The Moral Character of the Last Days: July 2010
Table of Contents
The Moral Character of the Last Days
A little child has little sense of change, for it does not have experience to compare the past with the present and little awareness of the future. As adults, we have the unchanging revelation of God whereby we may know God’s mind and compare all to it. In it we may see the present in light of the past and the future. By it every generation is instructed, warned, provided for, guided and encouraged. By the Word we can see that we are living in the last days of the period of time often called “the day of grace.” The moral darkness and evil that, in the beginning, was “without” has now come in and pervaded the great house of profession called Christendom. We are part of that house and God has given us ample warning and provision and encouragement not to give up, but to continue on, keeping His Word and not denying His name. We are told that we must earnestly contend for the foundations of “the faith”against the efforts of the enemy that crept in and now desires without shame to take over the house. The same grace of God that saved us, and in which we stand, is working for us and in us to the intent that we be kept from the rising tide of doctrinal and moral evil. Brethren, “keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 21).
Features of “the Last Days”
“In the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Tim. 3:1); this refers to the closing season of Christendom. To this season Jude also refers, when he speaks of “the last time” when there should be mockers (vs. 18). Now it is important that we should know what are the features which the Spirit of God describes as attaching to these “last days.”
In this Epistle of Jude we find two distinct marks by which the Holy Spirit has described the closing hour of this dispensation: (1) the spirit of intellectual liberty, or of free-thinking, which rejects the mysteries of God, and (2) the prevalence of moral laxity.
In 2 Peter 3, we are told that “there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?” Here “the last days” are marked by a spirit of scoffing, and the object of it is one of God’s precious mysteries — the second coming of the Lord.
If we turn to the first epistle of John, we find the same thing spoken of as the spirit of antichrist, which was already working and which scorns the mysteries of the truth. “Little children,” he says, “it is the last time” (1 John 2:18), and then he describes what characterizes the last time — the denial that Jesus is the Christ — the denial of the Father and the Son. Now from these two witnesses (Peter and John), we get one very definite character of the last times. They are to be marked by a scoffing and infidel spirit which mocks at the coming of the Lord and which denies the great mystery of the Persons of the Godhead.
Moral Laxity
If we refer to the Epistle of Jude, we shall find it is not these features which are given as marking “the last days,” but a fearful state of moral laxity, such as Paul gives us in 2 Timothy 3. It is moral laxity which is spoken of in both of these epistles. According to the testimony by Paul, men are “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud ... unholy ... incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more [or, rather] than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” This is an awful picture. And remember, it is Christendom that is described. They instruct us beforehand that the last days of Christendom are to be marked by a fearful moral or practical condition, as well as by an infidel and scoffing spirit which rejects the mysteries of the truth.
Now you may ask me, What have we to do with these things? Ah! beloved friends, we have to do with them. We ought to know the enemies against whom we have to contend — the forms of Satan’s power against which we have to watch, and it will not do to escape one of the snares and fall into the other. It will not do to guard only the mysteries of truth; we must watch over our whole behavior, that we do not slip into the general practical condition of the “last days.” It is very likely that both the features described will not attach to the same person. The modern infidel-thinking intellectualist may be moral and amiable, while the man of ungodly walk may be the professor of an orthodox creed. Jude does not glance at that of which John speaks.
Practical Holiness
Now I desire to be practical — to direct your attention specially to one point. When the Holy Spirit takes His rightful direction, He speaks of Christ — of the common salvation. His office is to “take the things of Christ, and show them unto us.” But He is in the place of service in the church, and therefore, when there is mischief at the doors, He turns aside and exhorts to “contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” It is not for orthodoxy that saints are here exhorted to contend, but for the holiness of the faith. We are exhorted to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” against the “ungodly men” who are described as “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness,” the “ungodly men” who deny, not the Father and the Son, but the “LORD” Jesus Christ. Mark! who deny Jesus Christ, not as a Saviour, but Jesus Christ as a LORD; that is, who practically gainsay His authority — who “despise dominion” or lordship — who reject restraints. Jude is not speaking of Jesus as a Saviour, but of Jesus as a Lord. His government is the thought in the mind of the Holy Spirit here. We should welcome this as a sound and salutary word. Is it not evil when a saint does not exercise this continual check on his thoughts, his tongue, his doings? We are not to say that our thoughts or our lips or our hands or our feet are our own. They should be understood to be under lordship. We are not to despise dominion.
