Bible In A Year - Jude

Well, good morning. Here we are, the Book of Jude. I was just mentioning to someone that this is the second to last book of the

Bible, but my last book to teach, because Brother Lewis Brown has volunteered to teach the

Book of Revelation. And we'll do a little bit of a series when we actually get into that book starting next week.

So the Book of Jude, if you would open your Bibles there. Father, again, as usual, there's a sheet for you for the class today over on the chair over near the door where you came in, if you don't have one.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask His blessings upon our time together. Father, once again, we just marvel at your goodness to us.

We know that it is you that has given us life and breath and all things. Physically, you sustained us today to bring us to the house of the

Lord. You have spiritually sustained us also. We're grateful that we can seek you and that you can be found.

And Lord, that you deliver us and you keep on delivering us and you help us spiritually when it comes to the battles, when it comes to the struggles, when it comes to even as this book would present to us the infiltration into the church of those that would cause to disrupt and corrupt and to lead souls astray.

That you are the one, as the end of this book says, that is the one who is great and powerful and able to keep us from stumbling, from falling into this era.

We come to you. We ask that you please bless us. May this be a profitable time for us as we consider what it is that we ought to be vigilant about watching and being careful of, and yet also so thankful and so grateful for the salvation that has come to us through Jesus Christ, your son, and all that that means, that common salvation which

Jude began to write about. Bless us, we pray, in Jesus' precious name, amen. The book of Jude, on the paper that I've handed out, it has, as the theme at the top, the profile of an apostate, or in apostate, or in the parentheses, a warning concerning false teachers.

And Jude presents a warning shout, although he wanted to maybe comfort the saints.

And he does a bit at the beginning of the book and at the end of this book, this short book, one chapter.

The idea is not to comfort, but to rally the troops, so to speak, to put out the shout, to put out the alarm that there is something that is quite dangerous, something that attacked in attacking the church, and we ought to be aware of it.

And it's from within. You'll remember that when we were studying the book of Peter, the idea there was that Peter said that these false teachers were coming.

And in Jude, we see that, in fact, they have already come, and they've infiltrated the church.

They're in the church, and we'll get there. Jude was the second half -brother of Jesus to write a

New Testament book. Does anybody remember the other one? Who was the other half -brother of Christ that wrote a New Testament book?

Carl and Nebeck, James, the other half -brother. They were, how many brothers were there, as we see in Mark 6 .3?

There were four there, and two of them got a privilege to be able to write a

New Testament letter. About 68 or 70 AD, he lived in a time, of course, at this time in the history of the church, severe political pressure from Rome, and that pressure and that onslaught from without.

But also, what we're going to see in this book here is that there is this now infiltration.

There is those that are among us, and you can see that. In verse 4, Jude 1, verse 4, for there are certain men crept in unnoticed, or crept in unaware.

So it tells us that they are in. They are in the church, and I don't know where I got it.

I was just commenting this to Pastor Mike, and a second title that you could, or a way that you could kind of look at this, a catchy title, would be creepers, the ones that have crept in.

Creepers are creepy, and they are, and it's a devastating thing.

So this letter of Jude is harsh. It's cutting. It's strong, because sin is harsh, and it's devastating, and it's ruthless, and false teaching corrupts minds, and it damns souls.

And that's why Jude takes up the arms. And it's in right, I'm not going to look at the sheet too much for your study.

I'd tell him, Deb, on the way in, I have 1 ,000 things in my mind of what I'd like to cover, and you'd think, it's only one chapter.

You know, it's a piece of cake. Just get through it, but it doesn't matter if it's 30 chapters or one chapter.

There's just so much to cover in any book. And this one is, I believe, is a relevant book for us today, because in the very beginning, as he opens up,

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, verse 1, the brother of James, and there it is. He tells who he is.

To them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved, or kept in Jesus Christ, and called.

Now, I know he's writing to a specific group of people. We don't really know who it is, but the word of God is profitable to all of us.

