Overcoming Apostasy In The Last Days: Jude Series #5

We are living in the days of apostasy. Any person who knows anything about the Bible and has any understanding of current, contemporary events is certainly aware of the fact that we are living in times of gross apostasy. Apostasy is a time when people will depart from the faith.

The Bible predicts that at the end of the age, before the return of the Lord, there will be apostasy in the Church. In this culture, in general, there will be anarchy. There will be lawlessness and immorality. In the professing church, there will be apostasy and apostate teachers—those who depart from the clear teachings of the Bible and will deny the basic truths of the faith.

This is why the Holy Spirit inspired Jude to write this pungent book. He says to us that he set out to write about the common salvation, and yet there was an impression upon his heart from the Lord that he was to write to encourage them to earnestly contend for the faith once and for all, delivered to the saints.

So, in a very solemn and serious note, he has given us what the scripture teaches here in God’s revelation about the apostate. He made it very clear that apostates are unsaved people. In a summary statement in verse 19, he says, “These be they who separate themselves (cause divisions), sensual, having not the Spirit.” If a person has not the Spirit, this means they have never been born again. Romans 8:9 says, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

In the end time, in the professing church, there will be these apostates who are not saved. In the days of apostasy, when these kinds of things are present, there is another danger in the church that has to be guarded against: it is the danger of apathy. This is something that can happen to those who are saved. In days of apostasy, when many depart from the faith, the danger of true believers is that they do not fall into apathy.

The Lord Jesus made a statement like this: “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” There will be that tendency on the part of those who are saved to grow indifferent and unconcerned, lackadaisical in their faith. Their faith will become more a matter of convenience. Their priorities will lose proper sequence. They will put things first in their lives that are not of the Lord. Jesus will become secondary in their lives. Instead of Him having the preeminence in their lives, Jesus is just something they think about when nothing else is on the agenda.

In Jude, verse 17 through verse 25, we have this strong note of encouragement. He is giving a contrast with the words, “But, beloved, remember…” In verse 20, he says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves…” It is a positive note. It is a word to awaken. It is a word to alarm.

As Jude heads toward his crescendo, we have three admonitions. Even though they are highlighted negatively, they provide a positive message.

I. We Must Not Let Apostasy Surprise Us

In verses 17-19, he tells us that we have already heard about apostasy. The Bible predicted it. Don’t be surprised when you see these kinds of things develop. In verses, 20-23, he says, “Don’t let apostasy stop you.” Keep yourself in the love of God. Keep on reading your Bible. Keep on praying, keep on expectantly awaiting the return of the Lord. Keep on leading other people to Christ. Keep on witnessing for the Lord. Don’t let apostasy surprise you. We knew it was going to happen. Don’t let apostasy stop you. Just keep on doing the things God commands you to do.

There are times when people choose to walk out of our lives. There are days, when a Judas, who you thought was a friend will stab you in the heart of your emotions. There are those moments when the nights seem so long. Yet, in the midst of when friends turn their backs on the Lord, let us keep doing what we should do. They are not our measurement sticks of success. Painful? Yes! Pleasing? No! Passing? Yes!

II. We Must Not Let Apostasy Stifle Us

In verses 24 and 25 he is saying, “Don’t let apostasy stifle you.” Don’t let the fact that you are in these kinds of days stifle you and keep you from praising the Lord or rob you of your joy or steal your victory in the Lord. Keep on praising the Lord. Days of apostasy can be very intimidating. Apostates are bold. Apostate times are times that can intimidate God’s children. Our young people experience it when they go to school. They find people who are militant in their hostility against God, the Bible, and Jesus. People in the business world encounter it. It’s very easy for Christians to get intimidated in these kinds of times and lose their joy, their victory, their excitement, and their praise!

He closes out this wonderful letter in verses 24 and 25 with one of the great doxologies in the Bible. A doxology is an ascription of praise to the Lord. You will find these scattered all through the Bible. Jude slows down and stops and says, “Now unto him…” It’s like he stops for a moment and just lifts his heart toward heaven and praises the Lord.

Jude is saying don’t let apostasy stifle you. Don’t let it get you down. When you live in a time when the days are getting worse, just remember that also means that the coming of the Lord is getting nearer. The worse it is, the sooner indication it is of the coming of the Lord. Instead of getting you down, let it get you up. Instead of being depressed and discouraged by it, let it cause you to be excited and exhilarated.