The Epistle of Jude puts every one of us on a holy watchtower, to watch, not against a spirit that would gainsay the precious mysteries of God (Peter’s and John’s words do that), but against the tendencies of the natural heart to gratify itself. If Peter put you looking in one direction — watching against the forms and actions of the infidel mind — Jude erects another watchtower from which we are to look out and guard against the self-indulgent and defiling ways that would reduce the whole moral watch — a watch which guards against the spirit that gainsays the lordship of Jesus over the thoughts, the doings and the goings of His people.
Moral Laxity
Then he goes on to say, “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” Here you observe how wonderfully fruitful in instruction is the Book of God. We get instruction drawn from the history of heaven. The Spirit in Jude gives it to us (vs. 6). He then descends the stream of divine history from the beginning and gathers these various examples to press them on ourselves, to warn us against a state of moral laxity. And notice how he describes these ungodly despisers of dominion. “These are spots in your feasts of charity ... feeding themselves without fear.” The absence of this “fear” indicates this state of moral laxity of which I speak.
O beloved! I would that this word on which we are meditating might incite us to “gird up the loins” of our mind. Do we imagine that we have a right to take our own way in anything? We have no such right. As has been said, “The moment you do a thing because it is your own will, you have sinned.” To do our own will because it is our own will is the very essence of rebellion against God.
He then goes back to the prophecy of Enoch. This prophecy is to execute judgment upon the ungodly, for all “their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed.” It is on ungodliness that the judgment is anticipated to fall. And if you and I look around upon Christendom, even now, shall we not see a prevalence of ungodliness enough to provoke the judgment of the Lord?
But let us take this word home to ourselves. May the Spirit apply it to the conscience. If I take my own will as the rule of my actions and thus “despise dominion,” I am (in the principle of my mind) on the road to the judgment of which Enoch prophesied.
O beloved! may we be careful and watchful in our behavior and moral ways. Jesus is both our Saviour and Lord. “Ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith.”
The Love of God
There again is the same subject of warning. The saints are urged to build themselves up on their “most holy faith.” “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” And what is “the love of God” of this passage? It is the love of God in John 15. “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” It is the complacent enjoyment of the love of Christ. Does this make the path of a saint legal? No; it only binds the heart to Jesus with a new cord as the fresh spring of our affections — the Object of all our desire.
Then again, “others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Does he speak here of the infidel spirit? No, but take care lest the garment spotted by the flesh get around you.
“Unto Him that is able to keep you from falling,” that is, not from the truth, but from the holiness of the truth, for it is added, “and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”
Easiness and Self-Seeking
In conclusion, let me repeat it, may we welcome this word of warning. Would that it were sounded in the ears of all the people of God. Let them know that we are living in a day of easiness and self-seeking. The Christian profession is filling itself with a thousand gratifications. Every hour is multiplying the means and opportunities of indulging nature. The lusts of the mind (Eph. 2) are greatly nurtured. Skill of all kinds, and labor too, is taxed to contribute to their indulgence. “The lusts of the flesh” are all akin to this. Oh, may we, in the midst of it all, love the lordship of Jesus! Let us bow to His scepter. Let us kiss it more and more, and instead of saying, “This is my pleasure — that is my will,” let us pray that Jesus may reign in our hearts.
“the Lord of Every Motion There”
But again, let me remind you, it is Jesus that is to be our Lord — He who loved us and gave Himself for us — He who has saved His people. And He is to be served, not in the spirit of bondage or the mere observance of religious rites and injunctions, but in the spirit of liberty and love — a spirit that can trust Him at all times and that can take all conscious short-coming and failure to a throne of grace through Him, with happy boldness. O beloved! it would be but a poor return for His love and salvation to watch in any wise as against Him, and not entirely for Him, for He has “not given us the spirit of fear, but ... of love.” May we watch, therefore, that He may be glorified in us by free and happy service now while He is absent, that we may be glorified in Him when He shall appear to take us to Himself (John 14:3).