And to all of us who are called, to all of us who are kept or preserved in Jesus Christ, and to all of us who are sanctified, or your translation might say beloved, or we are the ones that are set apart, and God has set his love upon us, and we're the special people of God.

There is a relevance for this book for us today. It's very, very, very important to us.

And I think the only thing I want to bring out on the sheet is in the background and setting, the second paragraph about the very last sentence in there, right after where it says

Christianity was thought to be extremely vulnerable. Notice this phrase here, and this kind of just puts it all together.

It just summarizes what this book is about. It's the second to last sentence.

Thus Jude called the church to fight in the midst of intense spiritual warfare for the truth.

This epistle condemns the practices of heretical teachers in the church and counsels the readers to stand firm, ground in their faith, grow in their faith, and contend for the truth.

So for us to stand firm, to grow in our faith, and to contend for the truth.

So let's take a look at the book. There's just so much here to see. Peter, again, said they were coming, and Jude says they are here.

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, the brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved or kept in Jesus Christ and called mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.

I mean, doesn't it just kind of open up? And it reminds me of times when I've counseled brothers and sisters in Christ.

They've come to me with an issue, and you may have done this also, and you think that the issue that you're going to be dealing with, and maybe you've got a heads up in a phone call or a conversation, personally one -on -one or in an email, that you think that you're going to be talking about one subject.

And then as the conversation goes on and more details are revealed, all of a sudden this red flag, so to speak, just raises up within your spirit, and there's this idea that this other issue isn't what's important, and this is what needs to be targeted.

This is what we need to focus on. And Jude opens up the book, and he's, of course, telling who he is at the beginning, brother

James, and he's writing who his audience is, and he's talking about how mercy, his desire for them is to have mercy and peace and love, may that be multiplied, and then he goes on in verse three, and he gives the intent of what he began to write about.

He says, beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

So what he's saying here is that what his desire was and what he wanted to do at first, he wanted to make every effort to write about common salvation, about what it meant, what it means to be identified with Jesus Christ, what salvation is.

So it was gonna be kind of like an encouraging, it was gonna be kind of like an exhortation of the things of God, the fellowship that we have one with another, since we are all partakers of the divine nature.

He was going to get into this, from what you can see in this verse, he was gonna go off and launch in that way, and it was gonna kind of be like an uplifting, challenging, encouraging letter, but then he says it was needful.

It was necessary. It's okay at times to rally the troops positively, as far as, and to remind us, and to have our memories stirred about the things of God and how great it is, how great of a savior that we have, and how great of a salvation that has come to great sinners and the great fellowship that we have and the great privileges that we have and the great promises that we have when it comes to salvation, but he says it's necessary.

It's needful for me to change what it was that I was going to bring, because there's something going on.

I want to encourage you, and I appeal to you, I exhort you, he says that you should earnestly contend for the faith.

And this word contend in the Greek has the idea, in a root word, it has the word, our

English word, agonize in it. It has the idea of a contest, a fighter, earnestly doing this, and the verb tense is that it's to be continual.

It's not just a one -time thing, that you should earnestly contend for the faith, because if you look at the first word in verse four, for, because of something, and we'll get into that, but his desire is to put out the call, is to blow the trumpet, there's a problem, there's something going on, and we're gonna see that it is a serious thing.

There's an infiltration that has come to the church in their day, and of course, today, the same thing could happen, could it not?

I mean, someone could creep in, as it says there in verse four, unaware with a facade that they've come, with a desire to be good, and to be helpful in the church, to teach.

Possibly in this day, what had taken place was, is that maybe they presented themselves as itinerant preachers, coming as they were going around the circuit, like was necessary back at that time.

Maybe that was how they came in, and presented themselves this way, and Jude says there is an issue here, because the church, of course, the honor of the

Lord is at stake, the health of the church is at stake, and the souls of those that are in the church, certainly are at stake, not only their eternal destiny, but also the life that they would be living, based upon what they're hearing from these men.

