Untitled Sermon (2)
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Good morning and welcome to Dishman Baptist Church. What a beautiful weekend it is and what a pleasure it is to be here with all of you this morning. Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Jude. If any of you missed last week we have completed our study of Mark after nearly a year and half in that great Gospel and we are moving to Jude. That is the next to last book in the Bible. It is a book that is often neglected not only because of its brevity but also because it is a hard topic that is addressed in this little epistle.
We call them de-conversion stories. They are the cleaned up way that the modern church talks about those who have publicly renounced or lost their faith in Christ. Some are complete renunciations such as Joshua Harris - the author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye - who very publicly left the faith in 2019. Most recently Paul Maxwell, a former writer for Desiring God ministries, has announced that he has left the Christian faith. This is not of no consequence. This is a man who was a PhD prepared theologian, who has written books and articles for a very high profile ministry.
The revelations surrounding Jen Hatmaker’s de-conversion prompted an article in 2018 detailing the steps and highlights of a de-conversion. One of the most famous de-conversions that happened within the last 100 years was that of Charles Templeton. He was an early partner of Billy Grahams’ and by all accounts, Templeton was the better preacher of the two. But sometime in the 50’s it seems he turned agnostic and eventually became an atheist.
Not all de-conversion stories turn out as full blown atheism. Some, like Hatmaker, simply change their views on what the Bible says about things and start teaching something else.
I’ve been using the contemporary term for these events. But the Bible would call them something completely different. Apostasy. That is the word that the Bible applies to people like this. And it is an awful state to be found in. Commenting on apostasy Charles Spurgeon said
If I must be lost, let it be any way rather than as an apostate. If there be any distinction among the damned, those have it who are wandering stars, for whom Jude (13) tells us, is “reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” Reserved! As if nobody else were qualified to occupy that place but themselves. They are to inhabit the darkest, hottest place, because they forsook the Lord. Let us then rather lose everything than lose Christ.
The Apostle John refers to them in his epistle 1 John saying
They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.
The writer of Hebrews refers to apostates in Hebrews 6
For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit,
who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age,
and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt.
The Apostle Paul would tell Timothy that in the last days that apostasy would besiege the church
But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,
traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.
Apostasy in the church should be no surprise to us. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said this in his day
Gems from Martyn Lloyd-Jones Apostasy
We must never be surprised if the church is to be found in a state of apostasy … If the nation of Israel could be apostate, then it is possible for anybody to be apostate. The fact that the church is the church does not prove that she is always right. The visible people of God can go all wrong … The church must always put herself under the judgement of the word of God.
That is one of the things we will find as we study Jude - the importance of remaining submitted to Scripture as we interact. This is a very militant book - hence the knight imagery which I hope will help cement in our minds the character and nature of this book. It is also a very practical book. There aren’t a lot of deep theological concepts that Jude deals with, rather this is a book about how to recognize and address apostasy in the church as well as how to address church members who may have been caught up in the furor that apostate teaching brings.
And so it is an important book for us to examine over the next few months. We may not be struggling with apostates here but I’m sure that many of you can think of people you know who have renounced their faith or maybe haven’t completely renounced it but have tweaked it just a bit. They’ve altered their beliefs on certain subjects that the Bible speaks clearly about. And so I think it is an apropos time for us to examine this little epistle - after having spent much of the last two years here looking at the person and life of Christ - first through our study of Colossians and then a few of the Messianic Psalms and having just finished Mark. This morning we’re going to be looking at the first two verses but I want to read the entire epistle for us to set the complete context in our minds as we embark on this journey.
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James: To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.
May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all.
For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.
Now I want to remind you, although you came to know all these things once and for all, that Jesus saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe;
and the angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deep darkness for the judgment on the great day.
Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns committed sexual immorality and perversions, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
In the same way these people—relying on their dreams—defile their flesh, reject authority, and slander glorious ones.
Yet when Michael the archangel was disputing with the devil in an argument about Moses’s body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
But these people blaspheme anything they do not understand. And what they do understand by instinct—like irrational animals—by these things they are destroyed.
Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, have plunged into Balaam’s error for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
These people are dangerous reefs at your love feasts as they eat with you without reverence. They are shepherds who only look after themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; trees in late autumn—fruitless, twice dead and uprooted.
They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.
It was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones
to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly concerning all the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against him.”
These people are discontented grumblers, living according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage.
But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
They told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.”
These people create divisions and are worldly, not having the Spirit.
But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.
Have mercy on those who waver;
save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy,
to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.
