Jude 17-25 | Rescued By God

And he warned that false teachers may appear confident, spiritual, or persuasive but they stand under the judgment of God because they reject His authority and lead others into sin. But Jude does not end his letter with warnings. He ends with hope.

In our passage today, Jude shows us three things: How Christians can remain faithful in a dangerous world. How the church rescues people who are drifting toward destruction. And how God Himself keeps His people secure.

So today we come to the final words of this letter. Words that remind us that while the church must contend for the faith, our ultimate confidence is not in our strength, but in the God who keeps His people. Our confidence is in the God who is able to keep us from stumbling and present us blameless before His glory with great joy.

Let’s stand together in honor of God’s Word as we read Jude 17-25

17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jude starts with this helpful reminder that we have been warned by the apostles and even by the Lord that false teachers will come. Christ, in reference to what it will be like toward the end said Matthew 24:11

11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

Paul spent several years in Ephesus serving to establish that church as a bastion of mission work and writing. His ministry there was effective and he set up elders to lead after his departure. He gave them this warning in Acts 20:29-30

29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

So the church has already been warned that false teachers will arise and depart from the clear, apostolic teaching found in the New Testament and Jude tells this church and us to “remember” that these things were written because they will be so. We have a spiritual enemy that has spiritual servants that want to deceive you and sway you away from Jesus with spiritual experiences and emotional manipulation.

Jesus said Matthew 24:23-25

23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.

These warnings weren’t for a distant future, but were very near. The apostles and even Christ uses this term “last time” or “last days” not about the end but about the time after Jesus’ departure. That’s why the apostles even refer to their time as the “last days”. And in this last time, Jude says that “there will be scoffers”. Now, what is a scoffer?

A scoffer is someone that mocks the truth of the Gospel. How does this happen? Well it could be mocking the message of Jesus Christ itself. “Christianity is a crutch for weak-minded people.” or “You really believe that book of fairy tales?” or “Do you believe a man really rose from the dead?”

Some people mock through rejection. Jude says that they “follow their own ungodly desires”. In other words some people mock the Gospel by refusing to submit to it. It looks like this: “I know what the Bible says, but I know plenty of decent people that do worse things than I do.” “God doesn’t judge anyone.” “Love is love.” “I’m going to live out my truth.”

Others mock through false religion. They may go to church but they change the message of the Gospel. They say things like, “All religions lead to God.” or “Jesus can save you without being your Lord.” or “Grace means you can live how you want to!” Remember that Jude 4

4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Others mock by being indifferent to the Gospel. They treat the message as irrelevant. They say, “That’s nice for you.” “It’s just not a priority for me.” This is so offensive to God because He invites you to come, see what I did on the cross to redeem you! I offered up my Son because I desire to save you and have a relationship with you! And so many people yawn in the face of the cross!

The Danger of Living Apart from God

These mockers follow their own passions and determine their own path to God which ultimately leads to destruction. This is the danger of living apart from God. When God is not the center of our life, the only focus. Listen, God did not send His Son to be merely one priority among many. Christ came to be your life.

The real question is not have you mocked the Gospel before because each of use have resisted the Lord in some way, but the real question is: will you keep scoffing or will you surrender to Jesus Christ?

But these scoffers in Jude, they are false teachers and one of the identifiers of a false teacher is that they cause divisions. They fracture churches and claim to have special insight and knowledge of the Scriptures. They don’t announce themselves openly but they say, “I have something novel I’ve learned!” I have a special relationship with Jesus.

But in actuality they are “worldly people, devoid of the Spirit”.

To be a worldly person doesn’t mean that you have a lot of possession or wealth or anything like that. It means to be ruled by natural instincts rather than God. In other words, they live according to their desires and cultural pressures. They give in to their emotions and appetites. Instead of being led by the Holy Spirit they are led by what “feels right to them”.

A person that does not have the Holy Spirit just functions based on their natural impulses but a Christian lives under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. So the issue is not changing behavior, the core issue is who has your heart?

Many people in our world have an appearance of godliness. They may go to church, use the Christian words, hold positions and appear moral, but without the Holy Spirit, there is no life. It’s like Rodin’s Garden in Paris. It’s a beautifully manicured garden filled with statues including the famous “Thinker” statue. There are many there that look like people, but there’s no life within them regardless of their beauty.

