Jude #1 Ch. 1:1-4 Introduction — Chuck Missler

Introducing the Epistle of Jude

As you may have heard or may know, we're going to undertake a study of the Epistle by Jude. I have wanted to do this book for a long time, frankly, out of mischief. There is so much spooky, weird stuff in 25 verses.

You could cram so many mysteries and enigmas and stuff. It fascinates me. But the real reason I'm taking it on, suggesting we dig into this, is because, as I really understand the Epistle, it's written for us today.

It's a very, very unusual book with a very, very timely message. The Acts of the Apostles was the beginning of the Church. Jude is the Acts of the Apostates. It's written for the end times, for the end of the Church era.

And so it's an interesting book in terms of its allusions. We're going to go to the dawn of human history. We're going to be going all the way through Eden, through the ancient, early stages of Israel's history.

We'll be talking about princes and prophets, of saints and sinners. We'll be talking everything from the eternal fires to the everlasting darkness and strange ways that you probably have not seen in the Scripture, unless you're a very diligent student, about past judgments of strange beings and future glory.

We're going to travel in the unseen world and see and deal with angels that apparently got involved in some bizarre happenings. That's going to take us, of course, into Genesis 6. It's going to take us into, well, some really creepy areas.

This is really a Halloween series, I suspect. We're also going to study a dispute between the archangel Michael and the former cherub that covereth, a guy by the name of Satan, and how they disputed of all bizarre things over the body of Moses.

Jude flips that off like you all knew what he was talking about. And I used to believe that you couldn't really deal with the book of Jude without getting into the Apocrypha. There's a book called the Book of Enoch, in fact, there are several of them, and there's the Assumption of Moses and a bunch of strange books, and we'll deal with that when we get there.

So the study of Jude is going to take us into some strange traffic. Now, the other irony of the book of Jude, fascinating as it is, it's neglected. How many of you have been to a Bible study in the book of Jude?

You know, I've been a Christian for a long time and have not been to a study per se of the folks in the book of Jude. It's also interesting as I study the commentaries. You can get 25 volume sets of commentaries that have maybe three pages on the book of Jude.

You can go through some of the most venerated commentaries, and it's amazing how little they have on this very, very unusual book. So all that having been said, it's a book of some substantial neglect.

Now, you know my style. We generally go at a chapter a week, and that would, you know. So I have threatened to make this a verse a week. It won't be quite that bad, but we're not going to finish. I'll give you first so you can relax.

We're not going to complete the book of Jude tonight. It's a one-chapter book of 25 verses. We'll do more than a verse a night, but probably not a lot better. Okay. The epistle of Jude. First of all, why take the book of Jude?

Apostasy and the Timeliness of Jude

Well, I mentioned a couple of things. The beginning of the church you might call the Acts of the Apostles. A subtitle to Jude might be the Acts of the Apostates. We're going to talk about what apostasy is, how it happened in the past, and how we can anticipate prophetically the great apostasy just before the Lord comes.

In fact, the Lord poses the rhetorical question. When the Lord returns, will he find faith on the earth? We'll talk about that. Also, one reason the book seemed particularly timely, there is a specific heresy that's emerging throughout the body of Christ.

It's happening in the charismatic movement. It's happening in the fundamentalist movement. It's happening in the apologetic level and at the grassroots level. It is involving some of the most distinguished leadership in America, and secretly.

Many of the leaders in the so-called Christian church in America secretly espouse a doctrine that is not only a heresy, but may be laying the very philosophical foundation for the great tribulation. And we'll talk about that, the timeliness of this, and what's going on is one of the motives in undertaking this book at this time.

We're going to study a book that has a message for you and I personally, and a book that has a message, I believe, to the believing body, uniquely to the era that we live in right now. And so those are assertions to challenge you.

Those of you that are taking notes, I will, of course, indulge what probably is becoming my trademark. In the upper right-hand corner of your notepad, put Acts 17 .11. It'll never be more important than in this series.

