2. Ecclesiastical position. As to our second example, are there not thousands of true Christians who would honestly shrink from the thought of being ashamed of the name of Christ, but who have never fairly considered His words, or the words of His apostles, as to their ecclesiastical position? Multitudes, without examination, remain in the religious systems in which they were brought up; others may make a choice according to their own opinion, for on this subject most men think that they may please themselves, just as they would do in choosing a business or a profession. They speak of essentials and non-essentials, and the constitution of the church is reckoned to belong to the latter. Still, the saying of the divine Master remains unchanged—” Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.” And has He not said, as to the principle of our coming together to worship, “ Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them?” This passage clearly implies that the constitution of the christian assembly should be according to His revealed will, not mere human opinion or expediency. To constitute a church according to the opinions of men, or to make choice of such an one, is plainly to set aside the word and the authority of Christ, seeing He has spoken so plainly.
Although this is not the place to explain such a passage, as we have only referred to it as an illustration of the point before us, yet we may say that to be gathered together in the name of Christ must be with His approval, with His blessing, and under the sanction of His presence. “ There am I in the midst of them.” Here we find two things essential to the assembly of God: 1, Christ as the center; 2, a power that gathers believers to that center—the Holy Ghost. No room is left for human opinion; at the same time we are bound to examine, and prayerfully to weigh, the words of our blessed Lord. It is not said, where two or three meet, this would imply that the human will was at work; but where two or three are gathered, this implies that a divine power is at work in gathering.
This subject is fully developed by the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians, but we will only refer to one verse at present. “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” This is an exhortation not to form an assembly, nor to maintain the unity of our own spirits, supposing all to be of one mind; but to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit’s forming—”the unity of the Spirit” This is the expression in principle of the body of Christ, the church of the living God. “ There is one body, and one Spirit.” Are we endeavoring to keep, to maintain, to exhibit, this unity in the bond of peace? Are we honestly desiring to do so? or would we be ashamed to be found in the place where these words would surely set us—outside of every human system, in company with a rejected Christ, and with those who have gone outside the camp to where He is?
How searching, then, Ο my fellow Christian, is this saying of our Lord, “ Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.” It weighs heavily and solemnly on the mind of the writer, and fain would he press its weight and importance on the minds of all his readers. May the Lord give us to be perfect in grace, separate as the Nazarite, outside the camp, and to contend earnestly for the whole truth of God, especially for the precious sayings of our Lord and Master, Christ Jesus.
We now return, after this long digression, to verse 4: “ For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here we have the two great elements of evil that were introduced into the church by the instruments of Satan during the days of the apostles—the denial of the rights of Christ as Lord and Master in His own house, and turning the grace of God into a principle of dissoluteness; as many have said, in excuse of the grossest guilt, “ Are we not as God has made us?” Thus was the way cleared by the enemy for the full indulgence of the human will, it was set free from everything that restrained it.
The history of the outward professing church, from the days of Jude down to the present moment, is the history of the operation of these two elements of evil under the fair name of Christianity; for although the authority of Christ is denied, His name is owned, to give weight and sanction to the pretensions of men. In one brief verse the parent evils that have afflicted and corrupted the church of Christ in all ages are here given. We see them at work in the present day on every side: where is it they are not to be seen, more or less? Infidelity, rationalism, and ritualism are abounding on every side. Yet God, in His infinite mercy, may use the very parading of the cross, and the sanctity that is thrown around the name of Jesus, to save precious souls. Many are saved through faith in that blessed name and His cross, though mixed up with much that obscures the plain truth of the gospel. “All that the Father giveth me,” says Christ, “shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in nowise cast out.” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37).) This word infallibly secures the gathering out of all such to Him, wherever they may be. Hence we find souls are converted in the most corrupt systems of men; but the ignorance in which they are found as to the mind of God, proves that the Holy Ghost who quickens them does not teach them beyond the system of which they are members. It is questionable if a person ever sees beyond what he is.
