If you would please stand as I read for you Jude 17 through 23, Jude 17 through 23. Jude, the half brother of Jesus, continues to write to believers saying, but you beloved ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you in the last time there will be mockers following after their own ungodly lust. These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are doubting. Save others, snatching them out of the fire. And on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. So ends the reading of God's word. May we be blessed as we study it together. You may be seated. As I've shared repeatedly, we are looking, working our way through this little letter of Jude and the author is dealing in this small letter with the subject of apostasy. As small as this letter is, let me remind you that no other New Testament book deals with apostasy as much as Jude. He is so singularly focused, if I might borrow from Steve Lawson who said we're not just dogmatic on certain things but we're bull dogmatic on these truths. This is Jude being bull dogmatic with regard to one of the greatest threats that face the church and that is the false teaching that comes from false teachers that is intended to lead people away from the faith, lead them into apostasy. Apostasy in the most general sense then is simply falling away from the faith. It speaks of a person who has been exposed to the truth concerning God, man, sin, Jesus Christ, and salvation, yet has come to reject what has been sound and faithful teaching on such topics in favor of other religious pursuits. It could be the religion of atheism. It could be some false religion altogether. It could be some homegrown, homespun religion. Generally speaking, Apostates, then, are those who not only reject the truth that was once handed down to all the saints, as we saw back in verse 3, but also seek intentionally to lead others astray from the true faith. Some do this actively. Some do this quite intentionally. Others do it passively. They think they're just going to go through life and not bother anybody, but by their words and by their actions, they are made known, and they do lead others down a faulty path. Well, we've considered two of five commands. The first command to remember the words we saw in verses 17 through 18, Judah's dealing, had been dealing with the very character and the descriptions of apostates from verses four through 16. And then in verse 17, Jude shifts from those as he referred to these men in verse 16, who are the grumblers finding fault, following after their own lust. And then he moves to a new group, which is not actually a new group at all. It's who he addressed all the way back in verse one, the beloved in God. And let me just remind you that if you are in Christ Jesus, you are the beloved in God. No one loves you like God. No one loves you to the fullness and the wonder that God loves his people who have called upon his son, Jesus Christ. They are the beloved in God. And remember in verse one, they're given that title and that position. And then he shifted to all of these descriptions of the apostates. And now in verses 17 and 18, he shifts back. And you notice in verse 17, but you, and here's this term, but you beloved. and he gives the command, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude identifies for us that one of the best weapons that we have, in fact, the very first weapon that ought to be wielded from our arsenal are the words that were spoken to us through God's men, the apostles. These were those who communicated not only the truth, but they actually warned that there would be those who would come and would try to pull you away. You've seen this in your lives, I'm sure. I'm sure everyone has a testimony of those times when there might have been a teaching or someone who was giving them some advice that you recognized was not true to God's word, but there was that temptation. Lord, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave. the God I love." Well, here Jude says the words that he had given are our best protection. Believers are to know and understand based on what God has communicated to us that false teachers will come. And they're not just coming, they're here. And they're not just here, but they have crept in unnoticed into the very church. They're found in our churches, they're found in our Christian ministries, in the Christian schools and Christian colleges. They're found in our seminaries. They're seeking to undermine the true faith and cause division from within. And as it is sometimes said, the best defense or best offense is a good defense. So knowing that there will be those who twist and pervert the truth, we are then to remember the truth that was taught to us, handed down once for all. by the apostles, by Jesus Christ. Well that led us to the second command which is found actually in verse 21. The command in verse 21 that we are to keep ourselves in the love of God. The second weapon of the Christian arsenal is to make sure that we are in the sphere, we are in the realm of God's love. We recognize how much God has done for us. We notice that there are three verbal participles that go around that, telling us how we keep ourselves in the love of God. By building ourselves up in the most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, and by waiting for the return of Christ. In other words, Jude instructs that these are the three ways in which we keep ourselves in the love of God. We grow in sound doctrine, we persevere in prayer, and we wait longingly and say, even so, Lord Jesus, come. We sing the ancient hymn, O come, O come, Emmanuel. May we