Despite challenges to the inclusion of this book in the collection of Scripture such as imprecision in dating the book, an inability to identify precisely who the apostates are that are being addressed as well as the use of extra-biblical literature in two allusions to apocryphal books there is evidence to suggest that the book of Jude was widely used within the church by the end of the second century. The book is included on the list known as the Muratorian Cannon - one of the earliest known documents containing a list of the New Testament books. In the late second or early third centuries the church fathers Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria both refer to the epistle as Scripture with Clement including the book of Jude in his commentary on the Scriptures written during that period.
Again - much like with the final portions of Mark last week - this is not to shake your confidence in the Bible you have in your hand but should instead bolster it.
The name Jude has also presented a bit of a challenge to determining who the author of this book was. The name Jude is the English form of the the Greek Judas and the Hebrew name Judah. There were several well known Judas’ in the New Testament. Two were the disciples of Christ - Judas son of James and the infamous Judas Iscariot. There was also Judas also known as Barsabbas referred to in Acts 15 as one of the men that helped Paul carry the letter containing the Jerusalem council’s judgement to the church in Antioch. Finally there is Jude the younger brother of Christ referred to in Mark 6:3
Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” So they were offended by him.
Ultimately it is the introductory statement of this letter itself that helps us clear up the most likely person to be the author of Jude. The book starts off Jude, a servant of Christ and a brother of James:”. Making the most likely, and the traditionally accepted, author the younger brother of Christ.
It is also important to note the initial tone struck by the writer of this book. If he was the brother of Christ why not claim that right in the very introduction. Any questions to the authenticity of the book would be erased right there - in fact if this book had been written by someone else using Jude’s name for recognition purposes he chose a poor figure to build an authoritative stance on. Even the apostle Judas is relatively unheard of in the rest of the New Testament and the brother of Christ is only heard of here in this book. So for credibility and unknown author seeking to use Jude, the brother of Christ’s, credentials to support the arguments made in this epistle would have mentioned the family connections immediately.
Yet this author does not - lending credence to the idea that the author is actually Jude the brother of Christ. Why wouldn’t he claim the connection to Christ? One is the fact that Jude, just as James was when he wrote his epistle, is humbled by the fact that he did not come to believe in Christ and to recognize who He was until after the resurrection.
(For not even his brothers believed in him.)
James opens his epistle writing “James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”. That epistle was written long before Jude’s. This younger brother of the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t stand on the familial bonds that he has with Christ to establish his authority to write to the churches. Rather he humbly claims servanthood - and actually a status of being Christ’s slave as the word is doulos - that says that he has no status next to Christ. He shows recognition that a family name doesn’t mean anything in the Kingdom economy of God but rather it is only through submission to Christ.
It is also something for us to note that “The people closest to Jesus are happy to call themselves servants.”
Jude. James. Paul. All of these men found themselves in close proximity to the Lord Jesus Christ and could have laid great claims to the status that would have accompanied that but instead each referred to themselves as the slaves of Christ. I wonder, in a day and age that prizes individual expressions of identity and autonomy, how many would categorize themselves the same way. How many of us routinely recognize ourselves as being Christ’s slaves or do we more consider ourselves to be partners with Him in the ordering of our lives? PAUSE!!!
Jude goes on to establish some measure of credibility as he draws on the authority of his other brother James who served as the head of the Jerusalem church as the Apostles branched out into the world to carry the Gospel in accordance with their commission. James is demonstrated to be the head of the Jerusalem church during the first church council in Acts 15 and when Paul returns to Jerusalem in Acts 21. He is also directly referred to as being an apostle and the Lord’s brother by Paul in Galatians 1:19
But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.
In the ancient world authority could be drawn from the patriarch of the family. After Joseph’s apparent death sometime before Christ’s ministry and Christ’s ascension to Heaven, James would have been next in line to lead the family as well as his station as leader of the church in Jerusalem.
Having introduced himself Jude now goes on to tell his readers three things about themselves - that they are called, that they are beloved by God and that they are kept for Christ Jesus. And oh what beautiful truths these are - but they are also important for his readers and for us to grasp today before we embark on our study of this epistle.
We Are Called
We Are Called
This is one of the core truths of Scripture but it is one of the hardest for us to wrap our minds around - that there is a people that God has called from before time began to be saved. It started with Israel as God chose them to be His own people despite their weakness as a nation.
For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
“The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
Now it continues with the church. That has always been the design and the plan from before time began.
For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.
And this is not based on anything that we have done, are doing or will do - but instead it is the kindness of God.
Charles Spurgeon said “I believe in the doctrine of election, because I am quite sure that if God had not chosen me I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards. And He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love.”
