*
Come Thou Font of Every Blessing
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Take
Five
Jude
1:1-2 part five
In this next Take Five meditation, we’ll look at
verse two. For context, I include the verses we’ve already examined.
“Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus
Christ, and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the
Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 2May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
I almost skipped verse two to move on to what I
think are the more weighty verses beginning with verse three. But the Holy
Spirit stopped me in my proverbial tracks. He inspired each writer, from Moses
to John, from Genesis to Revelation, to pen every word God has preserved for us
in the Bible. There aren’t any extraneous words in Scripture. Every jot and
tittle have value.
Yes, verse two is important for us. And
honestly, who among us does not long to have God’s mercy and peace and love multiplied
to them?
Whereas grace means God gives us what we
don’t deserve, mercy on the other hand means God does not give us
what we do deserve. As the Psalmist wrote: “He has not dealt with us
according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” (Psalm
103:10) Tell me, who doesn’t need God’s mercy?
When Jude writes here of peace, the context
tells us he is speaking of peace with God. Peace, knowing God is not mad at you
or me. Such peace, however, is only achievable through our faithful and obedient
relationship with Jesus Christ. Though life’s storms thrash against our little
fishing boat, the Christian can have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
. . . And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation
brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and
hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within
our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5)
So, tell me, who doesn’t need God’s peace?
And then Jude talks of God’s love. Here the
word means just as one might suppose: God loves you with an incomprehensible
and passionate love. It is possible, when we hear so often, “God loves
you” to become inured, we can become desensitized to that glorious and
boundless truth.
But if such thoughts ever enter into our mind,
causing us to question His love, we need only to think of Calvary. It is there
that God did all He could possibly do to prove His superabundant love for you
and me. And tell me, who doesn’t need God’s love?
Jude, in the first verse of his epistle,
defines his audience as those who are called by God, beloved by God, and kept by
God. Now he prays for God’s mercy, peace, and love to be multiplied to them.
Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Have you
confessed to Him your need of His forgiveness and of His friendship? Have you
willingly and repeatedly told Him you want Him to be Lord of every nook and
cranny of your life? Are you letting Jesus be Lord of your lifestyle? If so,
then what Jude wrote in the first two verses of his epistle applies also to
you. Thanks be to God.
We will look at the next few verses when we
meet again.
Take Five
Jude 1:3
Part six
“Beloved, while I was making every
effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write
to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for
all handed down to the saints.”
There are two things we ought to
pay attention to here in verse three. First, Jude tells his readers he was
making ‘every effort’ to tell them what he wanted to tell them. The Greek word
he used here has the idea of being ‘diligent,’ or to ‘strive for something.’ In
other words, what he had to tell them was of such importance that he let
nothing hinder him from communicating God’s truth to that body of believers.
Jude’s comment has a lot to do with how you and I
in the 21st century exercise our faith. Is what we
know of Jesus important enough to us to make every effort to tell others of
Christ?
For example, do we believe it singularly
true that faith in Jesus and obedience to His commandments is the ONLY way to
receive eternal life? Do we believe that UNLESS a person submits his or her
entire life and their lifestyles to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, that person WILL
spend eternity in the Lake of Fire?
But there is more. Are we striving
every day to live a lifestyle that does not cause scandal among believers and
non-believers? Do we make every effort – do we make ANY effort – to support
missionaries and others who broadcast the message, the good news of forgiveness
through Jesus Christ?
Our response to each question gives
us a glimpse into what we really believe about the New Testament message of
Christ, salvation, holiness, and so forth.
But there is yet more in this short
phrase in verse three. Jude appeals to their ‘common’ salvation. He uses the
same language, context, and meaning as Paul in his letter to Titus: “To Titus, my true child in a common faith.” (Titus 1:4), and Peter in his second epistle: “To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by
the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:1)
Humanity lives with a common need. We
all need God’s forgiveness. We’ve all sinned against His laws. Therefore, we
all live under His wrathful condemnation (see John 3:36 and Romans 3:23 and
6:23).
Yes, we all have the same common
need. And God has given us all the same common solution: He sent His holy and
righteous Son to take on Himself our justly deserved punishment. Through
Christ’s sacrificial death on our behalf, God demonstrated His perfect justice
and, at the same time, His perfect mercy by placing on Jesus the sins of all
who place their trust and hope in Christ.
Young or old, male or female, rich
or poor, popular or unknown, in prison or free, homeless or living in a mansion,
educated or uneducated – from every race and every nation all who follow Christ
now have this one thing in common: Eternal life.
It is to that commonality that Jude continues his letter
because Satan’s seeds of deception had already been sown in the fledgling Church.
We look at that in the next reflections.
Take
Five With Jude
Part
Seven
Verse 1:3
“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our
common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you
contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the
saints. (Jude 1:3)
In reminding them of their common salvation, Jude now urges his
readers to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down
to the saints.” Why? Because mortal danger lurked in the shadows of their
fellowships: “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were
long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the
grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus
Christ. (Jude 1:4)
Jude’s warning to his first century readers is
just as serious a warning to 21st century readers. Neither they, nor we, can be
satisfied to merely warm the pews in this battle for the souls of men and
women. Jude exhorted his readers to stand and be counted, to fight the good
fight of faith, and to maintain as their benchmark the true faith that was
delivered to them by the apostles.