So he wants them to contend for the faith. This faith here means the whole body of salvation truth, which is revealed by the

Holy Spirit, and is there to contain in the scriptures. It's everything there is to know, it's the body of truth of what it is that we believe that God, the

Holy Spirit, has revealed through the writers to us, which is at stake, and which needs to be guarded, which needs to be protected, which needs to be fought for, which needs to be contended for.

And I just came to my mind when I've heard that we are to contend for the faith, but remember, as we contend for the faith, we don't wanna be like these people, we don't wanna be contentious as we contend for the faith, we wanna contend with the right attitude.

We want to refute truth, and how is it that, what is the best way for us to be able to contend for the faith?

What is essential? What is foundational? What must we have, other than common salvation, to be a believer?

What is it that we must have? If we're gonna contend for the faith, is that a hand? We gotta know it.

We need to know what the truth is in order to diligently, earnestly, fervently contend for it.

To act, you know, with an agonizing, with a fighting, with this earnestness, to stand up for and to contend for the faith.

And it says, which was once delivered unto the saints. This is no new thing. And there's no new revelation going on.

You remember that in the Great Commission, Jesus said that when you go and you make disciples, you're supposed to teach them what?

Whatever comes to your mind? Whatever happens after you get into your, you know, as Pastor Mike taught a couple of weeks ago, your mystical prayer type of life, and whatever kind of flashes through your mind?

No, Jesus said in, I believe, Matthew 28, 20, he said, teach them all things that I've given to you, basically, is what he said.

Nothing new, it's what it is that came from the Lord. In Acts chapter two, in verse 42, you'll remember that they were supposed to, that the only church the characteristic was, is that they were to uphold and to teach, they were teaching the apostles' doctrine.

Not these foundational truths, things that had already been settled. I think of the Psalm, thy word,

O Lord, is settled in heaven. And of course, what we have for truth, and what we have for doctrine, what we have for the faith that's once delivered to the saints, is contained in the word of God.

Nothing extra biblical, it's what we have in the scriptures, and the scriptures are finalized.

We have the canon, it's all here in these 66 books that we have, and this is what we need to know in order to contend for it.

I was thinking this morning, I forgot to do it, but I was gonna bring the Confession of Faith, the 1689, to which we hold to.

And if you ever get, if you don't have a copy of that, please come to me and I'll find one for you. It's not what we, it's not what we would hold up as say, this is it, and that's all.

It's not it, this is it. Okay, the Bible is it. What it does is it summarizes, and it puts together all of the comment, it puts together the faith that Jude is talking about here, when it comes to salvation, when it comes to the calling, when it comes to the election of God, justification, the doctrine, redemption, and when it comes to eternal life and the security of the believer in the church and the ordinances, it lays it all out for you and puts all the scriptures there, which is very nice.

And if you haven't taken one of those, and maybe periodically just gone through it, and it's a very, very helpful tool.

It's a tool, but it isn't what we're going to die for. We die for the scriptures. If that is contained in the scriptures, then certainly we die for it, we fight for it.

And it's just important for us. And what's troubling sometimes today is that, where did

I hear this? Oh, it was, and this is not for any side or anything. I'm not swaying you to vote in any particular way, but I heard this week that they were canvassing those who had grabbed onto and said,

I believe that in the presidential election, this person is my candidate. And so they went to that crowd who were proponents of that candidate, and they said, name one thing that that person has done, and you probably heard this in the news, and the person couldn't come up with anything.

And I mean, it's kind of strange to think if you're going to vote for this person, you at least know some of their background.

And when it comes to the truth, the faith, once delivered to the saints, you go up to a person who is a professed believer in Jesus Christ, God has saved me,

I'm a changed person, and ask basic questions about salvation, and there is no answer.

That just means that that person has not been diligent in their study, and I'm not saying you have to be a theologian, but even maybe there's just a shirking of just the duty that we have on a day -to -day basis to read the word of God, and to meditate on the word of God, and to pray about particular phrases, or words, or study, so we know what it means, so that we will have, as Peter said when we studied back there, an answer to give to every man that asks the hope, or the reason of the hope that's within us.

