Cain's Way

“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.” (Jude 1:11)

Jude compares the awful examples of three Old Testament characters to leaders in the New Testament church who have used their influence for evil. Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve and had every opportunity to excel. Yet, he chose a “way” that not only ended in the horrible murder of his brother but also resulted in an entire culture in rebellion against God.

The murder was preceded by a flagrant disobedience that was expressed when the family came to offer their sacrifices to the Creator. Cain brought an offering of the “fruit” of his own labor from tilling the ground. Abel’s offering was a “firstling” from the flock that he kept (Genesis 4:3-5). Why did God “respect” Abel’s offering and not Cain’s?

God’s commentary on this event (Hebrews 11:4) tells us that Abel “obtained witness” that his sacrifice was a righteous action that testified of his obedience. The Genesis account does not give much information, but it is clear that the first family were following instructions—likely emulating the sacrifice that God made to clothe Adam and Eve after they sinned (Genesis 3:21).

Cain began a “way” many years before (a lifestyle, a broad road) that turned his heart away from simple obedience to God’s instructions. Cain’s occupation (farmer) was certainly okay. He provided food for the growing world population. But when the regular sacrifice came due, Cain decided that he would “show” God his own works rather than follow God’s requirement of bringing an innocent life in sacrifice.

That way, of course, is the way “which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). HMM III

The Trinity and the Christian

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)

The doctrine of the triune God is unique to Christianity. There is only one God yet three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each with His own distinct relation to mankind but each equally, fully, and eternally God. Although these truths are implicit throughout the New Testament, the doctrine of the Trinity is seldom, if ever, presented explicitly as a formal doctrine.

There are several passages, however, where all three Persons are mentioned in the same context, and each one deals with a significant aspect of the Christian life. There is, first of all, the provision of salvation, “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God” (Hebrews 9:14). Then follows regeneration. “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6). Salvation and regeneration are then publicly testified in baptism “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19).

The chief resource of the believer is prayer, and this also involves all three Persons. “For through [Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Ephesians 2:18). He must also continue to learn of Christ and to bear witness of Him. “The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things” (John 14:26). “The Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness” (John 15:26-27).

Finally, in the words of our text, we have eternal assurance in the triune God. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” HMM

Occupied Territory

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

In our ongoing struggle for both survival and victory in this world, we do well to recognize that we are in enemy territory. While it is true that our Captain created the world—indeed, “all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3)—and sacrificed His life to redeem it and will reign over it for eternity, it is also true that “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19), occupied by “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) who is “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2).

The fact that we are surrounded by such darkness should come as no surprise, for before we were rescued by His grace, we too were part of the darkness—indeed, we had to be called out of it. John the Baptist came “to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79). Furthermore, as Christ taught, “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

This confrontation overshadows mere human conflict, however, “for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). But, praise God, we have been called “out of darkness into his marvellous light” as described in our text. Although we may still be in the world, our King has “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). JDM

Brute Beasts

“But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.” (Jude 1:10)

Both Jude and Peter use essentially the same terms when they speak of people who are like “brute beasts” (2 Peter 2:12). Both use the qualifying adjective “natural” to draw a precise distinction between those who are only alive physically and those who have been given eternal life by the Spirit of God.

Prior to being twice-born, all men are “by nature the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3) and have not yet been given “the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). Such “natural” people are “sensual, having not the Spirit” (Jude 1:19) and therefore cannot receive “the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

These strong pictures are not incidental for understanding the challenge to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3). Jude and Peter are describing the intransigence of those who resist the truth—especially of the “tares” who have been planted by the Enemy among the “wheat” in the Lord’s field (Matthew 13:24-30).

The Greek term translated “brute” by both Jude and Peter is a combination of the negative particle a and the basic word for intelligent communication, logos. We must therefore expect the resistance to take form “without reason.” The unsaved cannot understand God’s message without the transformation of the new birth. Their efforts to undermine “the faith” will always be based on human (natural) reasoning.