Acts 17 .11 is essentially where Luke tells you not to believe anything Chuck Nestor tells you, but to search the scriptures daily to prove whether those things are so. Jude, by the way, is the only book that's devoted virtually entirely to the subject of apostasy.

And in Luke 18 .8, Jesus says, Shall the Son of Man find faith on the earth? A very interesting rhetorical question. We might just pause here and take a look. We talk about apostasy. Apostasy, it's a word that gets kicked around a bit.

Let's look at a couple, not a lot, but a few of these critical passages. Turn with 2 Thessalonians 2. It's very hard to hit some of these references without spending an evening on them because there's so much background that's so visible.

But the particular verse I would like to focus on, 2 Thessalonians 2 is a classic chapter among students of prophecy because it's full of all kinds of insights, some of them quite technical. I'll try to sidestep those for tonight and just focus on verse 3, where Paul tells the Thessalonians, Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away, an apostasy, first.

And that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. And then he goes on and talks about the Antichrist in a lot of ways. And I'm using the term Antichrist in a colloquial sense. You sophisticated students know that that's not one of his titles.

He has 50 titles. That ain't one of them, but it's the one everybody uses, so you know who I mean. But the main point is an apostasy precedes the end times. It's associated, it sets the stage for this leader to emerge.

So 2 Thessalonians 2 is a key passage. I won't derail our study in Jude to get into that more tonight, but for those of you that are diligent, you can dig out your notes and background on 2 Thessalonians 2 and both the preceding and subsequent events that surround the lie and the man of sin and so on.

False Doctrine in the Pastoral Epistles

Let's take some more practical focus on this. Turn to 1 Timothy 4. Just turn to your right a little bit, a few pages, and you come to 1 Timothy chapter 4. Paul is writing a practical letter to his buddy, equipping him for the ministry.

And 1 Timothy 4, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. And from here you can go on and do a whole study of false doctrine.

False doctrine is not just superstition. It is not just deviations from the truth. It's not just any of a lot of things. It's engineered deception by the host of darkness himself. Doctrines of demons.

That phrase comes out of 1 Timothy 4. One, you can go on from there. I'm just trying to give you just some high points to get a flavor of this. Turn to 2 Timothy 4. Verse 3, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned to fables.

And what's really fascinating is when someone rejects the truth of Jesus Christ, the stuff they turn to, the most bizarre things. But again, I don't want to derail here. The unwillingness to endure sound doctrine is another characteristic of this whole area of apostasy.

And let's also turn, and I'll just sort of highlight a quick survey. Some of this is really by way of review. 2 Peter 2. Let's first of all take 2 Peter 2. Chapter 2, verse 1. Apostle Peter says,. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who secretly shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

Bringing in damnable heresies. Let's talk about some of those that go on. Chapter 3 of that same letter, 2 Peter chapter 3. Let's pick verses 3 and 4. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. Now by the way, this may seem strange. Because on the one hand, the characteristic of these false teachers is they're going to cast doubt about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Part of the viewpoint or doctrine of this is saying, Where is the promise of his coming? It's a skeptical rhetorical question about denying the second coming. Their argument here doesn't seem linked at first blush at all.

He says, For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. What's not obvious by the structure of the sentence is there's a link here in a doubt of creation with the second coming.

What has the second coming got to do with evolution and so forth? And it's this whole idea, this disparagement of the idea that there is a God who on the one hand created the universe in the first place and secondly intervenes in its history by returning and involving himself.

And one of the fascinating links, it's not obvious but it's worth your consideration, is to recognize that a faith in the creation is linked to a faith in prophecy. And it has to do with uniformitarianism.

It has to do with the recognition that there is a creator who has a purpose and an involvement in your life as well as mine. And that's the whole idea behind God's purpose in the first place and his willingness and interest and involvement in interfering in man's history, in intervening and in fact intruding none other than his son on a very special mission and one in which he will again intrude upon history by returning and so forth.

