Meadowbrooke Church

Walking in Light of Your Calling

There is a museum by the Dachau Concentration Camp that serves to remind its visitors of the horrors suffered under Hitler and the party. There is a sign posted for all visitors to see as they leave with a quote by Winston Churchill that reads: Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat its mistakes.[1] Judes little epistle serves to remind us of a history, that if ignored, we too might be doomed to repeat.
The people Jude warns us of remind me of the morning my brother and I were late to the bus stop for school, I believe we missed the bus that day. On our way to the bus stop, a nice stranger invited us to get into the car so that he could take us to wherever we needed to go. My brother was tempted, and I was afraid to get into the car, so when it became apparent that we would not get into the car, the stranger drove off. False teachers are like the nice stranger who offers a child candy to get that child to get into the car, to take that child to a place that will forever impact that childs future. The candy often comes in the form of something that sounds good, such as the offer to gain a better understanding of the Bible, to grow closer to the true God through some hidden secret knowledge, or the offer of some key to unlocking the secrets of the Bible and reality.
Permit me to push the stranger illustration a bit further. The reason my brother and I were able to sense danger when we were offered a ride from the person in the car was because our parents warned us of such people and informed us of a history involving such people, and the best way to resist them. The reason Jude saturated his little letter with examples from Israels past is because there is nothing new under the sun; the only thing that has changed is the dress. Since the birth of the Church, many have snuck into churches to introduce false doctrines that are labeled in the Bible as, doctrines of demons. Listen to the warning the apostle Paul gave to a young pastor named Timothy: Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons (1 Tim. 4:12).
The reason Jude emphasizes the need to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (v. 3), and that the Christians everywhere must build on the, most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life (v. 21) is because the Devil is really good at using the ignorance of Gods people to harm them. John Wycliff said it best when he wrote the following warning: To be ignorant of the Scripture is the same thing as to be ignorant of Christ.[2] Listen, if you are ignorant of the Great Shepherd, you will be gullible enough to buy into the lies of a stranger who seeks your harm and not your good. These are the people we are warned about in Jude: In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions (v. 18). Daniel Akin wrote concerning false teachers: Disciples of Jesus must never let their spiritual guard down. They must be spiritually discerning, testing every teaching by the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Word of God. Eloquent speech is not the issue. Faithfulness to the Bible is.[3]
The Scoffers
When will the scoffers come? Jude says, In the last time. What is the last time? It is the time between Jesus ascension into heaven and his return to earth; the last time is the time we find ourselves in today and it is the time Christians have found themselves in since the birth of the Church that we read about in the book of Acts during the first century. The scoffers are the same people who have crept into the church, but not only those who snuck in. To scoff is to mock, but it can also include an attitude that is dismissive due to a self-assured arrogance[4] that following their, own ungodly passions is the best way to walk. In fact, it is their arrogance and ungodly passions that serve as their moral and theological compass. In 2 Peter 3:4, these scoffers question the legitimacy of Jesus promised return to judge the living and the dead. In Jude, these scoffers do not revere or respect the holiness of God.
In the wake of their walking these scoffers are divisive, worldly, and devoid of the Spirit (v. 19). Jude informs us that the reason these people teach the things that they teach and live the way that they live is because they are, devoid of the Spirit. What this means is that these scoffers are spiritually lost even though they say that they know Jesus, they really do not know Him. Paul wrote in Romans 8:9, Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. In Titus 1:16, we are told that such people, profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. Jesus said of such people: every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits (Matt. 7:1520).
One of the many false teachings the Church encountered in the past confronted head on during the Protestant Reformation is what is known as Antinomianism. Antinomianism, which still exists today under a different dress, teaches that Christians are freed from all obligation to obey Gods Moral Law. There are dozens of examples from the Bible that such teaching does not represent the teachings of the Bible; what Jesus said in Matthew 7 and what Jude wrote in verse 19 is proof enough that true genuine faith in the resurrected Jesus as Master and Lord over your life does not give you a license to sin, but instead will affect you in such a way that you will want to live a life that falls in line with Gods Moral Law. The lifestyle of the false teachers, according to Jude, is proof enough that although they say that they belong to Jesus, they really do not and are in fact, devoid of the Spirit.
What is possible to notice in these verses, is the way Jude contrasts the scoffers with the beloved.
The Beloved
So, who is the beloved? You remember from the very first verse in Jude that the beloved is the person who has been called by God, unconditionally loved by the Father, and kept for and by Jesus. According to the second verse in Jude, the one who is kept for Jesus because he is loved by the Father, will only know the mercy, peace, and love of the One who called him.