Contending for the faith will always be a “labour, striving according to his working” (Colossians 1:29). May God grant us a “good fight,” having “kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). HMM III

As I Have Loved

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34)

No Christian could ever question the preeminent importance of love. “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16), and the greatest of the Christian virtues is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). The first and second commandments of the law are love for God and love for one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). Christ’s new commandment, however, gives us a definition of love! To love as He loved, we must observe how Christ loved.

In the first place, His love was not ephemeral. “When Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end” (John 13:1).

The Lord Jesus Himself defined love this way: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). However, Christ died not only for His friends but for all sinners, including His bitter enemies. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him....Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 John 4:9-11).

The measure of love is the undeserved, yet gladly offered, substitutionary death of Christ for our sins. Whenever we think the love commandment is demanding too much of us, we should compare our love to His. “For the love of Christ constraineth us [not our love for Him, but His love for us]...that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and we must live for Him. HMM

The Song of Creation

“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding....When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4, 7)

It is significant that there was singing at the very time of creation. The “morning stars” of this verse are, by Hebrew poetic parallelism, the same as the “sons of God” who were present when God “laid the foundations of the earth.” Similarly, “sang together” is parallel with “shouted for joy.”

It is thus beautifully appropriate to sing of the glories of God’s creation, for angels were doing this even before Adam and Eve were created! The first actual human song mentioned in the Bible, however, was the thanksgiving song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-21) composed and sung by Moses and the children of Israel after their deliverance from Pharaoh and the waters of the sea.

Finally, it is significant that the last song mentioned in the Bible is “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” (Revelation 15:3), sung in heaven by “them that had gotten the victory over the beast” (v. 2). This presumably refers back to the original song of Moses, since the deliverance from Pharaoh was, spiritually, a type of their triumph over the beast, the great world ruler in the end times. However, it must now be combined with the song of the Lamb, probably the “new song” of the saints at the Lamb’s throne in Revelation 5:8-10, praising the Lord for their redemption through His blood, shed in substitution for their sins.

These should surely be the three major themes of Christian music, for these are the main themes of the Bible’s songs. It is fitting that they should refer to the past, present, and future works of Christ—His mighty work of creation in the beginning, His gracious work of sustenance in the present, and His glorious work of full redemption in the future. HMM

Strong and Courageous

“And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 28:20)

This admonition—to be strong and of good courage—is found 11 times in the Bible—thrice on the lips of Moses, five times in Joshua, then twice from David, and once from Hezekiah. Although these all involved specific challenges confronting God’s people at the time, the principles behind them indicate the need for courage of conviction for God’s people at all times.

The first occurrence is in the command given by Moses to the Israelites just before his death as they were about to enter the promised land. “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Deuteronomy 31:6). In the next verse, Moses gave a similar exhortation to Joshua, their leader.

The next-to-last occurrence is in our text, containing almost the same words as in the first occurrence, with David this time exhorting Solomon to build the great temple in Jerusalem. Whether entering a new field of service for God or beginning a great work for God, the people of God will encounter opposition and must be strong and courageous to carry it through.

The word “courage” occurs more in Joshua than in any other book of the Bible, and this specific exhortation is given five times: three by God, once by the people to Joshua, and once by Joshua to the people. In all these, the context stresses obedience to the Word of God, especially in resistance to sin and pagan belief systems. Especially significant is God’s command: “Be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law...that thou mayest prosper” (Joshua 1:7). HMM

Filthy Dreamers

“Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.” (Jude 1:8)

The King James translators supplied the term “filthy” for the dreamers that Jude denounces because of the “likewise” that introduces their condemnation. The prior verses had condemned certain angels and the populations of Sodom and Gomorrha because of their perversion of God’s sexual design.

These dreamers not only “stain” the flesh but have become so arrogant that they give “no standing” to any authority and “blaspheme” those who have any “glory.” Not even Michael the archangel had that kind of attitude; Jude notes in the next verse that Michael didn’t rebuke Lucifer when he was carrying out God’s mission for Moses’ body. Some people are way out of line!

Jude’s whole message is focused on those who are attempting to resist, undo, damage, distort, or otherwise disrupt the work of God’s people. In the context, these dreamers are not merely inattentive fools who wander in and out of churches seeking some personal “fulfillment”; they are enemies within—those who may have positions of influence and who are actively seeking to hurt the ministry and mission of God’s kingdom.

