowhere to be found in Scripture. For this reason some of the Fathers did not receive this Epistle, although there is not a sufficient reason for rejecting a book on this account. But be this as it will, we let it pass. Still this is true, that God, from the beginning of the world, has left it to some to make His word known (the word that promises His favor and salvation to believers, but threatens the unbelieving with judgment and condemnation), even till Christ's coming down from heaven, when it is openly preached to the whole world. Thus, also, this father, Enoch, insisted on that word of God which he received from his father, Adam, and which he had of the Holy Spirit.” Martin Luther, The Epistle of Saint Jude. You can read it here.

The Epistle of Jude 4

 

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.

This is why Jude changed his letter from a word about “the common salvation” (I would like to also have this original letter!) to an exhortation to “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints”: False teachers, despicable heretics, had appeared.

Certain men crept in unawares – false teachers, heretics, are never upfront, they sneak in with an agenda. “False teachers don’t announce themselves. They use your vocabulary, but not your dictionary.”¹

Before of old ordained to this condemnation – He is about to offer witnesses to the truth that God judges such ungodly men, false teachers, and heretics.

Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness – Lasciviousness is a big word! Here’s how the Greek word is defined and explained: "as living without any moral restraint licentiousness, sensuality, lustful indulgence; especially as indecent and outrageous sexual behavior debauchery, indecency, flagrant immorality.”² This tendency to pervert the grace of God and change it into a license for flagrant immorality is a terrible yet common heresy. We see it all around us today, as many are gleefully announcing that they can believe in Jesus and live any way they want.

Paul speaks of this in Romans 5:20 and 6:1: Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound . . . What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? The answer? God forbid, or simply, No way! It is true, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, but the grace that saves us through faith also teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Titus 2:11-14)

Denying the only Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ – This is very similar to 2 Peter 2:1 …there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Turning and denying are the actions which mark them as ungodly. They deny him either by their works or their words. By their work when they turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, by their words when they disown him as the Christ, only begotten Son of God, the Savior, the One who died and rose again. Probably both.

The word for Lord in the phrase the only Lord God, is an interesting one, a very strong word, despotes, "as a title for God, the one who has supreme power, Master, Sovereign, Lord; as a title for Christ Lord, Master.”² 

“The passage I believe belongs solely to Jesus Christ, and may be read thus:” 

and the only God and Sovereign, our Lord Jesus Christ denying.³

How abominable is this denial and how powerful is this phrase! Yes, Jude is referring to our Lord Jesus Christ as the only God and Sovereign. You see, the faith which was once delivered to the saints is not kidding when it says and we confess;

We believe … in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.⁴

Is this my confession of faith? Anything less is denying “the only God and Sovereign, our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

NEXT: Jude 5-16

 

1 Attributed to John MacArthur; I cannot find the source.

2 Timothy Friberg, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (BibleWorks 5.0)

3 Adam Clarke, commentary on Jude https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/clarke/jde001.htm

4 The Nicene Creed

The Epistle of Jude 1-3

I am feeling sort of like Jude as I begin this: I started off focusing on just two verses from Jude, but as I read over the epistle, I realized I needed to cover it all. I don’t mean a full-fledged commentary, but the part I wanted to emphasize has context, and that context provides a depth of meaning that is helpful in understanding those verses.

Just what are the verses I began with? 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. As for the plan, as I said this isn’t intended to be an in-depth commentary, I will simply work through the verses with light commentary, just enough to set the table for v 20-21.

A couple of years ago our Pastor went through Jude. I was impressed because I’m not aware of hearing anyone else teach Jude. I don’t remember teaching it myself (even though I recently found notes that sure look like I did); I did present highlights of it in the church newsletter. I also often referred to a Bible study method I once used for Jude that I learned in Bible College. I recommended it, but I never heard if anybody ever took me up on it. It’s really simple and gets you into the text. You take a blank sheet of paper, turn it to landscape and, well, here’s photo:

I thought it was a pretty good method, even though it did take a lot of paper!