Adapted from
Christian Truth, 21:304
The Last Night of Sodom and Christendom
Abraham’s nephew Lot first became interested in Sodom following a difficulty that arose between the herdsmen of Lot and those of Abraham over pasture for their flocks. The sight of the well-watered plain of Jordan and the luscious grass on the surrounding hills, together with his lust for material wealth, led Lot’s heart away from dependence upon God. Thus he chose to live “in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom” (Gen. 13:12). He eventually lived in Sodom, and while his soul was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked” (2 Peter 2:7), his spiritual sensibilities were dulled, and he did not see things as they really were. Likewise, the inhabitants of Sodom would not allow the thought of responsibility to God and His claims to enter their minds. Being governed by cares and pleasures, occupied only with what was passing before their eyes, and being full of idleness, they were not aware of what was ahead for Sodom.
We are continually surrounded by and the innermost part of our being may be affected by Satanic influences — influences that are incomprehensible, clothed with seeming unlimited power, and that use man’s mind as a plaything. The only deliverance for man from such creatures and their influence is Christ, the Master over all creation. All deliverance for fallen man is dependent upon the death of Christ and our believing and owning Him as Son of God and Saviour (Luke 8:26-33).
The Judgment of Sodom
“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before Me” (Ezek. 16:49-50). Fullness of riches together with idleness stimulate the appetite for pleasure and the indulgence of voluptuous passions. The people gave their lives over to the call of their natural senses, debasing their souls and leaving God out of their lives.
“The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground” (Gen. 19:24-25). What a warning to us who have had higher privileges than Sodom! Sodom, a garden that the Lord had made, was in a moment turned into a place of jackals and birds of prey — a haunted city, never again to be rebuilt. Such will be Christendom. Sodom’s history is left as an example for all to remember — a warning to all mankind. The explosive flame of divine justice on Sodom has sent a warning down through the centuries to remind man that there is a God in heaven.
The Judgment of Christendom
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:28-30).
These words from God should immediately electrify the mind and heart, because of the imminent judgment to fall on Christendom. Never before has there been prosperity in the western earth as there is today. This warning cries with special voice to the nations of the west, under Christian profession. As we look at Sodom, is it not like looking at our day in a mirror? They were increased with goods and left God out of their lives. Today, spiritual lethargy has engulfed the Christian profession. Worldly pleasure is taking the place of devotedness to God and His claims. Christian civilization (Christendom) has fallen under the power and deceit of Satan, who has inspired the world to change what was holy and good into a wicked source of pleasure. Men, even believers, do not trust God, but put their trust in the institutions of men. The unequal yoke between believer and unbeliever is commonplace. The modesty that once characterized women is turned into license, especially in dress. The man no longer lifts up holy hands. Man’s system of education is geared to teach wickedness, violating the principles of true Christian profession, while churches have largely changed from spiritual pursuits to political and humanitarian avocation, instead of teaching the only remedy for the evils of the day.
As the truth that has been given to man in this day is full and great, so will be the judgment on those who have professed with their lips, but rejected it in their hearts. The awful judgment upon Christendom will be far worse than the judgment upon Sodom. It will not be merely fire and brimstone falling from heaven, but the armies of heaven descending upon the western earth. Why are they judged? Because they did not have the truth? No, but because they did not love the truth, evidenced by their not walking in it (2 Thess. 2:10).
God’s Faithfulness
In spite of general failure in every dispensation, God has always maintained a witness to Himself. Although there is confusion, God remains faithful, and the Holy Spirit by the Scriptures would guide each believer into all truth. We need to be willing and diligent (John 16:13). There have been and there are today individuals with hearts burning for the truth, holding on to the light even unto death by persecution. Those whom the Lord addresses in Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7-13) may have only a little strength, yet the Lord has given them to know God’s mind concerning Christ and the church. Christ is the true “Amen” who has always been faithful. He leads into the creation of God beyond all failure — a creation where all things are of God.
