07 June, 1998
INTRODUCTION
If there is one word that describes the world and the society in which we live, it is the word godless. We are living in a culture where people are living with an attitude of irreverence and who are living an irreligious life that is literally absent of God. It is a condition and a problem that is effecting the very fabric of our country, this world and even, the church.
Our's is a society that is largely made up of people characterized by immorality, abusiveness and rebellion, grumblers and faultfinders, boastful and whose motives are self serving. But this problem is not unique to the 20th century. It has been thisway for a very long time and the people of God have always had to live in the midst of such of society. It is a problem that the believers had to contend with to whom Jude wrote his letter . And the challenge that they faced is the same challenge that we face today. It is the challenge of contending for the faith and persevering in our walk in the midst of a godless society.
The question is: How are we to do that? How are we to live out the Christian life and faith in the midst of a society such as we live? In closing doxology of Jude's epistle, there are two very important factors in persevering the midst of a godless society.
BACKGROUND
The Epistle of Jude is a brief but hard-hitting letter written by a man who believed in not allowing negative influences to destroy the church. In this short but powerful epistle, Jude exposes false teaching with pointed language and vivid images, while at the same time, appealing to the faithful to remember the teachings of the apostles. It is believed that the man who penned this letter was in fact the brother of James, the leader of the Jerusalem church and the half brother of Jesus.
Jude writes this letter as a defender of the faith who is "contending earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (v. 3) and he challenges his readers to that same kind of determination. He warns of the "ungodly" who were being a threat to the church, not from outside the church but as ones who were false teachers inside the church (v. 12). They were itinerant false prophets who worked their way in and among the body of Christ. They were wolves in sheep's clothing. And they were becoming a threat the stability and fabric of the church that Jude was writing to. He points out that these ungodly teachers were ones who "have not the Spirit and who remain in eternal darkness." He condemns his opponents in very sharp imagery, calling them "raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever" (v. 13). He points out that their ungodliness took the form of denying the lordship of Jesus Christ and, in the name of grace, justified a life that included immorality of all sorts, cheap talk, and utter worldliness.
The believers that Jude is addressing were living in the midst of a very corrupt and ungodly people and in light of that concern, Jude challenges them to persevere in spite of it all. It would have been easy for them to succumb to the ungodliness that prevailed all around them and that even had found it's way into the church. It would have been easy for them to become so deceived that they themselves would fall into the error and ways of those Jude warns them about.
How could they maintain living the life they had been called to live with so much ungodliness right in their face? How could they contend for the faith when they themselves might have even been tempted to abandon the body of truth that had been entrusted to them?
And how can we, who live in such a society as we live, keep from being polluted by the philosophies of those whom Jude called godless? How can we persevere when we are so outnumbered? What is that will keep us from falling into the trap that these believers might have fallen in?
Part of the answer, I believe, is found in the last two verses of this very short letter. Imagine hearing these words in light of all that these people were faced with.
These believers were to persevere at maintaining their life with God but it had to go beyond that. And the key to doing that is found in these last two verses. For a people who were faced with so much ungodliness, these are words of hope and great encouragement.
1. TRUST IN THE POWER OF GOD - VS. 24
The believers to whom Jude wrote were a people who were obviously capable of falling for the lies of those false teachers among them. If not, Jude would not have given them such a strong warning. They were capable of abandoning the very truth that had set them free. And it would only be by the keeping power of God that they would not stumble. For Jude tells them that God "is able to keep you from falling..."
Consider the word able. In the original it is the word dunamai and it refers to the omnipotent power of God. It is the same word that is used in Romans 16:25 where Paul's writes, "Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past..." And also in Ephesians 3:20, Paul uses this word to say: "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..." Jude is saying the same thing that Paul is saying -- that God is able to do in us what we could never imagine and that which we cannot do ourselves.
a. He is able to keep us from falling
Jude tells us that God is able to guard us and protect us and keep from us stumbling. The word stumble is a word that is used of a horse which is sure footed and does not stumble. It is also used of a man who does not make moral lapses.
For the believers to whom Jude writes, this would specifically be in reference to falling into the grievous sins of the false teachers that dwelt among them. And as sincere followers of Christ, it was important for them to understand that the sustaining power of Christ was able keep them from falling into the temptation of apostasy.
For you and me, we need to understand that the sustaining power of Christ is able to keep us from giving into the philosophies and immorality of secular society. Yes, we do have a responsibility to follow Christ in obedience. We do have a responsibility to build ourselves up on the truths of the Word of God. We certainly must be responsible enough to make decisions that are in line with God's will. We must not think that we can just breeze through on this journey of following Christ without any kind of responsibility to be obedient.
We must not think that we are incapable of falling into sin and error. And we must not think that we can dabble in the ways of this world and not be drawn away from God.But we must realize that it is only by His power that we will ever keep from giving in to the enemy or giving up in the walk. As we live and function in this evil society, I beleive that Jude is telling us that God us able to keep us from being completely taken under by the under-tow of this society.