Now this is a hard truth for us to stomach - not because of the truth itself which is thoroughly Biblical - but because of the idea that if election is true that there must also be a non-election group. We develop this misconception that people are at the gates of Heaven trying to get in and God is standing there keeping them out. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead God is standing at the door of heaven and all of humanity is running headlong in the other direction. God, by His sovereign decree and will, plucks this one and that one from disaster but those who are running in the other direction and are not plucked are responsible for the direction they are running. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says it this way
Gems from Martyn Lloyd-Jones Election (Calvinism)
Election alone accounts for the saved, but non-election does not account for the lost. That is worth repeating!
Christian, if you are here this morning and you have placed your faith in Christ alone for your salvation then you can rejoice that you have been counted among the called. It is important to note the next two qualifications that Jude gives as he continues to enumerate the status of his readers.
Loved By God the Father
Loved By God the Father
What a beautiful truth to recognize - that we are truly loved by God the Father. This is really the only religious system that is grounded in this truth. Allah is not a loving deity. Buddhism, Hinduism, pantheism none of them are based on a loving god. The christian cults of mormonism and the jehovah’s witnesses will say they are based on a loving god but their works righteous system reveals that at the foundation theirs is a religion of a taskmaster who expects service and rewards good service while punishing bad service.
Only Christianity reveals a loving God.
We love because he first loved us.
And the true beauty and longevity of this love is found in this statement by Jude. The verb is agapao from which we get the idea of agape or unconditional love. But it is also written in the perfect tense meaning that this love has existed since before time began, that it is constant now and that it will continue to exist into the future. It is an action that emphasizes not so much the action in the past but that this is the current state of affairs and one that will continue. What an amazing thought. That God loves me! No matter how much I mess up and fail Him, He will continue to bestow this perfect love on me. No matter how many times I allow my sinful, selfish heart to reveal itself, allow my flesh to revive and lead me into sin. No matter how many times I reveal myself to be unloving towards Him, He will continue to bestow this perfect love on me.
And of course He has demonstrated His perfect love for each of us
But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
What more can we ask for from God - He has already given us the most perfect demonstration of His love. To sacrifice His own Son on our behalf. When we were His enemies, when we were living for our own gratification and completely contrary to His standards and laws He died for us. He saved us. He bought us with His own blood - out of love. He didn’t break the law for love, He fulfilled the law for love.
And it is out of that love that He keeps us for Christ.
Kept for Christ Jesus
Kept for Christ Jesus
We were called in eternity past to be God’s people. Because of His great love for us. How could we ever think that what He called and whom He loves that He would let slip through His hands.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The notion of the eternal security of the believer is the promise that Jude makes here. He tells his readers that they are being kept for something - to be the perfect bride of Christ. This does not provide us a license for living however we want - but rather it allows us to feel secure that what Christ has paid for can never be revisited upon as as that debt has been nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14) and has been completely forgiven.
It is the promise that we end every service with from 1 Thessalonians 5
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who calls you is faithful; he will do it.
It is the assurance that Jesus gave His disciples in John 10
My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
Christian - you cannot get away from Him. You cannot give back what has been extended to you by His grace. You cannot outsin Him. You cannot repudiate.
The Greek ordering of this statement is amazing. In Greek it reads “by God the Father loved and kept for Christ Jesus are the called.” Out of God’s love for each of us that is demonstrated and secured by Christ’s death on the cross we are called.
See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him.
The beauty of this is that Jude is painting a picture of the true believer knowing that he is about to spend the rest of the book detailing those who do not fit these characteristics. The apostate is not called, they are not loved (beyond the general love that God bestows on all creation by virtue of being their Creator) and they are not kept by Christ.
But you are Christian. And now Jude offers up a prayer for his readers that really provides a bookend for the book.
Mercy, Peace and Love
Mercy, Peace and Love
It was a common practice to offer a prayer following the greeting in ancient letters. Paul does this frequently in his epistles. Yet this one by Jude is different. Instead of the customary grace and peace found in so many epistles (all of the Pauline epistles start out with grace and peace) Jude here writes mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.
The concept of mercy will resurface later in the book in verses 21-23
keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.
Have mercy on those who waver;
save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
Jude will wrap up this book by telling us how to interact with those of the church who have fallen victim or may be falling victim to false teaching and a primary characteristic that we should embody is mercy. In the introduction he prays for God’s mercy to be multiplied to his readers and to us as it is out of this abundant mercy that we are capable of showing mercy to others. When we recognize what we have been saved from, when we remember where we were in our sins and where we were heading it is more possible for us to give mercy to others who may be wavering or struggling in their faith.
Knowing that we have been so greatly loved, that we are kept in Christ and that we have been called provides the basis for peace with God as Romans 5:1 says
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Knowing that God loves us helps even when challenges abound because we recognize that all things that are allowed to happen in our lives come from a loving God who is working all things for His glory and for our good.