Yeah, so the whole idea of second coming is related to... Genesis 1 is related to Revelation 22. It's all linked. Okay, so Jude by the way, we've just seen Peter here, we're going to discover the epistle of Jude has a close relationship to Peter's letters in several ways and we'll come to that when the time comes.

But it's probably most of all parallel to James. The epistle of James and the epistle of Jude have some very bizarre parallels. James essentially deals with good works as evidence of faith. James is often misunderstood.

James emphasizes works, not a faith by works, but an evidence of your faith by your works. So James emphasizes good works as an evidence of saving faith. Jude structures this letter to point out that evil works are evidence of apostasy or a false faith.

And so there's an interesting parallel. One reason it's also parallel, which may have nothing to do with anything, is that they were brothers. So we'll get to that in a minute too. Jude is in many respects the vestibule of the book of Revelation.

Jude comes just before the Revelation and it turns out for lots of reasons. Structurally, that's very handy. It sets the stage, if you will, for the book of Revelation. Jude will be fun for us as we get into it, is because it gives us an excuse to peek in the dark corners of the book of the Old Testament.

Jude makes all kinds of offhand references to things he assumes you know and that causes us to scramble for our concordances and what have you to find out what on earth he's talking about. So that'll be kind of fun.

One other thing before we get into the book itself, I'd like to give you an outline. And this is one of those times that I almost wish I was using a view graph, but I got away from that years ago because it forces me to put more on the tape.

So I want to give you an outline. I'm going to try to describe how to do this. I'm going to give you about six indentations and then come back out. So you'll go, in other words, we're going to have 11 lines.

There's 11 parts to the book of Jude, but structurally it's quite interesting. If you can make 11 lines, the first and the last line is the assurance for the Christian. It opens with assurance for the Christian and it closes with assurance for the Christian.

That's no surprise. He's going to talk about apostasy, but he's going to talk to you people, not the apostates. So one thing he wants to do is give you assurance, both up front and at the end. The second section, from the beginning, is the same idea as the second from the end.

The believer and the faith. So you're second and tenth. In other words, the second one from the front and the second one from the back. The title would be the believer and the faith. The third from the front end is apostates described.

And the third from the back end is apostates described. The fourth subject, so to speak, and I'll go over this again and give you the verses. Is apostasy in Old Testament history. The fourth from the end is apostasy in Old Testament prophecy.

The fifth section or part is apostasy in the supernatural realm. And the fifth from the end is apostasy in the natural realm. And the middle section is a trio, a very select trio of apostates that he focuses on.

So to go once again, we're going to go six down and then back in. The first one is assurance for the Christian. That's verses one and two. The second section is the believer and the faith, verse three.

The third part is apostates described, verse four. The next section is apostasy in Old Testament history. And that's verses five through eight. That'll be quite an interesting survey. The next section is apostasy in the supernatural realm, verses nine and ten.

That's the spooky stuff. Then we have verse eleven, which is sort of the fulcrum for the whole structure here. An ancient trio of apostates. The next section, apostasy in the natural realm, verses twelve and thirteen.

Apostasy in Old Testament prophecy, verses fourteen through sixteen. Apostates described, verses seventeen through nineteen. The believer and the faith, verses twenty through twenty-three. And assurance for the Christian, verses twenty-four and twenty-five.

What fascinates me about that, there's lots of outlines. You can take any book and find, you know, seven authors will have seven different outlines. But this one kind of intrigues me because it shows that there's an underlying structure to this book that's really quite provocative.

Okay, so, so much for that. That gives us our twenty-five verse thing. So, at this point, we're ready to jump in the book. See, usually I spend the first eighty minutes or the first ninety minutes in ancient history and diagrams, old kings and stuff.

We never get into the verse. We have to, this is pretty good. Just in hardly any time at all we're in verse one. The first word is the word Jude. Okay. Did you notice that? Why are you laughing, right?

Jude, Judas, and the Author's Identity

The name Jude in the Greek is Judas. Here's a book about apostasy whose name happens to be synonymous with traitor. It's interesting, you know, we call our kids Samuel, Paul, Peter, John, Matthew. How many of you named your kids Judas?

