Jude 1:12-25
Apostates Depraved and Doomed
12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Apostates Predicted
16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
Maintain Your Life with God
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
Glory to God
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.
We find the conclusion of the matter in the last verse of this short letter to the church. It is to give glory to the only wise God our Savior in all we do. He first continues the exposing of the heretical apostates we read in verses 5-10 by revealing that they only serve themselves. They are empty of fruitful effect as if storm clouds that never actually rain on the earth to cause growth but just blow around in the sky to no purpose. They are also compared to fruitless trees that need to be uprooted because they have no purpose to feed others. Like waves that froth uselessly with great noise and fury and as wandering stars cast out of heaven, these have no lasting goodness in them. These things are what false doctrine and rejection of Jesus Christ bring to the world. Even the traditional book of Enoch told of these who will face the final judgment because they are ungodly in all they are and do, and all they slanderously blaspheme the Lord with in word and deed. The Lord is not mocked and will return with His saints (Revelation 19:11, 14, 16) to bring retribution on them for rejecting Him and His Son. There is no escape except through repentance and faith. These who oppose the Lord and His Kingdom in the gospel of Jesus Christ serve their own desires and constantly complain with big words full of sound and fury but truly meaning nothing in the end in light of eternity. We who have heard the gospel stand in stark contrast to these because we have believed and received the Son of God through our repentance, our turning from sin to Him. We therefore can identify these who mock God and live self-serving sensual lives in defiance of Him and all that is holy and good and respond in prayer to build our faith and perseverance in God’s Holy Spirit and love because we have His mercy leading to an eternal life with Him after death and the judgment to come. We therefore persist in proclaiming the gospel of eternal rescue from God’s wrath and judgment on our sin as we strive to rescue those whom God is calling, who are mired in the world in which these apostates rule for now, that they may be saved from this wicked generation (Acts 2:40). The absolute and certain hope is that the God who saves us can keep us from stumbling and falling too far that when we are presented to the Father the righteousness of Christ will make us faultless to stand before His throne! He will have immense joy in having us there as will we in Him. This final prayer is our desire and motivation to live, giving God our Savior the honor and glory in our praises for His sovereignty and wisdom in His divine majesty as ruler of us all. No one is wise but Him! Give all the glory and praise to our wise God!
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