sf640 - Contending For The Faith - A Verse-By-Verse Study Of Jude
Contending for the Faith
“A Verse-by-Verse Study of Jude”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contend for the Faith
JUDE 1:1-4
INTRODUCTION
Background
Ø Written between 68-80 AD
Ø Key Verse: Jude 1:3
Theme
Ø The theme is apostasy, “a falling away.”
Apostasy does not mean one is saved and then lost. Apostasy means a falling away from the truth of God, not a falling from grace.
Ø These are folks who profess Christianity but were not regenerate. (Matthew 7:22-23; 2 Timothy 3:5; Titus 1:16)
1A. A WORD TO SINCERE SAINTS (1:1-3)
1B. The author (1:1a)
He was a servant
Ø A bondservant (doulos) was one that was bought with a price.
Ø This settles the matter of relationship.
He was a sibling
Matthew 13:55 “Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”
2B. The audience (1:1b)
The called ones
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14
1 Peter 2:9
Ø Called to salvation
Ø Called to service
Ø Called to citizenship
Ø Called to relationship
Ø Called to discipleship
Sanctified (beloved)
John 17:20-23
1 John 3:1 “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”
Preserved (1:24)
“tereo,” perfect tense verb means to keep a continuous, loving watch and guard over
2 Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”
3B. The affirmation (1:2)
This deals with the three relationships of life...
Our relationship with God - Mercy: the upward expression of mercy
Hebrews 4:16
Ø Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve
Our relationship with ourselves - Peace: the inward expression of peace
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
Philippians 4:6-7
Our relationship with others - Love: the outward expression of love
John 13:34-35
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4B. The appeal (1:3)
Notice the motive (1:3a)
Ø Not from human desire
Ø It was a divine directive
“I felt it necessary…” to compress to apply pressure! (John 4:4)
Notice the mandate (1:3b)
Ø The command: “to contend earnestly for,” to agonize in defense of.
Ø The content: “the faith” refers to God’s revelation in the Bible. (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
Ø The completeness: “once for all…” (Revelation 22:18-19; Hebrews 9:26-28; Galatians 1:8)
Ø The custodians: “handed down to the saints,” means to entrust to (2 Timothy 2:2)
Notice the method “contend”
Ø Love the faith
Ø Learn the faith
Ø Live the faith
Ø Teach the faith (2 Timothy 2:24-26)
2A. A WARNING ABOUT SYNTHETIC SAINTS (1:4)
1B. They are deceptive
Matthew 7:15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
Galatians 2:4-5
2B. They are dangerous
They have no reverence for God, “ungodly men”
2 Timothy 3:5 “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”
2 Timothy 4:3-4
They have no relationship with God
Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”
3B. They are destructive
They pervert the purpose of grace
Titus 2:11-13
Hebrews 10:29
They deny the lordship of Christ
Matthew 10:33 “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”
Ø They deny Him as Master (Lord), Mediator (Jesus) and Messiah (Christ).
Three Warnings From History
JUDE 1:5-7
Introduction
Jude uses three illustrations from history to warn us concerning the dangers of apostasy in the church. He is warning us concerning the danger of not taking seriously the truth of God.
When we are not careful about our walk with the Lord and allow sin to enter into our lives and false doctrine to enter our churches. We face three dangers; the danger of losing our victory; the danger of losing our ministry; and the danger of losing our testimony.
1A. The Danger of Losing Our Victory (1:5)
The people of Israel had trusted God to get them out of Egypt but they did not trust him to give them victory in the Promised Land.
1B. The people placed greater trust in man’s perspective than in God’s promise. (Numbers 13:25-33)
Ø God’s will is never to be determined by majority vote.
Ø Remember God has called us to walk by faith not by sight! We are called to follow not to form an opinion!
2 Corinthians 5:7 “for we walk by faith, not by sight”
2B. The people rebelled against God’s chosen leaders. (Numbers 14:1-10)
Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”
3B. God will surely discipline us when we rebel in unbelief. (Numbers 14:20-24)
God dealt severely with the rebellious Israelites. (Hebrews 3:16-19; 1 Corinthians 10:1-12)
1 Corinthians 10:6 “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved”
God will deal as severely with His people today when they rebel.
Hebrews 12:6 “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”
1 John 5:16 “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.”
2A. The Danger of Losing Our Ministry (1:6)
1B. Who are these angels? Three views:
Some Christians simply choose to ignore them.
Some believe they are angels who fell with Satan. (Revelation 12:4; Isaiah 14:12-19; Ezekiel 28:12-19)
Some believe they are the angels that whose fall is recorded in Genesis 6:1-4
Ø The expression “sons of God” always refers to angels. (Job 1:6; 2:1, 38:7; Daniel 3:25, 28; Psalm 29:1; 89:6)
Ø The Hebrew word “nephillim” may mean “fallen ones.”
