Jude 17-23

¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

²⁰ But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh^]

In a world that is filled with modern Belshazzars who mock the Lord then praise themselves and their false hopes, we as believers in Jesus are to be different.  Jude encourages us in these verses and gives us a list of responses to our troubled world.  At the heart of all he writes here is the knowledge that Christians through Christ are forgiven, accepted, and loved by God.  Christians have eternal and blessed life.  From the vantage point of these staggering privileges, we are to live as Jude tells us:

1. By building our faith through the study of God’s Word.
2. By praying in the Spirit, that is, being guided by the Lord.
3. By keeping ourselves in the love of the Lord, that is, by living a life that is appropriate for those who are so loved by God.
4. By waiting expectantly for the time when we will be with the Lord forever.
5. By showing the mercy of the Lord to all around us in the hope that they too will know the same privileges we enjoy.
6. By being careful not to compromise with the rebellious ways of the world.

All this amounts to clinging to Jesus and living with thanks and praise to him.

David Johnston