“And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh,” verses 22-23.
I believe I am correct in saying that we have only two other assemblies at which I will speak after today’s. That being so, I will look at verses 22-23 today and the two remaining verses on each of the remaining assemblies.
Let us consider what these verses say.
I. WHILE IT IS OUR DUTY TO ‘KEEP OURSELVES (V21) WE MUST ALSO LOOK OUT FOR THOSE AROUND US.
“And of some have compassion, making a difference.”
1. Not all were to be seen as guilty of turning against the Lord. There were some amongst the Christians to whom Jude was writing that had to be treated differently.
2. Jude is speaking of those who may have been fooled and led astray by the ‘creepers’. Verse 4 mentions the deceivers. Though misguided and deceived by the false prophets, they were not to judged and equated with them.
3. They were to treat the ‘deceived’ with compassion. They were to make a ‘difference’ between ‘deceiver’ and ‘deceived’. They had to be rebuked and corrected but not treated cruelly. They were to be merciful and tender toward them and not judge them harshly. That is how the Lord treats us when we go astray. Nehemiah says this about the Lord. “Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not,” 9:17. Joel said something similar. “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil,” Joel 2:13.
II. THERE WERE OTHERS WHO HAD TO BE RESCUED FROM THE DECEPTION
“And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire.”
1. Some were still in grave danger. They were in the ‘fire’. They had believed the deceivers and were in danger of fiery judgment. They were wavering and likely on the point of totally believing the lies the false prophets were saying about the Lord and His gospel.
2. They had to be ‘pulled’ back out of danger. It means to be very strong in your efforts to persuade them of the error they were in danger of believing! They need assistance to get away from the deceivers.
3. Every effort to draw them out of danger was be carried out ‘in fear’. While we are to have compassion on the foolish we are to look in fear, in terror’ on the sin they are caught up in. We are also to speak of their sin so as to make them fear the danger they have gotten themselves into.
III. WHILE LOVING THE FOOLISH SINNER WE ARE TO HATE THEIR SIN
“Hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
1. In carrying out the will of God we must exercise HATE as well as LOVE! Foolish people think that a Christian only thinks and acts in LOVE. But there are things we must HATE! The Lord said to the Ephesians:“But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate,” Revelation 2:6. There are things the Lord hates and we must hate them too! David said: “For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies,” Psalm 139:20-22. We must act likewise!
2. It is the sin that the foolish ones had clothed themselves with that we must hate. In the hospital, surgeons and nurses when operating on a very sick person, wear masks and gloves and special clothing. That is to stop the patient being contaminated BUT also to guard the medics from catching anything from the sick person. That is what Jude is counselling here.
Again, sin is put on like a garment. Hear Paul’s counsel to the Ephesians. “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,” Ephesians 4:22-24.
Here we have a ceasing from sin and a following of holiness likened unto putting OFF old dirty clothes and putting ON nice new clean garments! That is easy for us to understand. Blind Bartimaeus, Mark 10:50.
3. One final consideration, note the source of the trouble, THE FLESH.
“Hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” We are to detest that which is the source of the corruption that is plaguing the Christian. Yes, the devil was at work, using these ‘creepers’ to spread lies and falsehoods BUT the flesh was the source of sin that was being introduced amongst them.
Listen to this description of the flesh, the corrupt nature within us ALL:
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” Galatians 5:19-21.
As nurses and doctors, after the have been in an operating theatre, carefully remove the gowns and masks and gloves they have worn and put them into containers for them to be thoroughly cleansed from any germs they may have been contaminated with, even so, as we seek to rescue sinners we must avoid being contaminated with their sin. We must keep ourselves clean and pure in mind and heart.