Already by the time Jude wrote this
letter, Satan had introduced destructive heresies into the Body of Christ
which, if not forcefully addressed, would have worked like a virus to not only weaken
the evangelistic power of the church, but would have corrupted the gospel
message.
The apostle Peter spoke to that
danger in his second epistle: “But false prophets also arose among the
people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly
introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them,
bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality,
and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will
exploit you with false words.” (2 Peter
2:1-3)
St. Paul also spoke about wolves in
sheep clothing in his letter to the church at Corinth: “For such men are
false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises
himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise
themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their
deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:13)
Gnosticism was one of the false
teachings that invaded the purity of the early Church. Gnosticism is an
umbrella term for several heretical teaching, but essentially, they believed all
‘matter’ is evil, and only the ‘spiritual’ is good. They believed salvation
came through their ‘special knowledge’ and NOT through the teaching of the
apostles.
Another heretical group circulating
through the early church were the so-called ‘Judaizers.’ They insisted Gentiles
had to be circumcised before they could be saved.
Those were only two of the multitude
of theological errors that attacked and have continued to attack orthodox
Biblical faith since the first century.
Perhaps the most significant early heresy
was Arianism. Prominent in the 4th century, Arianism nearly upended Biblical
Christianity. The renegade bishop, Arius, rejected the apostolic teaching of
the deity of Jesus. He believed Jesus was a created being – a most important
created being, but NOT Almighty God in the form of a man. That heresy is still
taught by some groups today, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons.
Jude’s appeal to a ‘common salvation’ then, as now, was designed
to maintain doctrinal purity regarding such basic elements of Christian faith
as the Person of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, salvation by grace
through faith, lifestyle holiness, the final judgment, and so on. What
constitutes ‘common salvation’ can perhaps be best defined by the 4th century
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (formulated in 325 and 381 AD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_Creed).
The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was written in direct response
to Arianism and a later heresy which declared that the Holy Spirit was not a
Person, but rather only a ‘force’ of God. (A note of explanation – when the
Creed speaks of the ‘catholic’ church, the term ‘catholic’ means specifically
the ‘universal’ church, and not the Roman Catholic Church).
So, what do YOU believe about the basic doctrines of orthodox
Christian faith? Can you support your position with Scripture? Jude explains in
verse four why a clear understanding of orthodox doctrine is important to our
common salvation.
We continue our study next time.
Take Five
Part Eight
We
now continue our study through Jude’s epistle. You can find lessons one through
seven on my blog at this link:
Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after
saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did
not believe. 6 And
angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He
has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the
cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross
immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in
undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (Verses
5-7)
Before we look more closely at this
text, please think – right now – please think about what you had for dinner
three nights ago. How about two nights ago?
Unless it was a special meal, like for a holiday or a birthday – if was
just an ordinary meal, how difficult was it for you to remember what you ate?
I want to tie that question to the
gospel message. Martin Luther said we need to hear the gospel every day because
we forget it every day, and I think the apostles of the early Church would
agree with him.
Jude
knew his readers knew the gospel, yet he writes in verse five: Now I desire to remind you, though you
know all things once for all . . . . And Jude is not the only one to consider it prudent to
remind his readers of God’s truths.
St.
Paul reminded his readers of some of the events surrounding Israel’s 40-year
journey through the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-11), and Peter told his
readers: “Therefore, brethren, be all the more
diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you
practice these things, you will never stumble . . . Therefore, I will always be
ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and
have been established in the truth which is present with you. (2
Peter 1:10-12)
So,
what application of Jude’s epistle can you make for yourself? How can
Christians reduce their chances of ‘forgetting’ what they have already learned
regarding the life of faith and obedience to Christ? What is it Jude wanted his
readers to remember? What did he think was so important for them to never
forget? It is this:
“[T]he Lord, after saving a people out of the
land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own
domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under
darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as
Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as
these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited
as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (verses 5b-7)
For some historical perspective, we learn from the
book of Numbers there were more than 600,000 men in Israel over the age of 20 (1:46).
We then learn in Numbers 14:29, Jude 5, and Hebrews 3:12-19 that ALL 600,000
died in the wilderness. NONE of them entered the Promised Land. Why? Because of
their sin and unbelief (Hebrews 3:17-19). Do we wonder why Jude then goes on to
remind his readers of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the fall of Satan and his demons?
What’s the point? Paul tells us, “Now these
things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our
instruction . . . Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does
not fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:11-12)
The Holy Spirit, through Jude, simply reiterates
the warning in the verses we are now looking at. God wants to remind Jude’s
readers that the Christian life is not something we do one time at an altar or
at a baptismal font, and then we go on with life.
No. The Christian life is a continuous,
day by day carrying our cross. Jesus never promised that following Him would be
easy. On the contrary, He promised it would be arduous. That’s why continuous
conversion is so necessary for the Christian. We must go ever deeper in our
relationship with the Savior.