Brief Introduction

The Epistle of Jude is also known as the Catholic Epistle of Jude, meaning it is a letter intended for a general Christian audience rather than a specific church.¹ Jude and 2 Peter are very similar, both deal with false teachers sneaking into the church. I believe the author is the apostle Jude, who was also known as Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus (Jerome called Jude "Trinomious" which means "a man with three names" ²). Now onto the epistle itself.  (See how brief the introduction was?)

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:

My Bible (KJV) says “the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James”; most others have “a servant”. There is no article (the) before servant in the Greek. He is not saying he is “the” servant, the one and only servant of Christ, he is speaking of his identity, “servant of Jesus Christ.” He is also “brother of James.” I think this means he was the brother of Jesus.³ 

Jude is fond of triplets, and he begins that way: to them who are sanctified, preserved, called.

Sanctified by God the Father – This is salvation sanctification. The Father has separated us from the world and made us his own; once we were known and identified by our color, ethnicity, income, education, country, now we are children of God; once we were in Adam, sinners, condemned and dying, now we are in Christ, justified and reigning in life!

Preserved in Jesus Christ – “Preserved” means carefully attend to, take care of, guard, keep. He uses this word 5 times in this short letter (1,6,13,21). What a comfort - the Lord Jesus Christ himself is keeping us, taking care of us, guarding us!

Called – God took the initiative for our salvation: it was His plan; He sent His Son to die for us; He sent His Spirit to search for us; He called us by the gospel. What was our part? Respond. That’s it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Salvation belongs to the Lord!

2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

Another Jude triplet: mercy, peace, love be multiplied to you. Amen. I receive it!

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.

Jude declares he had every intention of writing to them regarding what he calls “the common salvation”, that is, the salvation enjoyed by all believers in Christ; but something had come up, a problem that made it necessary for him to exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. I can remember when I began to realize that “the faith”, here and many other times in the NT, is not the act of believing, or our personal faith, it is rather The Faith, a body of truth that states what we are to believe, the Christian faith. He says this Faith was once delivered unto the saints. Delivered by who? By the apostles. "The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith…"⁴ This Faith is captured and expressed in the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed. We are to hold the faith, promote the faith, teach the faith, defend the faith, and earnestly contend for the faith. We are in a war and the devil, the flesh, and the world are constantly trying to get us soft-peddle, back-peddle, compromise, and deny this precious deposit of faith.

 

NEXT: The Epistle of Jude  4

 

1 "These epistles (James, Peter, John, and Jude) are called catholic, universal, or circular, because they were not written to one nation or city, but to believers everywhere." (Adam Clarke, click to here read).

2 https://www.gotquestions.org/Thaddeus-in-the-Bible.html

3 “Jude…did not say that he himself was His [the Lord’s] brother. But what said he? "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ,"—of Him as Lord; but "the brother of James." For this is true; he was His brother, (the son) of Joseph.” (Clement of Alexandria, Comments on the Epistle of Jude; https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0211.htm)

4 Irenaeus. In February and March of 2020 I wrote 9 articles about this: Apostolic Tradition, The Rule of Faith, The Apostle’s Creed, The Nicene Creed et al You can go here for the first and here for the second and rest

A Pentecost Q & A

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. I thought a brief Pentecost Q & A would be timely.

Q What was Pentecost in the Old Testament?

A It was one of the seven seasonal feasts Israel was commanded to observe: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Tabernacles (see Leviticus 23). Passover is in the Spring, followed immediately by Unleavened Bread. Pentecost (Feast of Weeks or Shavuot) is 50 days after Passover. Pentecost is from a Greek word which means 50. It is a harvest feast, marking the beginning of the harvest. They would bake two loaves of bread and the priest would “wave” them before the Lord, celebrating the first signs of harvest, as well as expressing faith in the Lord that there would be a full harvest in the fall.

