A Study of the Epistle of Saint Jude

1Jude, 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: 

    I suppose I will add to this as time goes on, but for now this is what I wrote for this sermon.  I hope to write a lot more, but we will see on God’s timing.  

Let us pray, “Lord, please grant us a greater insight into Thy Word.  Cause us to think deeply about what is being said and live the faith out.  Amen.”

     Jude is the author of the Epistle of Jude; that is, he was probably the one who was the Judas who was not Iscariot (John 14:22, “Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?”).  He was a devote follower and servant of Jesus Christ.  He was a servant of Christ and brother of James.  It may be better stated that Jude was a “slave of Christ.”  To be a slave of Christ means to give up all your rights and surrender to Him alone.  There are slaves of Satan and slaves of Christ.  No man is both, but one or the other.  If a tree is good it is always good, but if a tree is bad it is always bad.  A slave of Satan is someone who is unregenerate, but a slave of Christ is someone who is regenerate of the Spirit and the Word.  Slaves are not hired servants but willful obedient to their Father’s command.  Slaves of Satan have no changed heart, but those who believe have a changed heart.  Slaves of Satan do not repent, but slaves of Christ repent and believe the gospel.  No person could surrender to Christ without a changed heart.  We are sanctified in a past tense and an ongoing sense by God the Father.  We are preserved in Jesus Christ and called.  Everyone who is called receives an irresistible grace that keeps them to Himself.   This verse touches on sanctification, preservation and regeneration.  

Of Sanctification

     When we speak of sanctification we speak of union with Christ, because they have been effectually called thereunto by the Spirit unto Christ Himself.  We are given a new heart and spirit through His death and resurrection.  We are further sanctified really and personally.  It is the Word and Spirit dwelling in us that sanctifies us.  The dominion of the whole body is destroyed.  We go through weakening the flesh and mortifying the flesh.   We are quickened and strengthened in all saving graces.  We ought to practice true holiness or we will not see the Lord.  We are sanctified by His grace:  “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).  We ought to be the likeness of His death and resurrection by His grace, “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection…”  (Romans 6:5).  Our old nature is crucified with Christ, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6).  We are sanctified by His truth, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17).  The Spirit is given in the inner man in Ephesians 3:16-19, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-23; Romans 6:14; Galatians 5:24; Colossians 1:11; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 12:14).

     There is a war in sanctification between the lusts of the flesh and the Spirit; that is, the whole man is not made complete in this life.  We conquer sin by faithful repentance in short accounts to Him who lives forevermore (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Romans 7:18, 23; Galatians 5:17; 1 Peter 2:11). 

     There is still remaining corruption in the inner man, but the born again people overcome the sin in their lives by His sanctifying Spirit of grace.  The saints grow in the grace of God in the holy fear of God in evangelical obedience to Him (Romans 7:23; Romans 6:14; Ephesians 4:15, 16; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 7:1).

    
     The Westminster Larger Catechism states on sanctification,

Question 75: What is sanctification?

Answer: Sanctification is a work of God's grace, whereby they whom God has, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his Spirit applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man after the image of God; having the seeds of repentance unto life, and all other saving graces, put into their hearts, and those graces so stirred up, increased, and strengthened, as that they more and more die unto sin, and rise unto newness of life.

Of Preservation

In chapter 17 of the London Baptist Confession of 1689 it states,

1._____ Those whom God hath accepted in the beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, and given the precious faith of his elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, whence he still begets and nourisheth in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality; and though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon; notwithstanding, through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them, yet he is still the same, and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraven upon the palm of his hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity.
( John 10:28, 29; Philippians 1:6; 2 Timothy 2:19; 1 John 2:19; Psalms 89:31, 32; 1 Corinthians 11:32; Malachi 3:6 )

2._____ This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with him, the oath of God, the abiding of his Spirit, and the seed of God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace; from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.
( Romans 8:30 Romans 9:11, 16; Romans 5:9, 10; John 14:19; Hebrews 6:17, 18; 1 John 3:9; Jeremiah 32:40 )

3._____ And though they may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves, yet shall they renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end.
( Matthew 26:70, 72, 74; Isaiah 64:5, 9; Ephesians 4:30; Psalms 51:10, 12; Psalms 32:3, 4; 2 Samuel 12:14; Luke 22:32, 61, 62 ) 

     The Westminster Larger Catechism states on preservation,

Question 79: May not true believers, by reason of their imperfections, and the many temptations and sins they are overtaken with, fall away from the state of grace ?