How do you plan to do that, to grow
in your faithful and obedient relationship with the Lord Jesus? What steps will
you take?
Those who fail to plan, plan to
fail.
We
continue our study next time.
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Take Five with Jude
Part Nine
We come back to the same text we
examined in the last study, verses five through seven. We do so because
although written to the first century readers, this section carries an
important warning to the 21st century church as well.
This is how the New Living
Translation renders these verses: “So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that
Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed
those who did not remain faithful. And I
remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God
gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely
chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind
of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a
warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.”
We
looked last time at the 600,000 men and women of Israel who never made it into
the Promised Land because of their unbelief. When we review Israel’s frequent
rebellions against God, we can better understand the broader meaning behind this
statement of those, “who did not remain faithful.”
It
is axiomatic, what we believe gives birth to what we do, and
ancient Israel’s near continual disobedience to God gave clear evidence of
their underlying unbelief.
Jude
follows his reminder of God’s judgment of Israel with a reminder of God’s
judgment on angels, and on Sodom, Gomorrah and the surrounding areas.
Many
scholars look to Isaiah 14:12-21 and Ezekiel 28:12-19 for explanation and
clarification of Jude’s comment about the angels God judged. The ‘day of
judgment’ is an ominous reference to the ultimate destiny of Satan and his
demons in the Lake of Fire (see Revelation 20:10-15). And then Jude refers to
Sodom, Gomorrah, and the neighboring towns “which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual
perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the
eternal fire of God’s judgment.”
It
is no longer uncommon to hear pastors, theologians, and high-ranking churchmen
and women reinterpret the clear warning of Scripture regarding sexual
immoralities and perversions. Nor is it uncommon that these modern day Judases
attract large followings. St. Paul referred to such people in his second letter
to Timothy:
I solemnly charge you in the
presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead,
and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season
and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and
instruction. For the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have
their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance
to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside
to myths. (2 Timothy 4:1-4)
Through Jude, the Holy Spirit made
a point to remind humanity of God’s holiness – and of His judgment against
those who persist in their sins.
Fast
forward to today. Do you believe Scripture is the inerrant, transcultural, and
infallible word of God? If not, then what forms your decisions about how you
live your life and conduct your lifestyle?
On
the other hand, if you do believe Scripture is the inerrant,
transcultural, and infallible word of God, then have you made it fully
authoritative over your life and lifestyle? If not, why not?
For good reason Jesus warned: “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them
will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the
winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of
it.” (Matthew 7:26-27)
We examine the next section of
Jude’s letter in part ten.
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TAKE
Five
Part
ten
In the last few studies we spent time with this
text: Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all,
that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently
destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own
domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under
darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the
cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross
immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in
undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
Now let’s turn our attention to the follow-on
verses:
Yet these men are defiling their bodies by their filthy fantasies in
just the same way; they show utter contempt for authority and make a jest of
the heavenly glories. But I would remind you that even the archangel Michael
when he was contending with the devil in the dispute over the body of Moses did
not dare to condemn him with mockery. He simply said, the Lord rebuke you! (JB
Phillips)
While the Greek word for ‘dreams’ in verse eight means ‘dreams’ as is
normally understood, many translators understand Jude’s use of the Greek word
to be a metaphor for being ‘beguiled with sensual images.” That’s probably why
JB Phillips translated the word as ‘filthy fantasies.” The KJV translators
rendered it, ‘filthy dreamers.’
According to a 2018 report in CharismaNews.com (see link below), pornography is ravaging its way through churches. The report found 68 percent of church-going
men and over 50 percent of pastors view pornography on a regular basis. Of
young Christian adults 18-24 years old, 76 percent actively search for pornography.
33 percent of women aged 25-and-under search for pornography at least once per
month. Only 13 percent of self-identified Christian women say they never
watch pornography. Put another way, 87 percent of Christian women have watched pornography.
God will not be mocked. When pornography permeates the Church, you and I
must be extraordinarily vigilant to stand against sin – ALL sin, not just
sexual sin – in our own lives and in our own homes. And we must expect holy
lifestyles from our pastors. In the context of sexual sin in the Corinthian
church, St. Paul warned, “Do you not
know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?” (1 Corinthians 5:6)
What are you watching and reading? Would you do so if Jesus were
physically sitting next to you? That might be a good rule of thumb by which to
decide what is proper for us and what is not.
Jude’s comment about the dispute between Michael the Archangel and the
chief fallen angel, the devil, about Moses’ body is a conundrum to most Bible
commentators. I think the point Jude is making here is that while many people –
mere creatures as we are – routinely blaspheme God, curse with His holy name,
and mocking even the idea of angelic beings, the archangel, Michael, did not curse
the devil. Instead, Michael gave honor to God and rebuked the devil in the name
of the Lord God.
Are you careful about your use of God’s name? Of Jesus’ name?
We continue our look into Jude’s letter next time.
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TAKE Five
Part eleven
Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain,
and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in
the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love
feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds
without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead,
uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam;
wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. (Verses 11-13)
In the preceding verses, Jude referred to fallen
angels and Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of God’s LIMITED patience, and His
inevitable judgment on those who persist in sin. Jude now turns our attention
to three examples – one might call them prototypes of common sins – Cain,
Balaam, and Korah.