Q What was Pentecost in the New Testament?

A "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:1-4)

As Peter explains in his sermon which followed, this was a fulfillment of the promise in the prophet Joel, “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh…” Both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus had spoken of being baptized with the Holy Spirit. This is it. The promise of the Father, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Q What did the apostles say about Pentecost?

A Amazingly, nothing. Not one word. In fact, Pentecost is mentioned only two other times in the New Testament and then simply as a feast day of the Jews.

Q So, what is the significance of Pentecost?

A The feasts of the LORD are God’s prophetic calendar: Passover the death of Christ, Unleavened bread the new life in Christ, Firstfruits the resurrection of Christ. Pentecost is a foreshadowing of the great harvest; two loaves speaks of two people groups to be brought in: Jews and Gentiles. The next feast on God’s calendar is Trumpets, the second coming of Christ, which takes place in September, after a summer of harvest. This is where we are on the calendar – the summer of a worldwide harvest!

Q Is Pentecost the birthday of the Church?

A This is a very popular view today, but the answer is, No. The Bible never says this. The church of Christ began during the ministry of Jesus.

Q Is this when the disciples received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?

A No. In John 20:21-22 we read: “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” Pentecost is when they were baptized with the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, received power from on high.

Q Will the day of Pentecost be repeated?

A No. Like the cross and resurrection it was a special, significant, one-time event - the Spirit was poured out. As the old hymn says,

The Comforter has come, the Comforter has come!
The Holy Ghost from heaven, the Father's promise given;
O spread the tidings 'round wherever man is found:
The Comforter has come!
(Frank Bottome, 1890)

Q Can I experience Pentecost?

A Oh yes! Every believer in Christ is heir to the gift of the Holy Spirit, the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The prophets, the Lord Jesus, Peter, Paul, all spoke of this; and Peter and Paul are very clear – this is an experience you may know whether you have received or not.

In chapter 8 of Watchman Nee’s great book, The Normal Christian Life, he speaks of Pentecost then and now. He picks up on a statement the apostle Peter made on the day of Pentecost in his explanation of what was happening. He said, This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Watchman Nee points out that our this needs to be and can be that. I think it is fair to ask, Is our ‘this’ ‘that’? What?? Yes, Is our this - our Christian experience – that which Joel spoke of and the apostles experienced? In other words, Are we experiencing all that the Gospel promises? As Pastor Chuck Smith said it, “We are seeing God’s last day outpouring of His Holy Spirit. You don’t have to beg God for this free gift, just accept it. Just say, ‘Lord, you promised it. Lord, I need it. Lord, I want it. Thank you, Lord, I accept it.’ The Holy Spirit is a free gift of God, you don’t have to continually beg God for Him, you have to receive Him by faith . . . If you want the baptism with the Holy Spirit, just take a deep breath and say, ‘God, I’m going to breathe in now the fulness of your Spirit’ and He will begin to fill you to overflowing.”

Q Ah, but what about speaking in tongues?

A What about it? Oh, you mean, “Do I have to speak in tongues to be filled?” To quote Pastor Chuck again, “Many times when someone is baptized with Holy Spirit, God will bless them with the gift of speaking in tongues . . . I’m not on a speaking in tongues kick. I thank God for what it means to me and I praise the Lord for it. But I don’t go around saying, ‘Oh, you have to speak in tongues – you MUST.’ You don’t have to speak in tongues; you can know the fulness of God and the fulness of His love without it. You cannot, however, experience a blessing quite like speaking in tongues unless you speak in tongues.” He goes on to say, “I believe the only true evidence of the filling and baptism with the Holy Spirit is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts.”

What will it be like or feel like when we are filled with the Holy Spirit? How will we know? I have briefly mentioned speaking in tongues, but here is a story from F.B. Meyer that really speaks to the point:

A woman came to her pastor and asked if she could use the church building for the day. He asked her why and she replied, “I’m going to seek God and wait on Him until He fills me with the Holy Spirit.” So he gave her permission and she went to an upstairs room and locked herself in. About supper time she came down.