Peter calls them “presumptuous” and “selfwilled,” no better than “natural brute beasts” who mouth off about “things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption” (2 Peter 2:10-12). Strong words, but a fitting description of those who would dare to set themselves against the omnipotent and omniscient Creator. As David so aptly says: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).

Dialogue with these dreamers is futile. The solution is: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). HMM III

Knowing and Trusting

“And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” (Psalm 9:10)

When one really knows the name of the Lord, that one will surely come to trust Him. How could anyone fail to trust God and to believe His Word when they know Him to be the almighty Creator (Elohim), the self-existing One (Jehovah), and the gracious Master (Adonai)? When they further learn that He is none other than Jesus Christ (“anointed Savior”), surely they ought to believe and bow in thankful love, calling Him “Lord” by the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 12:3).

The word for “trust” means “take refuge in.” We can trust our Lord for protection from harm, from want, from all the attacks of the wicked one, and finally, from hell itself. That trust is well placed because the Lord never forsakes those who truly trust Him. The Word confirms this truth over and over again. “(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers” (Deuteronomy 4:31). “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25). These are glorious promises, always fulfilled—that is, with one exception.

The only man who always fully trusted God, who was altogether righteous, and who perfectly manifested the Father’s name to His disciples and to the world—that One was forsaken! “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He cried, as He died on the cross (Matthew 27:46).

And it was because He was willing to be forsaken and to suffer hell itself in our place—dying for our sins—that God can make and keep His promise never to forsake anyone who seeks Him and puts their trust in Him, through Jesus Christ. HMM

Sodom and Gomorrha

“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” (Jude 1:7)

These cities provide two stern examples of God’s judgmental wrath. Their sin had reached such an intensity and had become so widespread that the entire region suffered the “vengeance of eternal fire.” Just like the awful misuse of human sexual potential distorted by the angelic beings cited in the previous verse, these cities had become so perverted that God’s longsuffering and mercy had ended.

“But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly” (Genesis 13:13). Whatever they were involved with had become so heinous and so completely a distortion of everything God created man for that God appears to have reached the limit of human vocabulary to describe it. Their character (wickedness) and their deeds (sins) were “too much” for God.

Two classifications are listed. The first, fornication, is cited nearly 100 times in the Old Testament and is referred to over a dozen times in the New—always as a condemnation of sexual behavior outside of the intimate relations of husband and wife. The other classification is going after “strange flesh.” Genesis 19 makes it perfectly clear that this “exceedingly” awful sin was homosexual perversion.

For these sins God rained down “brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven” (Genesis 19:24). The Scripture is precisely clear: vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12:19), and He made Himself absolutely clear about His view of widespread fornication and homosexual behavior. This example is a sobering warning for those societies that promote such lifestyles. HMM III

Christ Our Intercessor

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Romans 8:34)

One of the most glorious truths of the Christian life is that the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, now lives to intercede for us before God. The greatest example of intercessory prayer in the Bible is in John 17, where the Lord poured out His heart for His disciples. “I pray for them,” He said, “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine” (John 17:9). But that was not all! “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word” (John 17:20). And that’s us! That includes us!

What is it that He prays for us? First of all, He prays for our security. “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are” (John 17:11). Then He prays that we might have real victory over sin and the devil. “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil [or ‘the evil one’]” (John 17:15).

His next request is: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Our sanctification will come, therefore, not through some special experience but through God’s Word. He also prays for true unity among His true disciples: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21).

Finally, He prays for our ultimate glorification. “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me” (John 17:24).

We can be assured that the Father will grant these requests of His beloved Son. HMM

Alive with Christ

“Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more domination over him.” (Romans 6:8-9)

The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead both guarantees the future bodily resurrection of the believer and associates us positionally with Him now. Since He died for our sins, we, in effect, were “dead with Christ.” Therefore, when He defeated death and hell and revived His own dead body in immortal power, He broke any dominion of death over Him or over those who were, positionally, with Him.