Our founder Dr. A. B. Simpson points out that God "is not only able to keep us from the great falls, but from the slightest missteps."
Our faith must rest in that fact? We must put our complete trust in God's enabling power to do that?
b. He is able to make us stand blameless
This is a promise that is especially significant to those who are surrounded by a world of evil. The word that Jude uses for blameless is characteristically a sacrificial word. It is commonly and technically used of an animal which is without spot or blemish and is therefore fit to be offered to God.
What is the point? It is the point that I have made from the Word of God over and over again. It is only by the power and the grace of God that we can stand in His presence. It is only by the imputed righteousness of Christ that was imputed to us according to our faith in Him that we will ever be able to stand guiltless before God - all of which is a work than can only be done by God apart from any human merit. Unless God declares us righteous, there is no hope of us having a relationship with Him.If we are to stand righteous in His sight, it is only by His grace and power. If we are to be brought into His glorious presence without fault and with great joy - it is only by His power and grace.
The only way we can maintain our walk in such a godless, perverse and wicked generation is to trust in the power of God to keep us from falling and to finish that work of holiness in us that He began at the point in time that we believed. The battle is uphill all the way for sure and the only way to make it up that hill is to rely on the power of God. Jude tells these believers to pray in the Spirit and to keep themselves in the love of God (which is another way of telling them to live a life of obedience). They were to anticipate the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they were to put their trust, not in their own ability to survive in that context of evil, but to trust in the power of God to keep them from falling. They were to trust in the work of grace in their lives through their faith in Jesus. For when we trust in ourselves and in our own strength, we will surely fall and we will surely miss the mark of what God requires. God does not want us to depend on anyone but Him. God is able where we are disabled. And that is our hope in the midst of an evil and perverese generation.
But not only are we to trust in the power of God, but we are to.....
2. FOCUS ON THE PERSON OF GOD - VS. 25
It is so easy to see the world and its wickedness and lose sight of God in the midst of it. It is so easy to focus on all that is going on around us and lose sight of who God is and always has been. And when we do, we will lose hope.
There are two very important things about God in this verse that we should never lose sight of and never forget and that I believe will encourage us in this world of evil in which we live.
a. He is our Savior
God is our Savior and our Redeemer. He is the One who has made it possible for us to be rescued from the penalty of death. He is the One who has done the rescuing. He has And we can say along with Isaiah the prophet "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." (Is. 12:2)
It is our Father in Heaven who initiated the whole plan of salvation. It was all His idea. He is not only the creator of the universe but He is our savior. He is the One who came up with the plan to redeem His people from their sin and reconcile them unto Himself. It is all Him and none of us. And with that truth in our hearts and minds we see Him as not only the One who has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, we focus on Him and see Him as the One who will one day, completely and finally rescue us from this world of evil in which we live.
b. He is our Sovereign Lord
Jude speaks of His glory, His majesty, His power and authority - all of which are the attributes of a God who is completely sovereign. God is the One who is in complete control of the affairs of this world. God is the Sovereign Lord both now and forevermore. Not only does His power keep us from falling but it is His power that is keeping the affairs of this old world in order. Nothing happens in this world that God does not know about and that He is not in control of. Apart from God, we would have no hope. Apart from God, this world would crumble to pieces. So no matter what happens in our lives or in this world, we can rest in the fact that God is sovereignly in control.
Consider the following simple illustration: In the frigid waters around Greenland are countless icebergs, some of them little and some gigantic. If you'd observe them carefully, you'd notice that sometimes the small ice floes move in one direction while their massive counterparts flow in another. The explanation is simple. Surface winds drive the little ones, whereas the huge masses of ice are carried along by deep ocean currents. When we face trials and tragedies and difficulties and oppostion in this world in which we live, it's helpful to see our lives as being subject to two forces--surface winds and ocean currents. The winds represent everything changeable, unpredictable, and distressing. But operating simultaneously with these gusts and gales is another force that's even more powerful. It is the sure movement of God's wise and sovereign purposes, the deep flow of His unchanging love.God IS our Sovereign Lord - always has been and always will be. He is "Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
CONCLUSION:
There is a lot of things about this world that we will never change. Between now and the time we go to glory, we are going to have to deal with a lot of things that we would rather not deal with. And one of those things that we will never change is the godlessness that prevails in this society in which we live. There are times to speak out against it and stand up in opposition to it, but we will never change it.
So what are we to do? We need to keep the faith, be fervent in prayer, preserve Godly love that is manifested in obedience to God and service to others. We need to anticipate Christ's return, and continue our evangelistic efforts. But above all, we must trust in the power of God - to keep us from stumbling and to make stand blameless. And we must focus on the person of God - that He is our Savior and He is our Sovereign Lord.