Jude

All the neighborhood stood still and quiet, my wife froze where she was at, I stood looking at my son… my heart beating powerfully in my chest with some of the deepest fear mixed with concern and panic that it had ever felt. Just seconds before… I watched as my young son rode his bike between our cars right towards the street as a car was driving down our street towards a collision with my son .

I consider myself a loving father much more eager to laugh with and have a good time with my children… but as I saw this event unfolding… with everything within me a the top of my lungs I yelled out from across the yard STOP!!! It was not out of anger but fear for what I saw coming… My son froze, the neighborhood stooped and looked, the car screeched to a halt… ALL there that day heard the plea from a fathers yell and responded.

Today our passage is like that… Jude, who cares deeply for his audience is sending out a plea of warning to the church. My prayer is that as we hear his plea recorded for us in scripture, that we will respond accordingly… Let’s read this plea from Jude 1-25

Jude 1–25 NASB95

Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Context of Jude

Jude most hold he is the half brother of Jesus

Most likely a primarily Jewish audience as there are many references to the things relating to Israel

You get a deep compassion and care for the ones Jude is writing to

Similar verbiage and tone as 2 Peter

False teachers are in the midst of these believers

False Teachers Span Every Generation

How wonderful it would be to gather every Sunday morning to remind you and encourage you in the many blessings of salvation and encourage you to share this with all those who are lost. ( I would love this, Jude wanted to do this…BUT)

False teaching exist and it creeps its way into the church body.

In Jude’s day these were Gnostics

Gnosticism declared that the spirit was good and the material was evil. Therefore the spiritual was to be cultivated and fed, with freedom to pursue its good inclinations. In addition Gnostics felt free to give vent to the desires of the flesh. Thus the heart of this apostasy was that it turned the grace of God into license and lasciviousness. Jude wrote to warn of this dual apostasy of wrong conduct and false doctrine. Pentecost, E. C. (1985). Jude. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 918). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

That being said… what Jude addresses deals with and covers all heresy and apostates (those who have renounced their faith and gone a different direction)

This begins when one steps away from the context of scripture and begins to look into small sections in a deeper way looking for “new revelation” or “new teaching” understanding a deeper meaning and setting aside the clear context of God’s Word and following cryptic messages …

… —emphasis on knowledge which was emancipated from the claims of morality; arrogance toward ‘unenlightened’ church leaders; interest in angelology; divisiveness; lasciviousness” (Michael Green, The Second Epistle General of Peter and the General Epistle of Jude, p. 39).

Church when it comes to the faith… to what we believe… there is a battle for the mind!!!

This starts from young. I appreciate so much those who commit their lives to the education of our young people all the way through college.

We are slowly eroding away truth in so many of the teachings in this world and replacing it with deceptive counterfeits

False teachers have crept their way into our churches and the christian faith!

Those who were strong have wavered off

They seek a social gospel welcomed by the world… that is not what scriptures say though!!!

John 15:18-19

John 15:18–19 NLT

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.

Jude is challenging his readers to DEFEND OR CONTENT for the faith!

Defending Takes Effort

Verses 3-4 summarize well Jude’s purpose…

Wanting to encourage people he cares about

Seeing danger and having to declare a bold warning instead...

Defend it… Take a stand… Do NOT allow false teaching to deceive your mind

This means you and I are responsible to KNOW the truth

It order to guard the truth we need to know it so we can identify the counterfeit!!!

Jude realizes some may have taken this initial charge half hearted, or that those in this may have scoffed so he delivers a God Ordained WARNING CRY (STOP)!

In this brief letter of warning Jude utilizes TRIADS… the strength of threes...

3’s create emphasis

3’s create strength (a cord of three strands is not easily broken)

The 3’s we see in Jude create a STRONG Argument or emphasis on the danger and warnings being delivered here

Strong Emphasis of Care

Verse 1-2 Those he writes to… 1, 2, 3

Called / loved / kept… given mercy / peace / love

Emphasizes Examples from History

Verses 5-7 REMINDING them of things they know…

1. Unbelieving Israel… unbelief brings destruction

2. Certain Angels… disobedience brings punishment and consequences

3. Sodom & Gomorrah… immorality and sin brings about an example to all of the fire of hell

HELL IS ETERNAL… sin holds eternal consequences

Yet false teaching allows for one to indulge in sin without consequences

Jude is saying… CHURCH wake up… you know how God deals with these things. (GOD NEVER changes, He still deals with sin!)

Describing “These People”

Verses 8-16 Describes these individuals in some powerful ways… “These people” throughout these verses. (SAME GROUP)

Their authority comes from things of dreams/ their own minds Verses 8-13

1. Live immorally

2. Defy authority

3. Scoff at supernatural beings

In their arrogance they act foolishly… Not even those angels (who are powerful) denounce fallen angels

Yet in their ignorance and pride they place themselves higher than these beings “these people” false teachers

Like unreasoning animals

These actions are nothing new and will continue to the end of time… Verses 12-13

1. Cain… sinned because of jealousy and wanting his way over God’s

2. Balaam… deceiving for money

3. Korah… rebelled against God (Moses and Aaron) and the leadership… and perished because of it

They claim fellowship and shepherding but they bring nothing to the table… they are empty care only for themselves

They were starving the sheep in their teaching apostacy… while feeding their own pride and lust

1. Clouds… bringing no rain or refreshment

2. Trees… in fall, uprooted, doubly dead… no fruit is found

3. Waves… tossing here and there, making noise, yet producing nothing solid just empty foam

Enoch warned of “Their” Type Verses 14-16

Grumblers,

Complainers

Satisfying self

Brag

Use flattery

Our Action & Reaction

Verses 17-23 Give us some very clear instruction and action items to implement into our lives… (NOTICE: panic and be fearful is not on this list!)

REMEMBER… (think) sound teaching Jude seems to be pointing to things Peter has stated along with the other Apostles

Don’t think on the things that are divisive, worldly minded, or devoid of the Holy Spirit

Build up your faith… stretch those spiritual muscles

The FIRST TWO entail your BIBLE STUDY

PRAY!!!! in the power of the Holy Spirit

LOVE GOD… not this world

Anticipate and look for the Lord’s return

Here’s how to engage with the lost souls with discretion...

Show mercy to the doubting

Be bold, willing to snatch out of the fire

Be cautious with mercy always hating the sin that entangles them

Declare God for who God is… verses 24-25!!!

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