To individuals with an opened heart, He says, “I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). The appeal is to the individual, and personal affection is called for. Should it not be so with the bride of Christ?
Abraham’s life gives the believer a pattern for walking by faith. Abraham was given no commands or rebukes as to his everyday walk through this world, for communion took care of everything. Abraham had faith and hope, and God was his reward.
C. E. Lunden, adapted
No Fear of God
There is considerable concern in many quarters over the relaxed tone of morals in young people’s circles, and it does not stop with young people. To be precise, it is more like a complete breakdown of morals. The surprising thing is that anyone should wonder about the source of the present phenomenon. On every hand bad seeds are being sown; there is no mystery, then, when they suddenly spring up and bear an abundant crop of noxious weeds. The simple reason for the lavish crop of moral delinquency is that this nation and most other nations have given up the “fear of the Lord.” There is now “no fear of God before their eyes.”
On every hand there is a concerted drive to remove the fear of God from the consciences of the people of the land. Atheism is growing apace. Atheists bask in the favor of the courts which render decisions approving their objections to the mention of God or of prayer to Him. God is restricted in this land — that is, as far as men can restrict the omnipotent. They ignore the fact that He is supreme and will be justified when He speaks and clear when He judges (Psa. 51:4). He is the One “with whom we have to do,” and there is no escaping that settled fact (Heb. 4:13).
Education
The schools of the land have taught that God did not create man, but that he merely evolved from slime. In this he takes pride that he is such an exalted product of fanciful chance. He will accept any theory of his beginning (no matter how degrading) rather than accept God’s sure Word, and for one reason only: If he can satisfy himself that God did not create him, then he can throw off responsibility to God. The wish is parent to the thought. And then if he can persuade himself that he is, after all, nothing more than an intelligent beast, then, by deduction, he may just as well live in a bestial manner and satisfy all the corrupt tendencies of his evil heart. By the fall, man became God’s enemy; this could not be said of any mere beast.
Religion
If we turn to the religious world to observe underlying causes of the moral breakdown, we find hosts of professed ministers of the gospel who are modernists and liberals. They deny the very basic elements of the Word of God. It is common today to find men who do not believe and affirm the inerrancy of God’s Word, its relevancy to the problems of the day, the deity of Christ, the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus, His sacrificial death, His bodily resurrection, and His coming again. Men in pulpits do not hesitate to call the very facts of Scripture but allegories. Anything that happens to annoy church members can easily be explained away. Can we wonder that when such daring infidelity parades in clerical garb, the precepts of God’s Word are treated as fables?
Young believers, remember that “every word of God is pure,” and there is no safety in this wicked world but in taking heed to that Word in all departments of our being. Mankind has fallen until all that governs people’s morals today are their lusts and popular opinion. As conduct becomes lower and lower, man allows more and more. What was scorned a year ago is accepted on the basis of “it is not thought anything of today.” And thus there is no floor under the lowest state of morality. As this sinks, man tolerates more. When the fear of God is removed, there is no stability, nothing under his feet which is sure and unalterable. A common expression today is, “Everyone is doing it.” This is not true, but if it were true, what is that to the man that trembles at God’s Word? “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing” (Eccl. 12:14).
God Is Omniscient
There is now a certain type of sophistry abroad that supposes that if people do not get caught in their immoral or amoral deeds, all is well, whereas it is written, “There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops” (Luke 12:2-3). “He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?” (Psa. 94:9). God is omniscient, and nothing can be hidden from Him. Everything that is said and done and even what is thought (Psa. 139:2) is all open before Him. May Christians remember that “Thou God seest me.”
There is the government of God here and now, for “God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Then for those who die in their sins, there is the great white throne of His judgment, where the books will be opened and they judged according to their works (Rev. 20:12). And for those of us who are saved by the precious blood of Christ, all our works will come before Christ at His judgment seat, when our lives pass in review before Him. These are solemn realities.
