The Apostle now takes up the true subject of his epistle. Are you not struck with the solemnity of this beginning? "Beloved, using all diligence to write to you of our common salvation, I have been obliged to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." Jude 1, 3; J.N.D. Trans. His first thought was to take up the pen, filled as he was of the great desire to present to them a subject which shall always be the joy of the redeemed, "our common salvation." Before all else he wished to have all believers in fellowship one with another, rejoice in the wonders of the work of the Savior. But the pen falls from his hand. What has happened? Dangers have surged, and these poor Christians may not even be aware of it! It is urgent to warn them lest they fall asleep into dangerous inaction. The Apostle gives up then his first theme and again takes up the pen to exhort them to contend for the faith.
Dear friends, this exhortation is more timely now than then. The war is declared, the enemy occupies the country, dangers threaten on all sides, traps are set, deceitfulness abounds all about us. Perhaps the Lord's sheep are not on their guard against these strangers which come to them with fair speeches and flattering words, seeking to undermine the very foundation of their faith. Perhaps their hearts are not simple enough to hear only the Good Shepherd's voice. The Apostle decides to write to us. We must be awakened from our sleep, rise and fight against the tide of evil all about us. What is the banner we are called to hold up? "The faith which was once delivered unto the saints."
We find in a number of passages, which it would take too long to enumerate, that "the faith" is not here the gift of God put in our heart enabling it to lay hold of salvation. "The faith" is the whole of the Christian doctrine taught to the saints, and which their faith has laid hold of. Now the character of the evil in the last days, is the surrendering of this doctrine. Notice the word once. It was delivered once; it is immutable and has never been modified. When Jude wrote, he spoke of this teaching as belonging to the past; it was what the first Christians had learned from the mouths of the apostles. This same teaching we now have in the Word. God has seen to it that it be given to us in the Holy Scriptures, and it exists nowhere else.
What is uppermost upon my heart is to convince you, beloved, that the great task incumbent upon us today is to hold up with a firm hand the banner that has been entrusted to us, around which all the "called" without exception must group themselves—the banner on which are written two names that are but one: the Word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we are confronted with the moral evil that exists in the world and which is on the constant increase, displaying everywhere irreligion and unbelief and, danger greater still, appeals to man's reason to overthrow the truth, do not believe it necessary to engage in much controversy. We are much too insufficient for this, and I am persuaded that in our state of weakness we are no longer capable of doing it.
At the time of the Reformation and even until the past century, controversy, without convincing the adversaries, could establish the souls of the Christians struggling against the enemy. Seeing our little strength, our present business is rather not to let ourselves be turned aside from the things once taught to the saints, and to hold them fast. In this consisted Philadelphia's struggle: "Hold that fast which thou hast," said He that is holy, He that is true (Rev. 3:11). Do not think that this requires much knowledge and intelligence; only one simple thing is needed, love for Christ, and the most ignorant among us can possess it. If the Lord occupies in our hearts the place that is due Him, we shall certainly gain the victory; for Satan can do nothing against Him, and we shall maintain the faith once delivered to the saints, for it has nothing but Him for its object.
One sees by this epistle that at the time the Apostle wrote, the division already morally at work in the Church, was not as yet an accomplished fact. It took place only after the departure of the last Apostle, but Jude presses and declares that which was going to happen, and appeals, as we have seen, to the whole of God's family in its simplest and broadest acceptation, so that not one Christian might elude his duty when it is a question of repulsing the attacks against faith. It is to be noticed that the state of the Christians to whom the Apostle was writing was far from being what it should have been. He said to them: "I would put you in remembrance, you who once knew all things" (v. 5; J.N.D. Trans.). They were about to forget those things formerly well known which had been taught to them once, at the beginning. They had received the unction of the Holy Spirit, by which they knew all those things; but their faith had grown weak, their thoughts had turned toward the world, and Jude felt the need of reminding them concerning the scene toward which they were casting covetous eyes. Likewise, the Apostle Peter in his second epistle felt the need of awakening the sleeping Christians by reminding them of these things (2 Pet. 1:13). And we, believers of today, do we think it not time to remember them? Are we already awakened from our sleep? The call to the battle was sounded long ago. Oh! may we hear and heed these words of the Apostle: "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Eph. 5:14.
The second section of the epistle of Jude (vv. 5-16) describes the evil which characterizes the last days. I deeply feel, dear brothers and sisters, that the subject I now call your attention to is neither rejoicing nor uplifting, but at certain times God brings us to the brink of a precipice and invites us to take a look at it. The view is helpful when we have, like Lot, been seduced by the beautiful appearance of the plain of Jordan. Only let us remember that where it is a question of resisting evil, nothing will enable us to do this like occupation with good. As you think of it you will see that "the whole armor of God" (Eph. 6), to be able to withstand in the evil day, consists above all in a good state of soul, and that victory entirely depends upon it. Words alone do not gain the victory, but a life consecrated to Christ and spent in communion with Him does.
"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained [marked out] to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." v. 4. These men had crept in among the faithful, privily bringing in "damnable heresies" (2 Pet. 2:1). But the Word reveals to us that in the days of old these men who came so long afterward had been ordained beforehand to this condemnation. This term does not at all mean that God had predestinated them to everlasting judgment, a serious error which figured in Calvin's doctrine. This passage means that God had spoken beforehand of these wicked ones of the last days and proclaimed in the days of old the cause of the accusation that should be brought against them and for which they should afterward be condemned. The first time a prophet was raised in the world (Enoch), he announced that an accusation should be brought to the charge of the wicked of our day, which should afterward bring on them a terrible judgment. Oh! may they have, in time, their eyes opened to learn of the fate awaiting them and to know God's horror of their doctrines, proved by the fact that He condemned from the beginning of the world, before the flood, the principles taught today.
These are "ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Two characters of evil are marked here, that we may easily recognize them. These ungodly men of whom the Apostle speaks, are the men of our days who were not born under law, but under grace. What do they do with it? They despise it, slighting the moral obligations it imposes upon them, and take advantage of it to give themselves up to unrestrained corruption.
The second character of these ungodly ones is that they deny "the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." This term is used many times in this epistle. The Word does not say here that these ungodly men deny the Person of Christ, but they deny Him as Lord. They accept not His authority, and this is what characterizes Christendom before the final development of apostasy. These men look for authority only in themselves and in that which they call their conscience. It is the iniquity of which 1 John 4:3 speaks, selfwill or the refusal of all laws other than one's own law, every one being a law to himself. Christ's rights are thus trodden under foot; His Word is not the rule; everyone feels free to judge it, taking what suits him, rejecting what does not. Let us not forget that these "ungodly" often profess the greatest admiration and the most profound respect for the Person of Jesus while rejecting the Lordship of Christ. Before the Word which reveals Him, they reserve the right and the authority to judge, which belong to God only. Their religion therefore is the exaltation of man, and shall be so more and more until the day when the "man of sin" "sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:4).