But, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ; they told you, “In the end times there will be scoffers walking according to their own ungodly desires.”  These people create division and are unbelievers, not having the Spirit.                                          But you dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, expecting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.    Have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.  Jude 1:17-23  HCSB

Whether you have been saved and devoted to Christ for many years, are new in your love walk, or are just trying to find your way to salvation, you will face scoffers.  You will face those who don’t believe.  Sadly our church pews also hold scoffers pretending to be devout Christians.  And whether you are a devoted Christ follower, a baby Christian, or someone trying to find their way, these scoffers are being used by the devil to try to distract you and get you off course.  You see we should be focused on God.  We should be doing His work and heading toward eternal life in glory.  However, these scoffers, will try to divide and conquer us.  They will try to distract us and get us turned around.

We know that there are those even in our churches that are put there to distract us, so how do we handle this.  Our scripture passage today tells us to be merciful to those who doubt.  I don’t know about you, but my heart breaks for someone who doesn’t have all the peace and joy that God has to offer. People who doubt are often just looking for something to believe in.  We are instructed to save others by snatching them from the fire.  We will encounter those that are looking for salvation, we can help to guide them and show them the way.  We can help them get off the road to hell and point them toward salvation.  Then our scripture passage talks about others.  This third “others” in verse 23 refers to those who not only do not believe,  but these people don’t want to believe and they seek to distract you and get you off course.  In verse 18 of this scripture passage, he mentions those scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.  These people don’t want to experience the salvation that Christ has to offer and they don’t want you to either.  These people may even pretend to be your friends.  They may pretend to have your best interest at heart, but watch out.  These people are up to no good.  We are told to “have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”

Now note here that we are instructed to hate the garment defiled by the flesh, not the person in the garment.  Now many times we are told to fear the Lord. In Deuteronomy 31:6 we are told to be strong and courageous and not be afraid for God goes with us.  So are we to be afraid of these people? No, we are to be alert.  We are not to be taken in by these people.  Fear in the bible often denotes a sense of awareness or reverence.  When we are told to fear the Lord, we are to have reverence for Him.  When we are told to show fear to these people, we are to be on guard.

In Jude, he speaks of false teachers which have been around since the first churches were founded.  We must be cautious and carefully evaluate what we hear.  There are televangelists that are so charismatic and they can easily draw us in, but they may not be true men of God.  We must be aware.  There are preachers in churches and church leaders who are not true men of God, but “are walking according to their own ungodly desires”.

The book of Jude is just one short chapter and it is the book just prior to the book of Revelation.  It issues a strong warning for the sin and doom of the ungodly.  It calls Christians to persevere.  It ends with a doxology praising God who is the only One who can keep us from stumbling.  Only God can keep us from being taken in by these false teachers.

So first and foremost we need to be focused on God (Matthew 6:33-34).  When we do this, we have nothing to worry about.  We need not fear, if God is for us, who can come against us (Romans 8:31)?

But know this, the devil is out there as we speak lining up stumbling blocks for Christians.  He is putting out traps so we must be careful where we walk. We must make sure that our dwelling place is with God’s Holy Spirit, when we do this, He will save us from these deadly traps (Psalm 91:1-3).  Most importantly be merciful to those who are unsaved, but don’t let your guard down.

Paul, who faced many hardships while spreading God’s word, had this to say to the Ephesians in Acts 20:29-31, “I know that after I leave savage wolves will come in among you and not spare the flock.  Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.  So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

Pray daily for God to fill you with His Holy Spirit, we tend to use it up like a car uses gas.  Some days I get very little mileage, if you know what I mean.  Read His Word, it gives good instructions on how we should live and conduct ourselves.  Most importantly focus on God and let Him handle all the other stuff.

Have a great day!