Answer: True believers, by reason of the unchangeable love of God, and his decree and covenant to give them perseverance, their inseparable union with Christ, his continual intercession for them, and the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Of Regeneration

In chapter 10 of the London Confession it states on effectual calling,

1._____ Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, he is pleased in his appointed, and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.
( Romans 8:30; Romans 11:7; Ephesians 1:10, 11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 14; Ephesians 2:1-6; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 1:17, 18; Ezekiel 36:26; Deuteronomy 30:6; Ezekiel 36:27; Ephesians 1:19; Psalm 110:3; Song of Solomon 1:4 )

2._____ This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, nor from any power or agency in the creature, being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit; he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it, and that by no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.
( 2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 2:5; John 5:25; Ephesians 1:19, 20 )

3._____ Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit; who worketh when, and where, and how he pleases; so also are all elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
( John 3:3, 5, 6; John 3:8 )

4._____ Others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet not being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither will nor can truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved: much less can men that receive not the Christian religion be saved; be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the law of that religion they do profess.
( Matthew 22:14; Matthew 13:20, 21; Hebrews 6:4, 5; John 6:44, 45, 65; 1 John 2:24, 25; Acts 4:12; John 4:22; John 17:3 ) 

     The Westminster Larger Catechism states on effectual calling,

Question 67: What is effectual calling?

Answer: Effectual calling is the work of God's almighty power and grace, whereby (out of his free and special love to his elect, and from nothing in them moving him thereunto) he does, in his accepted time, invite and draw them to Jesus Christ, by his Word and Spirit; savingly enlightening their minds, renewing and powerfully determining their wills, so as they (although in themselves dead in sin) are hereby made willing and able freely to his call, and to accept and embrace the grace offered and conveyed therein.

The order or chain of redemption starts with regeneration, faith, justification, sanctification and glorification.  No devil can break this holy chain of spiritual salvation.

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

Jude speaks of mercy from God with peace and love.  There is no mercy from Satan but only an abandonment to ruin and destruction, but God who is rich in mercy loved us unto an eternal inheritance.  

“And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory…”  (Romans 9:23).“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us…” (Ephesians 2:4).

Jesus speaks of a peace that surpasses all understanding; that is, His peace is not of the world but of heaven.  His peace is from above while hellish peace is from below.  (John 14:27, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid).  We see the love of Christ in His life, death, burial and resurrection, for He was born to live, born to die, born to be buried and born to rise.  (Joshua 23:11, “Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God”).  (Matthew 5:44, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you...”).   (Matthew 5:46, “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?”).  We ought to follow the greatest commandments in the Word of God,  “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37).  “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39).

 ³Beloved, 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 term “beloved” refers simply to the people of God; that is, we are the beloved in Christ Jesus.  Jude made all diligence to write unto the people of God of the spiritual redemption in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He says it was needful to write and exhort the people of God to “contend for the faith which was delivered unto the saints.” ( 1 Peter 3:15, “ But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear…”).   (Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man”).  

     The faith once for all delivered to the saints is the Christian faith; that is, it has contents to what the Faith really is.  The Christian faith is a collection of beliefs like the deity of the three persons in the Triune Godhead or the fact that the Bible is the sole and final authority for life, morals and faith.  It is sufficient to make us wise unto spiritual salvation; that is, we can apprehend Christ and believe He forgives our sins by our repentance.  The faith is precious and among the people of God to serve the Lord; however, there are counterfeits which are not the faith of Christ.  The key is to believe the faith of the Bible because we are accountable for what we believe before God and man.  

 ⁴For 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. 

There were false teachers in the days of Jude just like there are false teachers in our day; that is, they creep in unawares to distort the Gospel of Christ.  These false teachers either add to the Gospel or take from it.  Let us remember the words of Saint Paul,

¹Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) ²And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: ³Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: ⁵To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. ⁶I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: ⁷Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. ⁹As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. ¹⁰For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. ¹¹But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. ¹²For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1).

There is some question on the nature of being ordained to destruction.  Does it mean that we prepare ourselves unto destruction?  Or, does it mean God prepares us unto destruction by passing over us and hiding the Gospel from us?  I think the answer is in Romans 9,

¹²It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. ¹³As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. ¹⁴What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. ¹⁵For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ¹⁶So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. ¹⁷For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. ¹⁸Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. ¹⁹Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? ²⁰Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? ²¹Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? ²²What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: ²³And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, ²⁴Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? ²⁵As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. ²⁶And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. ²⁷Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: ²⁸For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. ²⁹And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. ³⁰What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. ³¹But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.  ³²Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; ³³As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

God shapes as He wills and does what He pleases; however, this does not mean He commits sin of any kind.  When God’s will runs into our will, we lose.  God is sovereign and we are not sovereign.  If grace is turned into lasciviousness, it is no longer the grace of Christ.  The false teachers deny Christ and His grace.  The perversion of the false teachers does not reside in God’s grace, but they stink with corruption.  The Cross offers to God a fragment aroma, but dead souls give off stench like a dunghill. 
 

