“RESCUE THE PERISHING”
Compassion That Makes A Difference
Jude 22-25
Introduction: The study of Jude has brought us to understand the impact that false teaching can have. There are a lot of people we encounter every day who have no idea who God is and what Jesus Christ has done for them that would impact their future. These are people who have never been taught the Bible or anything about Jesus Christ. If they have, it has been someone who has heard about Jesus Christ but does not know how to access what He has done for man. There are others who have been taught some false doctrine about Christ or have been brainwashed by those who we would call apostates. These usually have not rejected Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for sin; they have been taught false doctrine. It is important that Christians must understand people and where they are spiritually. As Pastor Green has said, you cannot win them by argument. You may win the argument but lose the opportunity to win them to Christ. John Phillips makes a good statement about this. He says:
Arguing is not likely to win such people. Remember that God goes after the heart. The word compassion reminds us of that fact. Often, love will find a way where logic fails. Someone has well said that we go into the kingdom of God heart first, not headfirst. God has not called the soul winner to be a lawyer and to win arguments; He has called him to be a witness. The most convincing witness is the person who reminds people of Christ.
Compassion is an essential element in reaching those who do not know Christ as Saviour. This is the direction Jude is taking the people he ministered to and to us who have the great privilege of having access to what God has inspired for the church and believers. Jude addresses the matter of “compassion” and then says, “making a difference” (Jude 22). The next verse ties together the matter of “compassion, making a difference” with “pulling them out of the fire.” It is not hard to get the message of what Jude wanted his readers to capture, getting people saved, or as the song goes, “Rescue the Perishing.” Have you ever thought of the words of this song? It begins with, “Rescue the perishing, care for the dying. . .” and written by Fanny Crosby. Here are the entire song’s verses with the refrain
- Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.
[Refrain], “Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.”
- Though they are slighting Him,
Still He is waiting,
Waiting the penitent child to receive:
Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently;
He will forgive if they only believe. [Refrain].
- Down in the human heart,
Crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more. [Refrain].
- Rescue the perishing,
Duty demands it;
Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
Back to the narrow way patiently win them;
Tell the poor wanderer a Saviour has died. [Refrain].
This song represents what I believe Jude is saying in these verses. He has spent the prior verses describing where many people are. They are drifting in false doctrine, fostered by false teachers. Let’s review:
Jude 3 (KJV), “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 4-8 describes those events that took people away from the Lord and His truth.
Jude 9-13 gives the results of the false teachings.
Jude 14-16 introduces Enoch who preached the coming of Christ and His judgment on the ungodly.
Jude 17 – the tone changes. The large word “BUT” followed by the word “remember.”
Jude 18-19 reminds us of that God has done for us and the evidence that the apostles spoke about how believers would be treated in the last days.
Jude 20-21 reminds Christians that they [we] should be about “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 22-25 is an admonition to remember what God has done for us and put to action the process of “rescue the perishing.”
- The Element of Compassion, Jude 22a. You have heard me tell of what I was told by my pastor when the church ordained me to the Gospel Ministry. He said to me, “Jerry, if you do not love people, you will never succeed as a pastor and preacher of the word of God.” It is my conviction that this element is necessary for every believer/Christian to be involved in ministry, and you do that by having compassion for others, especially the lost people in our world. The word “compassion” can have the meaning of “to show kindness.” It also has the nuance of “have mercy” or “be merciful.” The Christian today is to have a lifestyle that will not cause lost people to be cautious because of our behavior that is often contrary to that of a Christian. The goal is to have the compassion to the end so that we have the opportunity to reach the loss for Christ. One writer made a good point when he said,
“Those who pose the greatest threat to the church also constitute part of its mission field. Not only are believers responsible to identify and oppose the enemy and his error; they are also commanded to reach out and evangelize the enemy with the truth.”
What is the level of your participation in reaching the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Jesus often met with the Pharisees in their homes and on the streets. One Pharisee requested of Jesus to eat with him (Luke 7:36; 11:37-38). Jesus often spoke against the Pharisees and scribes; He would proclaim to them the way of salvation and what forgiveness was (Luke 7:40-50). The lost people in the world could be categorized as either a menace or a mission field.