Past Examples
Romans 1 gives a true account of the debauched condition of the heathen world. God had given them over to their sordid life with all its frightful consequences because they turned their backs on Him. This then led to the dissolution of the Roman Empire and nearly to the breakdown of all society. Now, in so-called Christian lands, these conditions are coming back, or are already here, with the shocking addition that they are allowed while professing the form of godliness. And a worse judgment is now on the way, for God tells us that a time of trouble is coming which is worse than anything the world has ever known.
Every day brings it closer. The world’s entertainment — movies, television, books of horror and filth — almost every means of news dissemination glories in man’s shame. Books that were banned by unbelievers a few years back now are sold by “respectable” merchants, and sin is made to appear appealing, and stolen waters seem sweet indeed. Proverbs 14:9 says that “fools make a mock at sin.” Is not this largely true of these forms of thought dissemination? Even what were considered staid and respectable magazines now make excursions into the defiling filth of fallen man. And why? Because there is a demand for it and money to be made by pandering to it.
Beware
Christians, beware, lest we walk in the counsel of the ungodly. If we form our lives after the pattern of this present evil world, we are apt to be snared in the devices of the god of this world. Many dear young Christians have spoiled their testimony for Christ and blighted their whole lives by carelessness in this regard. The rocks, the reefs and the shoals abound with historic wrecks of lives. The Word of God is a sure chart to keep us safe. We need to cry, “Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.” Do not trust your cleverness; you are no match for your wily foe. People with more human sagacity than you have been trapped by him. Keep away from evil companions — “avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (Prov. 4:15).
Dear young men and women who know the Lord, even when you are in the company of other young Christians, beware how you behave. Keep your hands to yourself. What if even some Christians call you disdainful names — will they answer to God for you at the judgment seat of Christ? Will they bear all the shame and reproach of a shattered testimony after you make the shipwreck? Perhaps some of them may be doing what you and they should not do; “choose you this day whom ye will serve.” Would you not rather have the Lord’s blessing than the pleasures of sin for a season — with all its regrets, sorrow and remorse, and then have to answer to the Lord for your conduct? Do not trifle with even the borders of sin.
P. Wilson
The Spirit of Entitlement
“The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me” (Luke 15:12).
“Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself?” (Esther 6:6).
“Men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money ... lovers of pleasure” (2 Tim. 3:2,4 JND).
The moral attributes that mark the last days are no different in principle from those that have always characterized the world — love of self, love of money, and love of pleasure. However, as secular humanism has gained more and more ascendancy, self has increasingly become the great god of our day. Love of self is as much idolatry as the love of money, and Scripture reminds us of “covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).
Love of self permeates our society and, sadly, has infected the thinking even of those who belong to Christ. We may not have actually uttered the words, “I deserve better than this,” but in our hearts it is easy to expect certain things as entitlements.
We have examples of this in Scripture. The younger son in Luke 15 felt that he had something coming to him, and by natural relationship he did. But it was neither earned nor deserved; it was his simply because of the family into which he was born. A sense of entitlement caused him to request his inheritance while his father was still alive.
Superiority to Others
Haman went farther still. Not only did self fill his vision, but when he was not accorded the honor by Mordecai that he felt was due to him, he became enraged to the point of wanting the extermination of his entire race. Haman could not understand that there might be someone the king would rather honor than himself! We disdain such presumption, but have we not seen such conduct in our day? Closer to home, have we ever had to judge such a thought in our own hearts? More than this, it seems that many born into a place of favor have translated this into an attitude of superiority to others who are not so sovereignly blessed. Such privileges should rather cause us to bow in heartfelt gratitude before God, for we do not deserve such rich provision.
Just as Agur could say, “There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes!” (Prov. 30:13), so there is a generation in our day that says, “The world revolves around me!” This attitude does not characterize only young people; sadly, it applies to some parents and even grandparents. It is the attitude that I should be waited upon, that others should go out of their way for me, and that I should have the best and the most. With this mind-set, we see ourselves as victims when we do not get what we want.