recognize that he intends to return. By remembering the truth of what has been taught to us by the apostles and by intentionally being people who keep ourselves in the love of God, believers are equipped, Jude says, to stand firm against apostasy. And yet Jude is not finished with his exhortations. There's more to be commanded in our text. In verses 22 through 23, there are three more imperatives. We might call them the must-dos if we would stand against the faith. We could put it negatively. If you want to fall in your faith, then don't do these things that we're about to read. If you want to stand firm in your faith, then these are the things that we must do. There are three more commands that are given by Jude by which he says, here's how you interact with others. Now, what's interesting here is he says, if I want you to stand firm against apostasy, remember the word of God, keep yourselves in love of God, and now I have some obligations for you to keep. concerning those who are getting trapped by apostasy. They're not full-on apostates. They're getting trapped into the thinking, here's how you are to interact with these people. You see, as bad and hell-damning as apostasy is, and while believers are commanded to avoid the apostates, according to a passage like Titus 3, 5, where Paul says, avoid such men as these, God's word does not allow believers to have a spirit of revenge or a spirit of smugness that says, if you're gonna go down that path, if you see somebody that's beginning to fall away, well, just good riddance, just go ahead, and I'm gonna turn you over and I'm just gonna let you rot in this apostasy that you're falling into. We're not called to be like Elijah and call down fire from heaven to burn up and devour those who are trapped in the lies of apostates. What stands out, if you will notice verses 22 and 23, notice what stands out, the twice repeated command of have what? Mercy. And that's an interesting word that we're gonna flesh out in just a moment. But not only, it's a two times Jude says, you must have mercy on those that you see that are getting trapped by the apostate's lies. He says, save others. Now, I don't know how much more intense Jude could be. You and I have an obligation that when we see folks that are getting wrapped up in the lies of apostasy, that we go after them showing mercy, we'll see what that means, and seeking to save them. Those ensnared by false teachers and their teachings, teaching things that are vehemently against the gospel, are to be met by believers with mercy as we seek to save the lost. At the end of the day, believers are called to be merciful. The Apostle Paul seems to stress this point when he wrote to Titus in Titus chapter three, verses one through five, these words. Notice what he says, remind them. So again, another reminder of what has already been taught. Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. Why? Why should we do this? Verse three, for we, you and I also were once were what? Foolish ourselves. We were disobedient. We were deceived by lies, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But When the kindness, can we say this a different way as well? When the mercy of God, our Savior, and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His what? His mercy. His mercy. In other words, we are to have mercy on others because any sinner is always and only saved as an act of God's divine mercy. We all deserve God's wrath as we have all sinned and fall short of God's glory. But God, being rich in mercy, being deep in love, overflowing with grace, offer salvation to all who believe on his son, Jesus Christ, as being their only hope as being their only substitute for sin to be their only savior. Again, Paul said it for. We also once were foolish ourselves. When was the last time that you went back and thought? Yes, I've been there. I thought like that. I was dumb. I was I was deceived by sin. Believers as recipients of the great mercy of God, and let me tell you something about the great mercy of God. If you have not experienced it, you don't know what you're missing. If you have experienced it, don't ever forget how wonderful it is. The mercy of God, if we've been the recipients of the great mercy of God, then how could we but not? How should we not be great examples of divine mercy? Our lives should exude the mercy of God. In Jude 22 and 23, then, we find actually three groups of people. We might not like the titles that Jude gives to them. He calls them some in verse 22. He calls them others in verse 23, the first part, and he calls them some again at the end of verse 23, but they represent three groups of people. And what I'd have you note in these two verses is the progression of someone who's just kind of slightly getting himself wrapped up by the lies of apostasy to someone who's moving deeper and deeper into apostasy and what is our response to be in light of this. So I'd have us consider each of those three groups as Jude now gives us three more commands that help us stand firm against apostasy. And again, let me say it this way, the first two were kind of these defensive weapons, remember the word of God, keep yourselves in love of God, that protects you from apostasy. Notice now, we're going out. We're on the offense with these particular commands. And the first command, which would be our third point, because it's the third command, is have mercy on the doubting. Have mercy on the doubting, notice the text, and have mercy on some, there will be a group of people and these people are characterized by what? Doubt. The word and that begins this and links the next three