Effectual Calling

by the Rev. Thomas White, LL.B.


"To them who are the called according to his purpose."—Romans 8:28.

The sacred scriptures are a Paradise, or "garden of delights." This Epistle to the Romans is a most interesting and artful knot in that garden. This chapter is the richest division in that knot, furnished with sweetest flowers of consolation, antidoting the remnants of corruption that there are in our hearts, and the various afflictions that we meet with in the world. This verse that I have read unto you, is the fairest flower in that division: for, what can sooner revive a drooping soul, than to be assured that "all things shall work together for good?" "We," saith the great apostle, "do not think, imagine, conjecture, but know, partly by divine revelation, partly by our own experience, that all things,—not only gifts, graces, ordinances; but all creatures, all providences, all changes, events, occurrences; even those things that appear most formidable; homo oppugnans, diabolus insidians, 'the persecutions of men, the temptations of the devil,'—shall work, not singly and apart, it may be, but together, for good."

For good! Yes; but it is unto those that be good. Hands off, wicked and profane wretches! You have no part nor lot in these heavenly consolations. Away, base swine, to your sties, to your muck and mire! These pearls are not for you. Out, ye dogs, to the garbage that lieth upon the dunghill! the children's bread is not for you. "We know that all things shall work together for good to them that love God." Why so? Because they are "the called according to his purpose." So Pareus expoundeth the place; and with him I perfectly agree.

That which God hath purposed, shall not be frustrated: "The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" (Isaiah 14:27.) What man will suffer his purposes, those purposes that he taketh up with best advice and most mature deliberation, to be disappointed, if he have power to accomplish them? The holy purposes of God,—as they are ordered and directed by infinite wisdom, so they have infinite power to bring them to pass: so that if I can say, "God hath a purpose to save me," I may securely smile at all the attempts of men and devils against me; and if I can say, "God hath effectually called me," I may be sure God hath chosen me, and hath a purpose to save me. For all the links in the golden chain of salvation are even-wrought, not one of them wider or narrower than another: if God have chosen, he will call; if God call, he hath chosen. Once more: if I can say, "I love God," I may be sure I am called; for I cannot love God, except I have some acquaintance with him, some sense and experience of his love toward me. So, then, all our consolations are ultimately resolved into the "purpose" of God: this is the basis and foundation of them all. That purpose appeareth by our effectual calling; and that calling appeareth to be effectual by our love to God. Hence the conclusion is certain,—that "all things shall work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose."

But I forget myself. You have heard in former discourses, under what a sad, soul-killing disease poor man laboureth in his natural condition. You heard likewise of a sovereign remedy provided in the blood of Christ. I am now engaged to speak to the application of that remedy in our effectual calling.

This effectual calling, according to St. Augustine, is ingressus ad salutem, our "entrance into a state of salvation;" the first step whereby God's predestination descendeth to us, and we again ascend to the glory predestinated.

The DOCTRINE I present from my text maybe this:—

DOCTRINE.

There are some persons in the world that are effectually called; or, which is all one, who are "called according to the purpose of God."

There is a call of the gospel that is not effectual: of this our Saviour speaketh, when he saith, "Many are called, but few chosen." (Matt. 20:16.) How many of the poor ministers of the gospel may complain of multitudes in this generation, saying, with the children that sat in the market-place "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not lamented!"(Luke 7:32.) "Neither the delightful airs of mercy, nor the doleful ditties of judgment, have moved you." But the election will certainly obtain; and the call that is "according to God's purpose," reacheth not ears only, but hearts also: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God." (John 5:25.)

This work of grace is presented to our view in a various dress of words. In the scriptures it is sometimes a "teaching," sometimes a "drawing," sometimes a "conversion," sometimes a "regeneration" and all these in divers respects which I cannot stand to unfold. In the schools it is gratia prima, "the first grace," praeveniens, "preceding grace," operans, "operating grace." Among Divines of the Reformed way, it is "an internal and effectual call," vocatio alta et efficax, after the mind of St. Augustine.

When it is offered to our consideration under this notion, it presupposeth two things:—

1. That natural men stand at a distance from God.—We do not usually call those that stand close by us. This was once the condition of the Ephesians: "Ye sometimes were afar off." (Eph. 2:13.) "Sometimes;" when? Surely in the time of their unregeneracy. "Far off" from whom? From Christ, from the church, from God, and consequently from themselves. But how could they be "far off" from God? Not in spaces of place; for God "filleth all places with his presence" as to his essence and providential works, he is "not far from every one of us; for in him we live and move" (Acts 17:27, 28): but as to their hearts and affections, all natural men are far from God: "God is not in all their thoughts" (Psalm 10:4): they do not know him, fear, love, and delight in him; they do not breathe after communion with him. Even when they "draw nigh unto him with their lips, their hearts are far from him." (Isaiah 29:13.)

If it sometimes happens that we call those that are at hand, then usually they are such as are asleep. Sin is a deep sleep of the soul; and as sleep bindeth all the senses of the outward man, so sin all the powers of the inward. A man under the dominion of sin can do nothing for God, neither can he enjoy any thing from God. It may be, he dreams of great satisfaction [that] he receiveth from the world's dainties; but when "he awaketh, his soul is empty." (Isaiah 29:8.) Or, further: if they be not asleep, they are such as mind something else than He would have them. All natural men mind something else than God would have them: they "mind earthly things." (Phil. 3:19.) Herod mindeth the dancing of a lewd strumpet more than the preaching of the holy Baptist: the young man mindeth his great possessions; the epicure, his belly; the farmer, his barn; Judas, his bag; the silversmith, his shrines; the Gadarenes, their swine; Pilate, the favour and applause of the people. Let the best men speak ingenuously, and they must needs confess that there were many things (if I may call them "things," rather "nothings") which they minded more than God or Christ or heaven, more than the highest concernments of their immortal souls, the weightiest business of eternal salvation. They were all Gallios in respect of these things, they "cared for none of them," till they were roused out of their waking dreams by the effectual call of the most gracious God. This is the condition of every natural man.

2. It presupposeth, that it is an easy thing with God to bring us home to himself, though we be never so far distant from him.—To awaken us to his service, though in a dead sleep of sin; to raise our minds to higher objects, though they be never so deeply immersed in the things of this present world. Is any thing hard to the Almighty? With a word he made us, with a word he can renew us. When "darkness covered the face of the deep," he did but say, "Let there be light: and there was light"(Gen. 1:2,3): with the like facility can he "shine in our hearts, giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," (2 Cor. 4:6.) "He uttereth his voice," saith David, "and the earth melteth." (Psalm 46:6.) Let but God utter his voice, and the rocks and mountains of our corruptions will melt away like wax.

Come we now closer to the point: toward the opening of which, I shall entreat your attention to the resolution of Sundry QUESTIONS.

QUESTION I. What is this "calling?"

ANSWER. It is the real separation of the soul unto God; and a clothing it with such gracious abilities, whereby it may be enabled to repent of its sins, and to believe in his Son. It is our translation from the state of nature—which is a state of sin, wrath, death, and damnation—to a state of grace, which is a state of holiness, life, peace, and eternal salvation. This translation is wrought,

1. By strong convictions of the mind,

(1.) Of the guilt and filth of sin, of the danger and defilement of sin, of the malignity of sin, and the misery that attends it.—"Once," saith the soul that is under this dispensation of God's grace, "Once I looked upon sin as my wisdom: now it is madness and folly. Once I accounted it my meat and drink to 'fulfil' ta Jelhmata, all the wills of the flesh (Eph. 2:3); sin was a sweet morsel; I drank iniquity like water: now it is a cup of trembling to me, and I fear it may prove a cup of condemnation. Once I hugged, embraced, and delighted in sin as the wife of my bosom: now I clearly see that the fruit and issue of the impure copulation of my soul with her is nothing else but the shame of my face, the stain of my reputation, the rack and horror of my conscience, and (which is more than all these) the provocation of the Almighty; and therefore I begin to think within myself of an eternal divorce from her. I slept securely in the lap of this Delilah; she robbed me of my strength; she delivered me up to the Philistines, that dealt unworthily with me, that put me upon base and low employments: what now should I think of, but (if it please the Lord to give new strength) the death and destruction of them all?"

(2.) Of the vanity and emptiness of the creature which we have idolized.—Confiding in it, as the staff of our hopes; breathing and pursuing after it, as the perfection of our happiness.

(3.) Of the absolute need of Christ.—That if he does not save us, we must perish.

(4.) Of the absolute "fulness" of Christ, and that "in him we may be complete" (Col. 2:10.)—If we be guilty, he can justify us; if we be filthy, he can purge us; if we be weak, he can strengthen us; if we be poor, he can enrich us; if we be base, he can ennoble us; if we be deformed and ugly, he can make us beautiful and lovely; if we be miserable, he can bless us, and that "with all blessings in heavenly places." (Eph. 1:3.)

(5.) Of the clemency, goodness, meekness, sweetness, graciousness of his disposition; that if any man come to him, he will in no wise reject him. (John 6:37.)—These things the mind is strongly convinced of: yet if there be not a farther work, a man may carry these convictions to hell with him. Therefore,

2. In the second place, this translation is wrought by a powerful inclination and conversion of the will to close with Christ upon his own terms.—To embrace him as Sovereign, as well as Saviour; to take him, as men use to do their wives, "for better for worse, for richer for poorer;" to stick to him on Mount Calvary, as well as Mount Tabor; to welcome him into thy bosom by bidding an everlasting farewell to thy sins: in a word, to make a voluntary tender and resignation of thyself unto him; solemnly avouching that, from this time forward, thou wilt count thyself more his, than thou art thine own; and the more thy own, because thou art his. This work is carried on with a most efficacious sweetness; so that the liberty of the will is not infringed, whilst the obstinacy of the will is mastered and over-ruled.