That's a little, you know, Jude and Judas was a very common name in Christ's day. There's four or five of them in the New Testament alone. And yet because of one, by the name of Iscariot, the name has gotten sort of tainted.

It's not a popular thing. You name your kids Peter, Paul, and so on. You can name your dog Nero, Caesar. You don't even name your dog Judas, I don't think. The only pet that I know whose name is Judas, I happen to have the opportunity in my consulting days to survey the largest meat packing operation in South Dakota, John Morrell Meat Company.

I was fascinated to discover there really is a goat. When they get ready, they have these cattle to go up the ramp into the slaughterhouse. There's a goat that leads them up. The goat turns right, they turn left.

It's a Judas goat. And you hear that expression. There really is, in today's modern culture, part of the operation of a slaughter operation, a meat packing plant, is a Judas goat. But other than that, I don't think we use the name normally, except as an idiom for being a traitor.

So it's interesting that the book of Jude, I'm not trying to disparage the particular writer. Don't misunderstand me. But I think the Holy Spirit does, in fact, more often than not, indulge in puns. Not for humor, but for a message.

When we, in the Old Testament, read the book of Joshua, the name Yehoshua is the Hebrew for Jesus. And when you realize that there's a name in the book of the Old Testament whose name, in effect, is a namesake of our Lord, it causes our attention.

And all kinds of things surface from that as we look at that sort of thing. And so on. So, the fact that here's a book about apostasy, which happens to carry the name Judas, is provocative. Jude, the bondservant of Jesus Christ.

Now, most of you as students of Scripture understand that what a duolos is in the Greek, a bondslave, a slave for life. Now, incidentally, we're going to discover shortly, well, I'll get ahead. But we believe that Jude here was the brother of James, both of which were the brothers of the Lord.

I'll come to that in a minute, we'll get into that. But it's interesting, he does not use that link as an identity. He's not that presumptuous. If we understand it right, the four brothers of Jesus Christ didn't believe in him until after the resurrection.

We don't believe this is the Jude that's listed in the apostles. Different Jude. Different James. James was the head of the church in Jerusalem. James and Jude were brothers. They were linked to the family of Jesus Christ.

Some feel they were actual brothers. Some feel they may have been stepbrothers from a former marriage. There's all kinds of, I won't get into that here, because the language isn't that clear. But we do, he links himself, obviously, then thus to James.

It's interesting that Jude says, Jude, the bondservant of Jesus Christ, and this book sits just before the book of Revelation, and to get what I'm after, turn the page, and let's refresh our memories as to the first verse of the book of Revelation.

First of all, let me reemphasize, it's a singular word. It's amazing how many ministers I even hear on the radio speak of revelations, plural. It's a singular. It's not a collection of revelations. It's a singular revelation.

The first sentence, the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's it, the singular revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, unto whom? To Jesus Christ. Now, revelation seems a little strange in its style.

It's because it's the father talking to the son. But, which God gave unto him, for what purpose? To show unto his doulos, his servants, things which must shortly come to pass. So, the revelation is written to whom?

To the Judes, to you and I, to the extent that we're in his shoes. Jude, the servant, the doulos, the bondslave of Jesus Christ. And that's what the book of Revelation is all about, is a very, very final, climactic appendage to the Scripture to inform the servants.

Okay. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, the brother of James. Now, this is a great departure to go from here. We go into seventeen hours of background on the four different Jameses we find in the gospels.

So, I'll spare you all that. The brother of James, who is the head of the church in Jerusalem. Remember that he shows up prominently when they have this dispute that gets resolved. And you can chase that down on your leisure.

He's also the author of the epistle of James, also in Scripture. And there are some interesting structural parallels between James and Jude. And he is recorded in Galatians chapter 1, verse 19, as the Lord's brother.

Now, I personally think he was the Lord's brother. But I should share with you, candidly, there are some scholars who believe that the term is broader than a direct brother, as you and I would use it.