“How did it go, sister? Did God meet you? Have you been filled with the Spirit?”

With much sorrow she replied, “Alas, no. I was not filled with the Spirit.”

The pastor then asked, “Tell me, sister, how is it with you and Jesus?

Her face lit up and she answered, “Oh pastor, it has never been better. He is so sweet to my soul!”

The pastor told her, “Sister, THAT is the Holy Spirit!”

 

 

Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit?

What is "ministered to the Lord"?

 

I’ve always been fascinated with this verse. There are three parts to it: (1) ministered to the Lord; (2) fasted; (3) the Holy Ghost said. Numbers 2 & 3 I’ve always pretty much understood: fasted: a season of not eating; the Holy Ghost said: a word of prophecy. Got it. But what is ministered to the Lord?

biblegateway.com has this verse in 63 translations – ministered 18 / serving 10 / worshiping 35 / praising and praying 1 (don’t bother counting, I’m off by one!). Obviously, most translations went with “worshiping”.

Our pastor preached through the first 12 verses of chapter 13 Sunday morning. He uses the NIV, so he went with “worshiping” and encouraged us to worship, fast, and listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit. Amen. But for most of us, “worshiping” conjures up images of the praise team leading us in worship songs, and I’m 120% sure there was no praise team involved. While Pentecostal churches (20th century) had small bands, and in the black church the worship leader had a choir (also 20th century), the praise team as we know it rose up in the Jesus Movement / charismatic renewal of the 60s and 70s, as Jesus Freaks brought their guitars to church and sang songs they had written. This is not a criticism or statement of some kind, just simply pointing out there was no brother with an acoustic guitar and a sister singing praise and worship in Acts 13.

So, what were they doing when they ministered to the Lord? For that answer I did a word study.

The Greek word for ministered is the verb λειτουργέω (leitourgeō), the root word is the noun λειτουργός (leitourgos). OK. What does this mean? Well, according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon:

I.        to serve the state at one's own cost

II.       to do a service, perform a work

A.       of priests and Levites who were busied with the sacred rites in the tabernacle or the temple

B.       of Christians serving Christ, whether by prayer, or by instructing others concerning the way of salvation, or in some other way

It occurs 3 times in the New Testament

Act 13:2

Romans 15:27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.

This refers to the Gentiles helping the Jewish Christians in their time of need.

Hebrews 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

Here the ministering is related to worship, but it’s not singing songs and all, the priest was offering prayers and sacrifices.

I’m pretty sure ministering to the Lord here is related to the ministry or serving described in Hebrews 10. 

Our word liturgy comes from this Greek word family. In case you are not familiar with liturgical worship, simply put, it is a worship service with prescribed prayers and Scripture readings in which the entire congregation participates. For example, here is the beginning of the Holy Eucharist or Sunday morning service from the Anglican Church of North America Book of Common Prayer:

The People standing

Celebrant: Blessed be God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

People: And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.

All: Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I am not suggesting the church in Antioch was using the Book of Common Prayer (at least not the English version!!). I do however believe that if this refers to worship, it is a greater possibility they would have been using some liturgical form of prescribed (written) prayers and Scripture readings, while obviously open to and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and speak, after all, there was that word of prophecy, “Separate to me Barnabas and Saul…” 

But I’m not really sure this describes a time of worship.

Remember the definition above? “To do a service, perform a work . . . of Christians serving Christ by prayer.” I used to think ministering to the Lord referred to worship, liturgical worship at that. But now I’m much more inclined to see this as a time or season of prayer. Their fasting seems to me to support that.