If you ask me "How can these things be?" I never studied to satisfy curiosity; but if you can tell me "how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child," (Eccles. 11:5,) I also will tell you how the parts of the new man are formed in the heart. But, I suppose, silence and humble admiration will be best on both sides: if there be so great a mystery in our natural generation, surely there is a far greater in our spiritual regeneration: if David could say of the former, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made;" (Psalm 139:14;) much more might he say of the latter, "I am fearfully and wonderfully renewed."

QUESTION II. Who are "the called?"

ANSWER 1. Among creatures, none but men are of the number of the called.—"The angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation," are never recalled, but "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." (Jude 6.) Lord, "what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou so regardest him?" (Psalm 8:4.)

2. Among men, none but the elect are capable of this grace.—The call is limited by the "purpose:" "Whom he hath predestinated, them he also called." (Rom. 8:30.) Touching these elect persons, divers things fall under our observation; as,

(1.) In regard of their internal condition.—Before this call, they are dead in sins and trespasses, blind in their minds, stony in their hearts, corrupt in their ways, even as others.

(2.) In regard of their outward condition.—Both before and after this call, they are, for the most part, poor and vile and contemptible in the eye of the world. God puts not the greater value upon any man for a gold ring for "goodly apparel," though the world doth: he hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him." (James 2:2, 5.) "Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:" (1 Cor. 1:26): some, it may be; but not many. God so orders his call, as that it may appear, "there is no respect of persons with him," (Rom. 2:11.)

(3.) Whatever the outward condition of these men be, there are but very few that are effectually called.—Few, I say, in comparison of those that are left under the power and dominion of their lusts: "One of a city, and two of a tribe." (Jer. 3:14.) I tremble to speak it, but a truth it is, and must out:—Satan hath the harvest, God the gleanings, of mankind. Which, by the way, may serve to convince them of their vanity and folly, that make the multitude of actors an argument to prove the rectitude of actions; as if they could not do amiss, that do as the most: whereas a very Heathen could say, Argumentum pessimi turba, "The beaten tract is most deceitful;" sheep go the broad way to the shambles, when a more uncouth path might lead them to fresh pastures.

QUESTION III. Who is he that calleth?

ANSWER. Who but God, that "calleth things that are not as if they were?" (Rom. 4:17.) All heart-work is God's particular work—the restraining and ordering [of] the heart. He withheld Abimelech, "not suffering him to touch" Sarah, Abraham's wife (Gen. 20:6): and the heart of Pharaoh, while it was least conformable unto the rule of his law, was absolutely subject unto the rule of his providence. And well it is for us, that it belongs to God to restrain and order hearts: otherwise, sad would be the condition of this nation, of the whole world. But now if it be God's particular work to restrain and order hearts, much more, surely, to turn, change, break, melt, and new-mould hearts. It is his sovereign grace which we adore as the only Verticordia, as the real "Turn-heart." Therefore we may observe that,

1. God doth especially challenge this unto himself.—You know whose expressions those are: "I will give you a new heart;" and again: "I will take away the heart of stone." (Ezek. 36:26.) Are they not God's? Who dares make any challenges against the Almighty? Hath not he a sceptre strong enough to secure his crown? Those that will be plucking jewels out of his royal diadem, and ascribe that to themselves or any creature which is his prerogative, shall find him jealous enough of his honour, and that jealousy stirring up indignation enough to consume them. But,

2. As God may justly challenge this work to himself, so it is altogether impossible [that] it should be accomplished by any other.—For,

(1.) This effectual vocation is a spiritual resurrection of the soul.—While we are in a state of nature, we are dead; not sick or languishing, not slumbering or sleeping, but quite "dead in trespasses and sins." When we are called into a state of grace, then are our souls raised to walk with God here, as our bodies at the last day shall be raised to walk with the Son of God unto all eternity. Now, if it be not in the power of any creature to raise the body from the grave of death, (upon which account it is used as an argument of the Divinity of Christ, that he raised himself,) much less is it in the power of any creature to raise the soul from the grave of sin. And therefore do all true believers prove the power of God, even that "exceeding greatness of his power," that "might of his power," as the Greek hath it, to kratoV thV iscuoV autou, whereby "he raised up Christ from the dead." (Eph. 1:19, 20.

(2.) This effectual vocation is a new creation of the soul.—Whence we are said to be "created in Christ Jesus," when we are called unto an experimental knowledge of him, and unfeigned faith in him. Upon which account it must needs be "God's workmanship;" (Eph. 2:10;) for power of creating is not, cannot be, communicated to any creature. Though the "angels excel in strength," (Psalm 103:20,) and wonderful things have been performed by them, when they have as ministers executed God's pleasure in the punishment of the wicked and protection of the righteous; yet the mightiest angel cannot create the lowest worm: that is the product only of infinite power. And let me tell you, if infinite power be manifested in the creation of the world, it is more gloriously manifested in the conversion of a sinner. There is a worse chaos, a worse confusion, upon the heart of man, when God undertaketh his new creation, than there was upon the face of the earth in the old creation. In the earth, when it was "without form and void," (Gen. 1:2,) there was only indisposition; but in the heart of man, there is both indisposition and opposition.

Well, then, I peremptorily conclude that the work is God's; God's by the way of a principal efficiency, and not only by way of motion or persuasion, as some would have it; wherein I fear a piece of cursed bargaining for their own glory. For, were it so, they would be but very shabby acknowledgments that does belong to God for the change of a most miserable and unhappy estate. Suppose I should go to some wealthy citizen, and present him an object of charity, using the most cogent considerations which my art and wit could invent to enforce a liberal contribution; thereupon he freely parts with his money for the relief of that indigent person: tell me now, To which of us is he mainly engaged to return thanks? To me, the mover; or to him, the bestower? I make no question but your judicious thoughts have made an award of the chief acknowledgment to the latter. The case would plainly be the same betwixt God and us, if his only were the motion, ours the act, of conversion; his the persuasion, ours the performance: and if we go to heaven, we should have more cause to thank ourselves, than to thank God, for all the happiness we meet with there.

Beloved, I beseech you, take heed of such an opinion as this: it hath blasphemy written over it. If it be rooted in your minds, it will breed in your hearts a confidence of your own power and abilities; and that is no better than a fine-spun idolatry, and shall find little better response from God than if you worshipped stocks and stones.

QUESTION IV. Upon what account doth God call? What moves the Divine Majesty thus to busy himself about a lump of sin and misery?

ANSWER. What but mere mercy? What but rich and abundant mercy?

1. It is mere mercy.—"When by our own merits we were begotten to death, by his mercy he begat us again unto life." "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he hath saved us." (Titus 3:5.) Indeed we cannot do any works of righteousness before our calling. That righteousness which natural men are subject to glory in, is rather seeming than real; and that which shineth so bright in our own eyes, and perhaps in the eyes of other men, is an "abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:15.) God and men do not measure our righteousness by the same standard. Men account them righteous that conform to customs, laws, and constitutions of men; if, at least, they be likewise conformable to the letter of the law of God. But God reckons none righteous beside those that have a singular regard to the spirit of the law, (if I may so call it,) which layeth an obligation upon the inward man as well as the outward, which binds the heart as well as the hand; and commands, not only that which is good, but that good be done upon a good principle, in a good manner, to a good end:—a pitch of obedience that no natural man can possibly arise to; so that, in the sight of God, "there is none righteous, no, not one." (Rom. 3:10.) "We are all by nature children of wrath, even as others." (Eph. 2:3.) "Children of wrath" we are by our own desert; if ever we become children of grace, it must be by His mercy.

2. As by mere mercy, so by rich and abundant mercy in God, it is that we are called.—There is a greatness of love in the "quickening of those that are dead in sins together with Christ." (Eph. 2:4, 5.) There is mercy, in that we have our lives for a prey; mercy in an the comforts and accommodations of life; mercy in the influences of the sun; mercy in the dropping of the clouds; mercy in the fruitfulness of seasons; mercy in the fulness of barns: "The year" is "crowned with the goodness" of the Lord. (Psalm 65:11.) But this is a mercy above all mercies, —that we are "called from darkness into marvellous light," (1 Peter 2:9,) and from the power of Satan to the service of, and fellowship with, the only living and true God. (Acts 26:18.) Other benefits are extended to the worst of men; nay, the very devils have some tastes of mercy: but this of an effectual calling is (as I said before) communicated to none but those that God hath chosen. Other blessings and benefits, though they be good in themselves yet they cannot make us good: they are but as trappings to a horse, which, if he be a jade, make him not go the better, but the worse. But here God works a marvellous change for the better. Once the man ran away from God and himself; but now he instantly returns. Once he was a hater, a fighter against God; but now the weapons of his hostility are laid down, and he thinks he can never do enough to express his love. Once he was darkness; but now he is "light in the Lord." Once [he was] dead; but, behold, he lives. Finally: other blessings and benefits can never make us happy; but, as they find us miserable, so they leave us: we may, and are too apt to, bless ourselves in them; yet God never intended to bless us in the sole enjoyment of them. But, O how happy is that man that God hath effectually called to himself! His bosom shall be his refuge in all storms; his grace, his sufficiency in all temptations; his power, his shield in all oppositions. But let the text speak: "All things shall work together for" his spiritual and eternal good.

