James 1:4

Click here for the James 1:4 PODCAST

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ~ James 1:4

The ultimate expression in any relationship is the love therein. Learning to love God is without question the key to enduring all the trials of life. The believer's love for God is not automatic. As with loving anyone or anything, loving God involves a process, and, it is this process that provides decisive evidence of the heart that has been made alive to Him. And, when we endure trials, we will grow in our appreciation and love for God. True faith sustained by true love perseveres in the midst of our trials.

Now, the true believer in the Lord is held by the Lord. This results in the believer also holding on to the Lord. We persevere in our trust in the Lord as we go through trials. That is to say, when we endure in our faith in the Lord through our trials, our faith is proved. Proven faith through the perseverance of our faith through trials gives validity to our love for the Lord.  Perseverance is the child of God holding tightly to his love and his faith. Our values determine our evaluations. When we can not rejoice in our trials, we discover our values are wrong. 

In the beginning of today's text we read, "Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature."

If we had a trial free life, it would be boring and without purpose. For example, a pearl forms when an irritant such as a wayward food particle becomes trapped in the mollusk. The animal senses the object and coats it with layers of aragonite and conchiolin. These two materials are the same substances the animal uses to build its shell.

In most pearls, the mineral aragonite is arranged in sheets of flat, six-sided crystals. Between each sheet, the mollusk secretes a very thin layer of the membrane-forming protein conchiolin. This composite material is called nacre or mother-of-pearl. The crystalline structure of nacre reflects light in a unique way, giving so-called nacreous pearls their high luster. The needlelike crystals of aragonite in these pearls are arranged perpendicularly or at an angle to the surface of the pearl.

Our verse today begins with the word "Let" which is a present active imperative. Essentially, James is saying, "Let God do His work." We must be submissive to God through the trial. We must not fight against God by resisting the insight the trial is trying to deliver. 

In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we read, "No trial has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."  

Through our trials we are afforded the blessing of experiencing the joy of the Lord. His joy enables us to see the incredible future He has in store for us. His joy is the fuel to our perseverance. And, the more we persevere, the more we understand that God is allowing or causing the trial to create a greater perseverance in our faith for a greater usefulness for His glory.

In today's verse, James wrote, "Let perseverance finish its work."  The word "finish" here is better translated "bring to maturity." When we resist the work God wants to accomplish in our lives, we deny the spiritual maturity He wants to grant us at that time. Embracing God through any trial is most difficult.

Now, perseverance is not the goal, being mature in depending upon God is the goal. Actually, the goal is becoming more mature in our relationship with God, and this happens on the heels of learning to depend upon Him more and more. In Galatians 4:19 we read, "My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you." God's ultimate spiritual goal in the life of the believer is that Christ is fully formed in us. His goal is that we become so dependent upon Him that He is revealed through our yielded lives.

Again, our text for today reads, "Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete."  

Here, James reveals what he means by maturity. The Greek word translated "complete" is holokleros. We get our English word, holography, from this Greek word. A holography is a 360 degree picture. It's a complete picture. Trials enable us to see God more completely rendering for us a more complete ability to depend upon and trust Him more.

The last phrase of today's verse reads, "not lacking anything." At the root of our sin is our lack. It is our lack that gives way to covetousness. Most intriguing is that the tenth commandment is, "Thou shalt not covet." At the root of all of our sin is our desire for that which we do not have. Due to the fact that we lack explains why man looks to others things instead of God for fulfillment. And, in the end, it all comes down to what we value. 

Oddly, the only way we consider trials to be a great joy is if we want God in all His glory more than we want anything else. And, if we want those other things more than we want God, to that degree we will be unable to consider the trial a great joy and fully embrace Him through the trial. This call to maturity is a call to slavery to God. This is why James begins his book by describing himself as a "doulos," a bond servant. At the end of it all is God giving Himself to us in a way that we truly get Him. 

You will remember our sanctification is the process whereby God changes our souls which are made up of our minds, wills and emotions. Sanctification is God changing how we think, choose and feel. Paul Tripp who once said, "God will take you where you would not go to produce in you what you could not accomplish."

James 1:2-3

Click here for the James 1:2-3 PODCAST

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ~ James 1:2-3

We return today to our study of the book of James which is a book that reveals to us substantive faith. This letter is of unique and peculiar significance to us because it comes from one of the half brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In v.2 of today's passage we read, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds."

Trials are imperative for without trials our faith does not grow. If our Christianity is genuine, it will show in the midst of our troubles. Our faith in the God of the Bible is not only good when life is going well, it is good when it is not going so well. In fact, our faith in the God of the Bible is mostly legitimized when life is not going the way we want it to. The Christians to whom James wrote were suffering all types of difficulties. They had been scattered or driven away from their homes.  

Now, in v.2 James wrote, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." 

James begins with the value of the trials that come into our lives. James reminds us to be joyful "when" we go through trials, not if. He reminds us to make the choice to consider our experience with trials with pure joy.

The word consider can also be translated count, and it is a mathematical word. Consider or count is a useful word on the ledger of our lives. Trails aid us in discovering what is truly substantive in this life. At the darkest time of their night in prison, in Acts 16, Paul and Silas sang for joy. Paul told us in Philippians that he considered all things loss in comparison to knowing Christ.

The Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "In this world you will have tribulation." Like James initial audience, we will face difficult times in our lives. We must never forget that like James' initial audience, we are God's scattered people, not God's sheltered people. Trials are a must to the maturation of our faith in the God of the Bible.

Now, James used the Greek word "peirasmos" which basically brings with it the idea of trouble. Trials are those things in life that disrupts our tranquility, that robs us of peace, comfort, and happiness. And since James calls these trials as many or multi-colored, we must recognize they don't just come to us in one package. They show up in multi-packages.

C.S. Lewis once said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

The word "trial" does not necessarily mean temptation. The presence of trials in our lives does not necessarily mean a solicitation to evil. In fact, the context here in James clearly shows us that the idea is not to emphasize some subjective solicitation to evil, but rather an objective difficulty to prove and strengthen our faith. When trials enter into our lives, we are in the position to be more convinced that God is really involved in our lives, even in the unwanted things of life.

One of the most interesting realities of suffering is that our personal pain also speaks to those around us. Our pain becomes God’s megaphone to a watching world. The world gravitates to the cancer patient who has hope and peace. Bystanders are astounded over the parents who cling to God the Father as they bury their own child. Our pain gives us a platform to testify to the truth of God's existence and unique involvement in our lives. 

The scope of God's character and grace does not change when suffering arrives in our lives. As we trust God, even in our heartache, that trust speaks of a hope that extends well beyond what we can see or touch. The testing of our faith in the God of the Bible is such an important part of the growth of our spiritual lives, but also our witness to others. When we do not find a way to see God through our trials, our trials end up as temptations. Temptation can lead us to sin and we could potentially fall to that sin. 

James wrote in v.3, "because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

Our trials can lead us to greater dependence upon God. Trials are tests that reveal the genuineness and the strength of our faith. Trials can, on the one hand, reveal the genuineness of our faith, and they can, on the other hand, reveal also the strength of our faith in the God of the Bible.  What we do through a trial will reveal whether we really believe God and are genuinely saved, and it will also reveal the strength of our faith.

When we find ourselves in the middle of a trial, we will be naturally driven to the Lord. And, most often, we discover the weakness of our faith in the Lord. This is a good thing because in this context we are driven to prayer, driven to lean on God's strength. We naturally think this is weakness, but it is really strength. Trials that produce true faith lead us to the pain of inadequacy. It is in these moments that we are cast upon the strength of God. It is in these moments that we see Him with our hearts.

In v.3 of today's passage we read, "because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." 

The product of our trials is perseverance. When trials show up in our lives, we do not stop following the Lord Jesus. In fact, our resolve to follow Him and to know Him is strengthened. We rejoice in the Lord through the trial, as it drives us to Him. We don't rejoice in the trial in and of itself, we rejoice in the trials for what it does for us. James uses the Greek word "hupomoné" which is translated in the English as perseverance. We only get perseverance through enduring trials. And, the point of this endurance is to know the Lord Jesus for ourselves in a much greater degree than we did before.

James 1:1

Click here for the James 1:1 PODCAST

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. ~  James 1:1

Today, we begin a new study in the New Testament epistle or letter or book of James. Like Jude, the author of this book was one of the half brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Interestingly, the name James is the same as Jacob. I find this very instructive since "Jacob" means deceiver. Like you and me, before James came to faith in the Lord Jesus, he lived a life of deception. I say this because before James was defined by the Lord Jesus, he was defined by the lesser things of this world. And, like Jacob, when James came to faith in the Lord Jesus as God, he discovered his new found life with God as his friend.

In John 7:2-5 we read, "2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him." 

The word "brothers" in John 7:3 means biological brothers. James, the writer of this epistle of James, was one of the brothers who were there that day in Jerusalem at the Festival of Tabernacles. And, at that point, James did not believe in the Lord Jesus as Savior and God. It wasn't until after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus that James believed in his half brother as his Lord and his Savior. It makes perfect sense that James would become a servant of the Lord Jesus after He had resurrected, because if He resurrected from the dead, the Lord Jesus is God, for only God can overcome death.

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 we read, "3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles." 

After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus gave his half brother, James, a special viewing of Himself, after He was raised from the dead. And, this resulted in James becoming an ardent follower of the Lord Jesus as his Savior and Lord. His awe of his half brother is evidence that the resurrection happened.

In v.1 of today's text we read, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings."

James mentions not once in this book that he was the half brother of the Lord Jesus. It is quite instructive that James didn't haughtily pull rank as the half-brother of the Lord Jesus. Better yet, James identifies himself as a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the result of seeing the Lord Jesus for who He is; James saw that the Lord Jesus was/is God and he therefore bowed his will to Him as God. When we come to see the Lord Jesus as God, we will naturally see ourselves as His servants. The Greek word "doulos" is used for the word servant here. In that day, everyone knew that this lowest form of a servant had no rights of his own. The "doulos" sees himself as having been bought with a price and he no longer has any rights and freedoms of his own. He has abdicated to the Lord Jesus his rights to run his life through his belief in the Lord Jesus as God.