Here is what we know of Cain, the first-born of
Adam and Eve after their exile from the Garden of Eden:
“So it came about in the course of time that
Cain brought an offering to the Lord
of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of
his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord
had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He
had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?
And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well,
will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is
crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain
told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain
rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your
brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis
4:3-8)
Commentators speculate about why God rejected
Cain’s gift and He accepted Abel’s. Did God reject Cain’s because it wasn’t a
blood sacrifice, as was his brother’s? Perhaps. Yet Scripture tells us God
accepts grain offerings as well as animal sacrifices (see Leviticus 2; 6:14-23,
Hebrews 9:22). Perhaps it was Cain’s attitude when he brought the sacrifice – a
begrudging attitude? Scripture is silent about his attitude prior to the divine
rejection, so I don’t think it wise to insist that was the reason for the
rejection. (By the way, see 2 Corinthians 9:6-7)
But whatever the reason, a more important point is
to be made about Cain’s attitude AFTER God rejected his gift. He was angry – and
not just angry, the text tells us he was very angry at God.
Have you ever gotten angry at God when something
terrible happened in your life, or the life of someone you loved? Were you
angry that God didn’t answer your prayers the way you wanted Him to answer
them? Perhaps you have not – but there are some reading this who have been, and
perhaps are STILL angry at God.
Before we go back to Jude’s reference, let’s
look at God’s response to Cain’s anger. I suspect He says the same thing to
those today who are angry – very angry – with God.
Notice God doesn’t whip Cain. He doesn’t crush
him into the dirt. He doesn’t even yell at him. But what does God do? He asks him a question, a question designed
to stop the young man from continuing down a dangerous road:
“Cain, why are you angry? Why the downcast look
on your face?” Then God gives him a
warning rooted in His love for the young man – and we can easily make the
application to us: “Sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you,
but you must master it.”
Unfortunately, Cain didn’t listen to God’s
warning. Instead, he let his anger fester, and its wormwood root gave birth to
poisonous fruit. He murdered his brother. And when God asked where Abel was,
Cain dismissed the question with the callous, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Uh, yes, Cain. You are. And God requires the
same of you and me (see Matthew 25:31-46). We, too, are our ‘brothers’ keeper.’
No wonder Jude says, “Woe to them” who have followed in Cain’s footsteps. (Jude
1:11)
Cain’s anger become his master. The apostle Paul’s
words in his letter to the church at Rome are instructive for us (Romans 6:12-14):
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you
obey its lusts, and do not
go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of
unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be
master over you . . . (Romans
6:12-14a)
How would this story have changed if Cain had
humbled himself before God, and repented of his anger? Much better, we can be
sure. But more to the point, how can YOUR story change – even in the middle of
your circumstances – if you humble yourself before God, and repent?
We look at Baalam and Korah next time.
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TAKE
Five
Part
twelve
“Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain,
and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in
the rebellion of Korah. (Jude 1:11)
As examples of God’s limited patience and his
inevitable judgment on those who persist in sin, Jude gave several examples,
The first was the 600,000 Israelites whom God destroyed during the wilderness
wanderings. Jude then mentions God’s judgment on the fallen angels (called
demons). He also cites Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities. Then Jude
looks to Cain, Balaam, and Korah.
We looked at Cain in lesson 11. We now turn our
attention to Balaam. We find his story
in Numbers 22 through 24, Numbers 31:1-16, and Revelation 2:14.
Moses tells us in Numbers 22 that Israel, during
their meanderings through the wilderness, set up camp in the plains of the
country of Moab. Balak, the king of Moab, feared Israel because of their vast
numbers. So, he sent messengers to Balaam, a prophet of Moab, asking him to
curse the people saying: “For I know that he whom you
bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” (Numbers 22:6)
When Balak’s emissaries arrived with the fees for divination, Balaam
told them to wait until he spoke with the Lord God about their offer. We pick
up the story in verse nine: “Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are
these men with you?” Balaam said to
God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me, ‘Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt and they cover the
surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I may be able to
fight against them and drive them out.’” God said to
Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are
blessed.” (verses 9-12)
Balaam then told
Balak’s messengers that he could not go with them to curse the people whom God
had blessed. But a few verses later, Balak upped the ante. He sent more
numerous and more distinguished emissaries to Balaam – AND more money as well.
It is said, rightly or wrongly, “Every man has
his price.” Judas had his, and Balaam had his. We don’t know how much Balak
offered the prophet, but that isn’t the point. What IS the point is, “When God
says, ‘No,’ His decree is not open to negotiation.
“Balaam replied to the servants of Balak,
“Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do
anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the Lord my God. Now please, you also stay
here tonight, and I will find out what else the Lord
will speak to me.” God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men
have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but only the word which I
speak to you shall you do.” (verses 18-20)
At first blush, it seems Balaam simply wanted to
ask God for further instructions. But we learn from the context of all the
texts related to Balaam (see above) that his motive was not pure. He hoped God
would change his mind. “After all,” he likely thought to himself, “look at all
the honor and money the great king Balak is offering.”