Before I part with this point, I shall acquaint you with an exposition of my text utterly inconsistent with the doctrine I have delivered and the truth itself, and very unworthy of the authors of it. This it is,—that here we are said to be called, not "according to God's purpose," but "according to our own purpose" to hear and obey his call. And perhaps upon this the Papists have grounded their merit of congruity. But this must needs fall, if we consider but this one thing among many,—that those that have been farthest off the kingdom, have been fetched into it; and those that have not been far from the kingdom of God, have never come nearer it. God doth not always take the smoothest, but the most knotty, pieces of timber, to make pillars in his house. He goes not always to places of severest and strictest discipline, to pick out some few there to plant in his house: but he goes to the custom-house, and calls one thence; to the brothel-house, and calls another thence. And if yet you insist upon the purpose of man, as an inducement to the call of God, pray tell me, What was Saul's purpose, when God met with him in the way to Damascus? Had he any other purpose than to persecute the disciples of the Lord?—Enough of that.

QUESTION 5: By what means are we called?

ANSWER. Sometimes without means.—As in persons not capable of the use of them. There is highest caution amongst the people of God to avoid that sin—nay, the very appearance—of limiting the Holy One of Israel.

Sometimes by contrary means.—The greatness of a sin being ordered by God to set on the conversion of a sinner: as when a man is wounded with the sting, and healed with the flesh, of a scorpion; or as when we make treacle of a viper, a most poisonous creature, to expel poison.

Sometimes by very unlikely means.—As when by some great affliction we are brought home to God, which in its own nature, one would think, should drive us farther from God; as there is no question but it doth the reprobates, who are ready to tell all the world what king William Rufus told the bishop, if the partial monk doe not belie him: "God shall never make me good by the evil I suffer from him." Or, which is yet more unlikely, when we are brought home by prosperity; God overcoming our evil with his good; heaping, as it were, coals of fire upon our heads, and so melting us into kindly contrition. Gerson, in a sermon of his, tells us of a most wicked priest, that, when he was preferred to a bishopric, became exemplarily holy; but such a convert is rara avis, "seldom to be found."

Always this work is carried on by weak means.—Thus, I have heard it credibly reported, that a sentence, written in a window, and accidentally read by an inveterate sinner, pierced his heart, and let out the corruption thence. The sentence was that of Austin: "He that hath promised pardon to the penitent, hath not promised repentance to the presumptuous, sinner." Thus Austin was converted with a Tolle, lege: "Take up the book, and read." The book was the New Testament; the place he opened was the Epistle to the Romans, where he first cast his eye upon the thirteenth chapter; the words, these: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying." (Verse 13.) This struck him home.

But the most ordinary means of our effectual calling is the preaching of the word.—Which, though the world account [it] "foolishness," is "the power of God" unto salvation. (1 Cor. 1:18.) And though by other means men may be called, yet seldom or never any are called that neglect and contemn this. God delights to honour his own ordinances, and to credit and encourage his ministers: and because he is pleased to make use of the word they preach as seed, therefore it is his will and pleasure that his people should own and reverence them as their fathers: "In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." (1 Cor. 4:l5.) And therefore I am confident, they can have no good evidences of their Christian calling, that secretly despise, openly revile, secretly undermine, openly oppose, the ministerial calling. Christ will not own them as his children, who refuse to honour his ministers as their fathers. "He that despiseth you despiseth me." (Luke 10:16.)

So much for answer to the fifth question.

QUESTION VI. What is the end of this call?

ANSWER. What but that which is the end of all things,—the glory of God? what but that which should be the end that all men should aim at,—the salvation of their souls? Here we may see the glory of God's free grace and mercy; the immutability of his purposes; the holiness of his nature, in that he makes us fit for communion with himself, before he admits us to it; (Col. 1:12;) the wisdom of his counsels; and, last of all, the exceeding greatness of his power. For though the effectual calling of a soul be no miracle, yet there is as much power manifested in it as in any miracle that Christ wrought; yea, as in all the miracles which he wrought, if they be put together. For here the blind eyes and deaf ears are opened, the withered hands and lame legs are restored, the bloody issue stanched, the leper cleansed, legions of devils cast out, the dead soul raised to walk before God in the land of the living: in a word, the water is turned into wine,—the water of contrition into the wine of sweetest spiritual consolation.

QUESTION VII. When is the time that God calls?

ANSWER. As the persons are chosen, so the time is appointed called therefore "the acceptable year of the Lord," "the accepted time," "the day of visitation," "the day of salvation." What hour of the day God will please to call any person in, is to us uncertain. This only is certain,—that we must be called within the compass of this present life, or else we shall never be called. There is no preaching to souls in the prison of hell, no constituting of churches there. If the Spirit of God be not our purgatory fire here, in vain shall we look for any other hereafter. Thus briefly of the seventh question.

QUESTION VIII. What are the properties of this call?

ANSWER 1. It is a holy calling. (2 Tim. 1:9.)—Holy is the Author of it, holy are the means of it, holy are the ends of it, holy are the subjects of it. God is the Author, the word is the means, holiness itself the end, none but holy men the subjects.

I cannot but wonder at the impudence of profane men, that they should call themselves "Christians," that they should call God "Father," that they should call Christ "Saviour." If they be Christians, where is the savour of those precious ointments, those special graces, that run down from the Head unto all his members, and give the only just reason why we should be denominated "Christians?"

I wonder the mere civil person can sleep so securely with his short covering. He boasts of a righteousness, and is a mere stranger to holiness: he separates those things which God hath perfectly and inseparably united. Holiness and righteousness God hath so knit and coupled together, that he reckons no service performed to him where either of these is wanting: "To serve him in holiness and righteousness." (Luke 1:74, 75.) It is a part of our righteousness to be holy in our converse with God: it is a part of our holiness to be righteous in our converse with men. Therefore I shall add the deceitful hypocrite unto the deceived equalist; the one drawing as near to God with his external righteousness, as the other doth with his pretended holiness: both stand at a distance from him; he "beholds them afar off;" and though he hath "called them to be saints." (1 Cor. 1:2,) yet they are not saints by an effectual calling.

2. It is a high and heavenly calling. (Phil. 3:14; Heb. 3:1.) —A learned critic supposeth that the apostle, in bestowing this epithet, "high," upon our calling, alludeth unto the Olympic Games; an allusion which, indeed, he much delighteth in throughout all his epistles. There the master or ruler of the game, who was also the keeper and bestower of the prize, (brazeuthV,) stood upon the higher ground, [and] called to those that were engaged to that noble exercise to begin the race. Proportionably unto this, Christians having a "race set before" them, which they must "run with patience," at the call of their great Director, (Heb. 12:1,) who utters his voice from heaven unto their hearts, they first start: so that the calling is high, because we are called from on high.

But this is not all: for, beside that, it is a high way, though it be no common way, that we are called to run in.—All the exercises and employments that a Christian is called to, they are exceeding high; such as are the service of God, the mortification of lusts, the fighting against principalities and powers of darkness, the trampling upon all the gilded, glistering vanities of this world. Such are the denial of a man's self, the taking up the cross daily, the following of Christ, and the showing forth all his virtues, that hath called us. Such are warm devotions, spiritual meditations, fervent supplications, holy breathings and aspirings after communion with the ever-blessed God, in a conscientious use of his ordinances. All these are employments too high for those that are skilled in nothing else but Satan's and the world's drudgery; too high for any but those that are endued with grace and power from on high to perform them.

Yet farther: this calling is high, not only in regard of the Director and the race, but in regard of the prize, as [to] the reward that we shall receive from the righteous Judge.—What is "the end of our faith," but, the salvation of our souls? "(1 Peter 1:9.) When we come to the goal, here we find no tripods, shields, or caps; but crowns; and no ordinary crowns, but glorious ones; no fading crowns, but everlasting ones. Who would not, with the apostle, but "press toward the mark?"

Lastly. That we may have greater comfort and assurance that we shall not "wax weary and faint" in our course, and consequently not miss of those glorious rewards; there is no calling that hath so high and heavenly assistances as this hath.—God, that calls to the race, engages his power to carry us through it: the Son of God intercedes for us: the Spirit of God is ready to comfort us. The angels of God have the charge of us, to keep us, so that we shall not dash our feet against a stone. "The spirits of just men made perfect,"—though they be not acquainted with our particular wants, yet in general they tender our conditions, and help us by their prayers. All the people of God are constant solicitors for us at the throne of grace; beside those helps [which] they afford us by their watching over us, by their counsels, instructions, admonitions, rebukes, examples; the cheerfulness and alacrity of some in the ways of God having a great and happy tendency to prevent the weariness and discouragements of others. Thus it is a "high calling."

3. It is a call without a sound.—Or, if it have any, it is heard by none but them to whom it is directed. A good divine calls it "an invisible call." Occultis itineribus sapor nobis vitalis infunditur, as Ennodius speaks: "By hidden paths and passages the vital savour is infused into us." The seed grows up we know not how. (Mark 4:27.) The Spirit secretly winds himself into the soul. Christ comes into our hearts, as he did into the house where his disciples were met, "the doors being shut." (John 20:26.) Thus it is ordinarily; though I will not deny but that sometimes it may be otherwise. The Spirit may come with a "mighty rushing," (Acts 2:2,) and Christ with holy violence break open the doors of our hearts. Saul could well tell the time and other circumstances of his conversion: but it is likely, the holy Baptist could not; in whom, the father saith, there was a Spirit of grace as soon as a spirit of life. The corruptions of some will out, as it were, by insensible breathings: but so obstinate and inveterate are the spiritual distempers of others, that they must have strong vomits, violent purges; and all little enough to clear them. For a man of a good nature, (as they call it,) liberal education, much restraining grace, to take and give notice punctually when his state is changed, is very difficult: whereas this is no hard matter for a gross and scandalous piece of debauchery, becoming afterwards an example of piety. We must not expect the same account from Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of our Lord in point of conversion: yet they both rejoiced in Christ as their Saviour.