responsibilities on the same people who are remembering the words of the apostles, who are keeping themselves in the love of God, believers are now called to have mercy on some. Now the word mercy, as I've been trying to get my head wrapped around this this week, is a rich and deep word. It has so much more meaning than I think we generally ascribe to it, and that I will show you in our text. In general, mercy, we define it how? Not getting what you deserve. That's kind of the simplified layman's way of saying mercy, right? Mercy is not getting something you deserve. I deserve God's wrath. I deserve God's punishment. I deserve God's displeasure. deserve the frowning providence of God but God's given me something different but the word mercy it means literally to feel sympathy with the misery of another it is to feel a sympathy that reveals itself not only with words you know what happens when somebody maybe passes away in your family you'll get a sympathy card and it's just words right and you're thankful for the words but it doesn't really change anything of the and the immediate feelings and the needs that you have. The word mercy, beloved, has the idea not only that you have sympathy, but that you are coming alongside to rectify the condition. You're doing something that's help aiding in that person's time of need. And hold on to that for just a moment. Now we look at the book of Job. And we have, Job has three friends and we kind of get on those friends because they give some advice and sometimes there's some good things in there. A lot of times they're just babbling at their mouth and they don't know what they're saying at all. But let me tell you something that they did right. When they heard what Job went through, when he lost everything, when Job was sitting there in ashes and sackcloth, These three friends didn't just come up and say, hey, Job, I hope you feel better. If you need anything, give me a call. I'm going back to my house. It says in our text there that they made an appointment. Look at verse 11. They made an appointment together to come to what? Sympathize with him and comfort him, to come alongside. When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and repped each of them tore his robe, that's some action, and they threw dust over their heads towards the sky. Then they sat down on the ground with him. How long? Seven days. What I want you to get your head wrapped around is mercy is not just words. Mercy is active. Mercy is gets involved. Mercy seeks to change the status quo. And so here are his friends with him for seven days and seven nights. And notice what they're not doing. They're not even speaking to him. For they saw that his pain was very great. They didn't start speaking to him till the eighth day. Can you imagine spending seven days with someone and saying nothing, just being there? before you ever open your mouth. This is the idea, the concept of mercy. Job's friends were seeking to show mercy. In our text, mercy describes a sense of compassion and a pity for one who is in need, but biblical mercy moves a person to express that pity, to demonstrate that compassion, whatever the tragedy that is being experienced by involvement, recognizing this fundamental truth, here's how you sympathize, that what has just happened to this friend, this family member, could happen to me, and I need people who would be involved in my life in that moment. I'll remind you as well that this statement, it's and have mercy. That's a command. That's not a suggestion. It doesn't say you have a choice when you see people falling away from the faith that all of a sudden, you know, well, that's for the pastor. That's for those elders. That's for those gifted. No, if you see someone falling away from the faith, this is the command that you to get yourself involved. It's not a suggestion. Believers are commanded to demonstrate mercy. It's in the present tense indicating that it's continuous action. You don't get to choose, well, today I'll be merciful. Today I'm going to be, I'm going to demonstrate compassion. It's simply, you will do this continually. That is the goal. You are to demonstrate mercy. The idea of being driven home here is like that which we saw in Titus chapter three, verses one through five. Since believers are the recipients of mercy, They of all people are to be those who have mercy on others who are in need. And the truth is, all are in need. But in this text, all are in need of deliverance from false teaching and salvation through faith alone in Jesus Christ. That's what we are to recognize when we see somebody falling away. Now, the first group of people who are the recipients of the believer's mercy are said to be the doubters. These are the ones that are doubting, trying to get my head wrapped around this. What is he getting after? I mean, it seems to make sense, right? There are people you know who doubt the faith. who are uncertain about who Jesus is, who maybe thought they were believing in Jesus, but now they're not so sure they want to continue to follow him. But I want you to note something with me that kind of confused me at first, and then it gave me this better idea of what mercy is. Look back with me at verse nine, if you would. Verse nine. And in verse nine of Jude, we read this. But Michael, the archangel, when he, now note this word, disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses. The word disputed there in the Greek, diacrino, is the same word found in verse 22. Why is it translated disputing then in verse 9 and as doubting in verse 22? I do not think it would be right to say that Michael was doubting with