Yet, in the first two verses, Jude gives us the reason why we must avoid the false teachers who deny Jesus as Master and Lord (v. 4), Jude offers us a strategy to not only avoid the trap of the scoffers, but a formula that will only deepen our relationship with the God who saved us. There is an imperative (command) that Jude anchors three participles to. The imperative is the word, keep. The three participles are found in verses 20-21 (the participles are italicized):
Building yourselves in your most holy faith
Praying in the Holy Spirit
Waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
The way the NIV translates the Greek I believe is helpful in seeing how these three participles are connected to the word, kept: But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in Gods love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life (Jude 2021). How does one remain in Gods love? You do so by building your life upon His word, praying in the Holy Spirit, and waiting for Jesus Christ.
Build yourselves upon the Word of God
Another way you can say this is, Grow in your understanding and knowledge of the Scriptures. What he means by this is what he already admonished his readers to do in verse 3, contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. The apostle Paul said the same thing in Ephesians 2:20, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone (Eph. 2:1920).
The Cornerstone of our faith is Jesus and the gospel, as it is fleshed out from Genesis through Revelation, is our foundation. Our understanding of Jesus, as our Cornerstone, will shape our understanding of who God is. If we get Jesus wrong, we will get God wrong; if we get Jesus right, we will get God right. This is why Jesus said to anyone who would follow Him:
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (Matt. 7:2427)
In their commentary on Jude, Jim Shaddix and D.L. Akin observe: As we learn the Bible and understand its truth, we are strengthened, we grow, we mature, we are built up. Without the Scriptures there is no growth. Without the Word there is no maturity. Without the gospel nothing of eternal good will last. Like the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat, it is vital that we daily ingest and digest Gods Word and its truth.[5]
Pray in the Holy Spirit
Praying in the Holy Spirit is the second participle anchored to the word kept. What Jude means here is not that we pray in some angelic or heavenly language, but that we depend upon the Holy Spirit. What kind of praying does Jude have in mind? It is the kind of praying described in Ephesians 6:18, where we are, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. It is the kind of praying that seeks Gods will for our lives above our own desires and dreams for life.
The Holy Spirit is not some force or a type of impersonal power, the Holy Spirit is a He, and that He is a Person, and that Person is the Helper and Counselor promised to the Christian (see John 16:4-15), and the Helper is God the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who seals and secures all who belong to God: In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Eph. 1:1314). It is the Holy Spirit that the false teachers are devoid of, and it is what sets the true Christian apart from those who do not have eternal life, so we depend upon Him in knowing and that helps us in our weakness: Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (Rom. 8:26).
Wait for the Savior
As we build our lives in obedience upon the Word of God with Jesus as our Cornerstone, while we depend upon Gods Holy Spirit to help, lead, and direct we wait and long for our Redeemer: God the Son. Waiting is another way of saying, watching. Why are we waiting and watching for Jesus? Because we know that because the tomb is empty, his promise to return is imminently sure!
It is Jesus who the Psalmist promised in Psalm 24:7-8, Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle (Psalm 24:78)! The mercy Jude says the true Christian is watching is the, blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13) that every Christian anticipates. Or as Jim Shaddix so eloquently describes:
The Christians heart and eyes are fixed heavenward, looking for a rider on a white horse whose name is Faithful and True, whose eyes are like a fiery flame, and on his head are many crowns. We are looking for one whose robe is dipped in blood, and on his thigh he has a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords (cf. Rev 19:1116). Until then we will grow in his Word, pray by his Spirit, and watch for his coming.[6]
Oh, dont you see what Jude is doing in these verses? He is showing us that the key to keeping in the Love of God is found in a relationship with a God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! We are to set our eyes heavenward on the God who called us. We are to watch for Jesus out of a longing for our Groom as His Bride. We are to desperately depend upon the Holy Spirit who has sealed us for the Day of our redemption and powerfully Helps us to persevere until the end. This is what the false teachers want to deconstruct and pervert, but it is the key to remaining in the love of God that is foreign to anyone who has not been called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ (v. 3).
Conclusion (vv. 22-23)
As men and women with our eyes set on God, our hearts fixed on Jesus, and our dependance resting in the Holy Spirit, how are we to respond to the those who have crept in? What is our posture to be towards those who deny Jesus as Master and Lord with their words and with their lives? Well, in verse 22, we are introduced to next the imperative, and that is: have mercy. We are to exercise the same mercy we have received in three different ways:
We are to have mercy on those who doubt.
