Jude 25

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... to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. ~ Jude 25

Today, we end our study of Jude. We began our study of this powerful little book with with an eye on the One who called us, who loved us and who keeps us in the faith. Jude’s letter begins and ends with the assurance that God is decisively the One who has saved the willing. Everything began in our lives the day we willingly placed our trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus as our Savior. 

Today's text is a doxology, literally, a word of praise. And, Jude's purpose in including this doxology isn't just to give us a nice ending, it's not just to give us a liturgical form or an ecumenical shtick. Rather, Jude desired to assure us, his readers, God is the long pursued longing of our hearts. This is why these final two verses are all about God. Jude doesn't close this book with the spotlight on the apostates, if he had done that, we would be left confused. If he had not ended with the sufficiency of God in our lives, he would have undermined the whole purpose of this book.

Now, in v.25, Jude puts the word God next to the word Savior. He wrote, "... to the only God our Savior." We know the Lord Jesus is our Savior, He is regularly called our Savior throughout the Bible. And, here, Jude puts God next to Savior to show us the Lord Jesus is God. He could not be our Savior if He were not God. If the Lord Jesus is not God, His death would not have been sufficient to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. In 1 John 2:2 we read, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 

A created being, which the Lord Jesus would be if He were not God, could not pay the infinite penalty required for sin against an infinite God. Only God could pay such an infinite penalty. Only God could take on the sins of the world, die, and be resurrected, proving His victory over sin and death.

Jude himself was one of the half brothers of the Lord Jesus. And, Jude did not believe the Lord Jesus was the Savior, at first. It was after the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus that Jude became convinced that his half brother was the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world. 

Think with me. Jude watched the Lord Jesus grow up. He  watched the life of his brother unfold. And then, when his brother started His ministry, Jude heard His about His sermons and the miracles He performed. And yet, he didn't believe in the glory, majesty, power and authority of the Lord Jesus as God.  

After the display of the divine qualities of the Lord Jesus, through His resurrection, Jude trusted the Lord Jesus as his Savior. As a result, it became the desire of Jude to render to God, glory, majesty, power and authority. Of course, it was not needful to the Lord Jesus that His siblings rendered such to Him. He would have done what He did with or without their support.

The born again believer recognizes these four attributes belong to God. These attributes of God were required to save us and to keep us for eternity. Without these four attributes, we would be doomed. This is the point of this book. And, when we come into a personal relationship with God, as a result of His Spirit coming to dwell permanently in our spirit, we naturally desire for Him to be our Lord and to get the glory. We do this because we have come to see Him, to truly see Him for who He is, and we render back to Him His glory, majesty, power and authority. This is how He keeps us for eternity.

Jude came to understand the importance of believing, "Now to Him who adopts dirty, abandoned, rebellious children into his family — to Him belong compassion and boundless mercy." The attributes that we ascribe to God are the ones that account for the actions we praise. The degree of glory, majesty, power and authority it took to save us is immeasurable. We have no human measurement for such. 

So, Jude establishes first and last the decisive work of God in keeping those made alive to Him. And, in between, Jude warns against the false teachers "who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality." These apostates were not called and they were not loved and they were not kept. The evidence that they weren't is that they didn’t crave Christ, they craved much, much less. They didn’t prize the God of grace; they prostituted the grace of God.

When we were His enemies, God granted us spiritual life. When we were dead to Him, and we had no spiritual life, it was then His Spirit acted upon us. And, we became alive to God in our spirit. This spiritual life that we have is not ours intrinsically. It is not ours autonomously. We have this life to the degree that we have the Holy Spirit in us, and to the degree that we are in Christ. This new life we have in Christ was impossible for us. Think of it, it required the glory, majesty, power and authority of God to accomplish it. To Him be the glory, majesty, power and authority for ever and ever, AMEN!

Jude 24

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To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. ~ Jude 24

Today, we come to the next to the last verse in the incredible book of Jude. The final two verses make up a doxology which is the combination of two Greek words: doxa means praise and logos means word. A doxology is a word of praise. 

Now, the writer of this book, Jude, was not one of the twelve original disciples, but was, in fact, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Jude did not come to the Lord Jesus as Messiah until after the Lord Jesus had overcome sin and death by raising from the dead. And, after Jude experienced the inspiration of the dead rising to life, he was used by God and inspired by the Holy Spirit, to write this important epistle. The conclusion of this letter is the high point of the entire book of Jude. 

In today's passage we read, "To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy."

To me, the most precious part of our salvation is the doctrine of eternal security, also known as the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. It is that biblical truth that says once we are saved, we are saved forever. If the Lord did not save us we would be damned. If we could lose our salvation, we would. If any part of our salvation depended upon our performance, we would have absolutely no hope to be rescued from the eternal flames of hell.

Through the perfection of the Lord Jesus, believers are positionally perfect in God's sight. And, even though we have this sure hope, daily we are tempted to be frauds or to hide the reality that we are still sinners. Daily, we are tempted to live a deception about who we really are apart from the Lord Jesus. We are wretched in ourselves. But, in Christ we are white as snow. Consequently, we are prone to self-righteousness. Often, our limited understanding of these truths, runs us off into the spiritual ditch of life.

Now, most of Jude's letter has been about the apostates. Jude is about those who have fallen away from the faith. And, in the end of this book apostasy is contrasted with the God who keeps the humble from becoming apostate. The way of the proud is not to be the way of the humble. The believer in Christ is not a casualty because the One who saves is the One who sustains and keeps. This is all possible because we had nothing to do with our salvation. All we did was to cry out for it and receive it. 

Now that word, keep, in v.24, is a military term. It means to guard, or to watch over. And, the picture that God paints for us in this one little verse is: He is, 24/7, standing guard over each believer. He stands guard over us to ensure our eternal safety. 

In John 10 we read, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand." 