 ⁵I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 

God is a God of holiness, and He destroys the unbelieving.  He is so gracious and filled with compassion, but He does not save those who reject Him.  Never reject the Lord or He will reject you.  None of the elect who have come to believe in time will reject the Lord.  The Lord is mighty to save, and He delivered His people out of Egypt.  It is still told even to this very day.  We ought to learn a lesson and keep repenting and never stop.  The people in the wilderness lived a life of rebellion to God.  Destruction is only meant for the non-elect but the elect get mercy.  

 ⁶And 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. 

The demons are under judgment by God, because they are fallen angels (Matthew 25:41, “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels…”).

 ⁷Even 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. 

We commanded in Holy Writ to flee immorality, fornication, strange flesh and sexual promiscuity; however, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of disobedience.  Every person who engages in sexual immorality of any kind will be judged by God and it can destroy lives.  It is hazardous to society from a biblical approach, because it corrupts people unto a fleshy lust that displease God.  These suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, because it is sin and God brings justice to it; however, immorality is not the unforgivable sin, but no one who practices it will inherit the kingdom of God.  It comes down to habitual sin and besetting sins; that is, the habitual sinner could care less about God’s judgment and holiness.  Those who commit besetting sins repent of them, because they indeed do care about holiness and judgment.  Once someone is in eternal hell there is no escape, but now is the day of salvation.  Let us cast off the deeds of the flesh and repent and believe the Gospel.  

 ⁸Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.  ⁹Yet 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.  ¹⁰But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 

These false teachers defile the flesh, but also do deeds of wickedness.  Michael the archangel disputed about the body of Moses, because He protected Moses’ body against Satan and his fallen angels.  Michael rebuked Satan by, “The Lord rebuke thee.”  These people are brute beasts and corrupt themselves unto the very end.  

 ¹¹Woe 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 Core. 

These false teachers defile the flesh, but also they go after the way of Cain.   They also run greedily into the error of Balaam for a profit, and perished in the evil of Korah.  “Woe unto them!”  They have no spiritual life but they have only death.  It is what Cain bought them, because he murdered with no repentance.  Balaam acknowledged he sinned but it was not contrite repentance.  Judas throw back the money pieces but he did not use contrite repentance.   Korah rebelled against Moses, but never repented.  Let this be a lesson to us that we ought to repent before God.  There is a contrite repentance that is not of God; that is, it could be to a false God.  All repentance is accepted if it is to the Holy Trinity or one of the persons in the Trinity.  

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

These false teachers have no root to, in or through Christ.  They have no fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  They have no fear of God before their eyes; that is, no fear of God means no recognition of sin in our lives to repent of their crimes.  They are empty vessels but only full of crimes, sins and evils.  They are carried about by every wind of doctrine, but the fruit they do manifest goes away because it has no root.  It is bad fruit but His people only have good fruit.  Let us praise God for His riches of glory!

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

The false teachers rage with the sea’s might to turn people away from the faith, but they are filled with shame who wander as stars unto an eternal dark blackness for ever.  Saul was king, but instead of following the Lord He offered sacrifices.  He was rejected and a unregenerate for his own cause.  Instead of honoring God by obedience, he honored his riches by a monument unto himself.  

 ¹⁴And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, ¹⁵To execute judgment upon all, and to convince 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.

Matthew Henry wrote in his work on the epistle of Jude,

Of the prophecy of Enoch, (v. 14, 15) we have no mention made in any other part or place of scripture; yet now it is scripture that there was such prophecy. One plain text of scripture is proof enough of any one point that we are required to believe, especially when relating to a matter of fact; but in matters of faith, necessary saving faith, God has not seen fit (blessed be his holy name he has not) to try us so far. There is no fundamental article of the Christian religion, truly so called, which is not inculcated over and over in the New Testament, by which we may know on what the Holy Ghost does, and consequently on what we ought, to lay the greatest stress. Some say that this prophecy of Enoch was preserved by tradition in the Jewish church; others that the apostle Jude was immediately inspired with the notice of it: be this as it may, it is certain that there was such a prophecy of ancient date, of long standing, and universally received in the Old-Testament church; and it is a main point of our New-Testament creed. Observe, 1. Christ's coming to judgment was prophesied of as early as the middle of the patriarchal age, and was therefore even then a received and acknowledged truth.—The Lord cometh with his holy myriads, including both angels and the spirits of just men made perfect. What a glorious time will that be, when Christ shall come with ten thousand of these! And we are told for what great and awful ends and purposes he will come so accompanied and attended, namely, to execute judgment upon all. 2. It was spoken of then, so long ago, as a thing just at hand: "Behold, the Lord cometh; he is just a coming, he will be upon you before you are aware, and, unless you be very cautious and diligent, before you are provided to meet him comfortably." He cometh, (1.) To execute judgment upon the wicked. (2.) To convince them. Observe, Christ will condemn none without precedent, trial, and conviction, such conviction as shall at least silence themselves. They shall have no excuse or apology to make that they either can or dare then stand by. Then every mouth shall be stopped, the Judge and his sentence shall be (by all the impartial) approved and applauded, and even the guilty condemned criminals shall be speechless, though at present they want not bold and specious pleas, which they vent with all assurance and confidence; and yet it is certain that the mock-trials of prisoners in the jail among themselves and the real trial at the bar before the proper judge soon appear to be very different things.