And so, it's not tightly conclusive. But for lots of reasons, not the least of which, you might want to take a look at either Matthew 13, 55 or Mark 6, 3. They're pretty much similar. Let's take Mark 6, 3, because it does include one other interesting little thing.

Mark chapter 6, verse 3. It says, verse 2, it says, From where hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that giveth such mighty works as are wrought by his hand? This is the crowd sort of responding here.

And verse 3, is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and of Judas and of Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. That was, you know, that was the response.

Now, I won't get into Mark and the whole situation. But incidental to this passage, it lists four brothers and some sisters. And some people, especially of Catholic background, have a real hang-up with that.

Well, I'm not here to beat it to death. And there are some, you know, competent scholars who... And Jesus goes on and says, A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and among his own kindred.

In any case, though, we believe that... Well, first of all, this James was the head of the church in Jerusalem. And there was a brother by the name of Judas, or Jude. This Jude is the writer who identifies himself as the brother of James.

And to the readership, who is James, the head of the church in Jerusalem? The Lord's brother. Okay, so that's why I don't think there's a big mystery. We don't need to beat it to death. We'll just keep moving on.

And if you study John chapter 7, verse 5, you'll come to the conclusion that the brothers did not believe in him until after the resurrection. And so it was after the resurrection of Jesus Christ that they seemed to grasp who he really was.

And certainly James and Jude, at least, became active for his gospel. James very distinguished, and Jude, obviously, the author of this epistle, and so on. So it's interesting that neither one of them were numbered among the twelve.

That James, James the last, all of those are different cast of characters, to the best of our understanding. Next, we're going to check our equipment before we plunge into the book. Let's finish verse 1.

It says, in the King James, To them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. This is verse 1, okay. There are three concepts here, and the order depends on your translation.

They're called, beloved, and kept. Okay. Incidentally, there's a trinity there. There's a calling, there's a loving, and there's a keeping. Who calls you? The Father. Through whose love are you? For God so loved the world that he, etc., gave his only Son.

So the love you associate with Jesus Christ, you can. And who preserves, keeps you? The Holy Spirit. So it's interesting, and you can look at that several different ways, but basically there is a trinity of ideas there.

Called, Beloved, and Kept

Let's first of all take this word called. I'm assuming all of you in this room, I'm going to operate on the presumption that all of you are diligent students, the word I'm assuming that the very fact that you're hearing my voice, whether it's on tape or here in the room, says that God is calling you.

But Jesus says, I have chosen you, you have not chosen me. That's John 15, 16, and John 6, 65, to mention but a couple of the places that idea shows up. You don't choose him, he chooses you. 2 Thessalonians again in chapter 2, the chapter we just looked at.

We won't take the time now, but verses 13 and 14 points out that God hath from the beginning chosen you. When were you, you were chosen by God. You didn't choose him, he chose you. When did he choose you?

There are so many places to deal with this. I'm going to pick my favorite one rather than all these others. I'll allude to those, but I'll pick the one that I'll enjoy the best, which is Romans 8. So make pause here, and you'll discover five verbs in Romans 8.

Romans chapter 8 is a chapter you should have tabbed. If your life is as hectic as mine, you refer to it frequently to see that it's still there. We all know verse 28. If you don't, you should memorize it.

It'll see you through a lot of difficulties. For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. There's that concept of calling.

But Paul goes on in verse 29 on to elaborate a structure. For whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called. Whom he called, then he also justified. Whom he justified, then he also glorified. Five steps. Foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified.

That happens to be the structure of the book of Genesis. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. I missed one. Abraham was, anyway, foreknown and predestinated. Isaac, his seed was called. If he can justify Jacob, he can justify anybody.

And, of course, in Joseph comes the glorification as a type of Christ. So Paul has in mind here a structure, if you will, apparently of the book of Genesis as an aside. Now, if you're foreknown and predestinated and called, is he faithful and just to finish what he starts?