But when Balaam saw how serious God was about
protecting Israel – (God tried to kill the prophet three times while on his way
to Moab) Balaam had no choice but to bless the people as God told him to do.
However – and this is the crux of the matter – Balaam
was able to figure out how he could obey God and bless Israel, but to also get
his wages from Balak. He told the king to introduce sexual temptations into
Israel’s camp. When they succumbed to those temptations, God Himself would decimate
Israel’s numbers.
Jude warned his readers,
“Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain,
and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam . . .. (Jude 1:11)
Cain’s guilt lay in his
unfettered anger, arrogance, and ‘poor-me’ attitude. And Balaam was more
interested in money and the honor of men, than in obeying God.
We have much to learn from Balaam’s
self-interest. The prophet Samuel rebuked Israel’s first king, Saul: “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your
burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen!
Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the
fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as
worshiping idols. (1 Samuel 15:22-23, NLT)
And the Lord Jesus rebuked
the religious leaders in His day: “How can you
believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory
that is from the one and only God?” (John 5:44)
You and I ought to often ask
ourselves this most fundamental question regarding our loyalties. It’s the same
question Elijah asked of Israel during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel: “If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” (1 Kings 18:21).
So, at the close of this lesson, this
might be an appropriate prayer: “Search me,
O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out
anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting
life.” (Psalm 139:23-24)
Amen.
TAKE Five
Part
thirteen
“Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain,
and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in
the rebellion of Korah. (Jude 1:11)
We looked at Cain and Balaam in the last two studies. Now we look
at Korah. We find his story in Numbers 16. We look only at the first few
verses, but I urge you to read the entire chapter for context.
“Now Korah . . . the son of
Levi, with Dathan and Abiram . . . rose up before Moses, together with some of
the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen
in the assembly, men of renown. They
assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone
far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the
assembly of the Lord?”
God
appointed Moses at the burning bush to rescue His people from Pharaoh’s slavery.
After the Exodus, God appointed Moses’ brother, Aaron, to be High Priest
(Exodus 28:1). Moses and Aaron were from the tribe of Levi (Levi was one of the
twelve sons of Israel).
Korah also
was a Levite – but with different God-ordained responsibilities. All who
functioned as priests (responsible for performing various sacrifices in their
worship) were Levites, but not all Levites functioned as priests. Some
Levitical clans were responsible for the transport and maintenance of the holy
Tabernacle and its furnishings (see Numbers chapter four).
God chose
Moses to lead His people from slavery in Egypt. But Korah had a problem with
that choice. “You have gone far enough,” Korah accused. “For all the
congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so
why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”
In a word,
Korah was jealous. Spitting-mad jealous. And his jealousy destroyed him, his
wife, and children, and all those of the 250 who followed his rebellion against
God’s anointed (Numbers 16:25-33)
The apostle
James wrote truth when he warned: “But if you have bitter jealousy and
selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the
truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly,
natural, demonic. For where
jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
(James 3:14-16)
Jealousy of
the kind Korah displayed is nothing less than demonic. That’s a pretty strong
word, ‘demonic,’ but the Holy Spirit guided the apostle to purposely use that
word as a warning to his readers – which include you and me.
It was
jealousy that caused Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery (see Genesis
37). It was the synagogue leaders’ jealousy that almost got Paul and his
companions killed in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-10). And notice his warning to the
elders of the Ephesian church: “I know that after my departure savage wolves
will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men
will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert . . ..”
(Acts 20:29-31)
Yes, bitter
jealousy and selfish ambition are not only antithetical to the love Christ
insists we show toward one another, jealousy of that kind is nothing less than demonic.
We become tools in the sulfuric hands of Satan when we let jealousy take root
in our spirits
Are you
jealous of another’s successes? Their ministry? Their possessions? Their
family? Their wealth? Their lifestyle? Be careful! Korah’s jealousy ended up
destroying him, along with a lot of other people and their families.
And make no
mistake: Our jealousies will also eventually destroy us, our families, and
those who follow our examples.
What is the
remedy for jealousy? In a word, ‘Repentance’; Honest and humble repentance. As
soon as we recognize that sin sinking its talons into our spirits, we should
force ourselves to stop entertaining those thoughts, and simultaneously ask God
to forgive us and to change us.
The Lord’s
words in Mark 7:20-23 apply here: “That which
proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men,
proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit,
sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and
defile the man.”
Join me in
this prayer, won’t you?
Oh, Holy
Spirit, I only want to honor Jesus. Help me submit more closely to You. Teach
me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep them to the end. Give
me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my
whole heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in them. Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not
to greed or jealousy. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from
my sin. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within
me. (Based on Psalms 119 and Psalm 51)
Amen.
----------
Take Five
Part
Fourteen
“Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain,
and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam and perished in
the rebellion of Korah. (Jude 1:11)
In the last two studies we looked at Cain and Balaam. We now turn
our attention to Korah. We find his story in Numbers 16. We will look only at
the first few verses, but I urge you to read the entire chapter for context.
“Now Korah . . . the son of
Levi, with Dathan and Abiram . . . rose up before Moses, together with some of
the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen
in the assembly, men of renown. They
assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone
far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the
assembly of the Lord?”