We are to show mercy by seeking to rescue those caught up into false teaching from .
We are to exercise mercy with the utmost caution and fear.
We are to have mercy on those who doubt.
The Christian is a conduit of Gods mercy and grace. We must have mercy on those caught up in false teaching and responsible for the false teaching because the God who called the Christian is merciful (Psalm 116:5). There is no sin so great that Gods mercy and His grace cannot overcome; we Christians ought to be very aware of this because we have experienced it ourselves.
We are to seek to rescue those caught up in false teaching from .
God uses those He has redeemed through the blood of His Son to tell unredeemed sinners where to find redemption. As one commentator wrote: Too much is at stake for believers not to take decisive action to rescue others from the destruction awaiting the false teachers.[7] One of my favorite quotes is from a missionary by the name of C.T. Studd who said, Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop, within a yard of .
We are to exercise mercy with the utmost caution and fear.
We are to show the scoffers who deny Jesus as Master and Lord mercy, but a mercy laced with a fear of being drawn into the same kind of sinful deception. What is true of the one who has been called, beloved, and kept by God is a hatred of sin. This does not mean that we are free from sinning, but it does mean that our affections have changed and continue to change where we long more and more to please the One who rescued us from . We are a walking example of the kind of change God can bring upon a person; what is true of the Christian is offered even to the false teacher: Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool (Isaiah 1:18).
[1] Helm, D. R. (2008). 1 2 Peter and Jude: sharing christs sufferings (p. 323). Crossway Books.
[2] John Wycliffe (Source unknown)
[3] Akin, Daniel L. (2019). Christ-Centered Exposition: The Sermon on the Mount (pp. 141-42). Holman Reference.
[4] Matthew S. Harmon, ESV Expository Commentary: Jude (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2018); p. 519.
[5] Shaddix, J., Akin, D. L. (2018). Exalting jesus in 2 peter, jude (Jud 20). Holman Reference.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Matthew S. Harmon. ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2018), P. 520

Living in Light of What is to Come

There is a habit that now has a name. This habit I have known about, but the name I just learned. You can now find the name on Dictionary.com. I will share with you the definition of the word, then reveal the name given to it: The practice of obsessively checking online news for updates, especially on social media feeds, with the expectation that the news will be bad, such that the feeling of dread from this negative expectation fuels a compulsion to continue looking for updates in a self-perpetuating cycle.
The name given for this habit is Doomscrolling, and it is a word that was created because of the Coronavirus pandemic, and according to the etymology of the word, The act of doomscrolling, then, is to roll toward annihilation. Taken biblically, it has a Revelation tone. Simultaneously, each person watches the demise of so much, while also slowly destroying themselves.[1]
The reason for doomscrolling has more to do with the fact that messages like the one from The Lion King do not sit well, even after our best efforts to prove otherwise. What do I mean? Well, the big message and song to match it, is that death is natural, it is a part of life, it is part of the cycle of life. According to Mufasa, When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so, we are all connected in the great Circle of Life So, in the end, your body returns to the earth, and that is it kind of like a long peaceful sleep with the possibility of a blissful afterlife. I have heard people say that death is natural and that it is just a part of life. I recently listened to a sermon by Timothy Keller where he commented on the idea that death is natural, here is what he said:
When you say, Oh, death is just natural, you are actually killing a part of your heart, something quintessentially human, because you know deep in your heart that youre not like a tree. Youre not like grass. You want to last. The deepest desires of your heart are for love that lasts. You dont want to be ephemeral. You dont want to be inconsequential. You dont want to just be a wave upon the sand. To say that you are means youre demoting the human race and youre killing hope. Youre killing something within you![2]
Death is not natural, because it is not the way things are supposed to be. Death is part of a curse we all find ourselves under. One of the gifts COVID gave us is the reminder that life is fragile; because we all want to last, doomscrolling has become a legitimate problem and for some, even an addiction because nobody wants to die.
The reality is that death comes for us all. Few are prepared for it, most do all they can to delay it, and many live as though there is no judgment that will follow it.
The false teachers who have crept into the church, whom Jude describes as ungodly people who pervert the grace of God and deny Jesus as Master and Lord, live in a dream world as though they will not have to account for their teaching and behavior before the One they so terribly misrepresent. That seems to be the way of things does it not? People live their entire lives with little thought that the decisions and actions of their lives will have consequence after death.