The answer to apostasy is always Him. The Lord Jesus is the great solution, “Unto Him.” He is saying to keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep your eyes on heaven. “Unto Him who is able to keep you from falling…” Unto the Lord Jesus who is able. God is able. God the Father is able. God the Son (Lord Jesus) is able. God the Holy Spirit is able.

Notice the tense of the verb here. He didn’t say “unto him that was able.” We know that he was able in the past. You read about all the things that God did in the past. God was able to carry the Children of Israel through the Red Sea without getting a drop of water on their shoes. He was able in the past. God was able to deliver Daniel from the lion’s den. He was able in all of those circumstances.

He doesn’t say unto him who was able. God is not a past-tense God. Our Jesus is not a past-tense Jesus. Nor does he say unto him who shall be able. We know He will be able in the future. We know that the same God who was able in the past to deliver His children will be able in the future to do everything necessary. He shall be able.

These words are a great encouragement to our hearts. I don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring, nor do you. We have no idea of what the future may hold. Whatever it may be, He will be able.

Notice Jude says, “He is able.” That means God is able right now in the present time. Think about some of the things the Bible says he is able to do. II Corinthians 9:8 says, “God is able to make all grace abound unto you.” Whatever grace you need, God is able to make it abound to you. You need living grace? God is able. You need grace to help you go through times of sorrow and bereavement? God is able. He is able to make all grace abound unto you.

The Bible says in Hebrews 2, “he is able to run to the aid of those who are tempted.” He is able to help you when you are tempted. All of God’s people are tempted. I Corinthians 10:13 says, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.” Are you going through temptation? God is able to help you handle that temptation.

The Bible says in II Timothy 1:12, “He is able to keep that which we have committed unto him against that day.” You have committed yourself to the Lord. You accepted Jesus as your Savior. When you did, you committed your soul into the care of Jesus. He’s able to take care of that soul. He is able to keep what you have committed unto him against that day. What day? Any day. It doesn’t matter. It can be the day of loneliness. He is able. The day when you go into eternity. He is able.

In Hebrews 7:25 we read, “Wherefore he is able also to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him.” He is able to save any sinner. He can save from the guttermost to the uttermost. It doesn’t matter how deep you may think you are in sin Jesus is able to save us.

In Ephesians 3, the Apostle Paul in another doxology puts it this way, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” He is able to do exceedingly. That’s far beyond what you could ever imagine. Abundantly—above-all, that we ask or even think. Whatever you might even think God says, “I’m able to do anything you could even imagine.”

III. We Must Not Let Apostasy Sumble Us

Let us review Jude 24 again. “Now unto him that is able…” Jude is praising the Lord first for His work. He is praising the Lord for what He is able to do. He mentions two things in particular He is able to do in this verse. He says, “Keep you from stumbling.” There is a keeping that we do, and there is a keeping that God does. In verse 1:21, we read, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” That’s a keeping that we must do. We can keep ourselves in the love of God.

In verse 24, he talks about what a keeping God can do. Jude says, “Unto him who is able to keep you from stumbling.” Stumbling is what happens before we fall. You’re walking along and hit an obstacle on the sidewalk, you stumble, and then you fall. God is able to keep us from stumbling. He is talking about our daily walk. The image is of a sure-footed horse—so sure-footed that it didn’t stumble. It’s talking about a moral person who can be kept from mistakes—from stumbling and falling into sin. In days of apostasy, the devil has many stumbling blocks out there. The devil has plenty of tactics he would like to use on you to make you stumble, and cause us to fall into open sin.

This old world is so treacherous, and the devil is putting so many stumbling blocks in the way of Christians. The Lord will prevent us from making mistakes. I’ve got news for you—He’s able to do it. He’s able to keep you from stumbling and falling. He’s able to keep you clean and pure. He’s able to keep you from falling into open sin.

In Psalm 121:3 we read, “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” Literally, that means He won’t suffer your foot to slip. The devil has some banana peelings in your way. We will slip if we aren’t careful. He’s able to keep you from slipping. He’s able to keep you from stumbling.

