• Noah, after long years of faithful walking with God, failed ignominiously (Genesis 6:9; 9:20-21).
• Moses, the meekest man in all the earth, at near the close of his career, spoke unadvisedly with his lips and, as a consequence, saw but was not allowed to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 12:3; Psalm 106:32-33).
• Samuel, the man of prayer and the prophet of God, put family interests before loyalty to God and His people (1 Samuel 8:1-5).
• Solomon began his reign well but ended disastrously (1 Kings 3:10-14; 11:4).
• Uzziah, after a glorious reign, lifted up his heart to his own destruction and deliberately transgressed the ordinance of God, in consequence finishing his days as a leper (2 Chronicles 26:16-21).

The records of all these good men, temporarily drawn aside from the path of fellowship with God, give point and urgency to the apostle's warning: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12). The fact is that youth, adulthood, age—each period of life—has its own temptations and hazards.

The all-inclusive safeguard against these perils is found in Jude, verses 20-21: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

The epistle of Jude deals with days of declension [decline], apostasy [departure], and peril. The writer of it points out the dangers that would characterize the times in which we are now living; and in the verses before us he indicates the path of safety amid these dangers.

Careful examination of the sacred words shows that they are in four clauses. One of these holds a stirring exhortation, which is the central thing in the passage: “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” The other three clauses show how the exhortation may be obeyed: Building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

The whole passage is thus summed up in four verbs: Building. Praying. Keeping. Looking.

Henry Durbanville ( George Henderson )