In Luke 17:7-10 we read, "7 Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’"

Within these verses we are given the best definition of the "doulos." A doulos obeys not expecting anything in return. The greatest characteristic of a "minister" is he is a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ. Most of the epistles of the New Testament begin with this adjective, "doulos." The early believers were so convinced the Lord Jesus was and is God, they therefore sold out their lives to and for Him. And, the flip side of this is also true. The fact that the Lord Jesus is the "Master" of all and He is in control of all things means we can rest in His will for our lives. 

This leads us to a very valuable lesson. When we rest in the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ, meaning He either allows things to happen in our lives or He causes them to happen in our lives, when we rest in His sovereign will, we will not be all bound up with worry and fret. I say this because, if it happens, and He is sovereign, then it is a part of His will for us at that time. So, we do not worry, we do not fret because if it happens, it is a part of His will for our lives. We rest and find ourselves amazed as we view the unfolding of His plan in and for our lives for each given day.

The audience of James is identified in v.1 as the twelve tribes scattered among the nations. This letter written by James was written shortly after the persecution of the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, following their dispersal throughout foreign lands following Stephen’s death in 35 AD. This makes the book of James the earliest of all the New Testament writings, including the gospels.  

Down through their history, the Jews have experienced many scatterings most of which were due to their unwillingness to be defined by God. When we refuse to see God as our God and we deny Him the power to render His will in our lives, we find ourselves "scattered" or in bondage to the cares of this life. We worry and fret, when if we would just trust Him, we would see a different story unfold in our lives.

James does not deal with the doctrine of justification in this book. You will remember that our justification or our rightness before God is solely based on the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. Also, we must remember, our sanctification is mostly based on our willingness to let God have His way in our lives, and then, through the Holy Spirit and God's word, we are changed for His glory. Justification gets us into heaven in the future, while sanctification gets heaven into us now. 

There’s nothing in this epistle about the crucifixion of Christ or His resurrection. There is nothing in this book about the deity of Christ, and nothing about regeneration. These subjects are assumed. James assumes his hearers know about the afore mentioned subjects. It’s very clear that he is writing to people who say they believe in the Lord Jesus. He does this because he knew that he was writing to people who believed already. By the way, when studying an epistle, we must keep in mind that the subject of any epistle is always going to be about sanctification not justification. 

So, the main goal of James in this book is to teach us about our sanctification. Saving faith always yields good works in and through our lives. Some people have said James is in conflict with Paul. Not at all, because in the book of Romans Paul was asking and answering the question, “How is salvation received?” And Paul’s answer was always by faith alone. But to James the question is, “How is salvation verified?” And his answer is always, “By works alone.” Salvation is received by faith; it is verified by works, and with that, there is no conflict. 

Jude 25

Click here for the Jude 25 PODCAST

... to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. ~ Jude 25

Today, we end our study of Jude. We began our study of this powerful little book with with an eye on the One who called us, who loved us and who keeps us in the faith. Jude’s letter begins and ends with the assurance that God is decisively the One who has saved the willing. Everything began in our lives the day we willingly placed our trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus as our Savior. 

Today's text is a doxology, literally, a word of praise. And, Jude's purpose in including this doxology isn't just to give us a nice ending, it's not just to give us a liturgical form or an ecumenical shtick. Rather, Jude desired to assure us, his readers, God is the long pursued longing of our hearts. This is why these final two verses are all about God. Jude doesn't close this book with the spotlight on the apostates, if he had done that, we would be left confused. If he had not ended with the sufficiency of God in our lives, he would have undermined the whole purpose of this book.

Now, in v.25, Jude puts the word God next to the word Savior. He wrote, "... to the only God our Savior." We know the Lord Jesus is our Savior, He is regularly called our Savior throughout the Bible. And, here, Jude puts God next to Savior to show us the Lord Jesus is God. He could not be our Savior if He were not God. If the Lord Jesus is not God, His death would not have been sufficient to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. In 1 John 2:2 we read, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 

A created being, which the Lord Jesus would be if He were not God, could not pay the infinite penalty required for sin against an infinite God. Only God could pay such an infinite penalty. Only God could take on the sins of the world, die, and be resurrected, proving His victory over sin and death.

Jude himself was one of the half brothers of the Lord Jesus. And, Jude did not believe the Lord Jesus was the Savior, at first. It was after the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus that Jude became convinced that his half brother was the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world. 

Think with me. Jude watched the Lord Jesus grow up. He  watched the life of his brother unfold. And then, when his brother started His ministry, Jude heard His about His sermons and the miracles He performed. And yet, he didn't believe in the glory, majesty, power and authority of the Lord Jesus as God.  

After the display of the divine qualities of the Lord Jesus, through His resurrection, Jude trusted the Lord Jesus as his Savior. As a result, it became the desire of Jude to render to God, glory, majesty, power and authority. Of course, it was not needful to the Lord Jesus that His siblings rendered such to Him. He would have done what He did with or without their support.

The born again believer recognizes these four attributes belong to God. These attributes of God were required to save us and to keep us for eternity. Without these four attributes, we would be doomed. This is the point of this book. And, when we come into a personal relationship with God, as a result of His Spirit coming to dwell permanently in our spirit, we naturally desire for Him to be our Lord and to get the glory. We do this because we have come to see Him, to truly see Him for who He is, and we render back to Him His glory, majesty, power and authority. This is how He keeps us for eternity.

