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. Jude 1:3
JUDE, "the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James," speaks to the declining churches of his day and to the Churches of the last days. It is against the evils within the Churches that he specially warns. Jude draws a picture of the errors, licentiousness, worldliness, spiritual decay, and apostasy from God’s laws and commands.
The world has absorbed these Churches, and these Churches were content that it should be so while even glorying in it!
Jude chapter One verses 1 through 25 is a picture for the Churches in our day to study, for they are rapidly becoming part of the world and falling into the snares of "the god of this world" (2Co 4:4). These modern Churches glory in this transformation as "progress," "culture," and "enlightenment", and claim to be free from the bigotry and narrowness of the believers in the past ages.
These compromised congregations wrongly combine the earth's pleasures and praise with the worship of God; mixing solemn prayer with loud rock and rap music; they love to revel in their newest online social media photo-shoot instead of weeping for the sin in their lives; they enjoy wearing both the "white raiment of perceived holiness" on Sunday and the string bikini on Monday; they attempt to maintain friendship with God while placating His enemies and not calling out their evil deeds; they lay up treasures here on earth instead of heaven;
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. Jude 1:16
The condemnation and names that Jude applies to these foolish brethren will seem to some hard and strange in this day and age.
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Jude 1:11-13
People of the living God on earth! Do not be infatuated and deceived by the pride, pleasantries and favor of this world! How many are there who claim to be saved but are actually in danger of eternal Hell-fire?
In this day of big talking christians and half-discipleship, of double service, of religious worldliness and worldly religiousness, how needful it is that the awful words of Jude be studied by the believers in Christ today! We need them now! Every day do we see, read, or hear of things and scenes in connection with professing churches of Christ that make us ask, "The Church or the world, which is it?" Are we not often constrained to say to ourselves, "Are Christ's words no longer in these places of worship and who do they worship? Do they worship their own man-made religion or that contained in the true holy Word of God ? Have the broad and the narrow roads become one big multi-lane super highway? Is there now no more scriptural congregations but just modern, corporate, religious complacency, mingled with state of the art entertainment?
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Jude 1:17-21