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

So what hope does a scoffer have? Only this — that God can open the eyes of the blind. He did it for you. He can do it for anyone. And that is why we plead with people rather than writing them off. Without the Spirit, the Gospel seems foolish. Obedience feels like rule following. Holiness seems unnecessary. This is how and why false teachers twist grace and deny Christ’s authority. It’s because their minds aren’t made new. But the Gospel changes everything!

When you repent of you sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, He makes us alive by His grace! Our eyes become open to the truth of our situation and when we are born again we understand that religious activities are empty without Jesus! He is our life and light and heaven itself!

Jude presses this point further and says “But you, beloved” and so his focus shifts from scoffers to Christians. He tells them, “but you,” do these next four things:

Build Yourselves Up in the Faith

This is not abstract belief. This is the “most holy faith” which was passed down to us through the ministry and message of the apostles. This is the same faith Jude talks about in verse 3. It’s not a personal building up either. Many Christians wrongfully believe that they are called to be independent. That Christianity is a personal and private thing. That it’s an individual activity. But that’s wrong. There is no biblical basis for that and it’s dangerous! Jude says “yourselves” plural. Every member contributes to the body’s spiritual growth.

Paul uses the illustration of a temple being built with Christ as the firm foundation we build upon. Yes, we are stones in the structure, but we are connected by the master builder, Jesus Christ, who has called all Christians to live in fellowship and community with one another.

Pray in the Holy Spirit

If scoffers are led by their own ungodly passions and are devoid of the Holy Spirit then Christians are to be led by God’s passion and filled with the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t mean speaking in tongues or losing control. Prayer is meant to be a nurse to our faith. If your faith is weak, prayer is God’s method to strengthen your faith.

Praying in the Spirit means that your prayers are guided by the Holy Spirit. Not your ungodly desires, but your godly ones. My stepdad has been battling sickness recently and the doctors don’t know the exact cause but they ruled out most of the basic causes of his symptoms which means its something more serious. I’ve shared about my mom on a few occasions here because she wasn’t a godly mom when I was growing up but God has used her suffering over the last 14 years to grow her in godliness. I was talking to her over the weekend and I asked her, “Mom, are you scared?” and she’s got this sweet, heavy mountain accent, she said, “Scared? Boy, I ain’t scared. I’m concerned, sure. But I know my God’s got him.”

Prayer nourishes faith and praying in the Spirit is aligned with the Scripture. Spirit-filled prayer is never counter to what God has said in His Word. You can pray for God to bless your relationship, but if you’re cohabitating, he wont. If you pray for blessings but you’re getting drunk, He wont. Ephesians 6:18

18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Spirit-filled prayer is also filled with faith and persistence. You might have something you have been praying for for 20 years. Keep going. Keep praying. Don’t stop. If God hasn’t said “No.” You can keep going with freedom! For that sick relative, you keep praying. For that lost child, you keep praying. Pray according to the Word of God. Pray by being led by His Spirit.

26 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. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

We also build ourselves up by

Keep Yourselves in the Love of God

Christian, you are loved by God and you are kept for Jesus Christ. But you are also commanded to keep yourself in God’s love. So, yes God keeps you and protects you but believers are also called to persevere. God works and enables, and we respond. and our response is itself His work within us. As Paul says, 'work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do' (Phil 2:12–13). The branch does not sustain itself, the vine does. But a living branch does bear fruit. This is the New Testament pattern to

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

Abide means to remain in. It means that we are faithful to Jesus. We are obedient to God. We reject false teaching and lean into the Word of God.

Wait for the Mercy of Jesus

Christians have a future hope. We don’t live for the here and now. Yes, we have business to attend to right now and we need to do those things, but we live for a future home and place. Christians know that what we see and experience is not all that there is, and we continue with the hope of heaven in our hearts where all will be made right and Christ will rule with absolute perfection and sovereignty!

False teachers live for right now. They want all the pleasures of this world but Christians look ahead to the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ! What is this mercy? It is final salvation. In the Bible we use the word “saved” to describe salvation, but it’s so much bigger than that! We are saved, we are being saved, we will be saved. Justified, declared righteous the moment you believed. Sanctified, being made holy day by day as God conforms you to Christ. Glorified, what's coming: the resurrection of the body, the perfection of the soul, the completion of everything God began.