What difference does it make? Well, it makes a difference to me in that I want to properly understand what Scripture says. But in the long run, I don’t think it really matters: whether worship or prayer, we need to be serious and sensitive to the working of the Spirit. This of course means that our prayer meeting / worship service needs to be open to manifestations of the Spirit (expectant, receptive, and the service can’t be so tightly structured there is no room for Him to move). And of course, the people need to know what the gifts are and how they work.

As I said at the beginning, I’ve always been fascinated with this verse and wondered just what ministered to the Lord meant. And now I feel like I finally have a handle on it, so this was mostly for me. The bottom line is, in all our prayer meetings and worship services, the leadership needs to cultivate an atmosphere that is open and receptive to the moving of the Spirit, and the folks in attendance need to have an expectant attitude.

They were praising the Lord God and they were praying (EasyEnglish Bible)

Pray Until Something Happens

CHAPTER II  PRAYING UNTO GOD 

1. In the 12th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we have the record of a prayer that prevailed with God, and brought to pass great results. In the 5th verse of this chapter, the manner and method of this prayer is described in few words:

“Prayer was made without ceasing of the church UNTO GOD for him.”

The first thing to notice in this verse is the brief expression “unto God.” The prayer that has power is the prayer that is offered unto God.

But some will say, “Is not all prayer unto God?”

No. Very much of so-called prayer, both public and private, is not unto God. In order that a prayer should be really unto God, there must be a definite and conscious approach to God when we pray; we must have a definite and vivid realization that God is bending over us and listening as we pray. In very much of our prayer there is really but little thought of God. Our mind is taken up with the thought of what we need, and is not occupied with the thought of the mighty and loving Father of whom we are seeking it. Oftentimes it is the case that we are occupied neither with the need nor with the One to whom we are praying, but our mind is wandering here and there throughout the world. There is no power in that sort of prayer. But when we really come into God’s presence, really meet Him face to face in the place of prayer, really seek the things that we desire FROM HIM, then there is power.

If, then, we would pray aright, the first thing that we should do is to see to it that we really get an audience with God, that we really get into His very presence. Before a word of petition is offered, we should have the definite and vivid consciousness that we are talking to God, and should believe that He is listening to our petition and is going to grant the thing that we ask of Him. This is only possible by the Holy Spirit’s power, so we should look to the Holy Spirit to really lead us into the presence of God, and should not be hasty in words until He has actually brought us there.

If then we would pray aright, these two little words must sink deep into our hearts, “UNTO GOD.”

2. The second secret of effective praying is found in the same verse, in the words “WITHOUT CEASING.”

In the Revised Version, “without ceasing” is rendered “earnestly.” Neither rendering gives the full force of the Greek. The word means literally “stretched-out-ed-ly.” It is a pictorial word, and wonderfully expressive. It represents the soul on a stretch of earnest and intense desire. “Intensely” would perhaps come as near translating it as any English word.

It is the word used of our Lord in Luke 22:44 where it is said, “He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

We read in Heb. 5:7 that “in the days of His flesh” Christ “offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears.” In Rom. 15:30, Paul beseeches the saints in Rome to STRIVE together with him in their prayers. The word translated “strive” means primarily to contend as in athletic games or in a fight. In other words, the prayer that prevails with God is the prayer into which we put our whole soul, stretching out toward God in intense and agonizing desire. Much of our modern prayer has no power in it because there is no heart in it. We rush into God’s presence, run through a string of petitions, jump up and go out. If someone should ask us an hour afterward for what we prayed, oftentimes we could not tell. If we put so little heart into our prayers, we cannot expect God to put much heart into answering them.

When we learn to come to God with an intensity of desire that wrings the soul, then shall we know a power in prayer that most of us do not know now.

But how shall we attain to this earnestness in prayer?

Not by trying to work ourselves up into it. The true method is explained in Rom. 8:26, “And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (R.V.) The earnestness that we work up in the energy of the flesh is a repulsive thing. The earnestness wrought in us by the power of the Holy Spirit is pleasing to God.

Here again, if we would pray aright, we must look to the Spirit of God to teach us to pray.