The Lord is also able to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” Jude is now talking about something He is going to do in the future. He can keep us from stumbling right now. Yet, one of these glad days, the Lord is going to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

The Bible says that one of these days, the Lord will present His church, His bride, to the Heavenly Father. There’s something special about presenting your bride to your father. I remember when I fell in love with my wife, Sheri. I just knew she was the one God wanted me to marry. I looked forward, with grand anticipation, to presenting her to my dad and mom for the first time. I was so proud of her and could not wait for my parents to meet her.

This verse says that one of these days, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, will present us to the presence of the Heavenly Father. That’s one of the things that kept Jesus on the cross. In the book of Hebrews, we read, “Who for the joy that was set before him.”

What does it mean “joy set before him?” It wasn’t the cross that was the joy. He looked out in the future, and He saw us whom He planned to save. He said, “I’m going to save them and one of these days I’m going to present them to the Heavenly Father around the portals of the throne of glory itself.” It filled the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ with joy and He died on that cross with joy because He saw the future that He would one day present us with exceeding joy. One translator puts it this way: “He’ll present you before the presence of the Lord with mighty shouts of joy.”

He will present us faultless. That means without blemish. The word, “blemish” was used as a sacrifice in the days when they had to make animal sacrifices. They had to examine those sacrifices to be sure there was no flaw or blemish anywhere on the sacrifice. In I Peter 1, we learn that Jesus Christ was the Lamb, the precious Lamb without spot or blemish. When Jesus made the sacrifice for our sins on that cross of Calvary, He offered Himself through the eternal spirit to the Father without spot or blemish. Faultless!

How is Jesus going to present us faultless?” In I Corinthians 15, the Bible talks about that time when the Lord came. Believers are going to be in one of two places: Believers are either going to be dead or they are going to be alive. When the Lord comes, dead believers are going to be resurrected. Living believers are going to be raptured.

When the Lord comes for us. “In a moment…” It’s all going to happen in just a moment. We are living minutes and hours and days and months and years. Every day, every week, every month, every year, every hour, every minute you are closer to that moment. It will all happen in a moment. “In the twinkling of an eye…” Not the blinking, but the twinkling of an eye. Just the time it takes for light to hit your eye and reflect off it. In one ten-thousandth of a second, “At the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” We are going to be changed. We’ll be like Jesus. The Bible says when the Lord Jesus comes, we shall be like Him, for we shall see him as he is. He will present us before the heavenly father without a blemish, just like Him.

We must not let the apostates discourage us. We should be praising Him for His work.

Why should I be discouraged? Why should we be depressed? Let the apostates go on to hell, where they’re headed. We are going to heaven with Jesus. “Unto Him be praise.”

Keep on praising Him for His work—what he does. Keep on praising him for his worth—who He is. Verse 25- “To the only wise God our Savior…” He’s on happy ground now. He’s not only just praising the Lord for what He’s done, now He’s going to praise the Lord for who He is. He’s praised him for his work, now he’s going to praise him for his worth. Jude climbs the mountain with the words, “To the only wise God our Savior.”

The word “Savior” is a direct reference to the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the “Savior,” and that means He is also the only wise God. Jesus is God. “To Him be glory and majesty, dominion and power.”

He puts those together with a conjunction. Glory reminds us of God’s brightness. Everywhere God is, it’s glorious. Everything God does is glorious. Glory is the total of all that God is. He is glorious. His brightness. His majesty is His greatness.

In Hebrews, the Bible says in 1:3, “He is sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.” In Hebrews 8:1, we learn about Him being sat down at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. He’s not only the one who is great; He is the one who is majestic. What a wonderful God we have! We can praise a God of glory and majesty.

Jude states, “dominion and power.” The word, “dominion,” means strength. It means His manifested power. The word, “power,” means authority. It means His authority is put into action, His exercised authority. God has dominion; He rules and reigns. But God also has authority. Jesus said just before He went back to heaven, “All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Where mankind rules, God overrules.

Why should we be worried about the apostates? Jesus has all authority. He’s in charge. One of these days, when Jesus gets ready to bring down the curtains of time and it is all over, He’ll take the apostates and send them on their way to hell. He’ll say to God’s children, “Come on up here and be with me in heaven.”

He is saying that Jesus is not only glorious and majestic and has dominion and power right now, but this will also never stop. He will have all of this into all the eternities. When I read a passage of scripture like that, and then I look at what is going on in this world, everything is small in comparison to what this great God of ours is going to do one of these days. We should not allow apostasy to surprise us, to stifle us, and to stumble us.