Throughout Judes epistle, he warns that these false teachers are destined for condemnation (v. 4), will one day perish (v. 11), and that there is a gloom reserved for such people that will last forever (v. 13). In verses 14-16, Jude again warns that the judgment that is coming is imminent.
A Word about the Book of Enoch
There are multiple books that are attributed as having been written by the Enoch of Genesis 5, but the oldest one that was discovered with the Dead Sea Scrolls is known as 1 Enoch. This is the book Jude may have quoted from and is an ancient book that some really believe should be in our Bibles. The problem with 1 Enoch, and the reason why it was never included in the category of holy and inspired Scripture as are the 66 books that make up the Bible, is because a large part of the book was written in 300-200 BC and the parables that make up the last part of the book were written sometime in 100 BC.
The Old Testament was accepted as scripture by the time Jesus was born and the New Testament was canonized by the fourth century, even though the New Testament in our Bible was largely accepted by the second century. The criteria that each book had to fit to be included in the canon of Scripture was the following:
1. Were their divine qualities consistent with other accepted sacred scripture?
2. Was it true and authoritative teaching?
3. Was it consistently accepted as scripture by Jews and Christians?
4. Did the early Church consistently accept it as scripture?
5. Regarding the books written before his birth, was there any indication that Jesus accepted it as Scripture?
6. Regarding the New Testament, was it composed by an apostle or someone who had close links to the original apostles?
The book of Enoch did not meet any of the above criteria even though there have been, and continue to be, some fringe groups that regard it as scripture. Here are some of the reasons why the book of Enoch is pseudepigraphal:
1. It is ascribed to the Enoch of Genesis 5:18 falsely as it was written in parts and not fully composed until sometime between 300-200 BC.
2. It was never accepted into Jewish canon.
3. The book(s) of Enoch contradict both the Old and New Testaments (there are many examples of this that have been documented, but for an example see Enoch 10:15 where it is promised that the flood will restore righteousness forevermore and 2 Timothy 3:1-9 or 2 Peter 3:1-13).
There are three categories of writings that you should be aware of: 1) Holy Scripture, 2) the apocrypha (non-canonical books), and 3) pseudepigrapha (which means false books). The apocrypha have been considered valuable, but not scripture (this is why you can buy Bibles that include the apocrypha). The Pseudepigrapha comes from the Greek word pseudo meaning false, and epigraphein, meaning to inscribe or write falsely; literally the word pseudepigrapha means false inscriptions. The book of Enoch has been classified for centuries as pseudepigrapha.
One more point I would like to make concerning the book of Enoch: just because a piece of literature is quoted by a biblical author does not mean that everything else included in that work is, or should be considered, scripture. For example, in Titus 1:12, the apostle Paul quoted a pagan Greek poet by the name of Epimenides, but just because he quoted him, does not mean that the poem itself is also scripture. In Acts 17:28, Paul is cited as doing the same not just from Epimenides, but also from another Greek poet by the name of Aratus.
The fact that Jude quoted Enoch and that Jude is recognized as Scripture means that Jude 14-16 is Holy Scripture.
God Receives Those Who Walk with Him (v. 14)
So, who was Enoch? I believe this is the reason why Jude mentions him. All that we know about Enoch is found in six short verses in Genesis. Permit me to share those scripture verses with you:
Genesis 5:1819. When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. 19Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:2124. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
The two facts we know about Enoch is that he, walked with God and God took him. Now, think about all that Jude has mentioned so far in his little letter. For starters, we were reminded that Cain was a violent and immoral man who did not walk by faith (v. 11a). Secondly, Jude points out that the generations that followed Cain, grew increasingly violent, introduced polygamy and gross sexual immorality, and were evil to the core (v. 6). Now, there are many other illustrations from the Old Testament Jude uses in his epistle, but do not miss the significance of where the story of Enoch is placed. Between the story of Cain in Genesis 4 and the story of the wickedness in Genesis 6 (where angels committed sexual immorality with humans), is Genesis 5, where we are introduced for the first time to Enoch, who walked with God in the midst of an increasingly wicked world.
In the midst of an increasingly wicked and evil culture, Enoch walked with God. Remember that walking in the Bible is a metaphor for the way a person lives his/her life. What does it look like to walk with God? It looks like Psalm 1:1-2, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. It looks like what the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:1-3, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Walking with God looks like Hebrews 12:1-2,
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:12)
Jude uses Enoch as an example to remind his readers that the way you avoid the trap of the false teachers is the same way you resist sin and the devil: keep your eyes on Jesus who is keeping and guarding you by following him as Master and Lord over your life. The treasure in Enochs life was not power, fame, or what others thought about him, his treasure was the God of Adam, Eve, Abel, and Seth.