Serving Others
This attitude is bad enough in natural things, but it also spills over into the spiritual realm. Should we not be challenged to take a more Christ-like approach to our Christianity? Let us quit feeling sorry for ourselves and start living for the Lord! We have been left in this world to do the will of God (John 17:18) and to be occupied with His interests.
Do we sometimes see a lack of interest by younger men and women in service for the Lord, while older ones are doing what could very well be taken over by the younger ones? Do we sometimes see a lack of interest in gospel work, or even a lack of interest in praying for the Lord’s blessing on the gospel?
There always seem to be plenty of needy ones to visit, and God says that this is a component of pure religion: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). Many can say from experience that some of their richest memories have resulted from such visits. Such a practice would be a great help in delivering us from self-occupation and self-pity.
Calendar and tract distribution can be a healthy activity for the body as well as the soul and spirit. Do we sometimes say “there is nothing to do”? Perhaps there is not something at hand that naturally pleases me, but pursuing our own pleasure is not the path of true joy. Selfishness destroys a thankful spirit.
Paul called upon the Ephesian elders to remember the words of the Lord Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Have we ever proved it?
Perhaps on occasion we have noticed disinterested faces at a Christian meeting. In contrast, we sometimes see those in a detention facility who are serving time for their crimes, yet have turned to the Lord, are hungry to hear the Word, and ask sincere questions. They want all they can absorb, while we may grumble about “the lack of good ministry,” without contributing anything to raise the level.
Are we well into our 40s or 50s and still expecting “the older brethren” to carry the load? May the Lord graciously stir us each to inquire earnestly, “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10).
W. Brockmeier
Absolutes and Relativism
Over the past few decades, the religious pluralism of the Far East has increasingly influenced people in Western Europe and North America. The decline of Christianity has coincided with an explosion of interest in eastern mysticism and eastern religions, and all this has resulted in an outlook that says, in effect, that it does not much matter what we believe, as long as we are sincere in it. The thinking is that, as all rivers flow into the same ocean, so all religions lead to the same ultimate reality. This view has been common in Asia for centuries, but now even professing Christians have taken up this pluralistic belief and see Jesus as only one of many gods.
For the believer, the destructive aspects of this approach are not hard to see, although it is sometimes difficult to characterize and explain this “postmodernistic” thinking, as there are so many variations of it. But implicit in its outlook is a suspicion of all absolute truth and the rejection of God’s Word as alone being divinely inspired. Any claim to truth is relegated simply to its being relative, and any basis for truth is dismissed as having no final authority. The practical consequence of this philosophy is a virtual smorgasbord of “truths,” which allows the individual to pick and choose what suits him. With no absolute way in which to judge competing “truths,” we are left with a wide diversity of viewpoints and an atmosphere of “tolerance.”
Distorted Thinking
Eventually this leads to distorted thinking in moral issues of right and wrong, for if there are no absolutes, then right and wrong can be judged by the individual. Ultimately, murderers and terrorists have as much validity as those who may try to stop them. At the more personal level in everyday life, right and wrong become defined by consequences, and people operate on “situational ethics.” Recently a cleric in England publicly advised poor people to steal, if necessary, to satisfy their hunger, but stipulated that they should steal only from large corporations, not from smaller, family-run businesses.
This way of looking at life is very attractive to the natural man, for it allows him to define his own morality. Because man has a conscience, there is some sense of right and wrong in every individual, but without divine revelation and absolute truth, it is invariably badly distorted. The end result is what we find in Israel in the time of the judges — “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” One can be considered “spiritual” without having his conscience reached, and he can profess to have a “religious experience” without having to define it. The concept of sin is rarely mentioned, and some things (such as sexual immorality) are considered private matters, again left for the individual to decide.
