Jude 1-4
Contend for the faith!
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Jude's letter (vs. 1-2)
Jude 1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:
Jude 2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
√ Jude who?
"Jude" is the shortened form of "Judas"
Ex. Like "Will", for "William".
We have somewhat of a mystery to solve because there are 3 Judas' mentioned in the New Testament!
Judas the half-brother of Jesus
Judas the apostle
Judas a leader at the church in Antioch!
Most likely this was the half-brother of Jesus. We find support for that identification in that he…
Calls himself a "servant" - vs. 1;
Fitting because he at one time did not believe in Jesus (John 7:5) In fact, it was not until after the Resurrection that he realized his big brother was truly the Messiah. As a result of his previous unbelief he maintained a humble self-image.
Has a brother named "James" - vs. 1
Who was also a half-brother of Jesus (Matt. 13:55)
Does not identify himself as an apostle (vs. 17)
"But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:"
Regardless his identity, we find that this man writes with a heart of love and concern for the saints.
√ Written to
No church or individual is specifically mentioned, rather, we find that Jude is writing to a general audience.
Most likely to Jewish believers - perhaps those in and around Jerusalem.
We find that the author assumes that his audience is familiar with the Old Testament and the Jewish traditions surrounding the Old Testament accounts.
He wouldn't make those assumptions if he were writing to Gentile believers (ie. Mark’s Gospel).
√ The work of God in our lives
Note Jude's salutation in vs. 1…
"To those who are called, sanctified (or "loved") by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:"
As I noted, Jude's letter is not directed to an individual, or church, rather…
…to the general assembly of the saints - all of us who believe!
However, what is significant about this greeting is that Jude captures the work of God's Grace to save and perfect His people in these few words.
Called; the Bible tells us that no one seeks God (Rom. 3:11), rather, it is God Who seeks us out (Luke 19:10) and calls us to salvation.
Sanctified; (“loved” in some translations) the Bible also tells us that it is the work of God’s love in our lives to sanctify us (Heb. 2:11). That is, it is God’s job to make us like Jesus!
Preserved; just as we cannot save ourselves, so the Bible tells us that it God's work to preserve, or keep us, until He has completed the work He began in us (Phil. 1:6).
The awesome truth that we are to comprehend is that the work of salvation is a work of God's Grace from beginning to end! Past, present, and future!
He called us out of sin in times past
He is working in us to make us like Jesus in the present
He will keep us for the future glory for which He saved us
Praise God that our salvation is not dependant upon our own effort and will! It is a work of God's Grace.
Ap. God is working His salvation in you!
Friends, are you trying to earn your way to heaven? Or perhaps you understand that you can't save yourself…
…but you're working hard to make sure that you don't lose what God freely gave you! J
The Law is powerless over our flesh – it only stirs up our sin nature.
You and I are not called to worry about our past, present, or future…
…rather, we are called to commit ourselves today into God's Grace and let Him do the work that only He can do!
Jude reminds us that the work of salvation is God's work, not ours. Therefore, we can experience His…
"Mercy, peace, and love" - vs. 2
…in our daily walk with God.
As contrasted to…
“Judgement, strife, and bitterness of soul”
…that a person will experience who tries to live by the Law!
Well, why did Jude write? Let's look at the purpose of his letter in vs. 3-4.
The purpose of his letter (vs. 3-4)
Jude 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Jude 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
√ To warn Christians!
We find in vs. 3 that Jude's desire was to write to these folks about his favorite subject…
"salvation"!
…but, instead he has to address a rather unpleasant issue - the invasion of false teachers into the Church!
You might be thinking…
"Didn't we just finish that book…?"
Yep we did.
1st, 2nd, & 3rd John
2nd Peter
…all address this very issue. As does Paul in his letters to Timothy and Titus!
So, while we might find Jude’s message repetitious, let’s be careful that we don’t close our heart to what he has to say as it is clearly important to God!
Ap. The whole counsel of God
Speaking to the Ephesian elders, Paul declared that he was innocent of their blood because…
Act 20:27 “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
It would be a lot more fun for me, and fewer folks would be upset with me, if I could just settle down and talk about the "fun" stuff.
The love of God, salvation, heaven, ruling and reigning with Jesus for eternity, etc.