the devil, right? Rather, he disputed with him. And the same word is used in Acts 11 too, where we read this, and when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him. They disputed with him. Now, we can kind of use the word doubted and get the better idea here that they were doubting Peter. They were somehow communicating. They do not fall in line with what Peter was communicating. either in the same way with Michael was disputing, he was saying, I doubt, devil, you understand what's truly at stake here. So you're beginning to get this idea of what doubting is. The idea for here with Peter that the Judaizers were arguing with Peter, doubting that his own teaching. It is interesting that the complete Jewish Bible translates this verse this way. as rebuke some who are disputing. Now that gives you a whole different feel, doesn't it? Not have mercy on those who are doubting, but rebuke those who are disputing. We might say have mercy on those who are disputing. The idea is that those who doubt are not passive. It's not that they're necessarily being deceived as of yet, to a certain extent they are, but they're working through it. They are in some form in another, though, actively disputing against the truth. A doubter is disputing the truth, is he not? And so he may be doing that internally. He may be having some internal doubts. It could be that he's doing it outwardly where he's saying, I doubt this is true. I wonder if this can really be. So that's the idea. Those who doubt the truth, who wonder if something is true or could be true, those are people who are in conflict. You've seen them. You might have been one of those people at one time, just wrestling with the reality of the gospel. But what does Jude say? Believers are to show mercy to them. But what about this translation, to rebuke them? This rebuking, is that the same as mercy? How is rebuking someone a demonstration of mercy? But might I say to you, isn't a sincere rebuke, a plea for a course correction when the current course leads to pain, misery, and destruction, a demonstration of mercy? You see, what I think we're getting at is Judah saying, you need to be ready to communicate the truth. Let me put it to you this way, mercy not only demonstrates compassion, mercy is ready to confront. Is that not what God has done for us? He confronts us with our sin and until we are confronted with our sin, we cannot experience the greatness of salvation. And so we see this idea. We have Proverbs 27 verses five through six that says this, better is open, what? Rebuke than love that is concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. It seems to suggest this very concept that mercy is ready to confront, not to be mean. It's not trying to diminish a person or to undermine a person or to squash a person. It's meant to confront them with the truth. We might say, as Paul said to the Ephesians, speak the truth how? In love. I will speak the truth, and sometimes the truth will hurt, but know that it is coming from a heart of sincerity, a heart that loves, a heart that desires more than anything else, that you know the truth of who Jesus Christ is, and that you will not fall away from him. On my watch, you will not fall away from Jesus Christ. That's the attitude that Jude is calling these believers. I find it interesting that Martin Luther, I just came across this quote so I wrote it in my notes here, he said this, I am not permitted to let my love be so merciful as to tolerate and endure false doctrine. If you see someone that is beginning to fall away from the truth, your intention is not, well, I'm just going to love them, I'm going to tell them how much I love them, and just say whatever, you know, I'm here for you, and you just kind of go through the motions. No, I'm not permitted to let my love be so merciful as to tolerate and endure false doctrine. I must tell the person the truth. We must conclude then that it is an act of mercy to rebuke someone who is falling into apostasy. In applying what Jude is conveying, the idea is that if we see someone falling away from the truth, mercy dictates that we rebuke them, that we correct them, that we help them with their thinking. We're never called to sweep it under the rug and forget about it. We live sadly in an age of tolerance where anything and everything is supposed to just let it go. Of course, unless you're a Christian, then you're not supposed to. You're intolerant if you're speaking that. We're told it's unloving to confront someone. Are we not? Why would you ever tell them? Why are you cramming the truth of God down somebody's throat when they don't want to hear it? Well, first of all, it's not cramming it down their throat. It's simply an act of love and mercy to tell you the truth that if you do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are on a path to destruction. We're told to live and let live. But again, if you see a person who is doubting God's truth so that they are disputing its reality, then the most merciful thing you could ever do is remind them and even reprimand them concerning how their rejection of God's truth will only lead to their further harm. To show mercy then is to convict them of God's truth even as they dispute it and doubt it. To show mercy is, the point is that mercy, true mercy, is never passive. It is an active responsibility of you and I as believers. We are to be engaged in the other person's life. It is active and it is an intense activity. It does whatever is necessary to solicit a change of heart and mind. When was the last time you were so intense with the desire to see somebody brought to the