Jude came to understand the importance of believing, "Now to Him who adopts dirty, abandoned, rebellious children into his family — to Him belong compassion and boundless mercy." The attributes that we ascribe to God are the ones that account for the actions we praise. The degree of glory, majesty, power and authority it took to save us is immeasurable. We have no human measurement for such. 

So, Jude establishes first and last the decisive work of God in keeping those made alive to Him. And, in between, Jude warns against the false teachers "who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality." These apostates were not called and they were not loved and they were not kept. The evidence that they weren't is that they didn’t crave Christ, they craved much, much less. They didn’t prize the God of grace; they prostituted the grace of God.

When we were His enemies, God granted us spiritual life. When we were dead to Him, and we had no spiritual life, it was then His Spirit acted upon us. And, we became alive to God in our spirit. This spiritual life that we have is not ours intrinsically. It is not ours autonomously. We have this life to the degree that we have the Holy Spirit in us, and to the degree that we are in Christ. This new life we have in Christ was impossible for us. Think of it, it required the glory, majesty, power and authority of God to accomplish it. To Him be the glory, majesty, power and authority for ever and ever, AMEN!

Jude 24

Click here for the Jude 24 PODCAST

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. ~ Jude 24

Today, we come to the next to the last verse in the incredible book of Jude. The final two verses make up a doxology which is the combination of two Greek words: doxa means praise and logos means word. A doxology is a word of praise. 

Now, the writer of this book, Jude, was not one of the twelve original disciples, but was, in fact, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Jude did not come to the Lord Jesus as Messiah until after the Lord Jesus had overcome sin and death by raising from the dead. And, after Jude experienced the inspiration of the dead rising to life, he was used by God and inspired by the Holy Spirit, to write this important epistle. The conclusion of this letter is the high point of the entire book of Jude. 

In today's passage we read, "To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy."

To me, the most precious part of our salvation is the doctrine of eternal security, also known as the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. It is that biblical truth that says once we are saved, we are saved forever. If the Lord did not save us we would be damned. If we could lose our salvation, we would. If any part of our salvation depended upon our performance, we would have absolutely no hope to be rescued from the eternal flames of hell.

Through the perfection of the Lord Jesus, believers are positionally perfect in God's sight. And, even though we have this sure hope, daily we are tempted to be frauds or to hide the reality that we are still sinners. Daily, we are tempted to live a deception about who we really are apart from the Lord Jesus. We are wretched in ourselves. But, in Christ we are white as snow. Consequently, we are prone to self-righteousness. Often, our limited understanding of these truths, runs us off into the spiritual ditch of life.

Now, most of Jude's letter has been about the apostates. Jude is about those who have fallen away from the faith. And, in the end of this book apostasy is contrasted with the God who keeps the humble from becoming apostate. The way of the proud is not to be the way of the humble. The believer in Christ is not a casualty because the One who saves is the One who sustains and keeps. This is all possible because we had nothing to do with our salvation. All we did was to cry out for it and receive it. 

Now that word, keep, in v.24, is a military term. It means to guard, or to watch over. And, the picture that God paints for us in this one little verse is: He is, 24/7, standing guard over each believer. He stands guard over us to ensure our eternal safety. 

In John 10 we read, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand." 

Now, sheep are not known for persevering. Sheep are not great survivors. In fact, sheep without a shepherd don't make it. The care of sheep is totally dependent on the quality of the care provided by the shepherd. Sheep are helpless. If a sheep is unattended, they often fall down and roll over onto their side. And, when they roll to their side, they can't get up. And, if they try to get up, they find themselves on their backs with their feet straight up in the air. This is called being cast. A cast sheep gets on its back and eventually has its circulation cut off. As a result, it stops breathing, and it dies. Sheep are pretty helpless. And, if a sheep is going to persevere, if it is going to endure, it has to be kept by a shepherd. And that's the point! 

"My sheep hear my voice. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand." 

Now, the first part of today's verse is positioned on earth and the second part is in heaven. "To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy."

The goal is to present us faultless in heaven before the perfect God. Notice it does not say we are faultless. It says he'll present us faultless. Even though our sin has been removed from us as far as the east is from the west, we, will never be able to say that we are sinlessly perfect. But, Christ makes the believer legally perfect before God. The Lord Jesus took our sin, and God treated the Lord Jesus like us, deserving of His wrath. So, through the payment the Lord Jesus made on the cross, God has pronounced us righteous, and, one day the Lord Jesus will present us before God the Father as faultless. 

The word Jude uses in Jude 24 translated faultless is also translated as unblemished. In Hebrews 9:14 we read, "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" 

Right now, believers in Christ are unblemished to God. We are treated as if we were blameless because Christ bore our sins and we’ve been given His righteousness. And God treats Christ on the cross as if He lived our lives so He can treat us as if we lived His. 

In Zephaniah 3 we read, "The Lord your God in your midst, the mighty one will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing." 

That's the joy Jude is talking about in Jude 24. "To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy."

It was this joy that enabled the Lord Jesus to endure the cross. In Hebrews 12:2 we read, "...who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame." The moment we believed, the Lord Jesus presented us before God the Father as faultless, and He did it with joy as He sang over us. 

So the purpose of salvation isn't just to rescue us from hell, it's also to present us perfect in heaven. Each believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a salvation trophy that brings Him joy. This is why we should work ardently to turn back the efforts of the false teachers who teach apostasy.