Now, sheep are not known for persevering. Sheep are not great survivors. In fact, sheep without a shepherd don't make it. The care of sheep is totally dependent on the quality of the care provided by the shepherd. Sheep are helpless. If a sheep is unattended, they often fall down and roll over onto their side. And, when they roll to their side, they can't get up. And, if they try to get up, they find themselves on their backs with their feet straight up in the air. This is called being cast. A cast sheep gets on its back and eventually has its circulation cut off. As a result, it stops breathing, and it dies. Sheep are pretty helpless. And, if a sheep is going to persevere, if it is going to endure, it has to be kept by a shepherd. And that's the point! 

"My sheep hear my voice. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand." 

Now, the first part of today's verse is positioned on earth and the second part is in heaven. "To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy."

The goal is to present us faultless in heaven before the perfect God. Notice it does not say we are faultless. It says he'll present us faultless. Even though our sin has been removed from us as far as the east is from the west, we, will never be able to say that we are sinlessly perfect. But, Christ makes the believer legally perfect before God. The Lord Jesus took our sin, and God treated the Lord Jesus like us, deserving of His wrath. So, through the payment the Lord Jesus made on the cross, God has pronounced us righteous, and, one day the Lord Jesus will present us before God the Father as faultless. 

The word Jude uses in Jude 24 translated faultless is also translated as unblemished. In Hebrews 9:14 we read, "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" 

Right now, believers in Christ are unblemished to God. We are treated as if we were blameless because Christ bore our sins and we’ve been given His righteousness. And God treats Christ on the cross as if He lived our lives so He can treat us as if we lived His. 

In Zephaniah 3 we read, "The Lord your God in your midst, the mighty one will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing." 

That's the joy Jude is talking about in Jude 24. "To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy."

It was this joy that enabled the Lord Jesus to endure the cross. In Hebrews 12:2 we read, "...who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame." The moment we believed, the Lord Jesus presented us before God the Father as faultless, and He did it with joy as He sang over us. 

So the purpose of salvation isn't just to rescue us from hell, it's also to present us perfect in heaven. Each believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a salvation trophy that brings Him joy. This is why we should work ardently to turn back the efforts of the false teachers who teach apostasy.

Jude 22-23

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22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. ~ Jude 22-23

Today, we return to the little epistle of Jude who was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jude is a twenty-five verse letter which addresses the issue of false teachers inside the church. Jude is a book of warning about those who once seemed to believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus, but who no longer believe. This is a book about apostasy.

Today, we live in a world which is increasingly under the control of Satan himself. And, the devil's influence has encroached the church through the false teachings of apostates who are islands among themselves. Apostates are insubordinate, rebellious, greedy, materialistic, self-centered, shameless, proud, sensual, and void of the Holy Spirit. The theology of the apostate is not founded in the scriptures. They pretend to honor the Lord Jesus, but they deny Him that honor in reality by denying His definition of their lives.

Jude issues a call to the reality that we must deal with apostasy. And, as we considered in our last blog and podcast, the believer in Christ survives the onslaught of apostasy only by remaining strong in our faith in the Lord. We do this by diligently studying the Scriptures, by being engaged in prayer to the Lord, by keeping ourselves in the love of God, and, by anticipating and expecting the return of the Lord Jesus.

In v.22 of today's passage we read, "Be merciful to those who doubt."

I am so glad the Lord directed Jude to write these words because the people Jude directs our attention to here are people who are saved but not secure. We must be careful to differentiate between those who are struggling to grow in their faith and those who are sabotaging the faith. We all have had our doubts. Doubts are a must if we are to grow in our faith. Doubt is the shadow cast by faith, and when we wrestle with our doubts and the questions our doubts create, we must be careful to go to God for the answers. These of whom Jude writes struggle with the questions that come with growth. We are to be merciful to them as they struggle and help them along, as they grow in their knowledge of the Lord and His ways.

The word "doubt" used here in v.22 means "confused." False teachers always go after people who are weak and vulnerable. They go after those who are not strong in doctrine, prayer, and obedience. Apostates go after those who are not yet convinced of the truth of God's word.

To be merciful means to show kindness and compassion on those who struggle with doubt because our kindness and compassion will make the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus we proclaim, that much more approachable to them. False teachers do not bring that kind of an attraction. In fact, false teachers always appeal to the flesh. 

The Lord Jesus is a great example of how we are to operate in these situations. He, on one hand, stood up and denounced the Pharisees. Then, on the heels of that, He ate dinner with the Pharisee. Then, in the very next chapter, He ate lunch with another Pharisee. Like the Lord Jesus, to the struggling, we are to be soft, with the the false teacher, we are to be severe. 

In v.23 of today's text we read, "save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh."

Now, we know we can not save anybody. Shoot, we can't even save ourselves! So, when Jude commands us to "save others" he means join God as He saves people. We are just the means by whom God does the saving. He is the cause of salvation, He does the saving. We partner with Him, and, we are the tools He uses. 

Now, the implication given here is these who need to be saved are already in the fire of false belief. They are not just confused, they have bought the lie of the false teachers. They have bought the lie that the Lord Jesus is not God. They have bought the lie that salvation is in part by grace and in part by works. They have bought the lie that whatever form of apostate Christianity they are seduced by, and they, they are already being singed by the fires of hell, which will engulf them in the future, if they do not come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word "snatching" is harpazō in the Greek, meaning "to take by force." This is the same word the Apostle Paul uses to describe the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4. When we meet somebody who is believing false teaching, we do not turn our backs on them, we do not shun them. We go after them in a very serious rescue operation because false teaching stains the soul. And, the way to reach them is by patiently bringing the truth to them. It may take years but we never give up on them unless they themselves become apostate. This is why there must be fear involved.