knowledge of the truth, you would not relent, you would just communicate, here's what God's word says, here's what God's word says. You don't have to be mean about it, you don't have to raise your voice about it, you just need to be over and over, here's what God's word says. While it is only the Holy Spirit that contains the heart and mind of a person who is doubting, who is disputing, believers are called to do their best, as Peter says, to do what? To make a defense. You are to mount a defense. You are to give an apology. You are to give your very best argument to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. Now, I want you to see what Jude writes here, that it's dependent upon what has already been written. The only way you can rebuke a disputer The only way that you can demonstrate such mercy to one who is doubting the truth is by knowing what? The Word of God. Where did this all begin? Remember the words that were spoken to you. So we go back to the Word of God. We cannot help those who are doubting if we don't know ourselves the truth of God's Word. So we need to be This is why Jude began with the charge to remember the words of the apostles, as well as calling them to do what? Build yourselves up on the most holy faith. Beloved, there are many, even in the church, who are confused by false teachers, who get themselves wrapped up in subtle heresies, and who ought to recognize these things as outright error, but they do not. Believers here are implored to to call out such things. And sometimes that's going to cause controversy. Some people are not going to like it. But I'll tell you what, if somebody ends up going to hell because I didn't want to cause controversy, that's a tough pill to swallow. But if by my introduction of controversy, that person becomes one who I dwell with eternally in heaven, that's okay by me. And that's what the argument here is driving after. that we are driving after these things. Now, we're to call out these things, but as we've noted before, we're not talking about secondary matters. We're not talking about anything other than the essentials of the faith. We're not talking about the mode of baptism or one's understanding of the future time and end time events. But what are the essentials? Well, We could go through a lot of things as to the essentials, but let me just suggest these. I should have put these up on a screen, but I did not. Let me identify the essentials as this. Anyone who doubts or disputes the deity of Jesus Christ needs to be confronted. Anyone who doubts or is disputing the sinfulness of man who needs salvation, that salvation is by the grace of God alone and not by works. Anyone who disputes or doubts the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Anyone who doubts that God is one yet exists eternally in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And anyone who doubts or disputes the authority, the inerrancy, or the sufficiency of scripture, these are in error. And the immediate response ought not to be a defensive, I'm going to rip your throat out because you believed wrongly, but it should be a compassion that drives us to confront those people with the truth so that they might repent. So while most translations have verse 22 as saying, have mercy on some, our idea of what constitute mercy, as I said earlier, I think has been lacking. For those who doubt, there must be confrontation. Notice that the Apostle Paul does this very thing. The Apostle Paul is so concerned in Galatians chapter one with what's going on in the region of Galatia. There are these people called the Judaizers, and they're saying that if you're going to be saved, you need to believe on Jesus, but you need to do all the works of the law and the men need to be circumcised and all of these things. And how does the Apostle Paul deal with it when those who had made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ alone now thinking well maybe we need to do this and they begin doubting and some of them are beginning to dispute this what does he do does he just say well God I'm just gonna sit back I'm gonna pray for them I'm just gonna let you deal with it What does he do? He writes a letter. And in verse six, he says what? I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting. That's a tough word. You're deserting, you're alienating, you're abandoning him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which later he says is actually no gospel at all. There's no good news in it. Now, let me ask you, does that sound like a rebuke? Does that seem like he's getting after them for their lack of faith? Yes. Paul is saying, in effect, I cannot believe how quickly you have defected from the truth that I have delivered to you. Jude comes along now and says, have mercy on some who are doubting, regardless of whether they are defecting because they are doubting or because they are actively disputing the faith. Believers are tasked with seeking to correct them with what? The truth. There is no mercy without a clear communication of the truth. You do not demonstrate mercy at all in any fashion. If there is no communication of the truth, it is not enough to say they're there. You need to say here, here in God's word. This is where it stands written. You can pity such people. You can feel sorry for such people. You can pray and ought to pray for such people. But until you have sought to communicate the truth by pointing out their error, you have not demonstrated to them true biblical mercy. So Jude writes, have mercy on some who are doubting. But he gives more of a command. Those are just the doubters. He moves now to