This I have the rather spoken, that I might enter a caveat against those rigid and severe triers of men's spiritual estates, whom (as I have heard) nothing will satisfy but the precise time of conversion. I acknowledge these men great artists and good workmen; but it is in framing new racks for men's consciences, since the old Popish ones are broken. I make no question but a weak Christian's soul may be as sadly strained to give an account of his graces, as it would have been to give an account of his sins, had he lived in the days of auricular confession. Beware, my friends, of the devil's sophistry.

4. And lastly. It is an immutable call.—Immutable as God himself as his electing love, the living fountain from whence it springs. Not as the world loves, doth God love. They love to-day, and hate to-morrow; wearing their friends like flowers, which we may behold in their bosoms whilst they are fresh and sweet, but soon they wither, and soon they are laid aside. Whereas the love of God to his people is everlasting, and he wears them as a signet upon his right hand, which he will never part with. Not as the world gives, doth God give. Men give liberally, and repent suddenly; but "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." (Rom. 11:29.)

So much for the properties of this call; and so much for the opening of the point. Shall I speak a word or two of APPLICATION?

APPLICATION.

Beloved in the Lord, I have answered you many questions: I beseech you, answer me a few. "Me," said I? Nay, answer them to God and your own consciences.

1. Are you of the number of the called?—Called by the gospel I know you are; but that may be your misery. Are you "called according to the purpose?" That only can be your happiness. Is your calling inward and effectual? "We hope it is." Why? "We have some convictions, some inclinations to good." So had Herod, so had Agrippa; so may a reprobate [have] by the common work of the Spirit. I would be loath [that] you should be but almost Christians, lest you be but almost saved. Tell me, then, Is the whole frame of your hearts altered? Is sin odious? Is Christ precious? Doth the price of heavenly commodities rise in your hearts, and the price of earthly trumpery fall? Do you love God and his Son Jesus Christ in sincerity? Then I can assure you,—not in the word of a mortal man, which is as good as nothing; but in the word of God that cannot lie, even in the words of my text,—you are "called according to his purpose."

2. If you be effectually called, why do you not answer that call, in receiving Christ in all his offices, in obeying Christ in all his commands, in meeting Christ in all his ordinances? Why do you not "give all diligence to make your calling and election sure?" (2 Peter 1:10.) Shall the "children of this world" still be wiser in their generation than the "children of light?" They rest not till they have assured (as they suppose) their earthly tenements: why do not we bestir ourselves as much to assure a heavenly inheritance?

Why are you not more thankful for this grace? Why are you not more joyful in it? How did the wise men of the East rejoice, when they found Christ horn in Bethlehem! Is it not matter of greater joy to find Christ born in your hearts? Tell me, Is it nothing to have your names written in the book of life? to have God for your Father, Christ for your Husband and Brother, the Spirit of Christ for your Comforter, the angels for your servitors, all the creatures at your beck? These are the noble privileges of those that are "called according to the purpose of God." How can they but rejoice in them, and "sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever?" (Psalm 89:1.)

Why are you not more careful to "walk worthy of" this grace? (Eph. 4:1.) There is a decorum, a seemliness, that appertains to every calling. This made Scipio that he would not accept the offer of a harlot, because he was general of the army: and when Antigonus was invited to a place where there was none of the best company, he was well advised by one to remember [that] he was a king's son. When you suffer yourselves to be drawn away by your lusts, to be ensnared by the world, to be captivated by the devil, you forget the decorum that should attend your Christian calling: remember, I beseech you,

(1.) That it is a holy calling.—And therefore be ye also holy in all manner of conversation." (1 Peter 1:15.) Methinks, it should sound as harshly in our ears to hear of a wicked Christian as of a dark sun.

(2.) It is a high calling.—Do live high. Scorn baseness: blush to appear in your old rags; to be seen catering for your lusts as you used to do. Crown yourselves with the stars; clothe yourselves with the sun; tread the moon under your feet. Let the gospel be your crown; let Christ be your clothing; let the world be your footstool; let hidden manna be your constant diet. Keep open house to all comers: set your spiritual dainties before them; bid them feed heartily, and welcome: and, for discourse, tell them what great things God hath done for your souls. (Psalm 66:16.)

(3.) It is a heavenly call.—Let your "conversation be in heaven" (Phil. 3:20): you have a good Correspondent there. Maintain a constant trade and traffic thither: expect returns thence. "Lay up your treasure" there, "where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." (Matt. 6:20.) Be always preparing for your passage thither.

(4.) It is an immutable call.—Do not droop and hang your heads for the changes and mutations [which] there are in the world. "The foundation of God standeth sure," (though the foundation of states be overturned, overturned, overturned,) "having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his," (2 Tim. 2:19,) and will cause "all things to work together for their good."

3. But what, if now there be many amongst you that are not effectually called?—In the third and last place I address myself to them:—

Men and brethren, if you have any sense of the excellency of your immortal souls; any love to them, suitable to that excellency; any care and solicitousness, suitable to that love; do not "resist the Holy Ghost." Make the best use you can of the means of grace. "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." (Heb. 3:15.) If he now knock at the door of your hearts, and you will not open, you know not how soon you may come to knock at the door of his house, and he will not open.

It is reported that Thales, one of the Grecian sages, being urged by his mother to marry, told her at first [that] it was too soon; and afterward, when she urged him again, he told her [that] it was too late. Effectual vocation is our espousal unto Christ: all the time of our life God is urging this match upon our souls; his ministers are still wooing for Christ. If now we say, "It is too soon," for aught we know, the very next moment our sun may set; and then God will say, "It is too late." They that are not contracted to Christ on earth, shall never be married to him in heaven.

Beware the Pretenders--The Destruction of Apostates--Part 2

by John MacArthur

Jude 5-7

Introduction

In verses 5 through 7 of the brief, but important Epistle of Jude, we find an historical record of God judging apostasy: "I will, therefore, put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

There are many signs of the end of the age that indicate that the Lord Jesus is coming very soon. One of them, which is identified by the book of Jude, is apostasy. The word simply means "to depart or fall away." Throughout the New Testament we find that there will be a "falling away" from the Christian faith in the end times (2 Thess. 2:3). Even Jesus predicted that would happen in Matthew 24:10-12: "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold." Our Lord said that there will be a falling away in the end times. That event will occur not only within the church, but also within Israel during the Tribulation.

A. The Characteristics of Apostasy

There will be within the so-called church of Jesus Christ, a denial of the truth. In fact, the apostasy of the end times is basically a series of denials. There will be...

1. A DENIAL OF DIVINE POWER (2 Tim. 3:4-5)

Men will be "traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power of it...."

2. A DENIAL OF CHRIST (2 Pet. 2:1)

The false prophets of the apostasy will be "denying the Lord that bought them...."

3. A DENIAL OF CHRIST'S RETURN (2 Pet. 3:3-4)

"...there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."

4. A DENIAL OF THE FAITH (1 Tim. 4:1)

"...in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith...."

5. A DENIAL OF SOUND DOCTRINE (2 Tim. 4:3-4)

"...the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but, after their own lusts, shall they heap to themselves [false] teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

6. A DENIAL OF THE SEPARATED LIFE (2 Tim. 3:1-2)

"...in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers...."

7. A DENIAL OF FREEDOM IN CHRISTIANITY (1 Tim. 4:3)

There will be a reversion to legalism. Some shall teach doctrines "forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving...."

8. A DENIAL OF MORALS (Jd. 18-19)

"How they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These are they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit."

9. A DENIAL OF BIBLICAL AUTHORITY (2 Tim. 3:8)

"...so do these also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith."

Strange as it may seem, those denials are going to come within the framework of Christianity. We are well aware that many of them are already occurring in what we know as theological liberalism.

B. The Cautions Against Apostasy

In the book of Jude we find the subject of apostasy being dealt with again. It firmly warns against it in much the same way that the book of Hebrews does. In fact, of all the books I've studied, Jude reminds me more of Hebrews than any other book. Throughout the book of Hebrews, there are periodic warnings to potential apostates: people who are close to coming to Christ, but are in danger of turning their back and walking away into apostasy and damnation forever.

Jude begins his letter with a greeting in verses 1 and 2. He gives a warning in verse 3. Then in verse 4, he gives a description of apostasy. Now in verses 5 to 7, he speaks of God's attitude toward apostates. He uses three illustrations to show God's judgment of apostates: the Hebrews, the angels, and the Gentiles.

I. THE HEBREWS (v. 5)

"I will, therefore, put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not."

Here is a bit of history that all of us know about. God delivered Israel from the land of Egypt by a series of miracles, freeing them from Pharaoh's hand. The young nation entered into the wilderness, having passed through the midst of the Red Sea; its waters had rolled back and then closed upon Pharaoh's army. On the way to the Promised Land, they were granted the law of God at the foot of Mt. Sinai. However, in the process of their journey, Israel turned their backs on God, becoming apostates. Therefore, God let them wander in the wilderness for forty years until the older generation had died off so that they would not enter the Promised Land.

A. The Reason for Remembering

Jude said, "I want you to remember that story." Remembering biblical truth is an important practice. We need to recognize that everybody forgets, for with the decaying process of death is also a loss of memory. There must be a constant reminder of the Word of God. In verse 17, Jude reiterates that very idea: "But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ."

The readers of Jude's letter had earlier apostolic teaching on the subject of apostasy. They also had the Old Testament, which recounted the history of Israel in the wilderness. They knew that from the book of Exodus. When anybody wanted to talk about the history of the Israelites, they always included the deliverance from Egypt, which was the great account of God's redemptive love. Hence, that story was most familiar to them. That is why Jude says, "I just want to remind you of two facts, even though you've known them all along: the Lord miraculously delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, and the Lord destroyed those who apostatized.