You bet. So justification, glorification are the steps that continue. So, having said that, let's get back to notice what Jude is saying here. Is that, okay, you're called. We've talked about that. Also, you're beloved.

And I'm dealing here from the authorized rather than the King James, but the word is beloved. And who are they beloved? The church. You can find John 14, 23, John 16, 27, John 17, 20, and 23. Who are they beloved?

Let's take a look. Well, this is too important. Let's hold our finger here and turn to John 14 and understand to whom Jude is writing and what we mean by the beloved. John 14, verse 23. If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.

Turn over to John 16. A couple of pages. We'll just hit a couple of these to get the flavor of it. John 16, verse 27. Interesting ideas that are linked there. God loves you, right? Because you have loved me.

It's ellipsical. It's reflexive. Okay, turn with me to John 17. This is the high ground. John 17. Intimate prayer between the Son to the Father. He's praying for his disciples. It's awfully hard just to select a piece of this, but let's pick over verse 20.

Jesus is saying to the Father, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their words. So Jesus here in John 17. This intimate prayer between Jesus and the Father.

It's the most intimate prayer that you'll find between Jesus and the Father in the Scripture. John 17. And he's praying for you. Your name is in verse 20. And skipping on down here. We're just skipping on verse 20.

Verse 21. That they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one, and I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.

That's a lot of love. The love that you and I share is the love that the Father has for the Son. By the time you're through with this, you get the sense that they're very, very inseparable. This whole chapter is worth your reading.

If you're ever in a meditative mood and don't know where else to go, plunge into John 17 and read the prayer, this dialogue, if you will, between the Father and the Son. Primarily it's Jesus' words to the Father, but it's clearly a reflexive, fabulous area.

Beloved. We're going to see shortly that the letter of Jude is written, not to the unbeliever, but to you and I. And the Beloved. Okay, called Beloved. The third verb or category or attribute here is kept.

And this is strange because this is the only salutation in any epistle in the New Testament that has this word in the salutation. Kept. The word in the Greek implies watchful care, close attention. It's a present possession.

It actually means continually kept. Okay. The same word is used in Acts 12 and 25 of Peter and Paul's imprisonment. The verb in the structure is that they were kept. They're confined. They're preserved.

The same word is used in 1 Peter 1 of our heavenly inheritance. I don't think our heavenly inheritance is very vulnerable. That's the term that's used here. Okay. We're kept. Now, the same word we're going to find out in verse 6 in this epistle is used of the fallen angels who are kept, who kept not their first estate.

So whatever is binding them, you know, they are kept. Okay. And the same word is used in the book of Revelation to the church in Philadelphia. He will keep us from the hour of trial. Right. That word keep, preserve, and so forth.

Now, we're also, by the way, now that's his side of it. He keeps us. Right. Before we're through with this epistle, we're going to discover we have to keep ourselves. Verse 21, we're going to discover we have to keep ourselves in the love of God, whatever that means.

We'll talk about that when we get to verse 21. We are to be kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord and Savior. That's in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. So those are all ideas that are embodied here in this word kept.

So we've done really well so far. We've gotten through verse 1. Okay. Okay. So we're called, loved, and kept. That's the category. Then he goes on to give his benediction or his salutation. He says, mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.

Mercy, Peace, and Love in Jude's Salutation

Now, you students of the Pauline letters are probably surprised. We're so used to what? Grace and peace. Right. This is mercy. Right. It's interesting that this letter on apostasy speaks of mercy rather than grace.

They're very close cousins. We want both. We desperately need both. What's the difference between grace and mercy? Most of you know. Grace is getting something that you don't deserve. Right. Mercy is not getting that which you do.

Mercy is not getting that which you do deserve. Grace is getting that which you don't deserve. So they're both very desirable. Mercy implies failure on the part of its object. You and I need God's mercy because of our failure.

We welcome his grace because that gives us that to which we're not entitled. Unmerited favor is one glib definition. Mercy is not getting that which we do deserve. Now, why is it mercy rather than grace?