the the fourth command where I have entitled it Save the Deceived. These are people that are a little deeper now into the teachings of the apostates. And he says in verse 23, save others, snatching them out of the fire. So first there are the doubting, those who are arguing with themselves or disputing with other believers concerning our most holy faith. And now there are those who are simply deceived, those who have been taken in just enough so that they no longer see the danger that they are in. And Jude says something very interesting. He says, save others. We'll talk about that in a moment. Snatching them, not out of the fire that is to come. He says, snatch them out of the fire. They're already burning people. And I think the imagery is amazing. If I saw a person who's standing in the back of the sanctuary here and they're on fire, I'm not just gonna go, wow, they're on fire. Stop burning. you're going to go do something to get them to stop burning. And so, we notice here that this is someone who needs to be rescued right now. This means that the believers are tasked with actively going out, and the word, I love the word, we'll talk about in a moment, snatching people out of the fire of their doctrinal error. Now, the verb here is save. Like the verb have mercy, it's present tense. It is an active verb. It means you go out and save others, and keep saving others, and never stop saving others. Until the Lord Jesus comes, you are tasked to have mercy on some, and you are tasked to save others. It is from the Greek word sozo, which means literally to save, or to rescue, or to deliver from danger. It is the same word that is used with regard to Jesus saving us, only obviously the context here will be a little bit different. Believers are to be delivering people out of the fire of their falling away, their descent into apostasy. Being in the present tense, this was always to be part of their lives. In other words, this is the mission that you and I are on. When Jesus said, go therefore and make disciples, that's a very positive way of saying what Jude is saying here. People are on fire, you go out and rescue them. You go out and douse the flames. But what if I get burned myself? The flame will not hurt you. I am with you. Our mission is to do all that we can to see people saved from the penalty of their sin, to save them from the experience of a Christianity that is simply their shipwrecked faith. We are on a rescue mission. Notice again the language of Jude is intense. Hopefully I'm conveying that, right? The manner of the mission here. Notice the manner of the mission. Believers are to be actively doing what? Snatching people out of the fire. It is an adverbial participle instructing the believers how you are engaged in the rescue mission. How am I supposed to go out and save people? You snatch them out of the fire. That means you have special eyes, you have spiritual eyes, you have spiritual ears, you hear what people are communicating, you hear what they are hearing and believing, and you're going to go and snatch them out. It is the present active participle, the snatching them, of the verb harpazo. Now, how many of you remember the verb harpazo? We studied this verb when we were back in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17, where living believers at the return of Christ are said to be caught up or snatched up together in the air to meet with Jesus. This is the same verb and it literally means to seize quickly, to take away by force, or to snatch away quickly. We get our English word harpoon, right? You're going to go snag something and you're going to drag it back. The call to believers then is to be snatching those who are falling away from the fire before they get mortally burned. It's one thing to see somebody, again, just using the illustration, if somebody's arm is on fire, what do you tell them to do? You tell them to stop, drop, and roll, and you find something to try to douse it out. You don't want to sit there and watch it begin to consume their arm, and then their side, and then their torso, and then everything. That's what we're doing. We're snatching them out of the fire before they get mortally burned. The fire here, I believe, speaks of God's judgment, that they're being judged by their participation in the sin, and that judgment will only get and grow more and more intense the further and further they flee into this apostasy. The scriptures often use this imagery of people being snatched out to safety. In Amos in the Old Testament, chapter four, verse 11, we see this. It says, I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched. from a blaze. You have not returned to me, declares the Lord. The Lord, in effect, is saying you, Israel, would have been consumed in judgment long ago, but I snatched you. I rescued you out of that fire, only now you're continuing in your sin. It is found in Zechariah chapter 3 verses 1 and 2 where we read this, then he showed me, Zechariah was shown Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan was standing at his right hand to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, Satan. Indeed, the Lord has chosen Jerusalem. Rebuke you. Is this not a bran plucked from the fire? That same word snatched from the fire. Here, Joshua had been plucked as a bran from Babylon, which is burning down with God's judgment as a fire. But this man, Joshua, He was plucked out. He was snatched to safety. We see the idea again in the New Testament in James, who writes in James 5, 19 through 20, My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth, that's exactly what Jude's getting after. and one turns him back, that's what Jude's saying, save them. Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save, will snatch his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. The point of all of this, beloved, is that believers are equipped for and tasked with the mission to go and snatch people from the coming judgment their unbelief will bring on them. It speaks of an active, intentional, persistent evangelistic practice in one's life. It speaks of us doing everything we can, and I fear this is my failure, this is our failure as a church, it's a failure of the American Christianity. We will not do everything necessary to see people saved, snatched out of the fire. As the famous quote of Charles Spurgeon reminds us, If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for. That is what Jude is calling you and I as believers to do. people you live with, people you work with, from your family to friends to strangers you pass by while shopping. If they do not know Christ, if they are straying from the truth of God's word, they are in the fire of God's judgment, which is just simply growing hotter and hotter. Have mercy, show compassion, snatch them out of the fire, do everything in your power to save them from that fire. There's an old gospel hymn with a most provocative title. It is entitled, If Men Go to Hell, Who Cares? And depending upon how you put that inflection really indicates where your mind is at with this. I fear that so many in the church say, if men go to hell, well, who cares? I'm saved. What does it matter? But that's not the point of this particular hymn writer E. M. Bartlett, 1939. Let me just read for you a couple of verses from this hymn. While the world rushes on in its folly and sin, and men go down in despair, to reign where demons are shrieking within, if men go to hell, who cares? Who cares? Who cares, O Lord? Who cares? While the world rushes in sin to despair, if men go to hell, who cares? While the people of earth are forgetting the Lord and church pews are empty and bare, there comes to my heart these pitiful words, if men go to hell, who cares? Do you? Do you care? And I see some not knowing whether to nod their heads or not. because we're not taking the full effect of what Jude is calling us, what the Holy Spirit is calling us. There is to be this burning compassion and pity and desire that we see people that their condition is so desperate, and we, you and I, have the power, we have the... I shouldn't say the power, we have the message that can deliver them, and we need to communicate that truth. We should all care if men go to hell. But if we are not seeing people's eternal demise apart from faith in Christ, I promise you we will not be properly motivated to snatch them out of the fire. If you look at every person that is not walking with the Lord as being on fire, that's a different kind of motivation. So we are to have mercy by rebuking or reproving the doubting and the disputing. whether that's inward or outward, and we are to save, rescue those who are in the fire of apostasy by communicating the truth of God's word, and finally, we are to have mercy on the dirty, okay? So you notice all the Ds, mercy on the dirty. It says at the end, and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. At the end of verse 23, we find those who have fallen so far away from the faith that they have actually become a clear and present danger to those who are the faithful. They are not only in danger of themselves, but the problem is they're so steeped now that they are dragging others along with them. People this far into false teaching, they've adopted the language, they've taken on the lifestyle so it requires that believers approach them with extreme caution. Why? Jude says you're to do it with fear. You're to be afraid of the possibility that these people who are so steeped now in false teaching could somehow sway you into their thinking and their behavior. Like verse 22, we have the same verb, have mercy. The idea being conveyed is that we are not to have an attitude that says that that person is so far gone that it's time to just say, God, just bring judgment down on that person and let it be over with. That's not. what we're called to do. Believers are to realize that they too can be transformed by the grace of God. The command here is the opposite of any tendency to gloat over such rejecters of the truth because their due punishment is assured. Same like verse 22, the idea of mercy appears to have more to do with confronting such persons in their error not letting them just kind of go. In other words, when they say or do something that is outside of God's revealed truth or word, the best mercy we show them is a reproof from God's word. We need to point out how they are wrong. Such action not only has a benefit of pointing out the error being believed and taught, but it also benefits those others that are being influenced around them. It's not simply a private matter. Yes, you may go to somebody privately, but I tell you this, if you hear somebody speaking a falsehood in a group of people, you confront the falsehood in the group of people so that those people are not influenced incorrectly by those teachings. It's interesting that Jude includes a warning when addressing such a person. He says there needs to be what? Fear. The word fear is the Greek word phobos. We're familiar with that. It literally should be translated as extreme fear or terror. We get our English word phobia from this Greek word, and to have a phobia speaks of possessing an aversion towards, a dislike of, a disrespect for, a protective guard against