This mercy is the glorification when Christ’s mercy brings us into eternal life. You see, believers are promised a resurrection to eternal life. Christians do not believe that Heaven is our final home. We often think of it as such but God has promised to make a new heaven and a new earth that are together. Heaven is where all those who trust in Christ go to when we die, but our souls and our bodies will be reunited and resurrected to eternal life without decay or sickness. We will be made perfect in a moment and this is the mercy that leads to eternal life.

So you see, the Christian life consists of faith, love and hope. Faith is what we believe about God. Love in how we live our lives now before God and hope of how we await God’s promise to be fulfilled.

But there are so many that are in danger! Some of you have yet to respond to Christ and as a result your soul is in mortal peril! What is a Christian to do?

Rescue Those in Spiritual Danger

Jude shifts from self-preservation to mission. As a Church we are to stand in truth, but also be filled with mercy.

Show Mercy to Those Who Doubt

There are many in our city that doubt. Did Jesus really live and die and rise again? They struggle with it. Some people are uncertain or confused. They need patience. If that’s you, just know we love you and this is the best place to ask those kind of questions because we’ve all wrestled with them. Christians must respond with compassion rather than condemnation.

Jude uses a word in verse 23 which is interesting, “snatching” it means to seize or rescue forcefully. It’s a word of action like grabbing someone, in a burning building, hoisting them on your shoulder, and carrying them out. This is a word used, not to communicate a method, but to communicate urgency.

Snatch Others from the Fire

People are in danger of God’s righteous judgment. The Bible tells us in John 3:16-18

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

God sent His son into the world to save it. Not condemn it. Why? Because the world is already condemned! Why? Because they don’t believe in Jesus Christ! That’s why Christ came was to save you! So Jude tells us that Christians are to be merciful and the best way to show mercy is to share the Gospel with them. Yes, meet their needs. Help them out. Do what you can to express love, but for God’s sake share the Gospel!

Show Mercy with Fear

Christian, some situations require both compassion and caution. Believers must show mercy without being drawn in and enticed by sin. This is why Jude says “show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” Christians are called to love the lost, but simultaneously hate the corrupting effects of sin because often, sin spread like rotten fruit.

I hate getting bagged apples from Wal-Mart. I mean… I buy them but they can be a bit of a gamble, right? You go in and buy a 5lb bag of fuji apples and you get home and the first one is soft or rotten and suddenly you realize, half the apples aren’t good. That’s the point that I want to make here with you is that we want the church to grow, but grow through the Gospel of Christ. It’s not about filling the church with religious people but to see people truly changed by the power of the Gospel!

It’s not about more people in the room. It’s about reaching people to enter the Kingdom! You can enter the kingdom because the Gospel is for you. If you know today that you need Jesus then turn away from your sin and trust in the Lord. Do not scoff at His offer, but trust in His love and grace for you today!

Jude concludes his sermon with a song

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Rest in the God Who Keeps Us

After all the warnings and commands, Jude ends with worship. Notice that God presents us blameless 'with great joy.' Whose joy? It’s His. The Father presenting His redeemed people, purchased by His Son, preserved by His Spirit, and rejoicing over what He has accomplished. And that is why Christ gets all the glory, because every bit of this is His doing.

Who can keep you from stumbling? Who can present you innocent and pure? This is not a hypothetical, because this is actually what Jesus does! God keeps His people from falling. God actually will present us blameless and full of joy and all of this is possible “through Jesus Christ our Lord”. It’s all because of Jesus. It’s all because of Him. And because of His work of saving us, now our response is to declare how glorious He is, how majestic God is, how powerful to overcome my sin and yours, and He has all authority!

These things are true of God! God deserves all the glory! Not me, not you, not anyone. He gets all the glory because He is God and He is good! So what will you do with this great God of love that has made a way for you?

Will you scoff? Will you be indifferent or hostile?

God’s greatness demands our sincere reverence because He is so holy and wonderful! His work demands our obedience because He has given us life in His Son when we lean our hopes on Jesus. He is to be worshipped because He is God Almighty before all time and now and forever. Amen!

Head: God wants you to know that He is able to keep His people from stumbling and bring them safely into eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Heart: God wants you to believe that your salvation and security rest in His power to keep you, not in your ability to keep yourself.

Hand: God wants you to remain faithful to Christ and show mercy by helping others trust in Him before it is too late.