And, we are to hate even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Hating, not the person but the  influence of the false teaching on the struggling. We must treat the false teaching as if it is filthy underwear, stained by bodily functions. No one would pick up somebody’s filthy, stained underwear. This is why we must separate the false teaching from the person. We must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Having said all of this, we must remember that in order to recognize the false, we, must be well-trained in the truth which sensitizes our souls to the needs of the struggling.

Jude 20-21

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20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.  ~ Jude 20-21

Today, we return to our study of the book of Jude. In this little book Jude's edgy brevity communicates the urgency of his notion that false teachers will need to be anticipated and addressed. His usage of just a few words means that Jude did not waste space dancing around the primary issue. He saw within the church people and practices that were worthy of discipline, including sexual misconduct, rejecting authority and seeking to be worshipped. 

In v. 20 of today's text we read, "But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit."

In this one verse, Jude shifts our attention from the apostate to the believer in Christ. At the very heart of the believer's survival and triumph in a day of apostasy is the strengthening of our faith in the God of the Bible. We move into error not by design, we move into error due to our lack of commitment to be disciples of God and His word.

Our spiritual lives require maintenance. We must not allow ourselves to be starved to death spiritually. This is why Jude reminds us to build ourselves up in our holy faith. Christian growth is not automatic, it has to be intentional. Any life left to itself, will fall apart. So we need to be building up our faith. And, this begins with studying the Word of God with a view toward obedience. 

In our attempt to bolster our faith in the Lord Jesus, our goal must not only be informational, our goal must be transformational which God will do if we come to His word with the mind that He will change us from the inside out. We must approach God's word with the idea that we will be defined by Him. We also must understand that God uses two main things to grow our faith in Him; the afore mentioned word of God and the trials that invade our lives on a daily basis.

In James 1:2-3 we read, "2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Given the fact that we are fallen and we live in a fallen world, trials are essential to the growth of our faith. You see, like it or not, trials are our friends because they remind us that we do not have all of life all together. Trials drive us to God, reminding us that He is the secret to our success. Trails aid in our heart's ability to see God which is what faith really is.

In addition, at the end of v.20, Jude tells us to "pray in the Holy Spirit." Praying in the Spirit is the polar opposite of praying in the flesh. Prayer in the power of the flesh relies upon human ability and effort to carry the prayer forward. To pray in the Spirit is experiencing the Spirit of life bringing our prayers to life. Praying in the Spirit means that the Spirit empowers the prayer and carries it to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus. In prayer, the Holy Spirit illuminates our minds, moves our hearts, and grants us a freedom of utterance and liberty of expression. This means to pray consistent with the will of the Holy Spirit. And, the will of the Holy Spirit is discovered as we study God's word. 

In Romans 8:26 we read, "The Holy Spirit helps our weakness; for we don’t know how to pray as we should."

When it comes to the issues of life, we do not always know how God wants us to pray. We do not always know what His will is about a given matter. And, as a result, we do not always know how to pray as we should. But the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. He speaks to God on our behalf. The Holy Spirit groans within us, He expresses a certain pain toward God on our behalf. And, the Holy Spirit prays not in words, He prays in groanings too deep for human words. 

The Spirit of God is praying for you and me all the time. And, the Father understands perfectly the mind of the Spirit, because they are one. So the Holy Spirit is before God all the time in perfect harmony with His will. And, as a result, "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

When we pray in the Spirit, we pray consistently with the will of God. To pray in the Spirit is lining up with the will of God, so that, as we study His word and take it in, our faith, our minds and our wills are being defined by His word. This is what keeps us strong in the faith. And, our prayers will become more consistent with the Holy Spirit’s prayers as we study God's word. Praying in the Spirit creates a yieldedness in the believer toward God. 

In v.21 of today's text we read, "Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life."

The word "keep" is an imperative, and, it means to remain in the sphere of God’s love. Jude is not saying, "Stay saved." That would be crazy since God does the saving. Jude is saying keep uppermost in your thoughts the love of God for you. The living Bible renders it this way, "stay always within the boundaries where the love of God can reach and bless you." It means to remind ourselves, frequently, that God loves us. And, His love is unmerited and unconditional.

And, then there is that phrase at the end of v.21, "... as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life."

This simply means "live in eager anticipation of the Lord’s return." Live in such a way that we are looking for Him to come back. The church fathers understood that the return of the Lord Jesus is emphasized hugely in the Scripture. They understood that roughly 1,845 times, the Scripture refers to the coming of the Lord Jesus. 

So, to remain strong in our faith in the Lord, we must study the Scriptures, we must be given to prayer, we must keep ourselves in God's love, and, we must live in anticipation and expectation for the return of the Lord Jesus.

Jude 17-19

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17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. ~ Jude 17-19

In today's text, we continue to learn more about the apostate, the false teachers who once embraced the truth but somewhere along the way they changed their tune. It wasn't that they lost their salvation, they never entered into a personal relationship with the Lord. Their problem is the they embraced the truth but the truth didn't embrace them.

When the church was born at Pentecost, the new life of the church was obviously exhilarating. It was pure. It was powerful. It was productive. They were devoted to prayer and worship and the apostles’ teachings. And they gathered every day to engage in all of those things including being generous with one another and the needy. They had the heart of the Lord because He lived within them through the Holy Spirit. They persevered in the faith, despite the persecution from unbelievers. And, perseverance in the faith is a mark of the born again believer in Christ.

In those early days of their new-found life in Christ, the apostles were given the ability to look into the future because of the abiding Holy Spirit. And, the Holy Spirit enabled them to see something frightening, that there would be those who would defect from the truth. To those early believers, it must have seemed absolutely crazy that there was coming a time when people who proclaimed Christ would defect. But it happened, and this is why the Holy Spirit prompted Jude to write his little, yet powerful, book.

In v.17-18 of today's passage we read, "17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, 'In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.'"