This is one of the grandest scriptural themes of the Christian life. We were dead with Christ, but now God “hath quickened us together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5). Not only have we been “made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22) with Him, but we have also been “raised” with Him up from the grave and then into heaven where we are “seated” with Him on His throne! “[God] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

This means also that we have been glorified with Him and are actually reigning with Him. “The Spirit [Himself] beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:...that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8:16-17).

But if all this is only true in position, what meaning does His resurrection life have on our daily lives now? Simply this—that knowing these truths gives us the incentive and power to live them. “If [or literally since] ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3). “For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you” (2 Corinthians 13:4). HMM

The Doctrine of Christ

“If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.” (2 John 1:10)

This apparently harsh instruction seems at first to conflict with the many biblical exhortations to show hospitality, but it needs to be placed in context. The one-chapter epistle of 2 John was addressed to “the elect lady and her children” by John, who also extended greetings from “the children of thy elect sister” (vv. 1, 13). These unusual phrases, together with the general tone of the epistle, make it almost certain that John was not referring simply to two individual Christian women, but to two churches, symbolically personified as two noble ladies with the “children” being the new converts in the churches.

The warning, then, is primarily against the danger of allowing a false teacher to come into the church, as a pastor or a teacher or even as a visiting speaker, who would not bring “this doctrine.” The doctrine mentioned is obviously “the doctrine of Christ” (v. 9). This doctrine of Christ is not, however, simply a set of doctrinal tenets about the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is not the doctrine about Christ, but of Christ—belonging to Him—His doctrine. The word “doctrine” is didache, meaning literally “teachings.” The meaning clearly is “the teachings of Christ,” that is, not just one or two least-common-denominator statements about Christ to which all nominal Christians could give assent, but the entire body of teachings that had come from Jesus.

Further, since He taught that all the Old Testament is inspired and authoritative and also promised the same to the writers of the New Testament, this “doctrine of Christ” includes “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), from Genesis through Revelation. How important it is not to allow false teaching to get a foothold in a local church. HMM

He Shall Prolong His Days

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” (Isaiah 53:10)

In this one verse, found in the wonderful 53rd chapter of Isaiah, there is an amazing prophecy of the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins, His resurrection from the dead, and the resulting salvation of many lost sinners.

This Old Testament chapter, written 600 years before Christ, contains probably the most complete and cogent exposition of the saving work of Christ on the cross to be found in the entire Bible.

How could it “please” the Lord to bruise His only begotten Son? It could only be because of the great work this would accomplish.

Then, indeed, “the pleasure of the LORD” would be realized. As to the Son, “he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11).

After the Father has allowed the enemies of His Son to “bruise him” to death, it would be soon known that this was actually “an offering for sin” and that, having satisfied the requirements of God’s holiness, the Son “shall prolong his days.” Though He died and actually “made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death” (v. 9), death could not hold Him and “he shall prolong his days.” As He would later proclaim: “I am alive for evermore” (Revelation 1:18).

And because He has done this, He “shall see his seed.” “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10). What a wonderful Savior! HMM

Gambling at Calvary
“They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” (Psalm 22:18)

The 22nd Psalm is justly famous as a remarkable prophetic preview of the sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, written by David approximately 1,000 years before it was fulfilled. It describes in accurate detail the sufferings of the Lord and the actions of the sneering spectators as they watched Him die.

One of the most heartless acts of the Roman soldiers carrying out the crucifixion was the indignity of stripping Him of the garments He was wearing and then dividing them among themselves, even gambling to determine who would get His seamless vesture. The significance of this cruel scene is indicated by the fact that it is one of the very few specific events in the life of Christ recorded in all four gospels.

We must not forget that the Lord Jesus Christ once had been arrayed, as it were, in beautiful garments that “smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces” (Psalm 45:8). But He who was “equal with God” chose to be “made in the likeness of men” that He might eventually suffer “even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6-8) in order to save our unworthy souls. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

He who had created the heavens, when He came to Earth, had to say that “the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). And His few remaining possessions were scavenged by His executioners as He died. Yet through His great sacrifice, He has provided “everlasting habitations” for us (Luke 16:9) and “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). Indeed, we do know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! HMM