Jude 22-23

Click here for the Jude 22-23 PODCAST

22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. ~ Jude 22-23

Today, we return to the little epistle of Jude who was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jude is a twenty-five verse letter which addresses the issue of false teachers inside the church. Jude is a book of warning about those who once seemed to believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus, but who no longer believe. This is a book about apostasy.

Today, we live in a world which is increasingly under the control of Satan himself. And, the devil's influence has encroached the church through the false teachings of apostates who are islands among themselves. Apostates are insubordinate, rebellious, greedy, materialistic, self-centered, shameless, proud, sensual, and void of the Holy Spirit. The theology of the apostate is not founded in the scriptures. They pretend to honor the Lord Jesus, but they deny Him that honor in reality by denying His definition of their lives.

Jude issues a call to the reality that we must deal with apostasy. And, as we considered in our last blog and podcast, the believer in Christ survives the onslaught of apostasy only by remaining strong in our faith in the Lord. We do this by diligently studying the Scriptures, by being engaged in prayer to the Lord, by keeping ourselves in the love of God, and, by anticipating and expecting the return of the Lord Jesus.

In v.22 of today's passage we read, "Be merciful to those who doubt."

I am so glad the Lord directed Jude to write these words because the people Jude directs our attention to here are people who are saved but not secure. We must be careful to differentiate between those who are struggling to grow in their faith and those who are sabotaging the faith. We all have had our doubts. Doubts are a must if we are to grow in our faith. Doubt is the shadow cast by faith, and when we wrestle with our doubts and the questions our doubts create, we must be careful to go to God for the answers. These of whom Jude writes struggle with the questions that come with growth. We are to be merciful to them as they struggle and help them along, as they grow in their knowledge of the Lord and His ways.

The word "doubt" used here in v.22 means "confused." False teachers always go after people who are weak and vulnerable. They go after those who are not strong in doctrine, prayer, and obedience. Apostates go after those who are not yet convinced of the truth of God's word.

To be merciful means to show kindness and compassion on those who struggle with doubt because our kindness and compassion will make the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus we proclaim, that much more approachable to them. False teachers do not bring that kind of an attraction. In fact, false teachers always appeal to the flesh. 

The Lord Jesus is a great example of how we are to operate in these situations. He, on one hand, stood up and denounced the Pharisees. Then, on the heels of that, He ate dinner with the Pharisee. Then, in the very next chapter, He ate lunch with another Pharisee. Like the Lord Jesus, to the struggling, we are to be soft, with the the false teacher, we are to be severe. 

In v.23 of today's text we read, "save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh."

Now, we know we can not save anybody. Shoot, we can't even save ourselves! So, when Jude commands us to "save others" he means join God as He saves people. We are just the means by whom God does the saving. He is the cause of salvation, He does the saving. We partner with Him, and, we are the tools He uses. 

Now, the implication given here is these who need to be saved are already in the fire of false belief. They are not just confused, they have bought the lie of the false teachers. They have bought the lie that the Lord Jesus is not God. They have bought the lie that salvation is in part by grace and in part by works. They have bought the lie that whatever form of apostate Christianity they are seduced by, and they, they are already being singed by the fires of hell, which will engulf them in the future, if they do not come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word "snatching" is harpazō in the Greek, meaning "to take by force." This is the same word the Apostle Paul uses to describe the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4. When we meet somebody who is believing false teaching, we do not turn our backs on them, we do not shun them. We go after them in a very serious rescue operation because false teaching stains the soul. And, the way to reach them is by patiently bringing the truth to them. It may take years but we never give up on them unless they themselves become apostate. This is why there must be fear involved.

And, we are to hate even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Hating, not the person but the  influence of the false teaching on the struggling. We must treat the false teaching as if it is filthy underwear, stained by bodily functions. No one would pick up somebody’s filthy, stained underwear. This is why we must separate the false teaching from the person. We must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Having said all of this, we must remember that in order to recognize the false, we, must be well-trained in the truth which sensitizes our souls to the needs of the struggling.

Jude 20-21

Click here for the Jude 20-21 PODCAST

20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.  ~ Jude 20-21

Today, we return to our study of the book of Jude. In this little book Jude's edgy brevity communicates the urgency of his notion that false teachers will need to be anticipated and addressed. His usage of just a few words means that Jude did not waste space dancing around the primary issue. He saw within the church people and practices that were worthy of discipline, including sexual misconduct, rejecting authority and seeking to be worshipped. 

In v. 20 of today's text we read, "But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit."

In this one verse, Jude shifts our attention from the apostate to the believer in Christ. At the very heart of the believer's survival and triumph in a day of apostasy is the strengthening of our faith in the God of the Bible. We move into error not by design, we move into error due to our lack of commitment to be disciples of God and His word.

Our spiritual lives require maintenance. We must not allow ourselves to be starved to death spiritually. This is why Jude reminds us to build ourselves up in our holy faith. Christian growth is not automatic, it has to be intentional. Any life left to itself, will fall apart. So we need to be building up our faith. And, this begins with studying the Word of God with a view toward obedience. 