Just twenty-five years after Jude wrote these words, it happened. Apostasy came fast, and the church was corrupted before it ever got out of the first century. And since that time, it has continued in every generation. It is not that they lost their salvation, no, they never had it. And, somewhere along the line the people chose not to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. One can not lose the gift of salvation for God has said, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."

In today's passage, we are reminded this would happen. Jude did write, "But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold." In 2 Corinthians 11:13 we read, "Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their deeds."

In 1 Timothy 4 we learn, "In the last days, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits, doctrines of demons, and hypocritical liars." On this same subject, the Lord Jesus Himself said in Matthew 24, "As time goes forward, there will be many false prophets and false Christs."

Back in Jude 10 we read, "These people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them." Apostates mock what they can not comprehend. They treat the truth with mockery. But it’s truth they once professed and still profess, which makes them so dangerous.

In v.19 of today's passage we read, "These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit."

Apostates always are the ones who claim to have the Spirit of God and think anybody who doesn’t agree with them causes division. But, they are the ones who cause the division.

The verb "divide" in Jude 19 means "to make a distinction." Division is the effect of false teaching, the truth and lies are separate. The root of division is the idea that distinctions are made. Apostates believe they are superior to all others. They believe their interpretation of the Scriptures is above all most accurate. And, they despise anyone in the church who has authority. 

Interestingly, the word "Pharisee" comes from the Hebrew word which means "to separate." They think they’re at an elevated level and they scoff at those who take the Word of God at face value and endeavor to follow it. Apostates are those "who follow mere natural instincts." That phrase is one word in the Greek, meaning, they are enslaved to and driven by their own fallen fleshly desires. Sadly, they think they know better than those who have a personal relationship with God.

At the end of v.19 we read, "they not have the Spirit." These of whom Jude writes are not born again. They have not entered into a personal relationship with God by believing in the Lord Jesus and inviting Him into their lives. They are spiritually dead. If anyone is spiritual, it is because God lives in the believer and He sometimes expresses Himself through the believer. 

In Galatians 5 we read of the fruit of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We appear as Christlike because God expresses Himself in and through our yielded lives.  He expresses Himself through the activity of the Holy Spirit who abides within the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The goal of the Christian life is to increasingly allow God to have control over our lives, and then, we will be known as the children of God in the eyes of others because of His expression through us.

Jude 14-16

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14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. ~ Jude 14-16

Today, we continue our study of the book of Jude. In today's passage, Jude is writing about those who had embraced apostasy. There was a time when these false teachers had thought the gospel of the Lord Jesus was truth, but now, they no longer see it that way. They had, perhaps, grown up believing in their minds that Christianity was true, but now, they are all about themselves which is the way of the devil.

Jude refers to Enoch who was the seventh from Adam who wrote about the coming judgment of God through the flood which happened after Enoch was on the earth. And, in addition, there will be, in the end times, when the Lord Jesus returns, another judgment from God. This will be the final judgment of them all. This will be the time when the Lord Jesus will vanquish sin and death, once and for all. At that point, these false teachers and apostates will have to answer to God because God will always have the last word.

As I am sure you know, the Lord Jesus taught on hell more than any other subject. Hell is a reality. Hell really exists. And, we, now live in an America which has become well-insulated from the reality of hell. Most Americans think people are basically good, and life after death will be happy and full of pleasure, or they think the afterlife does not exist. And, the most who attend church in America have become so comfortable with the absence of hell from our teaching that our superficial gospel includes no warnings about hell.

In Jude 14-15 we read, "14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: 'See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'" 

God himself will judge the world. He will not delegate this to a judgment committee. He will not judge people who are condemned in their sin by proxy. After He returns and sets up His Millennial Kingdom, according to Revelation 20, there will be the great white throne judgment where all unbelievers will stand before God to receive their final sentence. 

And, notice it says, "the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones." God's "holy ones" include all who are in His family, and, in the end, we will witness this event as the Lord Jesus applies His righteous standards to all of those who resisted God's free gift of forgiveness through His Son. 

In Matthew 13, the Lord Jesus said, "Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of the Kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire." 

In Jude 15 we read, "to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

A better translation for the word "convict" is convince. The Lord Jesus will come and convince those that He is talking about, to judge them with fairness. This court scene will not be like an earthly court. There will be no debating about guiltiness. The Lord will prosecute the lawlessness of the Christless. Theirs will be a punishment without any parole.

According to Revelation 20, God's books will be opened. The information in those books will have been recorded by God Himself who is omniscient and omnipresent. So, when it is all over, there will be no error in His verdict and the punishment of eternal damnation that each will be given will be righteous. There will be no question in His judgment for it will be equitable. 

And, God's judgment of those who rejected His free gift of salvation will be eternal. If hell is not forever, then heaven is not forever. If hell is not eternal, then heaven is not eternal. If hell is not everlasting, then heaven is not everlasting, because the Lord Jesus, in Matthew 25, said hell will be eternal.

This is a great time to add, believers in the Lord Jesus will never carry out the judging of unbelievers. That's not our role. God will do the judging. Having said that, today, we do hold up and teach the standard of God's word and His word does the judging. This is what the believer in Christ is responsible to do. Not to judge, but to teach His word which does the judging.

In Ezekiel 33 God has told us, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." And then He says, "turn, turn, for why will you die?" When the Lord Jesus spoke about hell, He said, "It is everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Hell was not made for people, but God is a pro-choice God when it comes to eternal matters. GK Chesterton said, "Hell is God's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice."

In Matthew 25:31 we read, "When the Son of Man comes and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the spirit separates the sheep from the goats.” This is the Lord Jesus' description of the day of judgment of all the ungodly. The design of His promise of judgment is always to turn man away from man's way and God's wrath. 

In v.16 of today's passage we read, "These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage."