You see, the reason Jude quotes Enoch is because here was a man who walked with God. For Jude, Jesus is Master and Lord, and it is through Him that we are called, and by Him that we are beloved in God the Father, and for Him that we are kept. For the Christian, the Judgment for our sin fell upon the Father so that our sins against our Holy Creator would be pardoned and because of that, even the worst of death is but a sting.
God Condemns Those Who Follow After Their Sinful Desires (vv. 15-16)
Apart from Jesus, death is much more than a stingdeath is an executioner. I have not thought of death in that way until I listened to a sermon by Timothy Keller titled, Death and the Christian Hope. Think about it though the Bible teaches that physical death is only a gateway to something greater. For the Christian, death is only a sting, but for the person who knows not Christ, then death is an executioner who delivers us to God as judge instead of Him as a Father.
For the Christian, we have confidence that we are beloved in God the Father and are kept for Jesus. This is the way Jude begins his epistle and assures us at the conclusion of his epistle that the Christian stands blameless before the presence of God not because of religious activity, but solely because of what Jesus has done and is doing. However, there is a judgment coming. In the days of Enoch, there was a looming judgment that would destroy the earth with water. Jesus spoke of that day and the day Jude refers to; listen to the words of our Savior:
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24:36-39, 44)
What is amazing about verses 14-16 is that the prophesy was passed down from generation to generation, from before the days of Noah concerning what would come of all false teachers: Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of his holy ones (v. 14). In other words, the coming of the Lord to judge is certain and settled, and the One who will come is Yahweh. Just as Jude attributed the liberation of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt in verse 5, he attributes the coming of Yahweh with Jesus in verses 14-16. What Enoch prophesied was not something new, but something repeated both in the Old Testament and New Testament. In Zechariah 14:3-5, we are told the same thing we read in Jude:
Then the Lord [Yahweh] will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord [Yahweh] my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. (Zechariah 14:35)
The judgment that Enoch and Zechariah prophesied about is the one Jesus as Master and Lord will execute, for of that day Jesus said: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:3132). This is why after Caiaphas the high priest asked Jesus, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God? and heard the answer Jesus gave, which was: You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven. - Jesus answer was all that Caiaphas needed to condemn him of blasphemy (see Matt. 26:57-68). It was not because Jesus claimed to be the Messiah (there were others before Jesus who did the same), but because he claimed to be the same Lord that Enoch, Zachariah, and Daniel spoke of (see Daniel 7:9-14).
What kind of judgment will Jesus bring? A judgment that will lead to another death much greater than a physical death, for it will be a judgment based on both things done and things said, for we are told that it is Jesus who will execute, judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him (v. 15; see also Rev. 20:11-15). Who are those who have spoken against him? The false teachers who deny Jesus with their deeds and their words that He is Master and Lord (v. 4). It is these people, Jude calls out as, grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage (v. 16).
Conclusion
There is a coming day, when the Day we are warned of throughout the Bible will become a reality. For many, that Day will result in another kind of death that will never come to an end:
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyones name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:1115)
According to Jesus (and Isaiah), the second death will have no end: For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh (Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:48).
For all those who will face judgment only to experience the lake of fire, the death we all must face on this side of eternity is an executioner. But consider what it is that the Christian has because of Jesus. If you are a Christianthat is that you have placed your faith and trust in Him as your Savior, Master, and Lordyou are called by God, beloved by God the Father, and kept for Jesus (v. 1). If you are a Christian, then it is Jesus who brought you out of your Egypt (v. 5). If you are a Christian, Jesus sought you as His people (vv. 20-21). If you are a Christian, Jesus has saved you from your sin (vv. 2, 24). If you are a Christian, you were once a slave to sin, but Jesus has made you free (v. 25)! If you are a Christian, Jesus is coming to make your redemption complete (vv. 24-25).
If you are a Christian, you are called, beloved, and kept so that instead of a second death mercy, peace, and love will never crest or abate, but will for all eternity be a never-ending climax of Gods mercy, peace, and love where you will never know him as Judge, but only as Father!
If you are a Christian, death has been defeated! If you are a Christian, instead of death being your executioner, the Lamb of God, who is Master and Lord, has made death a gardener![3]
Amen!
[1] Doomscrolling Is Slowly Eroding Your Mental Health (Preachingtoday.com).[2] Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church.[3] Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church.