In our attempt to bolster our faith in the Lord Jesus, our goal must not only be informational, our goal must be transformational which God will do if we come to His word with the mind that He will change us from the inside out. We must approach God's word with the idea that we will be defined by Him. We also must understand that God uses two main things to grow our faith in Him; the afore mentioned word of God and the trials that invade our lives on a daily basis.

In James 1:2-3 we read, "2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Given the fact that we are fallen and we live in a fallen world, trials are essential to the growth of our faith. You see, like it or not, trials are our friends because they remind us that we do not have all of life all together. Trials drive us to God, reminding us that He is the secret to our success. Trails aid in our heart's ability to see God which is what faith really is.

In addition, at the end of v.20, Jude tells us to "pray in the Holy Spirit." Praying in the Spirit is the polar opposite of praying in the flesh. Prayer in the power of the flesh relies upon human ability and effort to carry the prayer forward. To pray in the Spirit is experiencing the Spirit of life bringing our prayers to life. Praying in the Spirit means that the Spirit empowers the prayer and carries it to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus. In prayer, the Holy Spirit illuminates our minds, moves our hearts, and grants us a freedom of utterance and liberty of expression. This means to pray consistent with the will of the Holy Spirit. And, the will of the Holy Spirit is discovered as we study God's word. 

In Romans 8:26 we read, "The Holy Spirit helps our weakness; for we don’t know how to pray as we should."

When it comes to the issues of life, we do not always know how God wants us to pray. We do not always know what His will is about a given matter. And, as a result, we do not always know how to pray as we should. But the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. He speaks to God on our behalf. The Holy Spirit groans within us, He expresses a certain pain toward God on our behalf. And, the Holy Spirit prays not in words, He prays in groanings too deep for human words. 

The Spirit of God is praying for you and me all the time. And, the Father understands perfectly the mind of the Spirit, because they are one. So the Holy Spirit is before God all the time in perfect harmony with His will. And, as a result, "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

When we pray in the Spirit, we pray consistently with the will of God. To pray in the Spirit is lining up with the will of God, so that, as we study His word and take it in, our faith, our minds and our wills are being defined by His word. This is what keeps us strong in the faith. And, our prayers will become more consistent with the Holy Spirit’s prayers as we study God's word. Praying in the Spirit creates a yieldedness in the believer toward God. 

In v.21 of today's text we read, "Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life."

The word "keep" is an imperative, and, it means to remain in the sphere of God’s love. Jude is not saying, "Stay saved." That would be crazy since God does the saving. Jude is saying keep uppermost in your thoughts the love of God for you. The living Bible renders it this way, "stay always within the boundaries where the love of God can reach and bless you." It means to remind ourselves, frequently, that God loves us. And, His love is unmerited and unconditional.

And, then there is that phrase at the end of v.21, "... as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life."

This simply means "live in eager anticipation of the Lord’s return." Live in such a way that we are looking for Him to come back. The church fathers understood that the return of the Lord Jesus is emphasized hugely in the Scripture. They understood that roughly 1,845 times, the Scripture refers to the coming of the Lord Jesus. 

So, to remain strong in our faith in the Lord, we must study the Scriptures, we must be given to prayer, we must keep ourselves in God's love, and, we must live in anticipation and expectation for the return of the Lord Jesus.

Jude 17-19

Click here for the Jude 17-19 PODCAST

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. ~ Jude 17-19

In today's text, we continue to learn more about the apostate, the false teachers who once embraced the truth but somewhere along the way they changed their tune. It wasn't that they lost their salvation, they never entered into a personal relationship with the Lord. Their problem is the they embraced the truth but the truth didn't embrace them.

When the church was born at Pentecost, the new life of the church was obviously exhilarating. It was pure. It was powerful. It was productive. They were devoted to prayer and worship and the apostles’ teachings. And they gathered every day to engage in all of those things including being generous with one another and the needy. They had the heart of the Lord because He lived within them through the Holy Spirit. They persevered in the faith, despite the persecution from unbelievers. And, perseverance in the faith is a mark of the born again believer in Christ.

In those early days of their new-found life in Christ, the apostles were given the ability to look into the future because of the abiding Holy Spirit. And, the Holy Spirit enabled them to see something frightening, that there would be those who would defect from the truth. To those early believers, it must have seemed absolutely crazy that there was coming a time when people who proclaimed Christ would defect. But it happened, and this is why the Holy Spirit prompted Jude to write his little, yet powerful, book.

In v.17-18 of today's passage we read, "17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, 'In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.'"

Just twenty-five years after Jude wrote these words, it happened. Apostasy came fast, and the church was corrupted before it ever got out of the first century. And since that time, it has continued in every generation. It is not that they lost their salvation, no, they never had it. And, somewhere along the line the people chose not to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. One can not lose the gift of salvation for God has said, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."

In today's passage, we are reminded this would happen. Jude did write, "But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold." In 2 Corinthians 11:13 we read, "Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their deeds."

In 1 Timothy 4 we learn, "In the last days, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits, doctrines of demons, and hypocritical liars." On this same subject, the Lord Jesus Himself said in Matthew 24, "As time goes forward, there will be many false prophets and false Christs."

Back in Jude 10 we read, "These people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them." Apostates mock what they can not comprehend. They treat the truth with mockery. But it’s truth they once professed and still profess, which makes them so dangerous.

In v.19 of today's passage we read, "These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit."