Apostates complain because they want things to go according to their will. They have elevated their will above God's. And, "they are faultfinders." The Greek word used here for faultfinders means "to blame." It’s a word used by the Greeks to describe a person who is perpetually discontent and unsatisfied. Apostates are such because they never submitted to God and His will in the first place. If they had, they would be in the practice of humbly bowing their will to the God of grace and mercy. 

And, finally, "they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage." 

Apostates are dominated by self, and they use praise and flattery, like bait to get what they want. Their trick is as old as the serpent who used it in the garden. He cast doubt on God's word and, in effect, told Eve that God was only trying to keep her from having the best. "God knows that in the day you eat from it," he said, "your eyes will be opened, and you'll be like God." Sadly, all who take the devil's advice get caught in his sticky web, and only the sovereign grace of God can set such a person free from it.

If you have not trusted in Christ's work on the cross, and you have not invited Him into your life, you are the object of God's wrath. The Lord Jesus said in John 3:17-18, "17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son." 

Let me encourage you to have that needed conversation with the Lord right now. Let me encourage you to admit to God that you have been at odds with Him and you want to receive His free offer of forgiveness through His Son, the Lord Jesus. Ask Him to come into your life right now. And, if you just did that, tell someone about what you just did before the day ends.

Jude 12-13

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12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. ~ Jude 12-13

Today, we come back to our study of Jude which has as its main topic "apostasy." Now, apostasy is when someone knows the truth and they turn their back on it, deliberately. An apostate is a person who once claimed to be a Christian but has irreversibly abandoned and renounced biblical Christianity. It was John Owen who once said, "There is no broader way to apostasy than to reject God’s sovereignty in all things concerning the revelation of himself and our obedience."

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead."

These false teachers were embedded within the church body, and they were like a cancer to the believers in Christ. Highlighted in this verse is the first of five reasons why apostates are so dangerous. 

Jude wrote, "These people are blemishes at your love feasts." Jude is addressing the defiling nature of the apostate. When we get a spot on a piece of fabric like a white shirt, the shirt is seemingly ruined until we get it cleaned. Even though most of the fabric looks good, the one small blemish ruins the shirt. 

Now, the love feasts were a common service back then that included time singing, time teaching the Word, and time observing the Lord's Supper. After all of that, the church would eat a potluck meal together. It was at that time the apostates would propagate their immoral teaching, their insubordination, and their irreverence.

These love feasts were meal times designed for conversing and sharing and talking over the matters of the faith. The love feasts were designed for people to care for each other. The leaders were to shepherd the folks during that time. If someone needed comfort, they were comforted. If someone needed instruction, they were instructed. But, these false teachers made this time about themselves, and their selfishness told on them.

In Jude's next sentence he wrote about the second description of these apostate teachers, "They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind." This analogy speaks of their false promises. They promised all kinds of things, but they didn't produce but for themselves. Clouds promise rain. When we see a cloud bank come in, it holds out the hope of rain which is good for the crops, and vegetation. False teachers are like big puffy clouds, all vapor, no water. 

The third description of the apostate is they are "autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead."Jude likens apostates to worthless trees. "Autumn trees" have no fruit, they are fruitless. We can't get any more fruitless than an autumn tree. This speaks of their barren lives. And, notice that Jude describes them as not just being dead, but "twice dead." These false teachers are trees that are fruitless because they are trees that are rootless. They are not connected to the source of life. They don't produce fruit because of their dead root system. They have been pulled up by the roots and they do not know God. They are blemishes at the love feasts, they are clouds without rain, they are twice dead trees.  

In v.13 of today's passage we read, "They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever."

Here, Jude highlights the fourth and fifth characteristics of apostate teachers. Jude wrote, "They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame." 

When we spend any time on an ocean, at all, we learn to respect the ocean. Oh, we enjoy the sounds, the smells, the sights, but we must respect the ocean because of its power. Often, after a storm, the health department tells us to avoid the water for about two days because the storm churns up trash, like dangerous hypodermic needles. The idea is the apostate stirs up the mud. The apostate stirs up the filth. Formed waves are productive, but storm waves are destructive. 

Apostates are blemishes at the love feasts, they are clouds without rain, they are twice dead trees, and they are wild destructive waves. 

There's a fifth description in v.13, they are wandering stars. Jude wrote, "they are wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever." 

The problem with this description of stars is stars don't wander. Stars are on a fixed orbit. So fixed are the orbits of stars that the ancients navigated their travels by them. We can look at a winter sky or a summer sky, and we know where the constellations can be discovered. And, as a result, we travel in different directions on land or sea based upon our reading of the stars. 

But, Jude's description of the apostate makes sense when we consider the phenomenon of the shooting star. A shooting star is not actually a star as much as it's a piece of debris, or space dust, or even a meteor. And when it gets close to our atmosphere, it burns up and it shows up as a bright spot, it shows up as a streak across the sky. It does not last beyond that temporary flash. Once it shoots, it's gone because shooting stars are reserved for the blackness of darkness forever. The same is sadly true for the apostate.

You see, God, through Jude, is calling us to engage in this battle for the truth. He does so because the truth matters to people. Granted, there are those who no matter how much we speak to them about God's truth, they just will not hear us. But, for those who are humble enough to be embraced by the God of the Bible, the God of truth, we engage in this battle. And, in order to engage in this battle, we must be soaked in the word of God. The beauty of being soaked in the word is that it will enable us to be loving, observant, vigilant and discerning, which are musts if we are to keep God's truth from being compromised.

Jude 8-11

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8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them. 11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. ~ Jude 8-11

The epistle of Jude has as its subject apostasy. The Greek word apostasia means to depart or to fall away. The apostate is someone who rebels against the faith they once claimed to believe. In 2 Corinthians 11 we learn that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. We should not be surprised when his ministers disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. 