God
appointed Moses at the burning bush to rescue His people from Pharaoh’s slavery.
God also appointed Moses’ brother, Aaron, to be High Priest (Exodus 28:1). Moses
and Aaron were from the tribe of Levi (Levi was one of the twelve sons of
Israel). Korah also was a Levite – but with different God-ordained
responsibilities.
All who
functioned as priests (responsible for performing various sacrifices in their
worship) were Levites, but not all Levites functioned as priests. Some
Levitical clans were instead responsible for the transport and maintenance of
the Tabernacle and its furnishings (see Numbers chapter four).
God chose
Moses to lead His people from Egypt. But there is more to slavery than simply physical.
Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever;
the son does remain forever. So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:34-36)
Through the
millennia, God sent prophets and teachers to lead His people, not only from
physical slavery, but also from spiritual slavery (see 2 Chronicles 36:15-16).
But Satan has always raised up his disciples to thwart God’s plan. And that is
why God gave us leaders within His church – to guide, nurture, and protect us from
false teachers.
St. Paul
wrote to the Christians at Ephesus, “And He gave some as apostles, and some
as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for
the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of
the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the
measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be
children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.” (Ephesians 4:11-14)
Just as
Satan raised up Korah and his follower to usurp Moses, the devil has raised up
Korahs throughout history to stand against God’s appointed leaders. Paul warned
the Christians at Corinth – and by extension, he warns us in the 21st century: “For
such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as
apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if
his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end
will be according to their deeds.” (2
Corinthians 11:13-15)
It's
important that we distinguish between God-appointed and God-obeying
leaders. Not all of God’s appointed leaders end up obeying God. For example, God
appointed King Saul to lead His people, but he soon apostatized himself (see 1
Samuel chapters 9 and 15). God appointed Jeroboam to lead ten of the twelve
tribes of Israel, but he also soon apostatized himself (1 Kings chapters 11 and
12). Jesus chose Judas (John 6:70), and we know how that turned out.
How do we
know a God-appointed leader is also a God-obeying leader? That’s an easy
question to answer. God tells us through Isaiah, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this
word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:20, AKJV) In other words, if the leader
teaches AND obeys what the Scriptures and the Church has taught since its
inception, we can be confident he or she is man or woman of God.
That is why
it is necessary for Christians in the pew to learn the Scriptures, otherwise
they cannot know if their pastor is accurately teaching God’s truths.
When St.
Paul and his companions fled Thessalonica after preaching Christ to the people
there, they settled in the city of Berea. St. Luke tells us: “When they
arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica,
for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily
to see whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:10-11)
God commended
the laity in Berea because they checked the Scriptures daily to verify what St.
Paul was teaching. If God commended them for verifying Paul’s teaching,
no pastor today should discourage their flock from verifying what he teaches
from the pulpit. Be suspicious of the pastor who dissuades the flock from
studying God’s word.
Do you
consistently follow a plan to read and study your Bible every day? If not, will
you start one today? You can find many annual Bible reading plans on the
internet. If you do not have access to the internet, ask your pastor, or a
Christian friend to recommend a Bible reading plan.
Korah,
along with Cain, and Balaam were tares among the wheat (see Matthew 13:25-40).
They were – and people like them continue to be – hidden reefs in our
assemblies (Jude 1:12). A good knowledge of God’s word is our best defense
against the wolves in sheep clothing.
Take Five
Part Fifteen
The Holy Spirit never wastes words, and the words Jude uses to
describe the children of Satan in our midst ought to be instructive for us. Several lessons ago we looked at Jude’s comment
in verse four of his epistle: “For certain
persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for
this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into
licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
That verse is part of the context for verses
12-13 in which Jude refers specifically to people like Cain, Balaam, and Korah:
“These are the men who are hidden reefs in your
love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves;
clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit,
doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam;
wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”
(verses 12-13)
In the last few studies, I have used the phrase, ‘children of
Satan,’ several times. This is a good time now to detour a moment to clarify.
Scripture is unambiguous in telling us that while all men and
women are created by God, NOT ALL are children of God. Only those who
have been born again through their baptismal faith in Christ have the right to
be called God’s children.
For
example: St. John tells us, Christ “was in the world, and the world was made
through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who
were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of
the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:0-13)
St. Paul writes: “But if anyone does not
have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. . . . For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of
God.” (Romans 8:9b, 14)
Jesus told the clergy of His day: “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of
your father.” (John 8:44a)
St. John also cautions us: “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are
obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God . . ..” (1 John
3:10a)
This is not
an inconsequential Biblical point. To believe all humanity are God’s children
is to swing open a Pandora’s Box of heretical theology that requires no
repentance and no need for a lifestyle of holiness. Such a devilish perception
of God makes Him more like a dotting grandfather than, as the writer of Hebrews
describes Him, a ‘consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). It is no accident that the
same writer warns those who persist in sin: “It is a terrifying thing to
fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)
We should expect that apostates like Cain, Balaam, or Korah would
be in many of our churches. The ‘hidden reefs’ Jude speaks of are carefully
placed by the devil to shipwreck as many souls as he can get away with.