Apostates always are the ones who claim to have the Spirit of God and think anybody who doesn’t agree with them causes division. But, they are the ones who cause the division.

The verb "divide" in Jude 19 means "to make a distinction." Division is the effect of false teaching, the truth and lies are separate. The root of division is the idea that distinctions are made. Apostates believe they are superior to all others. They believe their interpretation of the Scriptures is above all most accurate. And, they despise anyone in the church who has authority. 

Interestingly, the word "Pharisee" comes from the Hebrew word which means "to separate." They think they’re at an elevated level and they scoff at those who take the Word of God at face value and endeavor to follow it. Apostates are those "who follow mere natural instincts." That phrase is one word in the Greek, meaning, they are enslaved to and driven by their own fallen fleshly desires. Sadly, they think they know better than those who have a personal relationship with God.

At the end of v.19 we read, "they not have the Spirit." These of whom Jude writes are not born again. They have not entered into a personal relationship with God by believing in the Lord Jesus and inviting Him into their lives. They are spiritually dead. If anyone is spiritual, it is because God lives in the believer and He sometimes expresses Himself through the believer. 

In Galatians 5 we read of the fruit of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We appear as Christlike because God expresses Himself in and through our yielded lives.  He expresses Himself through the activity of the Holy Spirit who abides within the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The goal of the Christian life is to increasingly allow God to have control over our lives, and then, we will be known as the children of God in the eyes of others because of His expression through us.

Jude 14-16

Click here for the Jude 14-16 PODCAST

14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. ~ Jude 14-16

Today, we continue our study of the book of Jude. In today's passage, Jude is writing about those who had embraced apostasy. There was a time when these false teachers had thought the gospel of the Lord Jesus was truth, but now, they no longer see it that way. They had, perhaps, grown up believing in their minds that Christianity was true, but now, they are all about themselves which is the way of the devil.

Jude refers to Enoch who was the seventh from Adam who wrote about the coming judgment of God through the flood which happened after Enoch was on the earth. And, in addition, there will be, in the end times, when the Lord Jesus returns, another judgment from God. This will be the final judgment of them all. This will be the time when the Lord Jesus will vanquish sin and death, once and for all. At that point, these false teachers and apostates will have to answer to God because God will always have the last word.

As I am sure you know, the Lord Jesus taught on hell more than any other subject. Hell is a reality. Hell really exists. And, we, now live in an America which has become well-insulated from the reality of hell. Most Americans think people are basically good, and life after death will be happy and full of pleasure, or they think the afterlife does not exist. And, the most who attend church in America have become so comfortable with the absence of hell from our teaching that our superficial gospel includes no warnings about hell.

In Jude 14-15 we read, "14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: 'See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'" 

God himself will judge the world. He will not delegate this to a judgment committee. He will not judge people who are condemned in their sin by proxy. After He returns and sets up His Millennial Kingdom, according to Revelation 20, there will be the great white throne judgment where all unbelievers will stand before God to receive their final sentence. 

And, notice it says, "the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones." God's "holy ones" include all who are in His family, and, in the end, we will witness this event as the Lord Jesus applies His righteous standards to all of those who resisted God's free gift of forgiveness through His Son. 

In Matthew 13, the Lord Jesus said, "Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of the Kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire." 

In Jude 15 we read, "to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

A better translation for the word "convict" is convince. The Lord Jesus will come and convince those that He is talking about, to judge them with fairness. This court scene will not be like an earthly court. There will be no debating about guiltiness. The Lord will prosecute the lawlessness of the Christless. Theirs will be a punishment without any parole.

According to Revelation 20, God's books will be opened. The information in those books will have been recorded by God Himself who is omniscient and omnipresent. So, when it is all over, there will be no error in His verdict and the punishment of eternal damnation that each will be given will be righteous. There will be no question in His judgment for it will be equitable. 

And, God's judgment of those who rejected His free gift of salvation will be eternal. If hell is not forever, then heaven is not forever. If hell is not eternal, then heaven is not eternal. If hell is not everlasting, then heaven is not everlasting, because the Lord Jesus, in Matthew 25, said hell will be eternal.

This is a great time to add, believers in the Lord Jesus will never carry out the judging of unbelievers. That's not our role. God will do the judging. Having said that, today, we do hold up and teach the standard of God's word and His word does the judging. This is what the believer in Christ is responsible to do. Not to judge, but to teach His word which does the judging.

In Ezekiel 33 God has told us, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." And then He says, "turn, turn, for why will you die?" When the Lord Jesus spoke about hell, He said, "It is everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Hell was not made for people, but God is a pro-choice God when it comes to eternal matters. GK Chesterton said, "Hell is God's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice."

In Matthew 25:31 we read, "When the Son of Man comes and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the spirit separates the sheep from the goats.” This is the Lord Jesus' description of the day of judgment of all the ungodly. The design of His promise of judgment is always to turn man away from man's way and God's wrath. 

In v.16 of today's passage we read, "These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage."

Apostates complain because they want things to go according to their will. They have elevated their will above God's. And, "they are faultfinders." The Greek word used here for faultfinders means "to blame." It’s a word used by the Greeks to describe a person who is perpetually discontent and unsatisfied. Apostates are such because they never submitted to God and His will in the first place. If they had, they would be in the practice of humbly bowing their will to the God of grace and mercy. 

