INTRODUCTION:

1. There is a distinction between apostates and those who are led astray by apostates. Unfortunately, there is not much we can do for apostates. They are proud and set in their ways. They refuse to repent and get right with God.
2. Our Lord said, Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch (Matthew 15:14).
3. However, when it comes to those who have been duped by false teachers, we should do our best to win them to Christ. And of some have compassion, making a difference
4. There are many people who have been confused by false doctrine, and some of them can be reached. We must have compassion for them.
5. Here in the final verses of his epistle, Jude speaks of soulwinning, and he refers to three separate classes of sinners.

I. THOSE WHO NEED COMPASSION (JUDE 22)

1. There are many lost souls who have brainwashed by Romanism, liberalism, false cults, etc. We have had the joy of seeing many of these confused sinners won to Christ.
2. They may be stubborn and argumentative. We must be patient with them. My wife had a friend in nursing school who stubbornly defended the RCC. Eventually my wife won her to Christ and they became close friends.
3. Bro. Dave was witnessing to his commanding officer in Iraq. He was also a stubborn RC. He eventually got saved and visited our church as soon as he came back to the states.
4. He is back in Iraq on his third tour. Here is a recent email I received from him: I am here in Baghdad, Iraq on a third tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. God has really changed my life while here. First, He saved me while on my first tour, via Brother David and the Holy Spirit! Since then, I have had the opportunity to grow and serve the Lord our God Jesus Christ on my second tour and, even more so, this tour! I thank God for giving me the opportunity to serve Him in whatever way He wants. I not only minister to men and women from Peru, Uganda, Kenya, Philippines and Iraq, He also is revealing more and more of His word to me! I have grown in the past several years. It is only through Him and by Him that this is possible. I give Him all the praise, thanks and credit.
5. There are many hard cases out there. It took me a few years but I won a Muslim to Christ. The key is, And of some have compassion, making a difference (Jude 22).
6. Soulwinners need discernment. Some sinners must be avoided. Second John 9, 10 says, Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.
7. In his commentary on the book of Jude, HA Ironside wrote: Second John 10 is decisive and simple as to a willful teacher of what is opposed to the doctrine of Christ. Such are to be shunned, and even refused a common greeting. But other methods apply to dealing with their dupes, often entrapped through ignorance; though undoubtedly a perverse will has been at work or they would have been kept by divine power in the truth.

II. THOSE WHO NEED SNATCHING (JUDE 23)

1. I use the word snatching (cf. Scofield margin) because it more vividly pictures the idea here. But pulling them out of the fire is clear enough!
2. When I think of the word snatch I think of Fanny Crosby s great Gospel song, Rescue the Perishing.

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.

3. In her autobiography, Fanny Crosby wrote this:

As I was ad dress ing a large com pa ny of work ing men one hot Au gust ev en ing, the thought kept forc ing it self up on my mind that some mo ther s boy must be res cued that ve ry night or per haps not at all. So I re quest ed that, if there was any boy pre sent, who had wan dered away from mo ther s teach ing, he would come to the plat form at the con clu sion of the ser vice. A young man of eight een came forward and said, Did you mean me? I have prom ised my mo ther to meet her in hea ven; but as I am now liv ing that will be im pos si ble. We prayed for him; he fin al ly arose with a new light in his eyes; and ex claimed tri umph ant ly, Now, I can meet mo ther in hea ven; for I have found her God.

A few days be fore, Mr. Doane had sent me the sub ject Rescue the Per ish ing, and while I sat there that ev en ing the line came to me, Res cue the per ish ing, care for the dyi ng. I could think of no thing else that night. When I ar rived it my home I went to work on it at once; and be fore I re tired the entire hymn was rea dy for a mel o dy. The next day my words were writ ten and for ward ed to Mr. Doane, who wrote the beau ti ful and touch ing music as it now stands.

In November, 1903, I went to Lynn, Mass a chu setts, to speak be fore the Young Men s Christ ian As so ci a tion. I told them the in ci dent that led me to write Res cue the Per ish ing," as I have just re lat ed it. Af ter the meet ing a large num ber of men shook hands with me, and among them was a man, who seemed to be deep ly moved. You may imag i ne my sur prise when he said, Miss Cros by, I was the boy, who told you more than thir ty-five years ago that I had wan dered from my mother s God. The ev en ing that you spoke at the mis sion I sought and found peace, and I have tried to live a con sist ent Christ ian life ev er since. If we ne ver meet again on earth, we will meet up yon der. As he said this, he raised my hand to his lips; and be fore I had re covered from my sur prise he had gone; and re mains to this day a name less friend, who touched a deep chord of sym pa thy in my heart. It is these notes of sym pa thy that vi brate when a voice calls them forth from the dim mem o ries of the past, and the music is ce les ti al.

4. To pull (or snatch ) them from the fire means their wicked ways have them teetering over the very pit of hell. HA Ironside says we need to remember that unholy teaching is defiling and linked up with unholy living. We have seen this over and again in the epistle of Jude (cf. Jude 7).
5. Pulling them out of the fire (Jude 23) means to do it swiftly and carefully, making sure that we do not get burned ourselves. There is a sense of urgency in Jude s words.

III. THOSE WHO NEED CLEANSING (JUDE 23)

1. Hating even the garment spotted ( stained or contaminated ) by the flesh (Jude 23) suggests defilement. Even the sinner s clothes are contaminated and they smell of sin.
2. Some sinners have fallen into the pit of impurity and immorality. While we hate their immoral lifestyle, we must reach out and help them.
3. There are some godly Christian women who at one time were prostitutes. There are preachers, deacons and soulwinners who were immoral drunkards and dopeheads. Thank God for His grace.
4. Those of us who have been saved out of a sinful background know how useless Romanism and other false religions are in trying to help sinners in bondage to the sins of the flesh.
5. The term the garment spotted by the flesh (Jude 23) is interesting. In the Bible, leprosy is a picture and type of sin. According to Leviticus 13, the clothing of a leper was contaminated and had to be burned.
6. Leviticus 13:52 says the priest shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.
7. Applying this to the day we live in, certain garments are detestable and ought to be burned mini skirts, tight Saran-wrap shirts, hip-hugger jeans, low-cut blouses, etc.
8. Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
   And be washed in the blood of the Lamb — Elisha Hoffman.

CONCLUSION :

1. Jude concludes his epistle by saying, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling (Jude 24). God is able.
2. God is able to save. Hebrews 7:25 says, Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.
3. God is not only able to save; He is able to keep us saved.
4. Furthermore, God is able to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24).
5. What a blessing! Before we were saved we were wearing garments spotted (defiled) by the flesh (Jude 23).
6. Then after we were saved, God kept us from falling, and will continue to keep us right up until we leave this world.
7. And then we will be presented faultless before the very presence of God with exceeding joy (Jude 24b).
8. These are the three aspects of salvation:

• We were saved out of the fire from the penalty of sin (hell)
• We are being saved God is able to keep (us) from falling. We are saved from the power of sin.
• We will be saved from the very presence of sin faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24).

9. To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen (Jude 25).