Satan is not a red-suited, horned and pitchfork carrying cartoon
character. He is a smooth-talking and very attractive angel of light, and his
children often have letters such as Ph.D., Th.D., or LL.D after their names.
That’s why we spent time in the last lesson learning to distinguish godly
leadership from deceptive leadership.
And it is
why I now ask the same question as I did in lesson 14. I am purposely redundant
because the way you answer the question has everything to do with your maturity
in Christ AND your spiritual safety from our enemy who, as St. Peter tells us, “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
Here is the question again: Do
you consistently follow a plan to read and study your Bible every day? If not,
will you start one today? You can find many annual Bible reading plans on the
internet. If you do not have access to the internet, ask your pastor, or a
Christian friend to recommend a Bible reading plan.
God the
Holy Spirit moved St. Peter to urge you and me: “[L]ike newborn babies, long
for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to
salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).
There is simply no shortcut to spiritual maturity than knowing
God’s word. That’s the way God designed spiritual maturity to blossom.
Take Five
Part 16
Take
Five
Part sixteen
“It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation
from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of
His holy ones, to execute
judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds
which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which
ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault,
following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for
the sake of gaining an advantage.” (Jude
1:14-16)
Before we get too far into these two verses, let’s first look at
who Enoch was and what his story can teach us.
We first find reference to him in Genesis 5:18-24 – “Jared
lived one hundred and sixty-two years and became the father of Enoch. Then
Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had
other sons and daughters. So, all the days of Jared were nine hundred and
sixty-two years, and he died. Enoch lived sixty-five years and became the
father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked
with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he
had other sons and daughters. So, all the days of Enoch
were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked
with God; and he was not, for God took him.”
Enoch is also listed in Jesus’ genealogy (Luke 3:37) and we find
him in the ‘faith chapter’ of Hebrews 11:5-6.
The first point we should note about Enoch is his age when he
was 'taken up': 365. His father, Jared, lived to be 962 years old. Jared’s father lived
895 years. In fact, the average age of those listed in Genesis 5 from Adam
until Noah was around 780 years (I did not include Enoch’s age in that average).
There is no good reason for those who believe the Bible to be
inerrant to scoff at the phenomenal ages to which people lived in those early
days of Genesis. Moses, who wrote the Genesis account, was not ignorant. He was
trained in all the wisdom of Egypt (Acts 7:22). The man certainly knew how to
count! And he certainly knew the general lifespan of men and women in his
day. But God revealed to Moses the longevity of early humans after Adam,
just as He revealed to him the details of Genesis one through three.
We can accept the Biblical record about creation because God gave
us the history through Moses. Unless the context surrounding a passage is
clearly intended to be symbolic or allegory, we can also accept God’s word
about the longevity of those men listed in Genesis chapter five.
I want to now draw attention to Enoch’s relationship with God to
that point, and the age at which God took him up to heaven. Moses tells us, “Enoch
walked with God.” He was essentially a ‘youngster’ when God took him at 365
years of age. Enoch did not die. He was simply taken up to God’s throne.
Have you ever cried out to God when some young person you knew – especially
someone who walked with God to the best of their fledgling knowledge and
ability – have you ever cried to God and asked why He took them in the ‘prime’
of their life?
Perhaps Isaiah has at least a partial answer to your question: “The
righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; And devout men are taken
away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil,
he enters into peace; They rest in their beds, each one who walked in his
upright way.” (Isaiah 57:1-3)
Concluding today’s lesson, I want to draw attention again to a
phrase in verse 22. Here are several translations of the first part of that
verse:
“Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became
the father of Methuselah.” (NASB) [See Bible
translations below]
“After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked
faithfully with God 300 years.” (NIV)
“Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah for three
hundred years.” (NABRE)
“And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three
hundred years.” (KJV)
“And Enoch walketh habitually with God after his begetting
Methuselah three hundred years.” (YLT)
The Hebrew text suggests Enoch did NOT walk closely with God for the
first 65 years of his life. He might not have been walking at all with God
during those years. Not until he has his first son did his attitude toward God
change.
And therein lies a wonderful and exciting message for you and me.
Whoever you are, wherever you have been, whatever you have done in the first
part of your life until today – God has a way of interrupting our lives and
turning us around. Whether something dramatic like the birth of a child, or a marriage,
or a divorce, or the death of someone we loved – or something mundane, something
we’ve read or heard – the methods God uses to grab our attention are endless, but
the purpose of those methods is singular: To open your eyes and your
heart so that you will from that point on walk closely with the Savior.
Has such a thing ever happened to you? Are you walking closely to Jesus?
Perhaps this particular lesson in Jude is God’s wake up call to your own heart.
NASB - New American Standard Bible
NIV – New International Version
NABRE – New American Bible Revised Edition
KJV – King James Version
YLT – Young’s Literal Translation
Take Five
Lesson
Seventeen
In lesson sixteen we touched on what we know about Enoch. Now
let’s explore what Jude himself tells us about the man: “It was also about
these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying,
“Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and
to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in
an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken
against Him.” These are
grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak
arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.” (Jude 1:14-16)
Who are ‘these men’ to whom Jude refers? From the context of the first
sixteen verses of Jude we can surmise: ‘These men’ are those who crept unnoticed
into their Christian assemblies and taught heretical doctrines.