The Word of God
How then should believers respond to this kind of thinking? In the first place, we must take seriously Paul’s injunction to Timothy: “Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine” (1 Tim. 4:16). We must, first of all, take care that we ourselves do not fall into this way of thinking. The Word of God must be our only authority, and we must realize that the Holy Spirit is here to interpret it for us. “Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17). Our own ways as believers must be “without rebuke,” for we are in the midst of a “crooked and perverse nation.” We cannot shine as “lights in the world” without this, for the natural man is quick to judge the believer’s behavior, even if excusing his own. Tolerance and plurality have a certain appeal to the natural man and certainly make for an easier pathway for the Christian too. The world would not have condemned the Lord Jesus, except that He exposed their sin. “The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). So the believer who is tolerant toward that which is contrary to God’s Word will not suffer the same reproach. We must be willing to suffer the reproach and ostracism that will surely come if we maintain God’s claims, for “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).
God Only Is Absolute
Second, we must realize in our own souls the complete irrationality of pluralism and relativism. As another has said, there can be no absolute knowledge in man by his own reason, but only relative. God only is absolute, and if man gives up God, his knowledge of necessity must be only relative. However, the one who insists that there is no universal truth is really saying, “The only universal truth is that there is no universal truth.” He is being just as absolute as the believer who claims that “there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). He is really using what he considers absolute truth to teach that all truth is relative. With similar distorted thinking, I well remember a woman telling me that she was tolerant of everything except intolerance! Truth by definition excludes what is not the truth, and thus we cannot logically insist that all religious and moral truths are equally valid, if they contradict one another.
Not Walking in Craftiness
Third, and most important, we are not to be “walking in craftiness,” but “by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Cor. 4:2). Arrogance and condescension have no place in our witness; rather, we should seek to reach consciences by manifesting the truth and using God’s Word. As Christians we deal with people, not logic, and seek to reach the heart and the conscience. There is occasionally a time to “answer a fool according to his folly” (Prov. 26:5), but more important than winning the argument is winning the soul for Christ. A logical argument may silence the opposer, but only a work of God in the soul will change him. Man may argue against the truth, but his conscience is always on the side of the truth.
In summary, “let us not be weary in well doing” (Gal. 6:9), for the gospel is still “the power of God unto salvation.” Many are weary of the emptiness of pluralism and relativistic thinking and long for something solid. If we believe in and preach absolute truth — “as the truth is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21) — we may be opposed and ridiculed, but truth will have the victory in the end. The world crucified the Lord Jesus, the One who is the truth, but God vindicated truth in the resurrection. The One who is now “the way, the truth, and the life” will one day sit on the throne of His glory, and truth will be vindicated publicly.
W. J. Prost
The Antidote to Existing Evils
The Epistle of Jude shows out the true character of everything that is of man, but there is not one portion of God’s Word more calculated to make us sing than this epistle. The greater the trial, the more God says, “I am with you.” Jude begins with “the common salvation,” but then turns back to the whole history that had gone before and says, “There is failure from first to last.” Then, closing it up, he brings in the testimony of Enoch, as one who bore witness of what the evil would be in the end — the forsaking and betrayal of the common salvation. The effect on our hearts should be, “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?” (Heb. 2:6).
The higher the privilege, the worse the corruption. From the beginning of God’s dealings with man down to the last, there is not one period in which the deposit was as large as that given to us, or the corruption so thorough. But Jude passes through that, and he sounds a second note of mercy in connection with the common salvation — God coming in and the security of the people who had faith.
Able to Keep
How strikingly he winds up in Jude 24! He does not merely take the place of one who sees nothing around him to sing about, and therefore turns to God. Rather, he says that all this ruin is not without God’s permission, or the token of His being in the midst of it. Those circumstances are the circumstances in which God’s wisdom will flow out, for God is not going to lose His church. The same waters which destroyed the world flowed in to float the ark. The same wisdom of God will be displayed to us individually. We should not be discouraged or cast down; God will not forget us in those circumstances. He “is able to keep you,” for He is “the only wise God our Saviour” (vs. 25). How Jude rejoices in his experience of God! Look up and see what sort of a character God will exercise towards us in those circumstances! Come what may, there will be a people “sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called,” and they have a certain course traced out for them. Do we find that God has preserved us in Christ Jesus? Then “mercy ... peace, and love” will be “multiplied” unto us (vs. 2).
