17 “But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” (Jude 17–18 (ESV)
In Jude 8-16, the writer spent considerable time and length to describe the character and behavior of apostates. Beginning in vs. 17, Jude returned his attention to the believers to whom he was writing. He reminded them how the apostles warned the church of impending apostates and apostasy.
The Apostles Peter and John also contributed to the discussion regarding the reality of apostates within the church. They both reminded believers in Christ the enemy was not just outside in the fallen culture, but also within the believing community.
“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” (2 Peter 2:1–3 (ESV)
“This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.” (2 Peter 3:1–3 (ESV)
18 “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.“ (1 John 2:18–23 (ESV)
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore, they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” ((1 John 4:1–6 (ESV)
“The early chapters of the book of Acts chronicle the transforming days of the dawning of the church, the morning of the church when the Son of righteousness lit up its sky. The church was filled with truth, filled with faith, filled with love, filled with generosity, filled with passion for the lost, filled with hope. And all of that was influenced by the teaching and the preaching and the writing of the apostles of Jesus Christ and those associated with them,” explains Dr. John MacArthur.
“But even in the purity of those infant days when the passion was high and the truth prevailed and people were exhilarated in their new-found life, even in those early days, the apostles were given by the Holy Spirit the privilege of looking into the future; and the not-too-distant future at that. And in looking into the future, the Holy Spirit allowed them to see something frightening, something terrifying, something mystifying, something frankly unbelievable. And what did the Holy Spirit show them, and what did they prophesy? That Jesus would return? Yes. That the world would one day be destroyed? Yes. That the universe would melt in basically an atomic holocaust? Yes. That sinners would finally be judged? Yes. They looked into the future and were given the privilege to see that.”
“But in addition to all of that, there was one rather unthinkable, unimaginable, bizarre, and strange reality that the apostles predicted, and that was that the church would defect from the truth, that it would become perverted in its understanding of Scripture, that it would abandon the gospel and abandon Christ – not all the church, but some – and it would affect whole congregations in the euphoria of those powerful days: days of miracles, days of proclaiming the gospel fearlessly and being persecuted for it, days of martyrdom, days of evangelism, days of turning the world upside-down, days of living in the glow and the glory of transformed lives, days of worship, days of prayer. It must have seemed absolutely bizarre that there was coming a time when people who proclaimed Christ would defect. But it was true,” concludes Dr. MacArthur.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 