In v.5-7 we learned of three cases of apostate judgments. Jude wrote of people destroyed by their unbelief in Egypt, and he wrote of the angels who followed the devil in his rebellion, and he wrote of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which were reduced to ashes because they gave themselves to sexual immorality and perversion. 

In today's text, v.8-11, we have the unmasking of the apostate. In these verses Jude wrote about the three characteristics of the apostate: they are immoral, they are insubordinate, and they are irreverent. Then in v.11, Jude gave us three Old Testament comparisons of an apostate's influence: Cain, Balaam, and Korah. 

In v.8 of today's text we read, "In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings."

This verse begins with "In the very same way," which is to say, "Likewise." In this verse Jude reaches back into the Old Testament for examples, namely the lessons learned when the people of Egypt didn't believe, and, the rebellion of the demons that followed the devil out of heaven, and, the lessons learned from Sodom and Gomorrah.  

As believers in Jesus Christ, we have been brought under the authority of the word of God. These false teachers that Jude addressed had as their authority, themselves. Jude wrote, "...on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute..." They saw themselves as an authority unto themselves, and, they developed their teaching on the basis of their dreams they had during their sleep. And, their dreams didn't match the teaching in God's word.

In v.9 of today's text we read, "But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!"'

It is a dangerous thing to parley with the devil because he desires to trick you and me into uniting with him in his warfare against God. As this verse underscores, even Michael the Archangel, the most powerful archangel around, did not dare dispute with the devil personally. He at least respected the authority structure, even though the devil is a fallen angel. To parley with the devil is to open oneself up, even more, to one of his devices, namely, slander. 

There are those who find time to address the devil. They rebuke him. The Bible commands us to resist the devil. We should not talk to him, at all. In fact, it is quite arrogant of us to think that the devil is even mindful of us since he is not omnipresent and omniscient. It is okay to talk to God about the devil, but we must be careful to not talk to the devil. 

In v.10 of today's text we read,"Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them."

When we parley with the devil, we heighten his opportunity to deceive us. This is what the subjects of this verse did, they opened themselves up to the devil and he had his way in their lives. And, slander is the mode of operation for the false teacher. The Greek word Jude used here for slander is blasphemy which is an open expression of the flesh or the evil desires within us. When we are not defined by God's word, the flesh or the evil desires within us, will rule over us, and we will end up as it's slave.

The people described by Jude here are the type that diminish the absolute reliability of God’s word, even when they have no idea of the depth it contains. They may be intelligent by the world’s standards, but they have no concept of the true knowledge which comes from God. 

Since the Bible is no mere human writing, it has a unique power to transform the human heart or to "make us wise for salvation." The Bible enlightens our minds, unveils God’s plan of salvation, teaches us His ways, and shows us how to live as His people. In order to meet with confidence and wisdom the many challenges of our time, believers in the Lord Jesus must be renewed in our zeal to study and be defined by the very words of God.

In v.11 of today's text we read, "Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion."

Jude writes, woe to them, for they are controlled by their own passions like Cain, and, they are controlled by their own greed like Balaam, and, they are controlled by their own flesh like Korah. 

The way of Cain is religion without saving faith. Cain brought his own little offering that he thought God should respect, and God did not. In the bowels of this approach with God is this thought: "I produced this. I did my best." It is religion without saving faith. That's the way of Cain. 

Balaam was a prophet in the Old Testament who was hired by the King of Moab to curse the children of Israel. Balaam was money hungry, he was driven by his greed. And he figured out a way that he could tell Balak, the enemy of the Israelites, how to watch God judge Israel. But, Balaam ended up blessing Israel. 

He said, "Listen, I don't need to curse them. Let's entice the young Moabite women, the prostitutes, to go into the camp of Israel, seduce the young men to have sexual relations with them. And then, they can bring out their little gods or little idols during that act. And that's idolatry. God will judge his people for idolatry." 

The error of Balaam was he leveraged his influence as a faith leader to lead other people astray. He leveraged his own influence as a faith leader to get wealth from the enemy. That's the error of Balaam. 

Then, there's the rebellion of Korah. And Korah rebelled against God's authority by rebelling against the authority of Moses and Aaron, he and a few other people suffered death for their actions. 

Apostates are immoral, insubordinate, and irreverent. They are such because they lost their moorings in the word of God. This is our take away from these four verses today: to find our moorings in the word of God. The actual words of the Bible are anointed by the Holy Spirit Himself, and they have the full ability to completely change and transform us if we are willing to be changed by the divine truths that are contained in the actual words.

The Lord Jesus told us we shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free. We first must know the word of God for ourselves, then, the truth can start to work at setting us free.

Jude 5-7

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5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. ~ Jude 5-7

With each passing day the American culture has been moving further and further away from the God revealed in the Bible. In today's text, Jude highlights three specific sins which build upon one another. These three sins are: unbelief, rebellion and immorality. 

With these three sins advancing the kingdom of darkness, the believer in Christ finds himself engaged in a battle for the truth and the souls of people. And, this battle requires great wisdom and great diligence in walking with the Lord, or else we will not achieve the goal.

In v.5 of today's text we read, "Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe."

This verse is predicated upon that which Jude said in the previous verse that the apostate is the one who has perverted the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. 

With this first illustration of the unbelievers in Egypt, Jude illustrates people are destroyed due to their unbelief in the God of the Bible. If anyone justifies a lifestyle that is contrary to God's definitions, and they are unwilling to budge, they are at odds with God.

God saw the plight of His chosen people and He rescued them out of Egypt. He sent plagues on Egypt, parted the Red Sea, destroyed Pharoah’s army, provided manna, quail and water for the children of Israel. He was Israel's glory cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. All they had was to believe in God, be defined by God through His word, and follow Him.

In v.6 of today's text we read, "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day." 

With this second illustration, Jude uses the angels who followed the Devil in his rebellion. These angels were not satisfied with God’s plan for their lives. They were convinced there was something better and God’s way was not the best way. They wanted something more, a different position of prominence, a better place of activity. 

