Jude 18

Iread somewhere that the Great Wall of China was penetrated at least three times by the enemy, and each time the guards were bribed!

A strong defense depends on strong people, and this applies to spiritual battles as well as military contests. If the church is to oppose and defeat the false teachers, then all of us in the church must be strong and able to “stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11). There is always the danger of stumbling (Jude 24), and a stumble is the first step toward a fall.

In this closing paragraph, Jude addressed his beloved readers and gave them four instructions to follow if they would stand firm and resist the apostates.

From the very beginning, Satan has attacked the Word of God. “Yea, hath God said?” was his opening thrust when he led Eve into disobedience in the garden (Gen. 3:1). Once we begin to question God’s Word, we are vulnerable to Satan’s other attacks, for only the truth of the Word can protect us from the lies of the devil. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20).

Remember who gave the Word (v. 17). While our Lord had many disciples, He selected only a few to be apostles. The word means “one who is sent with a commission.” In order to qualify, a believer had to be a witness of the resurrection of Christ (Acts 1:21–22; 1 Cor. 9:1). The apostles lived with Christ during His ministry, learned from Him, and were sent by Him into all the world to carry the good news of salvation.

Wherever there is the authentic, the counterfeit will appear; this happened in the early church. False apostles and teachers began to appear, and it was necessary to develop a system to protect the church against false prophecies and forged letters. Since Christ had committed “the faith” (Jude 3) to His apostles, one of the main tests in the early church was, “Is this what the apostles taught?” When the church assembled the New Testament books, it was required that each book be written either by an apostle or by someone closely associated with an apostle. Apostolic teaching was, and still is, the test of truth.

Jude mentioned the words that were “spoken” by the apostles, because originally there were no New Testament epistles. Over the years, inspired letters were written by Paul, Peter, and John; we have these letters in our New Testament. We also have a record of some of their sermons in the book of Acts. We no longer depend on tradition since we have the completed Scriptures, both the Old Testament and the New.

Whenever somebody offers you a “new revelation,” test it by what the apostles wrote and by what Jesus Christ taught. You will soon discover that the “revelation” is a lie.

Remember what they said (v. 18). They prophesied that, in these last days, mockers would come who would deny the Word of God. Jude echoed what Peter had written (2 Peter 3:3ff.), but Paul and John also warned their readers about the apostates (1 Tim. 4; 2 Tim. 3; 1 John 2:18ff.; 4:1–6). When a warning is given so many times, it behooves us to take it seriously!

The phrase “walking after their own lusts” appears in 2 Peter 3: and Jude 16 and 18, and it explains why the apostates deny God’s truth: they do not want God to tell them how to live. They want to satisfy their own sinful desires, and the Word of God condemns their selfish way of life. When a person says, “I have intellectual problems with the Bible,” he probably has moral problems because the Bible contradicts what he is doing. The only sure way to know the truth of the Bible is by obeying it (John 7:17).

Before Satan can substitute his own lies, he must get rid of the truth of God’s Word. If he cannot argue it away, he will laugh it away, and he can usually find somebody to laugh with him.

Remember why they said it (v. 19). The false teachers want to divide the church and lead people out of the true fellowship into their false fellowship. “Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:30). Their appeal is usually, “We have a deeper knowledge of the Word that your church doesn’t have! We have a better understanding of prophecy, or of the Christian life, than you do.” They offer a “higher quality” religion than that of the apostles.

Not only do false teachers divide the church, but they also deceive the church, because they are “sensual, having not the Spirit.” The word sensual means the opposite of “spiritual.” This is the way Paul used it in 1 Corinthians 2:14–16, where it is translated “natural.” (The Greek word is psukikos, which means “soulish.”) Because the false teachers do not have the Spirit of God, they must function on their natural “soul power” alone.

One of the tragedies in ministry today is that some of God’s people cannot discern between “soul ministry” and the true ministry of the Spirit. There is so much “religious showmanship” these days that the saints are confused and deceived. Just as there was “false fire” in the tabernacle (Lev. 10), so there is “false fire” today in the church; therefore we must exercise careful discernment.

How can we discern between the “soulish” and the “spiritual”? By using the Word of God which is able to divide soul and spirit (Heb. 4:12) and by paying close attention to the witness of the Spirit of God within (Rom. 8:16). A “soulish” ministry magnifies man, but the Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ. When the Spirit is ministering through the Word, there is edification; but when the soul is merely “manufacturing” a ministry, there is entertainment or, at best, only intellectual education. It takes the Spirit of God to minister to our spirits and to make us more like Jesus Christ.