I cannot pass v. 15 without taking notice how often, and how emphatically, the word ungodly is repeated in it, no fewer than four times: ungodly men, ungodly sinners, ungodly deeds, and, as to the manner, ungodly committed. Godly or ungodly signifies little with men now-a-days, unless it be to scoff at and deride even the very expressions; but it is not so in the language of the Holy Ghost. Note, Omissions, as well as commissions, must be accounted for in the day of judgment. Note, further, Hard speeches of one another, especially if ill-grounded, will most certainly come into account at the judgment of the great day. Let us all take care in time. "If thou," says one of our good old puritans, "smite (a miscalled heretic, or) a schismatic, and God find a real saint bleeding, look thou to it, how thou wilt answer it." It may be too late to say before the angel that it was an error, Eccl. v. 6. I only here allude to that expression of the divinely inspired writer.

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

Augustine wrote,

Chapter 14.—Of the Pride in the Sin, Which Was Worse Than the Sin Itself.

But it is a worse and more damnable pride which casts about for the shelter of an excuse even in manifest sins, as these our first parents did, of whom the woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat;” and the man said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”⁷³⁷⁷³⁷    Gen. iii. 12, 13.  Here there is no word of begging pardon, no word of entreaty for healing.  For though they do not, like Cain, deny that they have perpetrated the deed, yet their pride seeks to refer its wickedness to another,—the woman’s pride to the serpent, the man’s to the woman.  But where there is a plain trangression of a divine commandment, this is rather to accuse than to excuse oneself.  For the fact that the woman sinned on the serpent’s persuasion, and the man at the woman’s offer, did not make the transgression less, as if there were any one whom we ought rather to believe or yield to than God.

 ¹⁷But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; ¹⁸How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.  ¹⁹These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.  ²⁰But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,  ²¹Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

 The apostles of Christ spoke of the false teachers; that is, we are dwelling in the last hour because men pursue ungodly lusts.  We are to separate ourselves from those who engage in sensual lust that yields no repentance. 
     We are to build up ourselves in our most holy faith; that is, we ought to pray and do so without ceasing.  We are to remain in the love of God by continuing in His Word, because He will see us through to the end to will and to do His good pleasure.  Jesus comes with mercy for them that are His unto everlasting life. 
 

 ²²And of some have compassion, making a difference: 

We ought to have compassion on the lost; that is, putting ourselves in their situation.  All those who believed at one time had someone show them compassion that made a difference, because of the command of Christ in the great commission.  Making a difference is standing for Jesus and doing good works, (Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus which God afore prepared to walk in them”).  I would say that the essence of the Gospel in the lives of sinners is making a difference for the kingdom of God.  We ought to be people of compassion.   

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

We ought to save those who close to hell by sharing the Gospel, but its not really us that saves but God Himself.  We ought to be His hands and feet and proclaim the Gospel to a perishing world.  We ought to keep our garments white by repentance but not sullied by corruption, the flesh, the world and the devil. 

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

The Bible speaks of a keeping power of Christ; that is, He is able to keep you from falling into sin, transgression and iniquity.   He is able to present us faultless before the presence of His glory.  His people have exceeding joy, because Christ is our source of joy.  Some understand “joy” as “Jesus over you.”  We ought to thank God that He gives us joy from, by, through and in Jesus Christ.   

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

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only wise God and Savior; however, it is also true that the Father is God and the Spirit is God.  He gets the glory, majesty, dominion and power, because no one else is inherently God Incarnate save He. 

Let us pray, “Lord grant us a desire to know Thou keepest us in Thy hand.  Cause us to reject false teaching and live out the Gospel.  Thank you for Thy Word.  Amen.”