- The Employment of “Making a Difference,” Jude 22b. The phrase “making a difference” is often mistaken for something other than what the text says. Some would consider it as “to have mercy on them, showing kindness, compassion, and sympathy to those who are doubting.” The person who does not hold to the truth of scripture and has their mind made up will try to proselyte others to their way of belief and is not going to respond to kindness quickly. It does not mean you cannot win them, but it takes establishing a relationship; this principle is usually effective in any attempt to win a person to Christ. The word “compassion” is what any Christian needs to convey the love God has for them as people who do not have eternal life. Christians are to have a love for people before they can develop compassion for them. We tend to categorize people and believe they are not interested in the Gospel if they fit a certain lifestyle. Recently, a doctor told me about his church revival, and one of the preachers was a large man who grew up in the ghettos of Baltimore, Md. He grew up without a father and had a mother who cared very little about his lifestyle. He was in jail for the first time at the age of 9 years. By the time he was 14, he was head of a gang. He was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 21 years in prison. He was converted prior to going to prison, and after 7.5 years of serving his sentence, he was paroled. He got involved in church and became an effective preacher. Presently, he pastors a large church in the Midwest, possibly Iowa. This guy was what some consider a thug, but God turned his life around to being a fruitful preacher of the Gospel. Another aspect of “making a difference” is having an impact, such as Pastor Green promotes often is “making a difference” in social issues. Who is going to work to turn society to biblical principles? John Phillips made the statement, “A healthy society always legislates against sodomy.” Our society’s social issues could be turned around if we become aggressive with our witness and soul-winning. You change a society and its positions by changing those who participate in it. We never know what God will do with someone who was pulled “out of the fire.”
- III.The Effort of “pulling them out of the fire,” Jude 23a “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. . . What does it mean to pull “them out of the fire?” Looking at this verse, there is an interesting word there that should be considered. It is “pulling” like “pulling them out of the fire.” There is a valuable verse addressing this matter in James 5:19-20 (KJV), “19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” Take note of the word “pulling.” It is interesting that it is the same word translated “caught up” used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. It has an idea of “snatching” them out of the fire. If you see a house on fire and know there is someone there sleeping, what would you do? “Snatch them out of the fire?” When I was serving with the Volunteer Fire Department in Pierre Part, Louisiana, we were called to a house fire and a lady was asleep on the couch and could be seen from the window. The men trained to be firefighters entered the mobile home and had to wake her. Needless to say, she was saved from the fire. The “lake of fire” (Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14,15) is unlike a house or mobile home fire. It is a permanent place of torment, and there is no escape. Jude is telling us that we need to “pull” them out of the fire, in other words, plead with them earnestly to escape the fire.
- The Energy Needed to Hate, “the garment spotted by the flesh, Jude 23b.” This subject of the “flesh” has been given a lot of attention in the Bible. We have addressed this before but let’s review. It says in Galatians 5:17 (KJV), “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” [Emphasis added.] Note the last phrase in this verse. There is a remedy for winning the victory over the flesh in Galatians 5:24 (KJV), “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” When you walk with Christ and yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, you will seldom yield to the desires of the flesh. The flesh is the enemy we know exists but seldom consciously seek to “crucify” the flesh. Look with me at Galatians 2:20 (KJV), “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Christ did this for us that we might “walk in the Spirit” not the flesh. It says in Galatians 5:16 (KJV), “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Again in Galatians 5:25 (KJV), “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
ARE YOU WALKING IN THE SPIRIT?
- The Epithet Necessary to Prepare to Stand Before God, Jude 24-25. The word “epithet” originally meant to “put on, or add,” and in its “oldest sense, epithet is simply a descriptive word or phrase, especially one joined by fixed association to the name of someone or something.” The Christian is fundamentally connected with the name and person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible has some instructions along this line, which are seldom explored. They are found in Romans 8:28-29 (KJV), “28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. There are two things a Christian should consider about this passage. First, God has a purpose for every believer. God “works all things together for the believer’s good.” Christians have been “called according to his purpose” (vs. 28). Second, God has a goal for every believer, “. . .to be conformed to the image of his Son” (vs. 29). The major question that must be explored is, how does this come to pass? Look at the first part of vs. 28. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. . .” It is assumed that the phrase “all things” means every matter that enters the believer’s life. Every event, every encounter, and every activity is designed to conform you to the “image of Christ.” We don’t consider matters like a broken hip, a child contracting epilepsy, or some other event in life that interrupts normal activities. You see, all the events of life are a preparation for the day you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ at the “Judgment Seat of Christ” (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10). This is a good time to review 1 Corinthians 3:10-17.
MAYBE WE SHOULD START A “FIRE AND RESCUE DEPARTMENT.”
If we did, would you become a volunteer to serve in the fire and rescue department?