B. The Reason for Retribution

1. ITS ACCOUNT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The account of that terrible destruction is recorded in Numbers 13--14. God's mighty hand had delivered Israel, whom He guided safely across the desert to the borders of Canaan. At the door to Canaan at Kadesh-barnea, spies were sent out to spy the land before the final invasion was to take place. Ten came back and gave "an evil report of the land" (13:32): "We can't handle those people; they're huge. They're giants and we're grasshoppers!" They had what I call the "grasshopper complex." But two of them, Joshua and Caleb, came back and said, "They will be no problem; God's on our side. Let's go."

Unfortunately, the people believed the negative reports, so God said, "All right, every single person over twenty--with the exception of Joshua and Caleb--is going to die in the wilderness without entering the Promised Land, because you didn't believe Me." What an illustration! The Israelites had been delivered by miracles and set free from the land of Egypt to enter into the land that God had prepared for them in Canaan. But because of unbelief, they died in the wilderness and never entered the Promised Land. Jude is simply saying to his readers, "God deals sternly with those who turn their back on what they know is true. They had every reason to believe God, for He had proven Himself time and again.

2. ITS APPLICATION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

The writer of Hebrews exhorted his Jewish readers not to make the same mistake their forefathers had. Some of them were on the fence regarding their decisions about Christ. They knew the evidence about salvation. Yet they were hesitating to make a commitment, because they were threatened by persecution from their family and friends.

a. The Example

"Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit saith, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, [testing] in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers put Me to the test, proved Me, and saw My works forty years" (3:7-9). In other words, "Don't do what the children of Israel did: They were freed from the land, ready to enter into Canaan, yet they didn't believe that God could give them victory over the inhabitants of the land. They doubted the God who had parted the Red Sea. Those people continually wanted God to prove Himself." However, God had proven Himself so many times that their demand for further proof was was ridiculous. People who always look for miracles don't have great faith; they just have doubt looking for proof.

Numbers 14:22-23 records the original rebuke of God: "Because all those men who have seen My glory, and My miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice; surely they shall not see the land which I swore to give unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it." God said, "Look, I've proven Myself; that is unnecessary. Your unbelief is simply demanding more proof." Instead of believing God as they wandered in the wilderness, their hearts got harder and harder.

The phrase "the day of trial" (Heb. 3:8), refers to the entire wandering period when the Israelites tested God. As a result of that provocation, verse 11 records God saying, "So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest [Canaan]."

b. The Exhortation

Warning his Jewish brethren (not fellow Christians) against becoming apostates, the writer of Hebrews says, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end, while it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For who, when they had heard, did provoke? Did not all that came out of Egypt by Moses? But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to who swore He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us, therefore, fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." (3:12-4:2). God cut off a whole generation, except for Joshua and Caleb and the younger generation of Israelites, because of their unbelief.

What leads people to apostatize?

An apostate is somebody who knows the truth. Maybe he has been to church, or even read the Bible. He may know the gospel but never mixes that information with faith. The fact that God destroyed apostates shows how much He hates apostasy. It's inconceivable to me that somebody could know everything there was to know about Christianity and then reject it. Nevertheless, the New Testament lists several reasons that people apostatize:

1. PERSECUTION

Some people become apostates because they're not willing to pay the price. They know what it means to be a Christian, but they're not willing be counted for Christ. That was part of the problem of those the writer of Hebrews addressed.

Matthew 24:9-12 says, "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold." What makes the love of many grow cold? Persecution.

2. FALSE TEACHERS

False teachers also cause people to apostatize. One of Satan's strategies is to confuse a person who is on the verge of making a decision for Christ with false doctrine. The passage just mentioned in Matthew 24 says that "many false prophets shall rise, and deceive many....the love of many shall grow cold" (vv. 11-12).

3. TEMPTATION

Some people can't handle temptation. They get to the place where they receive the gospel intellectually, but then Satan showers them with temptation and draws them away by their lusts. (Eph. 2:2-3)

4. WORLDLINESS

Worldliness makes apostates. Second Timothy 4:10 says, "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world...."

5. NEGLECT

Some people become apostates and step outside of God's grace and into His wrath simply because they neglect to make a decision. Hebrews 2:3 says, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation...?"

6. HARDENED HEARTS

There are other people who turn away because they harden their hearts as the Israelites did in the wilderness (Heb. 3:7-19).

7. RELIGION

Religion can be like a vaccination people often get to inoculate themselves against the real disease: Some people have just enough religion to immunize themselves from a full commitment to true religion. Hebrews 6:4-5 says that such people "have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come." Although their involvement in Christianity has been external, it's usually enough to pacify them.

8. FORSAKING TO ASSEMBLE

Apostasy can be caused by not assembling with Christians. That's why Hebrews 10:25 says that we Christians should not be "forsaking the assembling of ourselves together...." That appears to be a warning to potential apostates as much as it is an exhortation to Christians.

So, all of those elements are factors in leading a person to become an apostate. The Israelites fell to apostasy and God destroyed them. If you know the gospel of Jesus Christ and you turn your back without giving your heart to him, then you are an apostate. And God's attitude today isn't any different than it was then.

Jude gives a second illustration of apostasy in verse 6. However, that one comes not from the realm of men, but from the realm of...

II. THE ANGELS (v. 6)

"And the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

That verse has created problems for a lot of people, because it is not easy to understand. Jude is saying that there are some apostate Israelites in history (v. 5), and there are also some apostate angels. But unlike the Israelites who left Egypt, wandered in the wilderness, and died there because of their unbelief, the angels weren't wanderers. They had their own domain and their own habitation. In fact, at one time, they were in heaven with God Himself, but they turned their back on all of that and were banished.

People often say to me, "Isn't it a terrible thing that people have to go to hell?" The fact of the matter is, if people don't want Jesus Christ, they choose to go to hell. There were angels in heaven, but they chose to leave and wound up in hell. That's essentially the same choice that a man makes. God isn't going to force a man to go to heaven who doesn't want to be there. He didn't force angels to stay when they didn't want to be there. They wanted more than they thought heaven could offer, so they joined in the prideful rebellion of Satan and were thrown out.

But what about those angels? Who are they and what is their sin?

A. Their Iniquity

1. FAILING TO MAINTAIN VIGILANCE

"And the angels who kept not their first estate..."

The Greek word for "kept" means "to guard or protect." There was a failure on the part of the angels to maintain proper vigilance. The word for "estate" refers to "rule, dignity, or domain." The angels failed to guard their first domain. Instead of sticking with the dignity and rule that God had given them and their accompanying responsibilities, the angels rebelled.

2. LEAVING THEIR HABITATION

The angels left the habitation in heaven that God had designed for them. Having deliberately turned away from that which was consistent with their nature, the angels became apostates by also turning their backs on the place that God had assigned to them.

3. COMMITTING FORNICATION

Verse 7 gives us some clues as to the specifics of their iniquity: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, [these angels] giving themselves over to fornication...." Whatever those angels did, it was the same thing that Sodom and Gomorrah did, namely, committing fornication: "going after strange flesh" (v. 7b). The angels are described in verse 6. They appear to be a likely antecedent of the word "themselves" in verse 7. Therefore, I believe that verse 7 is saying that the angels were giving themselves over to fornication.

So, what did those angels do? They didn't keep their first estate. Second, they left the normal place that their nature and design by God required of them. Third, they gave themselves over to a gross kind of sexual evil in the same way that Sodom and Gomorrah did. Do you remember what the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was? The men of those cities lusted after the angels who were staying with Lot. The fallen angels in verse 6 did the same thing that Sodom and Gomorrah did, except in reverse--they lusted after humans. They entered into a terrible perversion of sex. The "strange [Gk. heteras = `different'] flesh" was of a different nature than theirs. Just as the men of Sodom lusted after the angels, so the angels lusted after human flesh and committed fornication with human women. That's why I believe that the record of Jude 6-7 gives us a clue about...

B. Their Identity

1. DETERMINED

The account involving those angels is recorded in Genesis 6:1- 4: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all whom they chose. And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown." The following verses tell us that God destroyed almost all life on the earth because man had become so corrupt. I believe that "the sons of God" refers to fallen angels, who produced a race of mighty creatures: half demon, half man. One of the reasons God brought the flood was in order to destroy that half-breed race.

2. DEFENDED

Now some people object here. They say, "You can't have angels there in Genesis 6 because of Matthew 22:30." That verse says, "For in the resurrection they [people] neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven."

a. Their Presence on Earth

Where is it that angels don't marry? In heaven. That's the first distinction you have to make. Matthew 22:30 is limited to the holy angels, the ones in heaven. It's not saying anything about angels that had been cast out of heaven and are now on earth.

b. Their Appearance as Males

Matthew 22:30 only implies that angels cannot procreate among themselves. People will say that angels couldn't impregnate women, because they assume that angels are without sex distinction. But the Bible doesn't say that. On the contrary, whenever they took on a human body, they always took on that of a male.

The verse is only talking about the holy angels in heaven, and it merely implies that angels can't procreate among their own kind. It's not talking about the demons, and it's not saying that they can't unite with humans.

Let's go back to Jude 6, where we see three statements regarding the judgment upon the fallen angels of Genesis 6:

C. Their Incarceration

1. ITS STATEMENT

a. "...in everlasting chains..."

Those angels are being kept by God in chains. The Greek verb for keeping is tereo, which is used in the perfect tense (indicating past action with continuing results). That implies that the angels were placed in confinement by God and are still there today. Obviously, Jude 6 can't refer to all the demons (fallen angels) because many are still active. The angels that committed that terrible atrocity in Genesis 6 are still confined with escape-proof chains.

b. "...under darkness..."