Jude now speaks of the character and judgment of apostasy. The Second Epistle of Peter, which is similar in various ways to the Epistle of Jude, has been spoken of by some commentators as the same, or as if the one borrowed from the other, but this is a mistake of unbelief; they are essentially different: Peter speaks of sin, and the reward of unrighteousness, and Jude distinctively of apostasy. “ If God spared not the angels that sinned” says Peter; but Jude speaks of them as “the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation.” This is apostasy—departure from the first estate, from the place that the goodness of God had set them in. This is the solemn character of apostasy, not merely sin or unrighteousness, but abandoning the position in which the grace of God may place us at any given time. It may be individual; alas, how often it is so! and how completely both the testimony and the vessel that carried it are ruined. In place of the humility of faith, there is the pride of reason and the exaltation of man. The truth has no deadlier enemies than those who once professed to be its friends, when Satan has done his terrible work. But Jude is speaking of the moral corruption which characterizes the general state of Christendom, and cites several examples as solemn warnings to the professing church.
Examples Of Apostasy.
1. The case of Israel.—The Jews, typically, were a sacred people, yet fell in the wilderness, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. “I will therefore put you in remembrance [warn you], though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” Unbelief was the root of their apostasy, their downfall, and their judgment. It was not a question of immorality and corruption, like Sodom and Gomorrah, but of abandoning the truth and the ways of God. This is the deadly evil which pervades the general mass of professing Christians. Their walk is blameless; they may even be charitable, and cover all their ways with a strong odor of sanctity. But the truth, the plain word of God, is rejected, the authority of Christ is denied, the operations of the Holy Spirit in the assembly are hindered, His presence as sovereign leader is not acknowledged, and the testimony, as established by God at the beginning, is corrupted; and, alas for the church! with every appearance of becoming reverence, there is full license for the will of man, which manifests itself in rebellion against God, by ignoring His word, and carrying out its own superstitions. And this is called human progress, or the universal progression of man; but all is ripening for the approaching judgments, and of this solemn fact Jude faithfully warns professing Christians.
2. The case of Angels.—Those spoken of by Peter sinned, these by Jude, apostatized. They departed from the position in which God had placed them, hence their judgment is spoken of in strong terms—they are “reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.”
3. Sodom and Gomorrah.—Immorality, in this case.
is the cause of judgment: but it is evident that it was excessive, and contrary even to fallen nature. Yet Capernaum, the most highly favored of places, falls under a heavier judgment than depraved Sodom. “ And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.” Most solemn thought for our highly-favored land, and for every mere empty professor! If there was one city in the land of Israel more favored than another, it was Capernaum; and yet the judgment of this city will be more unsparing than that of Sodom. And why? Not because they were guilty of grosser sin than Sodom, but because they refused to listen to the voice of heavenly wisdom; they believed not in Jesus, though most of His mighty works had been done among them. Theirs was the deeper and darker sin of unbelief. Alas, how little this sin is thought of, and even by those who could not tolerate the taint of immorality! They would be offended—and properly so—with the slightest impropriety, yet the most Christ-dishonoring unbelief may be cherished, and the word of God, as for all practical purposes, totally disregarded. Books of human composition have taken the place of the book of God, as to the regulation of all their christian services. The Lord is very merciful in view 0. all this, He is long-suffering, slow to wrath, but when He does rise up to judgment, who shall be able to stand? Oh that we could reach the ear of every mere nominal professor who is zealous for empty forms, but has no faith in Jesus, and no proper regard for His word! In the anguish of our spirit, knowing the state of multitudes, we can only cry to Thee, Lord. Raise up, qualify, send forth messengers, who will break in upon their soul-ruining delusion.
4. Dreamers, in whom there is no truth.—Contempt for authority, self-will, an unbridled tongue, speaking evil of v the apostasy common in our own day. M Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” Even the angels who excel in power and might rail not, but appeal to the judgment of God. How daring is man, and how prone to give license to the tongue!