They twisted the meaning of God’s grace into a license to do evil.
They denied Jesus’ deity. They not only practiced sexual immorality
but encouraged it of others. They rejected God-appointed authorities and imitated
the wicked lifestyles of Cain, Balaam, and Korah (verse 11). They grumbled,
were arrogant, and flattered others for the sake of gaining an advantage.
Jude tells us it is of these wolves in sheep clothing that Enoch’s
prophecy applies: “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy
ones, to execute
judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds
which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which
ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” (verses
14-15)
It was only seven generations after Adam that God gave Enoch a
prophecy of the Lord’s second coming, and the warning of God’s wrath that
would fall on all the ungodly when He returns (e.g. Matthew 16:27 and
Revelation 19:11-16).
Some today find this yet-to-be fulfilled prophecy disturbing because
it contradicts their preferential view of the New Testament God as one of love,
and not judgement. Yet the same New Testament Scriptures tell us, God is the
same yesterday, today, and forever (see Hebrews 13:8)
Yes, God is love. John 3:16 is the most popular text most often
referred to – “God so loved the world that He gave . . ..” But two verses later the Lord adds: “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has
been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.” And then there is this last
verse of the same chapter: “He who
believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not
see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
The God of John 3:16 is also the same God of
Luke 13:27-28 who will say to some at the Judgment Seat: - ‘I tell you, I do not know where you
are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’ In that place there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The
Scriptures provide us many commandments which provide the border within which
the Christian must live and work and play. Some of those commandments have to
do with a lifestyle of holiness, repentance, love, mercy, self-control, and
perseverance.
Think
about perseverance in your own Christian walk. Some synonyms are ‘resolve,
grit, diligence, doggedness, and endurance.’
Are
you diligent, dogged, and resolved to live a lifestyle of holiness,
self-control, and repentance? Or are you content to fudge a little here and a
little there?
Not
only must I answer those questions for myself, I must also decide virtually
hour by hour whether I will persevere in doing the right things.
God
never promises the Christian life would be an easy life. Rather, He promised it
would be a battle (e.g. Romans 8:5-8; James 4:1-4; Galatians 5:13-17) for which
we must learn to use spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-18).
What
changes in your lifestyle will you ask the Lord to help you make? Will you ask
Him to help you persevere in your desire to walk more fully in the way in which
all God’s children ought to walk?
In
the first half of Jude’s epistle, the Holy Spirit focuses our attention on the
negative: what not to do. In the second half of this epistle, God
changes focus to the positive: What we ought to do.
We
turn our attention to those challenges next time.
Take Five
Lesson Eighteen
Take Five
Lesson 25
Verses 24-25
Now to Him who is able
to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His
glory blameless with great joy, to
the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time
and now and forever. Amen.
As we come to the end of
this short letter it is good to remind ourselves of Jude’s overarching theme:
Christian! Be on the alert. Satan has his children busy infiltrating the fellowship
of true followers of Christ. Their express mission is to dilute truth, sow
distrust among the faithful, and destroy the work of God among the Church.
But now Jude closes his
message with a profound promise and an abundant assurance of God’s unbridled
power to keep us from stumbling, from giving up, from turning away from our walk
toward the Celestial City.
This is not a trivial promise. Job remarked, “Man, who is born of woman, is short-lived and
full of turmoil,” (14:1) and everyone
reading this knows that to be true. And most every Christians knows how
difficult the walk of faith is when life is not as rosy and smooth as many false
teaches have led us to believe.
But Jude’s promise remains ever true: Our omnipotent, almighty Father
God is able to keep every one of His children from stumbling so as to fall. Hear
what the psalmist wrote: (Psalm 37:23-25, NIV) “The Lord makes
firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he
will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I was young
and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken . . . .”
I wonder if
Jude was not also thinking of St. Paul’s promise to the church at Corinth when
Paul wrote: “No testing has overtaken you
that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be
tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way
out so that you may be able to endure it.” (1
Corinthians 10:13, NRSV)
Over the years I
have spoken with Christians, some of whom were enmeshed in the most horrible
life-situations. Sudden brain injuries of children or spouse, devastating
financial upheavals, chronic and unremitting physical pain. The list of
Job-like traumas they had to endure goes on and on and on.
Some weathered
them with Jesus; but others turned away, and as they left, they told me, “God
has given me more than I can handle.”
Listen: Either God
is true ALL the time, or He is true only part of the time. And if He is true
only part of the time then it is fair to call Him a liar. But God is never a
liar. He is Truth itself. And that is why when Jude tells us He is able to keep
us from stumbling, from losing the same faith that sustained the Heroes of
Faith we read of in Hebrews 11 – when Jude tells us God is able to keep us from
stumbling, we can rest our souls firmly on that vow from God’s lips to our
hearts.
But there is yet
more that God vows to us. We find it in the next clause, and we look at that
next time.