This is an interesting word that only appears here and in 2 Peter 2:4 and 17. It speaks of a terrible, dense blackness.

2. ITS SUPPORT

Second Peter 2:4 describes the same incident: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Gk. Tartaros], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." Peter called that dark place "Tartarus" (the Greek netherworld). I don't know much about it other than that it is a terrible place of blackness, where those demons are eternally chained until the great judgment that will occur at the end of Christ's millennial reign. I believe that the judgment of those fallen angels will take place at the end of the thousand years, after Satan and his demons are unbound (Rev. 20:7-10). The angels who sinned in Genesis 6 have been in chains since that time. However, the chains they endure now are only a prelude to the judgment that's coming on the great day of the Lord.

So Jude says, "Remember the angels that were created to occupy a domain in God's heaven with dignity worthy of that position: They turned from their Creator, deserted their habitation, went after strange flesh, and as a result, they have been cast into awful darkness until final judgment.

3. ITS SETTING

a. 2 Peter 2:4-5

Peter gives an interesting insight into the passage in Jude: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah...." Verse 4 talks about the sin of the angels and verse 5 tells us the period of time in which it occurred--the time of Noah. I think that is very weighty in establishing that Genesis 6 records the sin of those angels.

b. 1 Peter 3:18-20

Peter gives us another insight in his first epistle: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the spirit" (v. 18). When Christ was on the cross, His body was dead. Was His spirit dead? Of course not. What was His spirit doing then? Verse 19 tells us: "...He went and preached unto the spirits in prison." This has got to refer to the same incident that Peter talks about later in 2 Peter and that Jude talks about in his epistle. I believe that the spirits in prison are the angels that were bound because of their terrible sin. When Christ died on the cross, all of hell probably thought that the forces of evil had pulled off a victory. But it wasn't long until the spirit of Christ descended into the place where the demons were bound and proclaimed victory over them. What demons were they? Verse 20 tells us that they were the ones "who at one time were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah...."

c. Genesis 6:2-4, 8

"That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all whom they chose. And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth....But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." I believe that it is best to identify the terrible sin of apostasy among the fallen angels mentioned in Jude 6 with Genesis 6, where demonic beings cohabited with women. It is possible that they were attempting to produce a cross-breed race that could not be redeemed by the God-Man Jesus Christ. But God said, "I can't have that--I'm going to wipe them out." That is why He brought the flood and destroyed that whole generation upon the earth.

You say, "But how can you prove that the term `sons of God' refers to angels?" That term is used in Job 1:6, 2:1 and 38:7 to designate angels. Furthermore, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, also translates the word as "angels." Nowhere in the Old Testament is the term "sons of God" ever used for God's people except in Hosea 1:10, and there it is obvious what it means. Therefore, I believe it refers to angels.

Isn't the apostasy of the angels inconceivable to you? It is hard to believe that they could experience heaven in the presence of God and yet fall with Lucifer and then commit the terrible sin of Genesis 6!

Not only did the Israelites and those angels apostatize, but so did...

III. THE GENTILES (v. 7)

"Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these }[angels] indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire" (NASB).

Sodom and Gomorrah did essentially the same thing the angels did. You say, "But how could you consider Sodom and Gomorrah to be apostate? Did they ever know the truth?" You better believe it: Romans 1 says that every man has the knowledge of God and that he is without excuse. There's no reason to believe that Sodom and Gomorrah were ignorant. They rejected the truth and gave themselves over to indulging in a gross kind of sexual evil (Gr. ekporneuo) and in going after strange flesh. Genesis 19 records a bizarre story for us:

A. The Presence of the Angels

One other reason that I believe Sodom probably had information about the truth is that two angels went to the city to rescue the few righteous people in it. I'm sure that Lot and his family weren't the only righteous people who had ever lived in Sodom. "And there came two angels to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night" (vv. 1-2). Evidently, the angels didn't know what they could expect from the citizens of Sodom. Did you know that angels don't know everything? They don't have the absolute omniscience of God.

B. The Pleading of Lot

"And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleaven bread, and they did eat" (v. 3). Now that's interesting, isn't it? The angels were eating so they must have had some physical form so they could consume food.

C. The Perversion of the Crowd

"But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter. And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men who came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them" (vv. 4-5). The people of the city had seen a glimpse of glorious angels in human bodies. In that case, the word "know" doesn't mean "to get acquainted." Rather, it is used euphemistically for sexual intercourse, such as when "Cain knew his wife; and she conceived..." (Gen. 4:17). "And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly" (vv. 6-7). Lot knew what the men wanted. Hence, the word "sodomy" came to refer to homosexual relations.

D. The Persistence of the Crowd

"Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known man [virgins]; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed hard against the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men [angels] put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great; so that they wearied themselves to find the door" (vv. 8-11). Do you know what amazes me? Even after they were blind, those men were still determined to get inside!

E. The Punishment of the Cities

"And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son- in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place; for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them has become great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it" (vv. 12-13).

The sin of the Sodomites was that they lusted after a different kind of being: When two angelic visitors came to visit Sodom and ultimately rescue Lot, the Sodomites tried to engage in homosexual activity with them. For that reason, God judged Sodom and Gomorrah and their sister cities by wiping them off the face of the earth.

Conclusion

God has set before us in Jude three great historic illustrations of unbelief and apostasy. God hasn't changed--His reaction to apostasy today is the same as it's always been. There is a serious warning about apostasy in Hebrews 10:29-31: "Of how much sorer [worse] punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." God was severe in what He did to Israel, to the angels, and to Sodom and Gomorrah. But, the person worthy who, knowing the truth of Jesus Christ, tramples the blood of the covenant and considers it an unholy thing, and rejects the wooing of the Spirit of God is worthy of much worse punishment.

God dealt seriously with Israel, with the angels that fell, and with Sodom and Gomorrah. But God is now dealing with apostasy more seriously than He ever has, because it is a rejection of Jesus Christ--the epitome of evil. There is nothing that ever happened in the Old Testament to compare with the severity of judgment for rejecting the revelation of Jesus Christ. God is no respecter of persons. He didn't respect His own people who were unbelieving; He destroyed them. He didn't respect His own angels who were apostate; He incarcerated them. He didn't respect the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah who knew the truth; He wiped them out. And He will not respect anyone who refuses Jesus Christ. He says through the Apostle Paul at the end of 1 Corinthians, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema..." (16:22).

Beware the Pretenders--The Description of Apostates

by John MacArthur Jr.

Jude 3-4

Introduction

Jude 3-4 says, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."

A. The Survey of Apostasy in the New Testament

1. APOSTASY EXPLAINED

Those two verses state the reason that Jude's letter was written and give a definition of apostasy. That evil has been around since the beginning of time, and it's still here. It is the abandoning of truth. It is not to be confused with mere indifference to the Word, for it involves an intellectual acceptance of the Scriptures. Neither is apostasy to be confused with error. It is not necessarily believing false doctrine. An apostate can acknowledge that certain doctrines are true, but fail to believe them in his heart. An apostate can acknowledge Christ without accepting Him. On the other hand, a true Christian could fall into doctrinal error, but that's not apostasy. Apostates have received light but not life. They have known and accepted the written Word, but have never met Christ, the Living Word. You probably know some people like that. There are people in the church who come all the time and know the truth, but have never acted upon it. Apostasy is a deliberate rejection of the the truth after it is known. Hence, it is the most damnable sin of all. The writer of Hebrews said, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing...? (10:29). Somebody who knows the truth and stomps across it deserves more severe punishment than others who didn't know as much.

2. APOSTASY EXPRESSED

a. 2 Thessalonians 2:10--"...they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." They received the truth, but never acquired a love for it, so they fell away.

b. Acts 8:13-14. 18-23--Here we are introduced to a strange character by the name of Simon, who was a sorcerer: "Then Simon himself believed also; and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and was amazed, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John" (vv. 13-14) The account goes on to say that the Apostles laid their hands on some Samarian believers who then received the Holy Spirit. Simon realized that was better than any trick he could do: "And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee; for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity" (vv. 18-23). Peter was saying, "You're not a Christian at all. Doing what you did indicates that you have no part with us. Your heart is not right, so you better pray for forgiveness." Every Christian has forgiveness, so Simon was obviously not a Christian. Simon exercized some sort of belief and was baptized, but he never personally accepted Christ. He merely gave intellectual assent.

Now that is apostasy, a very common subject in the Bible. The Greek word for apostasy (apostasia) is only used two times in the New Testament. The first place is in...

c. Acts 21:21--"And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake [apostatize from] Moses...." Here was a report of an accusation that Paul had been teaching the Jewish people to forsake the teachings of Moses. The other occurance of apostasia is in...

d. 2 Thessalonians 2:3--"...for that day shall not come, except there come the falling away [apostasy] first...."

The idea of apostasy appears in many New Testament passages without the use of the word that specifically means "to fall away." For example:

e. John 6:66--"From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him." There you have a forsaking of Christ. Many of His disciples (those who followed Him), turned their backs and said, "That's enough for us; we don't want to hear anymore. We're bailing out."

f. 2 Peter 2:20-22--"For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after they had known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them" (vv. 20-21). Having an intellectual knowledge of Jesus Christ and rejecting Him constitues apostasy, the severest sin there is. Peter pictured its ugliness in two proverbs: "...The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire" (v. 22)

g. 1 Timothy 4:1--"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that, in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith...." Apostasy is a departing from the faith-- turning your back on what you know to be the truth.

h. 2 Timothy 4:3--"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but, after their own lusts, shall they heap to themselves [false] teachers...." it. Turning away from the truth, people will seek that which is false.

