1. Jude 1:23 (ESV)
  2. Application

Hate the Works of Darkness

Jude 1:23 (ESV)

23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Notice what Jude says: hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. I think this is really a warning, that when others may be caught up in sinful teaching and therefore sinful living, we are to be careful, because the greater attraction to us is not so often the sinful teachings, it is the sinful living. The greater danger is that we fall into sinful living. If somebody says to you, You know, I do not know where the Bible says it is wrong to live with somebody out of wedlock, or I do not know if the Bible is sovereign and you should not marry an unbeliever, or I do not know that the Bible really teaches this or that. I think what Jude is saying is...hate the works of darkness; hate the crux unto the flesh, but save the people.1

Nick Batzig