some thing, idea, person, or group. Notice that Jude also includes a reason why we are to have such an aversion to this lifestyle, these words. He says, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. The word polluted here means stained, defiled, contaminated, or soiled. The word is found only here in our text and one other place in all of the New Testament. And that's in James 3, verse 6. where we read, and the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity, the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles, that which pollutes the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell. This is the context, this is the The dynamics of this word, the perfect tense of the verb polluted describes the present and ongoing effects of the pollution of the garment. And the garment is permanently stained. It is defiled. It is ruined by the sin of apostasy. The idea is that there is nothing in such a person's life that ought to be imitated or admired. We might say, man, they're so close to the kingdom. If they would just believe because they've got all of these. No, they have nothing. If you don't have Christ, you have nothing. How can I say that? Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing. So I don't care how well somebody presents themselves, if they are in error, if they're denying some of those essentials that we spoke of, there is nothing that you should imitate, nothing you would desire, because that's putting on a filthy garment that is not pleasing to the Lord. That phrase, the garment polluted by the flesh, appears to be an illusion of the clothing that was worn by one who had had the plague or some other offensive contagious disease which might easily be communicated to others. if they touched or wore those same clothing. Judah's warning to engage such a person, but do so with extreme caution. In Galatians 6.1, we find a very similar warning issued by the apostle Paul to believers. He says this, brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, mercy, one looking to yourself why so that you too will not be tempted I don't know how many times you might have read that verse you might think that that's an intense verse because Paul warns not average Christians is there any such thing as anything but an a regular Christian but he says if you regard yourself as spiritual If you see yourself as being quite capable of communicating, here's the error of this, my brother, and you need to repent, he says, do it very carefully and with mercy because you too could be tempted. When you seek to help one trapped in deep sin, use caution so as not to fall into temptation. In the end, beloved, these verses, the point of these verses is to remind believers that we are not to be merely indifferent to those who are ensnared by the lies of apostasy. Nor are we to avoid them with some kind of holier-than-thou attitude. I'm glad that if they're going to live like that, I'm just going to let them go. Believers are to possess a deep feeling of compassion for them, and we are to act helpfully toward them as opportunities arise, but we are to use extreme caution so as not to be brought under the same deadly power of contamination that clings to the practices and proclamations of such false teachings. The zeal to win such souls is to be combined with holy wisdom and great prudence. In summing up these verses for us, one commentator noted that Jude has given his beloved readers wise guidance on how to meet in piety and apostasy, meet with piety, I'll get this, guidance on how to meet with piety, apostasy, not with surprise, for these have been predicted, not within activity, for spiritual zeal and effort form the best protection against temptation, and not with indifference, for many souls will be in peril, and some may be rescued from death. If I were to give you a real positive note on this, if you will obey the commands of Jude here, you get to participate with God in seeing souls saved. And is that not why he's left us on this earth? Believers are called to stand against apostasy. We're not called to run from it. We're not called to ignore it, but to realize its presence and to be ready to confront it. The Lord has provided everything we need to accomplish his task. He's given us his word. He's given us his love. He's equipped us to address those who have fallen into the trap of apostasy. Let us be a people then who burn with compassion for those who are ensnared by the devil's lies, proclaiming to them the truth of the gospel. These are the weapons that we possess against apostasy. May we use them for God's glory. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you that you are the God of all things. You are sovereign over all things. We can be overwhelmed with the tasks that you have given to us. We can be overwhelmed with the amount of error that is out there. But Father, whatever is to be our task, we know that you have called us and equipped us to be those who take the gospel to all creation. to those who go, therefore, and make disciples, followers of Christ of all the nations. Father God, may we be a people who recognize that our task is not simply to be comfortable. It is not to fly under the radar of the current governmental circumstances. Lord, regardless of what goes on around us, our mission stays the same. Help us to be proclaimers of the truth, proclaimers of the gospel, demonstrators of the reality of Jesus Christ as Lord. In that process, help us to stand firm, knowing that you have given us everything necessary for life and godliness to that end. Lead us in the way that we should go. We ask and pray in Jesus' name.