Paul warned Timothy of apostasy coming from the pulpit in the last days. False preachers will turn people from the faith as they follow "seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1). There have always been false prophets, and there will be false prophets as long as Satan is active. Paul calls them "hypocritical liars" in 1 Timothy 4:2--they use religious language and talk about love but they are really phonies. Not only are there false preachers, but there are false congregations as well. Such congregations want teachers that will teach them after their own lusts (2 Tim. 4:3). There is apostasy in the pulpit and apostasy in the pew. It includes everybody who has understood the gospel and turned their backs on the revelation of God.

People have asked me why so many churches are denying the faith: they don't believe in the inspiration of Scripture, the virgin birth of Christ, His literal resurrection, or His literal return. The reason is that the pastor and the people are often apostates, controlled by Satan. We can't expect anything else from them.

B. The Setting of Apostasy in Jude

Let's look at Jude 3 with that understanding of apostasy. After the beautiful introduction about the believer's eternal security in an apostate world, Jude said, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."

1. HIS INTENDED PURPOSE (v. 3a)

The reader gets the idea that Jude got sidetracked from what he intended to say. By addressing his readers as "Beloved," a term that was commonly used by other writers of New Testament epistles, Jude revealed his heart of concern for them. He "gave all diligence to write" to them. The Greek word translated "to give all diligence" means "to make haste." It indicates a strong desire and purpose. The fact that it is used here in the present tense implies that Jude's concern was to write about the common salvation.

By "common" (Gk. koinos), Jude refers to a salvation that belongs to every believer. No one Christian is more saved than any other. So Jude says, "I had a terrific idea, so I sat down and made haste to write you a letter about the common eternal life that all of us possess."

But something happened in the midst of his good intentions. No sooner did Jude start to write about the important doctrine of salvation, than the Spirit of God intervened. Somehow he got some news that made him change his whole plan . So, he started to write: ...it was needful [necessary] for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." In other words, "I started to write about salvation and wound up telling you to fight for the faith.

2. HIS INTENSE PLEA (v. 3b)

a. Its Compulsion

We don't know exactly how Jude came to the conclusion that his change of topic was needful. Maybe the Holy Spirit impressed that need upon him. He probably had heard about some apostate teachers among the believers he was writing to, and through that circumstance, the Holy Spirit convicted his heart. What would have been a very nice letter written by Jude turned out to be Scripture written by the Holy Spirit.

The expression "it was needful" is a strong one that is also found in Acts 17:3: "...Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead...." Paul used that word in 1 Corinthians 9:16 when he said, "...necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" That phrase's root definition means "to put pressure on, to compress." In effect, Jude says, "I've got some divine pressure that changed my plans." The book of Jude isn't merely a human document; it is the revelation of God. It is the result of the sovereign, overruling wisdom of God the Holy Spirit. So Jude writes, "I am compelled to help you understand that you must earnestly contend for the faith."

b. Its Content

1) The Fight

The Greek verb for contend means "to fight for something with great strength, to strenuously defend something." As Christians, we are in a war against Satan. I wonder, though, if we understand that we're in a war for the purity of the faith. Sometimes you might think that I'm a little too dogmatic about defending the faith as vociferously as I do. But maybe that's because I'm a little closer to the frontline of the battle than most people. I am constantly butting heads with people in theological circles and in other churches and pastorates who don't believe the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. The thing that upsets me more than anything else in the world is false doctrine. We have to fight to defend the faith and its purity because, as Jude points out, there are those who have crept in and are trying to destroy the faith (v. 4). It is a fight that goes on and on. Since the word for contend is a present infinitive, we learn that we have to continue to earnestly contend all our lives.

Sometimes I listen to different preachers on the radio, or watch them on television, and get tremendously frustrated, because so many of them present a confusing picture of what Christianity really is. Since there are so many who distort the Christian faith, there should be in every believer a desire to defend it. There isn't a Sunday that goes by when somebody doesn't come up to me and say something like, "I've got a Jehovah's Witness friend. How do I show them what the Word of God really means? How do I show them Christ is God?" Such people love Christ and therefore can't tolerate any attack on the truth. We're in the midst of a battle, so we must earnestly contend for the faith from day to day.

The Greek word for "contend" gives us a deeper insight into the intensity of the battle. The root of the word is agon, from which we get our word agony. It has to do with a struggle, a trial, or the action of a battle. In fact, the word originally meant, "a stadium," which served as a place of contest. Contending for the faith is like playing in a spiritual Superbowl all of our Christian lives. It's like being in the seventh game of the World Series every day. It demands determination, sacrifice, and endurance. We can see that from its use in the New Testament. Paul used a word with the same root in...

a) 1 Timothy 6:12--"Fight the good fight of faith..." (cf. 2 Tim. 4:7). Contending involves defending the faith, fighting the fight, and engaging in a mighty struggle to fight to the death with the forces of apostasy.

b) Colossians 1:29--2:1--Paul said, "...we preach [Christ], warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. For this I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily." Paul was agonizing to bring his readers to maturity. In 2:1 he said, "For I would that ye knew what great conflict [agony] I have for you...." Paul was involved in a tremendous struggle in his ministy.

So, Jude says we are to be earnestly contending for...

2) The Faith

a) Defined

The literal Greek rendering of the verse is "Fight for the once-for-all-delivered-to-the-saints faith." I saw an advertisement for a Christian activity that said, "An inter-faith project." Does that mean there's more than one faith? That sounds like it doesn't matter what faith you are as long as have one. But there's only one faith. There are different denominations, but there aren't different faiths. It's the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. The Greek modifier hapax means "once for all time." You ask, "What exactly is that "faith" referring to?" It's not describing a subjective act of faith; it's referring to the content of Christianity, the Word of God, the gospel, the whole body of doctrine that makes up God's revelation--that's what we're defending.

b) Defended

How many times was the faith delivered? Once for all time. When anybody comes along today and says, "I have something new to add to the faith," you can say, "Have you read Jude 3? The faith was once for all delivered to the saints. You don't have anything new." Every cult claims to have new revelation from God. But there isn't any new revelation, because the body of truth was once for all delivered to the saints. The Christian faith is unchangeable. Every new doctrine and every new revelation is false. The faith was once for all delivered to the saints, and that settles it-- the Bible is complete.

(1) Deuteronomy 4:2--"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish anything from it...." That's fairly clear, wouldn't you say? You shouldn't add anything to the delivered word of God and you shouldn't take anything away from it.

(2)Proverbs 30:6--"Add thou not unto [God's] words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." Anybody who adds to the Word of God is unmasked as a liar.

(3) Revelation 22:18--"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book." Some people say, "Well, that means the book of Revelation." That's fine. The book of Revelation is the last book in the Bible, so if you add anything to the Bible, you've added it to the end of Revelation.

Every time somebody comes along and says that they have a new revelation, you can tell them, "It isn't of God because we believe in the once-for-all-delivered-to-the- saints faith." The word "delivered" is in the aorist tense, which can signify action that happened once in the past. Divine supernatural revelation was once for all delivered to the saints. That's why we're defending the faith against all the new "truths" that people keep coming up with. There are no new doctrines. There are no new theological trends that God has invented for certain periods of time. Christianity is historical, objective revelation, and it is complete. That rules out everything from Mormonism [which teaches that The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price have the same authority as the Bible] to people who think they are having individual revelations from God. I thank God that the Bible is all we need. We don't have to check out everybody's vision to see if God has given us something else.

So, Jude had his plans changed. And what might have been simply a letter from one Christian to others regarding salvation became a letter by the Holy Spirit to all Christians as a part of sacred Scripture.

Why did the Epistle of Jude have to be written? Verse 4 gives us the reason: "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Jude says, "Do you know why I had to write this letter? The Holy Spirit put pressure on me to tell you to fight for the faith because apostates have crept in." Giving a definition of an apostate, Jude presents apostates in three aspects: penetrating, predicted, and portrayed.

I. THE PENETRATION OF THE APOSTATES (v. 4a)

"For there are certain men crept in unawares..."

Apostates worm their way into the church. It doesn't do any good for Satan to have an apostate on a deserted island; an isolated apostate wouldn't affect anybody. Besides churches, they get into seminaries as part of the faculty. After a while, they ruin the seminaries by producing apostates who ruin the churches they pastor. They infiltrate local churches, teaching false doctrine. It isn't the threat of persecution that has been hard on the church; the blood of the martyrs has always been the seed of the church. Rather, it is apostasy that has destroyed the church like a canker at its heart. Apostasy penetrates the very life and leadership of the church.

A. Their Subtle Plan

Jude indicates that the apostates "crept in unawares." Their plan is to subtly infiltrate the church. The Greek verb that is used here is never used anywhere else in the New Testament. It's a very rare word that has to do with cunning words and clever pleaders. For instance, it's used in a legal sense to speak of somebody who pleads a case very cleverly with guile, or of somebody who allows that kind of thing to seep into the minds of a judge or a jury by his trickery. In other extrabiblical literature, it is used of a criminal who is secretly slipping back into the country from which he had been expelled. It means "to enter in secretly," which is precisely what apostates always do. They don't come in announcing, "Now, I'm an apostate, and I'd like to join your congregation." The word literally means "to go down into and alongside." Apostates go down into the church and get alongside the Christians. They pretend to believe, but they're Satan's counterfeits who desire to destroy the work of God. Such infiltration had already begun in Jude's day under the label of Gnosticism. Apostates had moved into the church and were beginning to sow lies about who Jesus Christ is. That form of attack has gone on through the centuries and is still going on today.