3. A third secret of right praying is also found in this same verse, Acts 12:5. It appears in the three words “OF THE CHURCH.”

There is power in UNITED PRAYER. Of course there is power in the prayer of an individual, but there is vastly increased power in united prayer. God delights in the unity of His people, and seeks to emphasize it in every way, and so He pronounces a special blessing upon united prayer. We read in Matt. 18:19, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.” This unity, however, must be real. The passage just quoted does not say that if two shall agree in asking, but if two shall agree AS TOUCHING anything they shall ask. Two persons might agree to ask for the same thing, and yet there be no real agreement as touching the thing they asked. One might ask it because he really desired it, the other might ask it simply to please his friend. But where there is real agreement, where the Spirit of God brings two believers into perfect harmony as concerning that which they may ask of God, where the Spirit lays the same burden on two hearts; in all such prayer there is absolutely irresistible power.

CHAPTER VI  ALWAYS PRAYING AND NOT FAINTING 

In two parables in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches with great emphasis the lesson that men ought always to pray and not to faint. The first parable is found in Luke 11:5-8, and the other in Luke 18:1-8.

“And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him: ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?’ And he from within shall answer and say: ‘Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.’ I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.”(Luke 11:5-8) 

“And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men always ought to pray and not to faint, saying: There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man; and there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying:

‘Avenge me of mine adversary.’ 

And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself: ‘Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ 

And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1-8) 

In the first of these two parables Jesus sets forth the necessity of importunity in prayer in a startling way. The word rendered “importunity” means literally “shamelessness,” as if Jesus would have us understand that God would have us draw nigh to Him with a determination to obtain the things we seek that will not be put to shame by any seeming refusal or delay on God’s part. God delights in the holy boldness that will not take “no” for an answer. It is an expression of great faith, and nothing pleases God more than faith.

Jesus seemed to put the Syro-Phoenician woman away almost with rudeness, but she would not be put away, and Jesus looked upon her shameless importunity with pleasure, and said, “O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” (Matt. 15:28) God does not always let us get things at our first effort. He would train us and make us strong men by compelling us to work hard for the best things. So also He does not always give us what we ask in answer to the first prayer; He would train us and make us strong men of prayer by compelling us to pray hard for the best things. He makes us PRAY THROUGH.

I am glad that this is so. There is no more blessed training in prayer than that that comes through being compelled to ask again and again and again even through a long period of years before one obtains that which he seeks from God. Many people call it submission to the will of God when God does not grant them their requests at the first or second asking, and they say:

“Well, perhaps it is not God’s will.”

As a rule this is not submission, but spiritual laziness. We do not call it submission to the will of God when we give up after one or two efforts to obtain things by action; we call it lack of strength of character. When the strong man of action starts out to accomplish a thing, if he does not accomplish it the first, or second or one hundredth time, he keeps hammering away until he does accomplish it; and the strong man of prayer when he starts to pray for a thing keeps on praying until he prays it through, and obtains what he seeks.

We should be careful about what we ask from God, but when we do begin to pray for a thing we should never give up praying for it until we get it, or until God makes it very clear and very definite to us that it is not His will to give it.

Some would have us believe that it shows unbelief to pray twice for the same thing, that we ought to “take it” the first time that we ask. Doubtless there are times when we are able through faith in the Word or the leading of the Holy Spirit to CLAIM the first time that which we have asked of God; but beyond question there are other times when we must pray again and again and again for the same thing before we get our answer. Those who have gotten beyond praying twice for the same thing have gotten beyond their Master (Matt. 26:44). George Muller prayed for two men daily for upwards of sixty years. One of these men was converted shortly before his death, I think at the last service that George Muller held, the other was converted within a year after his death. One of the great needs of the present day is men and women who will not only start out to pray for things, but pray on and on and on until they obtain that which they seek from the Lord.

How To Pray by R.A. Torrey (1856-1928)