Through self-deception people, like these angels, rationalize their lust for position, power, prestige and possessions. With an inflated sense of self-worth and importance, they cannot trust in the providence of God and rest in His plan for their lives. And, as a result, they end up on the opposite side of God.

In v.7 of today's text we read, "In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."

With this third illustration, Jude reminds us of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which were reduced to ashes because they gave themselves to sexual immorality and perversion.

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is referenced one way or another more than twenty times in the Bible. The devastation of these cities, along with Admah and Zeboiim was horrific. In fact, these cities are a perpetual reminder of the just judgment of God on immorality and perversion.

Sodom and Gomorrah were known for their pride, injustice, and bigotry. But it was their sexual perversion that did them in. In Genesis 19, we learn of their judgment as "the Lord rained brimstone and fire on them." He did this because Sodom and Gomorrah acted in a manner similar to the fallen angels of v.6. They committed sexual immorality and went after other men. Their sin was immoral homosexuality.

Now, I know believers who struggle with temptation toward homosexuality. They fight the urges to be defined by it. And, I might add, that the one sin that sends people to Hell is rejection of God's free gift offer through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But, one of the signs that one is right with God is He is obviously at work in their lives. No one can practice certain sins of sexual immorality and be right with God. In fact, if they resist God's authority in their lives, He has been known to take them home sooner than perhaps planned (see 1 John 5:16). 

Having said that, according to v.4 of Jude, "They turned the grace of God into lewdness." If someone refuses to listen to God and they practice lewdness, they are at odds with God. The Bible is clear in God's denunciation of homosexuality as sin. This is made plain in text like Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:9-10.

The Bible is equally clear that any sexual activity, heterosexual or homosexual, outside the marriage covenant between a man and a woman is sin. Jesus Himself said a man and woman in marriage become one flesh. 

We all must be careful not to use the Scripture to promote a belief system that is contrary to God's definition of things. Every generation faces this unwillingness to be defined by God. Charles Spurgeon once said, "the new views are not the old truth in better dress, but deadly errors with which we can have no fellowship."

Those in slavery to sexual sin need to be loved, including homosexuals, and any heterosexual that is living in sin. The believer in Christ must not hatefully bash anyone, rather, we must graciously speak the truth in love and reach out to anyone living in sin with grace, mercy and kindness. And, rampant sexual sin is not the worst sin, but it is the clearest evidence of a society that has rejected God’s truth and has been given over to His judgment (see Romans 1:24,26,28). 

So, we engage in this battle, literally snatching souls out of the fire, as it were. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves whether you are in the faith." Walking an aisle, praying a prayer, signing a card, going into water; these are not the avenues of assurance. It is only through the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that anyone is saved. We must be careful not to contribute to the way of the apostate by embracing definitions that are contrary to God's.

Jude 2-4

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2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. 3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. ~ Jude 2-4

Today, we return to our study of the book of Jude. With just twenty-five verses, the book of Jude is a must read for the believer in Christ. Christians are being tempted today more than ever to compromise God's word. We are being badgered by today's American culture to be more tolerant and water down the word of God. With all of this going on, the church today has a growing responsibility to defend the truth against all assaults, all the while, having compassion on those who know not the truth.

Our text today begins with v.2 which reads, "Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance."

When God grants mercy or when man shows mercy to his neighbor, peace results. Peace is the restoration of a broken relationship. Peace means an absence of tensions prevalent in periods of conflict. Peace, in turn, results in love. Mercy becomes peace, and peace results in love. All three of these are connected together and are also connected to one’s relationship with God. If we are called, loved, and kept by God, then mercy, peace and love will be a natural overflow in our lives.

The phrase "be yours in abundance" in v.2 is most interesting. Here, Jude is expressing a wish, a sincere desire for his readers. Since God is the one who multiplies mercy, peace, and love, and Jude had experienced these firsthand, it is his desire that others experience these in the same way. And, the more we choose to be defined by God's word and His culture, the more we will experience and extend His mercy, peace, and love to others.

The first two verses of this book are entirely about the Lord, who He is, and what He has done for the believer in Christ. But, it is so easy for us to lose sight of our foundation. Many Christians who want to defend the truth, do so having forgotten what God has done for them. And, when we lose sight of all that the Lord has done for us, we become rigid and hard while trying to defend the truth. This is why Jude begins this wonderful little book as he did, accentuating these characteristics of God and the true believer.

Many Christians do not operate out of their loved position in Christ and they therefore do a bad job at defending the truth. Many Christians lack a biblical understanding of God's love, mercy and grace. Therefore, we tend to forget the truth in the lives of those whom we have influence, all the while lacking compassion and patience. There is no defense of the truth while we are ungodly in our delivery of it.

Many believers have a works-based understanding of the salvation the Lord Jesus delivered. This leads us to falsely believe that we have control over the details of our lives, and we, in that context, lose sight of the One who sovereignly ordains everything that comes to pass. When we think that our good works have contributed to our salvation, we are fighting a battle in a war that’s already been won. By the grace of God our salvation is finished and the security of our souls are sure through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

We tend to treat others in the way we view ourselves. If we are secure in our salvation and we have a sovereign view of God, the things that happen in life do not tend to faze us. But, if we have a puny view of God, we will have a weak disposition toward life and others. This is why it is so important for us to understand the first two verses of this great little book.

In v.3 of today's text we read, "Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people."

Jude clearly understood that the truth was under assault, and he was endeavoring to call together the people of God to become an army to fight for the true faith. The believer is called to contend earnestly, or vigorously, for the faith. But, to contend for the truth without loving others is to miss the mark. We must be compassionate and patient in the delivery of the truth.