Thomas Manton, a Puritan, had this to say about apostates:

When the Christian church began first to look forth in the world, there were adverse powers without ready to crush it, and Libertines who, like worms bred within the body, sought to devour the entrails and eat the very bowels of it. The first ringleader was Simon Magus, and there followed Menander, Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocrates, Cerinthus, Ebion, Cerdo, Marcion, Tatianius, Valentinus, and many [other first and second century Gnostics], who, being once turned aside from the truth and the fellowship of the faithful, lost all awe of God, and were given up to a sottish judgment to believe all kinds of fables and fancies....In succeeding ages the devil hath often played over the old game, sometimes oppressing the church by the tyranny of pseudo-Christians...at other times corrupting the truth by error, or rendering it suspicious by the divisions about it. Heresies revolve as fashions, and in the course of a few years antiquated errors revive again, and that by their means who did not so much as know them by name (An Exposition on the Epistle of Jude [Originally published in London in 1658. Reprinted in 1978 by Klock and Klock in Minneapolis], p. 6).

People keep regurgitating, says Manton, the same false doctrine. Apostasy in the church will continue to sneak in until Jesus comes. Therefore, we must fight it. I thank God for everyone who defends the faith. We can't be passive about the corruption of the faith; we must contend for what we know to be God's holy revelation.

B. Their Scriptural Prediction

1. BY JESUS

a. Matthew 7:15--Our Lord Jesus prophesied that apostasy would enter the church, and He knew what He was saying. He cautioned, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."

b. Matthew 16:6--"Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." Leaven conveys the idea that the evil influence of the religious leaders permeates the rest of the people (cf. 24:11).

2. BY PAUL

When Paul was biding farewell to the Ephesian elders in the twentieth chapter of Acts, he said, "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (vv. 29-30). The Corinthians, the Galatians, and the Colossians, and some of the churches of Asia Minor that our Lord addressed in Revelation 2--3, also had apostate false teachers.

Apostasy is a general term; it does not refer to a specific religious system. Those "certain men" were not part of an organized group of apostates, because apostasy hadn't become as sophisticated as it is today with the presence of so many cults. But whatever its form and level of sophistication, apostasy has always penetrated the church and corrupted its doctrine.

2. BY PETER

In 2 Peter 2:1-2, the Apostle said, "But there were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who secretly shall bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."

II. APOSTATES PREDICTED (v. 4b)

"...who were before of old ordained to this condemnation..."

A. Explained

The word "ordained" (Gk. progegrammenoi) means "to write beforehand." Some people have distorted that verse to mean that apostates had no choice: they were ordained by God to be apostates. That isn't what the word means. Sometimes the King James translators didn't have the benefit of modern scholarship in linguistics and archaeology in their choice of words. The Greek word only appears four times and no where is it translated as "ordained," except in Jude. Consequently, the word should be translated the same way to mean that apostates were prewritten unto condemnation. In other words, apostasy was predicted as a condemned thing long ago. Jude says that the condemnation of apostates has been written down by God long ago.

B. Expressed

Early in man's history, God predicted that apostates were going to suffer judgment. For example, look at...

1. JUDE 14-15--"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." Long ago in Enoch's day, apostasy was predicted as something to be condemned.

The term "of old" may be a little misleading. It sounds like it refers to something ancient, but actually it could mean "a long time ago" or "an hour ago." Therefore, I think that the best way to translate it is "already." In other words, apostates are here now, but their condemnation by God has already been written about.

2. ISAIAH 8:19-22--"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto those who are mediums, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? Should they seek on behalf of the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (vv. 19-20). In other words, compare anybody that speaks, with the Word of God: if they digress from it, disregard them. Verses 21-22 say, "And they shall pass through it, greatly distressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth, and behold, trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness." God spoke about what He would do to false teachers. Apostasy is a serious thing.

3. ISAIAH 9:14-15--"Therefore, the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet who teacheth lies, he is the tail." Condemnation of such false prophets has long ago been written from Enoch right up until 2 Peter.

4. ISAIAH 47:9-15--This passage lists what is going to happen to apostates, such as the astrologers mentioned in verses 13-14: "...Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be like stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it." God says, "I'm going to wipe them out to such an extent that not even a coal will be left."

5. JEREMIAH 5:14, 31--"...I will make My words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them....The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and My people love to have it so; and what will ye do in the end of it all?"

6. HOSEA 9:7-9--"The days of judgment are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it; the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God; but the prophet is a snare of a fowler [a trap for a bird catcher]....They have deeply corrupted themselves...He will remember their iniquity, He will judge their sins."

7. ZEPHANIAH 3:1-2--"Woe to her that is filthy and polluted...! She obeyed not the voice...she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God." In verse 8 he spoke of terrible judgment: "...the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy." God uses very strong language for apostasy.

III. APOSTATES PORTRAYED (v. 4c)

"...ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."

Jude describes apostates as being characterized by three things: They are ungodly, perverters of grace, and deniers of Christ. Those qualities appear again in verse 11: ...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 Korah." Cain illustrates the ungodliness of apostasy, Balaam, the perversion of grace into sin, and Korah, the denial of God's appointed leader (who was a picture of Christ). First, let's examine...

A. Their Character

"...ungodly men..."

That means apostates have a total lack of reverence for God. They will always talk about Him, but in reality, they are ungodly. They have no room for God or His Word. They deny God the right to say what He said. You could expect an apostate to say, "Yes, I believe in God and I'm one of His servants, but I don't believe the Bible is His revelation." Such a statement is ridiculous. How could a person claim to honor and serve God, yet deny the truth He has revealed? The word "ungodly" indicates that apostates are totally without worship. It was a word that was used by the early church fathers to speak of heretics and atheists. Apostates can talk about God and even preach about Him from a pulpit, but they will in reality deny the true God. They are clearly unsaved people. Their claim to be in the ministry of Jesus Christ is a deception, because their lives are marked by ungodliness.

B. Their Conduct

"...turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [or, unrestrained vice]..."

Apostates turn the grace of God into gross immorality. One of the possible perversions of grace is lawlessness. A person can take the gracious forgiveness of Christ and twist it until he does what he wants without any regard for God's holy law: "I'm under grace; God will forgive me--I'll just go do what I want." Such people seek God's free grace and forgiveness as a license to sin.

The Greek word that is used here is aselgeias. Commentator William Barclay has an interesting description of its meaning:

The aselges is the man who is so lost to honour, to decency, and to shame that he does not care who sees his sin and his immorality. It is not that he arrogantly and proudly flaunts it; it is simply that he can publicly do the most shameless things, because he has ceased to care for shame and decency at all. These men were undoubtedly tinged with Gnosticism. Gnosticism was that line of thought which set out with the idea that only spirit is good, and that matter is essentially evil. If that be so, it means that the body is essentially evil. And if that be so, it does not matter what a man does with his body; since it is evil, its lusts and its desires can be sated and glutted, because it is of no importance what is done with the body. Further, these men believed that since the grace of God is wide enough to cover any sin, a man can sin as he likes. He will be forgiven anyhow; the more he sins, the greater the grace; therefore, why worry about sin? Grace will look after that. Grace was being perverted into a justification for sin (The Letters of John and Jude [Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960], pp. 211-212).

Today there may not be philosophical gnosticism, but there is a similar response that says, "Jesus had a loving attitude so we must accept everybody." Such a liberal perspective allows for homosexuality and orgies to take place among the church members in the name of Christ. Gross ungodliness like that is characteristic of apostasy, which turns grace into the right to do whatever one desires and expects God's forgiveness.

C. Their Creed

"...and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."

Apostates always deny the deity of Christ, claiming that He was merely a man. That is the most despicable doctrine there is. The cults and the liberals that pervert that doctrine are striking right at the core of Christianity and the character of God. The creed of apostates denies basically four things about Christ:

1. DENYING CHRIST'S SOVEREIGN RULE

"...and denying the only Lord God..."

The word "Lord" is despoten in the Greek. We get the English word despot (a ruler with absolute power) from it. The term refers to the absolute sovereignty of Christ. Apostates deny that Christ is the absolute sovereign God of the universe.

2. DENYING CHRIST'S LORDSHIP

"...and our Lord..."

Here Jude uses a completely different Greek word: not despoten, but kurios, which is a title of honor. Apostates will not honor Christ as Lord. They want to bring Him down to a human level.

3. DENYING CHRIST'S SAVIORHOOD

"...Jesus..."

To theological liberals and apostates, Jesus was merely a human martyr, and not a divine Savior, as His name indicates (Mt. 1:21).

4. DENYING CHRIST'S MESSIAHSHIP

"...Christ..."

Apostates also deny that Jesus is the Anointed One of God.

So, apostates deny Christ's sovereign rule as God, His Lordship over the believers as the One to be exalted and honored, His Saviorhood, and His Messiahship. It is no wonder that Jude felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to warn his readers about apostasy.

Conclusion

Do you understand the seriousness of apostasy? In Matthew 10:33, Jesus said these startling words: "But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father, who is in heaven." You can't deny that Jesus Christ is God, Lord, Savior, and Messiah and think that doesn't matter. Paul echos the words of Jesus that "if we deny Him, He also will deny us" (2 Tim. 2:12). In Titus 1:16, Paul said that apostates "profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate [worthless]." It is no wonder that Jude was concerned, and so we ought to be.

You say, "John, how do I contend for the faith?" One way is by supporting faithful pastors and teachers who honor the faith without compromise. Another way is by giving unswerving witness to the truth of the Bible in word and deed, for if people don't see it reproduced in your life, they will question how much you really believe it. Third, you defend the faith when you make it possible to train more people who will go out and contend for it. Don't listen to falsehood. Rather, defend the faith in your own life and make it possible for others to grow up and defend it as well. Proverbs 19:27 says, "Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth thee to err from the words of knowledge." The Christian life demands the precautions taken by Nehemiah and those who helped rebuild the wall around Jerusalem--you've got to be building on the one hand, while having a sword in the other, ready to fight.