And, finally, "they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage." 

Apostates are dominated by self, and they use praise and flattery, like bait to get what they want. Their trick is as old as the serpent who used it in the garden. He cast doubt on God's word and, in effect, told Eve that God was only trying to keep her from having the best. "God knows that in the day you eat from it," he said, "your eyes will be opened, and you'll be like God." Sadly, all who take the devil's advice get caught in his sticky web, and only the sovereign grace of God can set such a person free from it.

If you have not trusted in Christ's work on the cross, and you have not invited Him into your life, you are the object of God's wrath. The Lord Jesus said in John 3:17-18, "17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son." 

Let me encourage you to have that needed conversation with the Lord right now. Let me encourage you to admit to God that you have been at odds with Him and you want to receive His free offer of forgiveness through His Son, the Lord Jesus. Ask Him to come into your life right now. And, if you just did that, tell someone about what you just did before the day ends.

Jude 12-13

Click here for the Jude 12-13 PODCAST

12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. ~ Jude 12-13

Today, we come back to our study of Jude which has as its main topic "apostasy." Now, apostasy is when someone knows the truth and they turn their back on it, deliberately. An apostate is a person who once claimed to be a Christian but has irreversibly abandoned and renounced biblical Christianity. It was John Owen who once said, "There is no broader way to apostasy than to reject God’s sovereignty in all things concerning the revelation of himself and our obedience."

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead."

These false teachers were embedded within the church body, and they were like a cancer to the believers in Christ. Highlighted in this verse is the first of five reasons why apostates are so dangerous. 

Jude wrote, "These people are blemishes at your love feasts." Jude is addressing the defiling nature of the apostate. When we get a spot on a piece of fabric like a white shirt, the shirt is seemingly ruined until we get it cleaned. Even though most of the fabric looks good, the one small blemish ruins the shirt. 

Now, the love feasts were a common service back then that included time singing, time teaching the Word, and time observing the Lord's Supper. After all of that, the church would eat a potluck meal together. It was at that time the apostates would propagate their immoral teaching, their insubordination, and their irreverence.

These love feasts were meal times designed for conversing and sharing and talking over the matters of the faith. The love feasts were designed for people to care for each other. The leaders were to shepherd the folks during that time. If someone needed comfort, they were comforted. If someone needed instruction, they were instructed. But, these false teachers made this time about themselves, and their selfishness told on them.

In Jude's next sentence he wrote about the second description of these apostate teachers, "They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind." This analogy speaks of their false promises. They promised all kinds of things, but they didn't produce but for themselves. Clouds promise rain. When we see a cloud bank come in, it holds out the hope of rain which is good for the crops, and vegetation. False teachers are like big puffy clouds, all vapor, no water. 

The third description of the apostate is they are "autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead."Jude likens apostates to worthless trees. "Autumn trees" have no fruit, they are fruitless. We can't get any more fruitless than an autumn tree. This speaks of their barren lives. And, notice that Jude describes them as not just being dead, but "twice dead." These false teachers are trees that are fruitless because they are trees that are rootless. They are not connected to the source of life. They don't produce fruit because of their dead root system. They have been pulled up by the roots and they do not know God. They are blemishes at the love feasts, they are clouds without rain, they are twice dead trees.  

In v.13 of today's passage we read, "They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever."

Here, Jude highlights the fourth and fifth characteristics of apostate teachers. Jude wrote, "They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame." 

When we spend any time on an ocean, at all, we learn to respect the ocean. Oh, we enjoy the sounds, the smells, the sights, but we must respect the ocean because of its power. Often, after a storm, the health department tells us to avoid the water for about two days because the storm churns up trash, like dangerous hypodermic needles. The idea is the apostate stirs up the mud. The apostate stirs up the filth. Formed waves are productive, but storm waves are destructive. 

Apostates are blemishes at the love feasts, they are clouds without rain, they are twice dead trees, and they are wild destructive waves. 

There's a fifth description in v.13, they are wandering stars. Jude wrote, "they are wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever." 

The problem with this description of stars is stars don't wander. Stars are on a fixed orbit. So fixed are the orbits of stars that the ancients navigated their travels by them. We can look at a winter sky or a summer sky, and we know where the constellations can be discovered. And, as a result, we travel in different directions on land or sea based upon our reading of the stars. 

But, Jude's description of the apostate makes sense when we consider the phenomenon of the shooting star. A shooting star is not actually a star as much as it's a piece of debris, or space dust, or even a meteor. And when it gets close to our atmosphere, it burns up and it shows up as a bright spot, it shows up as a streak across the sky. It does not last beyond that temporary flash. Once it shoots, it's gone because shooting stars are reserved for the blackness of darkness forever. The same is sadly true for the apostate.

You see, God, through Jude, is calling us to engage in this battle for the truth. He does so because the truth matters to people. Granted, there are those who no matter how much we speak to them about God's truth, they just will not hear us. But, for those who are humble enough to be embraced by the God of the Bible, the God of truth, we engage in this battle. And, in order to engage in this battle, we must be soaked in the word of God. The beauty of being soaked in the word is that it will enable us to be loving, observant, vigilant and discerning, which are musts if we are to keep God's truth from being compromised.