Yet, we find that the Bible - inspired by the Holy Spirit - is filled with warnings and condemnations of those who misrepresent Jesus and His Gospel.
So, I find that if I truly desire to be a faithful preacher of the Gospel I must teach the "whole counsel" of God…
…even if it means going over some of the same ground we've been over before!
Whenever God repeats Himself its because we need to hear it!
√ Who are these guys – these false teachers?
Jude 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sounds like
cockroaches!
Jude tells us that these men are outsiders who had "crept" in and would poison the church and therefore must be identified and rejected.
Very important that we understand that these are not Christians who have erred - or strayed from the truth…
…rather, these are intruders who did not belong and who sought to destroy the believers faith!
In short, these were secret servants of Satan, sent to infiltrate the Church that they might seduce God's children back into the chains of sin.
Ex. Balaam's advice to Balak
Num. 31:16 “Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
Balaam recognized that Balak could never defeat Israel by means of open war, nor could he bring a curse upon them.
Rather, the only way to destroy them was to lead them into sin for which God would then judge them.
Ap. Satan's secret agents
Satan understands that he cannot defeat the child of God who has been freed from sin and is walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, rather than come at us with a frontal attack, he sends his servants to sneak in and bring us back into the bondage of sin by feeding us twisted truths.
Thus, making us ineffective for the Kingdom of God. Or worse, bringing us back into bondage to sin!
Ex. My brilliant friend - the hyper Calvinist
Went from a powerful witness for Christ, to a alcoholic who excused his excess by "proving" from scripture that it didn't matter what he did because ultimately God was sovereign – thus His will would be done.
√ What we're to do
Note Jude's instruction to believers…
Jude 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
"contend earnestly for the faith"
The word "contend" means…
"to struggle, to fight"
That is, Jude is encouraging Christians to fight for the purity of the Christian faith!
Christians are not to be passive when it comes to identifying and correcting false teaching and false teachers.
Rather, we're to fight against any doctrine that the enemy tries to sneak into the Church.
Ex. "Sloppy agape"
The false teaching that these men brought was along the lines of my hyper Calvinist friend. They taught that God’s Grace freed us from the bondage of sin…
…therefore, we could enjoy sin without any concern for the consequence because God has already forgiven us!
Wrong!
Yet, to the unregenerate mind the message of God’s Grace will sound like an invitation to sin – which the apostles were often wrong accused of teaching.
Ex. Paul’s thoughts
Rom. 3:8 If you follow that kind of thinking, however, you might as well say that the more we sin the better it is! Those who say such things deserve to be condemned, yet some slander me by saying this is what I preach!
Friends, the truth is that God’s Grace frees us to obey God without the curse of the law!
Ap. Contend for the faith!
You might wonder why its important that Christians, you and me, contend for (fight for, struggle for) the faith?
After all, we’re already know the Truth, we’re already saved, so why do we have to contend for what we already know to be true?
The answer – for those who are still lost!
You see, if Christians don’t fight to hold onto the true Gospel message, who will?
If the Church is no longer concerned with protecting God’s truth from slipping into error, how will the lost ever know the Way to eternal life?
Ex. Driving to Silver Dollar City
I’d have never found it without signs! I needed well-maintained signs, posted at regular intervals, with correct information, to get me to my destination.
How much more important is it that the Church, you and me, contend to keep the Way to eternal life clear of wrong information!
√ How important is this in our day?
Very important!
Ex. Abandoning the Gospel
Blurring the way to eternal life.
Pope John Paul 2 – declared that Muslims and Jews do not have to receive Jesus to be saved.
John Haggee – teaches that the Jews do not have to receive Jesus to be saved!
Leading intellectual argument put forth by Canadian Donald Accession is that Christianity is a “hate based” religion because it believes in only One God – thus provoking hate toward other religious groups!
The point is that it is becoming increasingly unpopular, and may one day even be illegal, to tell the lost how they can be saved!
Therefore, it is vital that each of us as believers takes seriously Jude’s instruction to…
“contend for the faith”
Ap. The need of the Cross
To deny the need of people to accept Jesus’ sacrifice is to say that they can be saved by some other means is to say that Jesus didn’t need to die!