Ø In Jude 1:7 “these” refers to the angels in 1:6.
Ø In the Septuagint, “The sons of God” (Genesis 6) is translated “angels.”
2B. What are we to learn from this example?
These angels fell because of their pride, “they did not keep their own domain.”
They fell because of their lust; they “went after strange flesh.”
God did not spare the angels. (2 Peter 2:4-11)
3A. The Danger of Losing Our Testimony (1:7)
1B. God judged Sodom because of Sodom’s sexual sin.
God judged Sodom because of its sinfulness. (Genesis 13:13)
God judged Sodom because of its perversion. (Genesis 19:1-5; Romans 1:22-28)
2B. God judged Lot because of Lot’s compromise with sin.
Lot lost his witness with his neighbors. (Genesis 19:6-9)
Lot lost his influence on his family. (Genesis 19:14, 26)
Lot lost his virtue with his daughters. (Genesis 19:30-36)
Application
Israel’s sin was unbelief; the angel’s sin was pride; Sodom’s sin was gratifying the flesh; and Lot’s sin was compromise with the world.
APOSTATES IDENTIFIED
JUDE 1:8-16
Introduction
Apostate false teachers, they abandon the faith, defect from the truth,
Ø To be exposed to gospel and reject it is the worse possible sin leading to the worst possible punishment.
Jeremiah 17:5 Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.
Ezekiel 18:24 " But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.
John MacArthur calls these people spiritual terrorists who blow up the souls of men.
1A. Apostates Pollute the Witness of the Church (1:8-10)
“Likewise” just as Israel, the angels, and Sodom & Gomorrah
“Dreamers” revelatory dreams and/or their own imaginations (God speaks to them). Beware of those who get a word from God from dreams. (Jeremiah 23:23-28)
These dreamers/apostates are characterized by…
1B. A “Defile the Flesh” - their immorality (1:8a)
“Flesh” – refers to the body
“Defile” – to stain, pollute, corrupt
Ø Reference to sexual sin, no work of regeneration (1:19) or sanctification
2 Peter 2:10, 18
Galatians 5:19 – where it all begins.
2B. They “Reject authority” - their insubordination (1:8b)
“Reject” to do away with something that is established
“Authority” literally lordship! Any rule over them. Specifically the Lord Jesus Christ (1:4)
Ø Refuse to submit to the reveled lordship of Christ, rooted in man’s arrogance.
This is necessary for you to be able to live immoral lives.
Ø The can be no salvation without Lordship!
Ø Ultimately they reject authority at home, at church, at work, and in the government
3B. They “Speak evil of dignitaries” - their irreverence (1:8c-10)
“Speak evil of“ – literally to be blaspheming
Ø To curse what is holy
“Dignitaries” – angelic majesties, literally glories
Ø May refer to the glory of God
“Yet Michael” – assigned to protect Israel (Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1)
Ø Michael the archangel is an example of how we are to deal with Satan. (Deuteronomy 34:5-7)
“But these” – refers to the apostate false teachers
Ø “Speak evil of” – blaspheme
Ø “Whatever they do not know” – Spiritually ignorant
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Ø “Whatever they know naturally…” - They are intellectually arrogant
Because these apostates do not understand spiritual things they act like unreasoning animals and reject the things of God.
Ø “In these things they corrupt themselves” – They commit spiritual suicide
“Corrupt” – spiritual and moral self-destruction
2A. Their Apostasy Illustrated (11)
1B. Cain and example of irreverence (11a; Genesis 4:1-7)
Cain devised his own means of worship.
Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
Cain rejected the Lord’s atonement. (Hebrews 9:22)
Hebrews 9:22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
2B. Balaam an example of immorality (1:11b; Numbers 22-24)
Balaam sought to use the things of God for his own gain.
Balaam lead the Israelites into immorality (Numbers 25)
3B. Korah an example of insubordination (1:11c; Numbers 16)
Korah had a problem with authority. (Numbers 16)
“rebellion,” antilogia, to speak a word against
Korah rebelled against God’s Word and divided the people of God.
Ø Apostates pervert the manner of worship by being divisive and by bringing dissension to the church.
3A. Apostates Described (1:12-13)
1B. They are hidden dangers to the fellowship – “spots in your love feasts/hidden reefs”
Embedded in the life of the church - unseen danger
Used the meals as a platform to promote their false doctrine
Ø Love feasts – time of celebration a shared meal (1 Corinthians 11:15-22)
2B. They have no fear of God – “without fear”
They lack a conscience and/or sense of God’s justice
1 Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
3B. They are self-centered – “serving only themselves”
The Love Feast was a shepherding dinner, designed to give opportunity for the body to minister to one another.
Ø They were self-centered, shepherding t/focusing on themselves.
4B. They are not what they appear to be – “clouds without water”
Serve only to hide the sun.
