Sermon Tone Analysis

Preface

Where you lived didn’t matter.

How wealthy you were didn’t matter.

Who you were didn’t matter.

September 11, 2001 was a date we will all remember.

When those hijacked airplanes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, into the Pentagon in Washington DC, and into the ground in Western Pennsylvania, civilised people around the world were horrified.

As an American, I was especially saddened when I watched those twin wonders of architecture crumble to the ground, knowing they were filled with people, many of whom would not know the Lord.

The scene is indelibly impressed into my mind.

But there was another tragedy that day.

It didn’t dominate the news for the next week or ten days.

In fact, it didn’t make the news at all.

This tragedy reveals more of the inadequacy of the Christian heart than the hatred of the radical Muslim heart.

The tragedy of which I speak was the almost total inability of Christians to give adequate, biblical answers to questions about how this could happen.

And not just American Christians; Christians everywhere were curiously at a loss for a ‘biblical perspective’ on the tragedies.

Why?

Truth decay!

We have become so unfamiliar with God’s word in good times that we are often unable to summon its strength in bad times.

Truth has become so twisted in the world.

Not much makes sense anymore.

But this is not new to the third millennium; it was true in the first century as well.

The tiny epistle of Jude bears witness to that.

The beginning of the church-age is described in “The Acts Of The Apostles.”

The end of the church-age is set forth in the little epistle of “Jude,” which might well be called “The Acts Of The Apostates.”

* In ACTS we see the deeds and teachings of men of God through whom Christ began to build His church.

* In JUDE we see the deeds and teachings of evil men who will be living on the earth as the history of the professing church comes to an end.

Paul spoke of the “falling away” from the faith of our fathers in the last days

2 Thess 2:

Paul describes it as a “departure from the faith”

2 thess

And unwillingness to “endure sound doctrine”

2 tim 4:3

 In studying any book of the Bible, it is necessary for us to get the right perspective by learning as much as we can about the circumstances under which it was written:

1.

The Writer: “Jude”—(v 1).

“Jude” is the shortened English form of the name “Judas.”

He was the brother of James, who was “the Lord’s brother” ().

This means that Jude was a half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ.

(, )

2. The Date: Approximately A.D. 66—69

3. The Theme: Assurance for the Christian Believer in the days of apostasy.

The word for “keep” occurs 4 times (vs. 1, 6, 21, 24).

This “apostasy” or “falling away” or “departure from the faith” is very widespread in our day.

Sometimes people who were once attracted to Christianity drift away without ever making a genuine commitment to Christ Himself.

Sometimes they actually leave the church, but many times they seek to remain in the mainstream of church life though they no longer believe in the basic truths of Christianity.

These are the “apostates” about whom Jude warned us.

THEY ARE “WOLVES IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING”: PRETENDERS!

… They pretend to speak for Christ, but deny His deity and reject His Lordship.

… They pretend to believe the Bible, but deny its inspiration, reject its authority, and pervert its teachings to suit their own preconceived ideas.

… They pretend to serve God, but in reality are serving their own selfish interests and desires.

The thing that distinguishes “apostates” from other false teachers is that apostates claim to be Christian.

APOSTASY IS AN INSIDE JOB!

That is WHY it is so dangerous!

Spiritual warfare would be so much simpler if all the enemies of the church were outside, but our ranks have been infiltrated by traitors (v 4) who are working for our defeat and destruction.

Jude writes to warn us about these apostates and to describe their characteristics in detail so that we will be able to recognize them.

The book of Jude is “A SURVIVOR’S MANUAL” for Christians living in times of apostasy.

No other book gives Christians such a clear picture of how God wants them to live when they find themselves in the midst of widespread apostasy.

Yet, and this is sad, this little book is probably the most neglected, most unread, and therefore most unknown book in the New Testament to most Christians.

Listen as I read this short book, emphasis added by me.

Jude

common; koinos