We will never fight God's battles from a sofa. We will never contend for what really matters, to the point of victory, by just laying around in our recliners all day. There must come a point in time when we decide to get involved and join the battle for the truth and the souls of men.

Now, an apostate is a defector from the truth. That is to say, an apostate is someone who has known the truth, been associated with the truth, and, maybe even proclaimed the truth. Apostates pretend to serve God, but they serve only their own sinful desires. They pretend to believe the Bible, but they pervert its teachings and use it for their own ends. 

In v.4 of today's text we read, "For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord."

The mode of operation for apostates is they take advantage of the people and the truth of God. These are always ready to disrupt the work of God for their own selfish gain. It is really significant that Jude referenced himself in v.1 as the doulas or bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Apostates cannot handle the true slavery of the regenerate. 

Here in v.4 we read of "certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. These operate in a stealth fashion with ulterior motives. "They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord."

Apostates cannot handle true slavery to the Lord Jesus Christ. They live, as it were, outside the boundaries because false salvation can not restrain the flesh or the evil desires within. And so, whenever we see an apostate, we must examine his or her life. And, if we love them, we will confront them with the truth. Our goal therefore must be to contend for the truth in a compassionate way.

The apostate claims the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and then he turns grace into a license to live a life that is contrary for the believer. In effect, they deny the lordship of Jesus Christ over them. And they live, as it were, as if Jesus was not Lord. They live in what they assume to be grace as if they had no responsibility to obey the Lord at all. 

In 1 Peter 3:15 we read, "be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with gentleness and respect." 

Martin Luther once said , "A preacher must be both a soldier and a shepherd. He must nourish and teach and defend. He must have teeth in his mouth and be able to bite." 

The believer in Christ must not yell at or slander anyone. We must not malign or send nasty tweets. All we have to do is hold up truth and compassionately offer the truth of God's word to anyone who will listen. And, if they will not listen, we must be earnest in praying for them daily. And, we must be earnest in reminding our hearers that it is the truth that sets us free free from the false.

Jude 1

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Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. ~ Jude 1

Jude, like James, was the half brother of the Lord Jesus. His epistle is a letter with only twenty-five verses and a total of six hundred and thirteen words. Many refer to the Book of Jude as the fighter's manual for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Jude addresses apostasy which is when one defects from the truth. 

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are engaged in the battle for the truth, and the principles learned in this little, yet powerful book, enable us to engage in this battle effectively.

Interestingly, Jude did not believe in his brother as the Messiah while the Lord Jesus was on the earth. Jude and his brothers thought the Lord Jesus was delusional. In fact, in Mark 3 we are told as much. As a result, they did not believe Him to be the Messiah. 

In v.1 of today's text we read, "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ."

Jude begins his letter with, "Jude a servant of Jesus Christ." Jude introduces himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. The Greek word Jude uses here to describe himself as "a servant" brings with it the most humble disposition. This word for servant, doulos in the Greek, is the lowest form of the word that one could use. This is one of the amazing results that happens in the life of a believer in Jesus Christ. We are afforded a clear view of who we really are: sinners saved by grace who see themselves as non-deserving.

It was the resurrection of his half-brother, the Lord Jesus, that turned Jude into a believer. In Acts 1, we are informed that all the disciples met together in the upper room, continually for prayer, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. Jude was in that upper room that night when the Lord Jesus appeared. And, it was the resurrection of his brother that sealed the deal and opened the eyes of Jude. That night Jude was made a believer who viewed himself anew, through the eyes of eternity.

The Devil has long been consumed with trying to stamp out the truth. And, most effectively, along the way, he has employed those people who are associated with the truth in some way. The deadliest assaults against the truth always come from the inside. The most effective attacks against the truth come from those who purport to know the truth, but do not.

In v.1 of today's text, Jude provides three characteristics of the believer in Christ; the called, the loved and the kept. The believer in Christ has been called, which refers to God’s gracious work in our lives in the past. The believer in Christ is loved, which describes God's attitude to us in the present. The believer in Christ is being kept for a wonderful future with Him in endless glory.

The word Jude used for "called" is the Greek word kletos which means to be invited by God to believe in His Son. This word is written in the passive voice meaning God did the calling. True believers in Christ have heard with their hearts the invitation of God to believe in His Son. This means our relationship with God began not at our initiative, but at God's. This is why we have such a hard time explaining our transformation; we are not the architects of our personal relationship with God. He called us and we, by His grace, responded. "We love Him because he first loved us."

The second description Jude gives of the believer in Christ is that we are "loved by the Father." Like the word called, this Greek word is written in the passive voice meaning that God has done the loving. And, the word used here for "loved" is the Greek word agape which is commitment love. When God declared that we were included in His family through our trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, we can trust in His promise.

One of the Lord Jesus' chief revelations of God is as Father. God is His Father and He is also ours. In the Lord's Prayer the Lord Jesus taught us to address God as "Our Father." The Lord Jesus tells us: "The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God" (John 16:27). To be accepted and loved by our fathers does something deep to us. It touches us to the core. The same is true with our heavenly Father. 

The third description Jude gives of the believer in Christ in v.1 is "kept." Again, this Greek word used here is written in the passive voice meaning that God is doing the keeping. The Greek verb tēreō used by Jude has the basic meaning of "to retain in custody, to keep watch over, to guard or to preserve someone."

This smacks in the face of those who push the idea that the believer somehow earns or maintains his acceptance before God. If we could earn and maintain God's favor, that would mean that Christ's death on the cross was not enough. What an insult to the Lord Jesus.

When we understand and grasp the fact that we are called, loved and kept by the Father, and it was a complete gift, we are freed and positioned to be able to address the false doctrines which cause people to backslide, to doubt their salvation and, even, become apostate. Having been called, loved and kept, the believer in Christ has been equipped with the heart of the Father to be able to call out the false while empathetically calling the blinded and duped into a personal relationship with the Father.