Like rainless clouds they offer false promises
Proverbs 25:14 Whoever falsely boasts of giving Is like clouds and wind without rain.
Ø Promise blessing, spiritual renewal but cannot deliver
Ø Motivated by evil, blown by demon winds, deliver nothing.
5B. They are fruitless and dead – “without fruit…twice death pulled up by the roots”
Barren profession
Matthew 12:33 " Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
Ø Last chance for harvest – no fruit
Void of spiritual life
“Twice dead” – no life in them
Matthew 15:13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.
6B. They have no peace – “raging waves …foaming up their own shame…”
In the Old Testament the sea often represents the ungodly.
Isaiah 57:20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
All they do is stir up dirt – immortality, insubordination, irreverence
7B. They wander aimlessly and are doomed - “wandering stars…”
Stars do not wander and they shine all the time
Ø Shooting stars, not really stars flash and are gone. That is the picture here.
Ø These false teachers/apostates are flashy, eradicate, then gone.
Blackness refers to the “eternal fire” in verse 7.
4A. Apostates are Eternally Doomed (14-16)
1B. God’s judgment is sure (1:14-15a)
2B. God’s judgment is just (1:15b-16)
IT MAY GET BAD...BUT DON’T GIVE UP
Jude 1:17-25
Introduction
Jude presents some godly counsel to God’s people
He tells us how to triumph in a time of apostasy.
The key is verse 20, “Beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith.”
“Holy faith” – objective truth, the Faith (see verse 3)
Discernment has disappeared in the Church – Why?
A weakening in doctrinal clarity and conviction
Ø Tolerance, easy believism, etc
Ø Emphasis moves from preaching doctrine to making people feel good.
A failure to be declare that there is absolute, objective truth – relativism prevails
Ø The Bible is absolute!
Ø However in our age to believe in absolute truth is considered fanatical.
Preoccupation with image as a key to evangelism
Ø Its about style, friendships with the world
James 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Failure to properly interpret the Scripture
2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Acts 17:11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
Failure to practice Biblical discipline within the church
Ø The church accumulates the unregenerate and heretics, thereby dulling the edge of discernment
Spiritual immaturity
Ø Superficial understanding of Scripture
Ø Defective view of God
Hebrews 5:12-14 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
The key is verse 20, “Beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith.”
1A. Jude Tells Us to Remember (1:17-19)
1B. Remember the warning of the apostles.
The Scripture predicts this! Don’t despair.
Be comforted knowing that God has purposed this apostasy to happen.
2B. Remember the characteristics of the apostates.
A flippant attitude toward the gospel (1:18a)
“Mockers” = to make light of the gospel
A fleshly lifestyle (1:18b)
“Ungodly lusts” = to practice sexual immorality
A divisive personality (1:19a)
“Cause divisions”
A frivolous motive (1:19b)
“Sensual” = worldly minded
A frostbitten soul (1:19c)
“Not having the Spirit”
Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
2A. Jude Tells Us to Remain (1:20-21)
1B. We are to build up our faith (1:20a)
How?
Ø Study the Word
2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Ø Stay in the Word
1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby
Ø Keep the Word
1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
2B. We are to pray in the Spirit (1:20b)
Why?
Ø We need God’s approval
Ø We need God’s power
How?
Ø Follow the Spirit’s lead
Ø Trust the Spirit to intercede
Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
3B. We are to abide in His love (1:21a)
To stay in a position to enjoy God’s love
John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing
John 15:9 " As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
4B. We are to look for Christ’s return (1:21b)
“Waiting anxiously,” an expectant longing
3A. Jude Tells Us to Reach-out (1:22-23)
1B. To the confused (1:22)
“Compassion,” mercy
This mercy involves giving them the truth.
False teachers go after the weak and immature.
They are not anti-gospel; they are not sure what the truth is.
2B. To the convinced (1:23a)
Those who are nearest to eternity
Ø They have bought the lies.
Ø They are already being singed by Hell.
This is a rescue operation, only God can save (1:25).
James 5:19-20 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Ø “Sinner” – unregenerate
Ø “Pulling” – snatch, go after them to rescue them, i.e. Jesus and the Pharisees
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
3B. To the committed (1:23b)
Deal with fear, be careful.
“Garment defiled by the flesh,” to be deep in sin
Ø Garment refers to the underwear.
Be careful not to be stained by their sin
Proverbs 4:14-15 Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil. 15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on.
4A. Jude Tells Us to Look Upward (1:24-25)
1B. For God’s protection (1:24a)
Psalm 121:3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.
2B. For God’s forgiveness (1:24b)
“Faultless” = pure without a blemish
3B. To God’s praise (1:25)
“Glory,” God’s excellence
“Majesty,” God’s greatness
“Dominion and power,” God’s sovereignty and omnipotence