Of Some Have Compassion
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 25th August service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Jud 1:17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Jud 1:18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
Jud 1:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
Of Some Have Compassion
The remainder of the apostle’s letter is positive and encouraging. It is full of help and comfort for the Lord’s people. Jude offers spiritual direction for our wellbeing. Previously, in verse 17, Jude used the title ‘beloved’ to register God’s loving commitment to His church and here, again, he employs it as a reminder of God’s continuing love and faithfulness. Perhaps, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ is foremost in Jude’s mind as he goes on to speak specifically of Christ’s mercy.
Build and keep
Jude’s admonition to build ourselves up in the faith and keep ourselves in God’s love does not imply creature ability in spiritual matters. Every good and perfect gift is from above and consequently there is no spiritual growth or development except what Christ bestows by grace and mercy. It is Christ who keeps His church and Christ who builds up His church with all spiritual blessings through the Holy Ghost.
Proof of life
The spiritually alive – as distinct from the sensual who are dead in sin – are blessed with new spiritual appetites, we hunger and thirst after righteousness. Jude’s direction to keep ourselves and build ourselves means always being ready and expectant for new blessings from God. This we do by making proper use of the means of grace granted to the church, such as hearing the word preached, praying, reading scripture and gathering for fellowship.
Our holy faith
Our faith is holy, ‘most holy’, says Jude, because it comes from the holy Lord God, speaks of holy truths, infuses holy principles, tends to holy living and aspires to eternal holiness with Christ in glory. The sensual preacher drives his hearers back to the law for self-satisfying holiness while spiritual men and women embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel first reveals, then bestows, true holiness by declaring righteousness as God’s free gift and giving faith to believe it.
The prayer of faith
Praying in the Holy Ghost is not charismatic babbling but the prayer of faith. It is the prayer of every true child of God to a loving Father, be it audible or inaudible, bold or hesitant. Those who are without the Spirit cannot make this prayer. Those who have the Spirit enjoy open access to God. In coming to prayer we should remember always that God is listening and hears His people. He delights to give good gifts by the Spirit through whom we pray.
The mercy of Christ
Christ’s mercy is an immense topic in itself. It encompasses His eternal purpose in the covenant of grace and peace. It involves His betrothing us to Himself, His coming into the world to bear our sins and reconcile us to God, His daily providential care, His intercession for us in heaven and His promise of glory to come. In all this, Christ’s love and mercy for His Bride emphasises particular grace and distinguishes the church from the ungodly men of whom Jude has previously been speaking.
Engaging with the world
Jude’s pastoral heart is again on show as he excites the church to care for those in need. Once again we can but admire how the apostle distinguishes between those who are to be contended against, on account of their false doctrine, and those who are to be contended for due to their pitiful state. The church in this world cannot tell definitively who are God’s elect and our approach to those who as yet have no faith or profession is to be suitably measured.
Be tenderhearted
Jude speaks of compassion, fear and hatred: compassion for the eternal souls of men and women; fear, on their behalf, of judgment to come; hatred of the sin that outside of Christ will earn condemnation and bring destruction. Christian evangelism and Christian activism is tenderhearted. A renewed soul seeks opportunity to express to others the love and mercy it has experienced from Jesus Christ.
Seeking Christ’s sheep
Jude’s wise counsel removes any suggestion that believers are reclusive hermits with a holier-than-thou attitude. Christ’s sheep will be found scattered throughout society and the church’s message of grace and forgiveness with God is fit and suitable for the chiefest of sinners. Nevertheless, care should be exercised not to condone or excuse sinful behaviour nor to underestimate the subtle power of temptation.
Amen
Our hymns are below.
Hymn 1
Gadsby selection 603
Precious and Holy Faith. 2 Pet. 1. 1; Jude 20
W. Gadsby S.M.
1
Faith! ’tis a grace divine,
A gift both rich and free;
’Twas grace that made this blessing mine,
From guilt to set me free.
2
The faith of God’s elect
Is precious, pure, and good;
Such is its power, and its effect,
True faith prevails with God.
3
To Jesus and his blood,
It looks for life and peace;
The oaths and promises of God,
Its power and zeal increase.
4
When saints in darkness roam
With sin and guilt distressed,
Faith in Christ’s righteousness alone
Can set the soul at rest.
5
Faith lives in spite of hell;
And, when the soul’s oppressed
With miseries more than tongue can tell,
It leans on Jesus’ breast.
6
Though death and dangers fly
Like lightning from the skies;
He that believes shall never die;
Faith must obtain the prize.
Hymn 2
Gadsby selection 621
“The carnal mind is enmity against God.” Rom. 8. 7
W. Gadsby L.M.
1
The carnal mind takes different ways,
And different objects she surveys;
She’s pleased with things that suit her taste,
But hates the God of truth and grace.
2
No beauty in the Lord she views,
Nor is she charmed with gospel-news;
She sets at nought, with vain contempt,
The Man the Lord Jehovah sent.
3
She hates him as the mighty God,
The church’s Wisdom, Life, and Head;
His priestly office she disdains,
And wantons with his wounds and pains.
4
Whatever office Jesus bears,
Or in what glorious form appears,
She was, and is, and still will be
Against him dreadful enmity.
5
Is this the case? Yes, Lord, ’tis true;
And I’ve a carnal nature too,
That fights, with all its hellish might,
Against the God of my delight.
6
Yet, bless the Lord, through grace I feel
I have a mind that loves him well;
Nor shall the dreadful power of sin,
My better part from Jesus win.
7
May grace not only live and reign,
But may its powers be felt and seen;
Dear God, my every foe subdue,
And make me more than conqueror too.
Jude wishes to encourage the Lord's people in the gospel of God's grace and the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this mercy that will bring all Christ's redeemed people to heavenly glory. He also instructs us to act with compassion to those around us while being ready to rebuke those who deal deceitfully with the gospel of grace.