Helping the deceived without being deceived
Do we have the liberty as Christians to stand by while others are in peril? What about Christians who are being deceived by false teaching? Can we stand by? What about unbelievers who are in danger of eternal punishment in hell? Can we stand by?
Jude gives a three-fold “No!” to these questions. With 3 examples of people in peril, we are commanded to take action. As is typical of our loving God, two of these commands are “have mercy”. Mercy, then, is not optional. We can’t say, “I don’t have the gift of mercy.” God has been merciful to us, and we must be merciful to others.
The other command is to “save”. In the eternal sense, we do not save others. Only God can do that. But we can reach out to others and with the strength that God supplies, bring them close to the only One who can save, Jesus Christ.
Be sure to check out the YouTube links below for the videos Pastor John refers to in his sermon. There’s also a downloadable Word or PDF document for the word study mentioned.
Listen:
Download (right click, then “save as…”)
Jude 23 harpazo study blank Jude 23 harpazo study blank
Tags: False teachers, John Underhill, Jude, judgement, mercy, witness