In this day of darkness there need be no groping, although all is confusion outside, but we are to hold fast what we have. We know we are called and sanctified by God the Father. We must hold fast the things we know God has done for us. God will be with us, for in times of trouble He is always close at hand. The Spirit of God is dwelling in our hearts; let Him lead us forth in “praying in the Holy Ghost.” We know, as the children of God, that we can tell Him everything, but when we come to pray in times of trouble, there may be the thought, “Which way is the Lord going?” That is not praying in the Holy Spirit, or when desires are expressed, as with Paul, “Take away the thorn.” Afterwards he prays in the Holy Spirit, for God has His own pathway. God may see something in my heart to humble me. While the ear of God is perfectly open, we have to learn that we are not to dictate to Him. The simplest way is to cast all upon God and pray in the Holy Spirit.
The Love of God
“Keep yourselves in the love of God” (vs. 21). The whole heart of God is beaming upon us; His love is always upon us. “Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Everything here is going into confusion, but in the midst of all, the cloud of glory will come down, and the church will go up. He called us on the ground of mercy, and that secures us. He that calls is responsible for every difficulty. We cannot tell how we are to get through, but He that calls us will provide.
Separated to God
In verses 22-23, we have a description of what the conduct of the saints should be in these times. It is not a question of merely tolerating what is all around us; there is to be a positive hatred of the least connection with the flesh. If the heart of a saint is where it ought to be, it is assured of God’s presence and will try to bring others out, whether by strong or by gentle means. Do we realize that the best thing God ever gave has been corrupted? We should be spending all our energy to lead the people of God out of the evil, because we should be the expression of what God is. It is God who has said, “This one is for Myself, and I am able to keep him in all difficulties.” God is at work on behalf of those whom He separated, bringing them on as the One who is able to keep them from stumbling. This brings God very close. We may look around and say, “How is it possible? How can we get through?” Let the only wise God show His competency to keep us from stumbling, for there will always be something for us to strike our foot on in the wilderness and to present us “faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”
The Spirit of God does not forget the glory to which we are predestinated. We forget it and therefore get discouraged and say, “I never shall get there.” Yes we will, for He will present us spotless, thoroughly cleansed. We shall not be there only for His praise, as tokens of His wisdom, but there with hearts able to enter into it all.
Jude looked at all that and said, “That is where I see the wisdom of God displayed.” Persons ask sometimes whereabouts I find myself. I say, “In the last four or five years I have had a deeper sense of Paul’s experience of the churches. I am not discouraged as to all the sorrows; I can only say God wants to multiply proofs of His wisdom. I expect to find greater trials, but in them all God will make us know more of what He Himself is.”
G. V. Wigram, adapted
The Outbreak of Evil
The unbridled lust, lawlessness, boldness, self-will and corruption of the last days will be more terrible than any outbreak of evil in the past, inasmuch as it is found in the Christian profession and exists in the full light of the truth. Men, usually, for very shame await the darkness of night for their evil deeds. These men, without shame, “riot in the day time.” As one has said, “They have learned to face the light and defy it.” They take their place with Christians; in reality they are only spots and blemishes on the Christian name. Without shame they make sport of the fact that they are deceiving others.
H. Smith
New Creation
I saw the flock of God, a goodly throng
Of happy people spread in peace abroad
O’er that fair earth in love’s eternal light;
Nor sun or candle do they need; no night
Is there, but endless day — the day of God;
And every heart pours forth eternal song.
A trace of sorrow, death or curse shall ne’er
In that fair land be found; no sculptured stone,
Symbol of crushed and broken hearts; no tears,
No disappointments, no foreboding fears;
No tree with fruit forbidden standing lone,
Nor can the serpent ever enter there.
The hand of God has wiped all tears away;
No more a visitor, as innocence
Might into Eden’s bowers have welcomed Him;
Here shall He dwell unveiled, no distance dim
Between Him and His creature, but from thence
Sons with the Father for eternity.
Jesus is there, well-known in His deep love,
To walk with His redeemed through fields of light;
There shall their hearts with holy joy recall
His cross, His travail sore, his sorrows all
For them endured in love’s eternal might
That He might have them with Himself above.