Question? Yeah, a little scary, troubling.

But Jude says, and I think it's very important for us, that we are to contend for the faith once delivered, once given, once handed over to the saints.

He says, for this reason, in verse four, for there are certain men crept in unawares, or unnoticed.

And that is the switch here, that is the change as from what we've heard before.

It was hinted to before that they could be among us, that they are coming, and that you might see them, but here it's a fact that they've arrived.

And they're in the church, infiltrating, corrupting.

And it says of them in verse four that we have the description of them. Jude says, here's the defense of the faith, but now he's going to give a description of these men who have crept in.

He says, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. They were marked out, and it was true that it was written of old that these times would come.

You remember in Timothy, in the last days, perilous times shall come.

And Peter did the same thing. In the last days, when it's foretelling of those who will come, and there will be false teachers.

And here's their description. In this verse, it says they are ungodly men. They turn the grace of our

God into licentiousness, or liberty, or lasciviousness. And they deny the only

Lord God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Three characteristics here, they are ungodly.

Isn't that, I mean, if it comes to any word that describes something that is totally opposed to God, isn't that the word?

Ungodly, and there's a particular verse in here. Notice, when it comes about, when

Jude starts dealing with, as he denounces them, and he tells of their future judgment, notice what it says that is going, coming their way in verse 15.

This is the prophecy of Enoch, in verse 14. The seventh from Adam, he prophesied these, saying, behold, the

Lord shall come with 10 ,000 of his saints. And here, we have some revelation that was not made known in the book of Genesis, concerning Enoch, the seventh from Adam, that the

Holy Spirit desired Jude to write in here, that way back then, it was prophesied that Jesus Christ would come and return in judgment.

And when he does, in verse 15, he will execute judgment upon all. And notice the description here, it's so clear.

And to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

There's no doubt about it, that these are enemies of God. These are those that are opposed to God, and not only in what they teach, and in how they live, because we'll see that as we go on in verse four.

It says they turn the grace of God into this liberty, this licentiousness.

Paul got it straight when he talked about this in Galatians 5 .13. He there said that don't use the liberty that you have in Christ as an occasion to the flesh, but by love, serve one another.

That's the way it's supposed to be. When, and what he's talking about, and what these teachers are doing, and basically the teaching that they come from is

Gnosticism, which is, in which they believe that matter is evil, spirit is good, because flesh is evil.

Jesus Christ wasn't truly a man. He only appeared as a man. They accepted his deity, not his humanity.

They had arrived. They had gotten some special enlightenment, some special teaching, and because they're of the special elite group, they are not constrained by moral law, and they can live any way that they want to live.

They believe that they have the right to live as they please, because they're on a different plane than everybody else.

And here, and through this book, Jude just blasts them, and he just peels back the layers, and just shows you exactly what they're like, and what their heart is like, what their motives are like, and he says here that they turn

God's grace, God's grace, which, as it says in the book of Titus, it's

God's grace that teaches us to deny ungodliness. It is 2 .11

and 12. The grace of God, which has appeared to all men, teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, and righteously, and godly.

In this present world. But they say that the grace of God that they have received, this new revelation, this teaching that they have, something that they purport, because they come in the name of God.

They come as professing believers. They come as,

I think, what may have happened as itinerant preachers, to come into the church to teach, to help, and yet, they're unbridled.

No self -control. They live as they please, and it says here, and more than anything, they deny the only

Lord God. They deny the Lord Jesus Christ, a denial, a flat -out denial of Christ.

And what Jude does, notice what he does in verse five. He says, I will, therefore, put you in remembrance. He says,

I want to do just a little bit of a historical review. I want you to see what happened to people who were ungodly, who rebelled against God, or rebelled against God's authority, or rebelled against God's teaching.

I want you to know what happens to anybody who opposes God, the truth, God's truth, or God himself.

This is what takes place. Remember this. Though once you knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that did not believe.

What took place there? What's that talking about? God delivers people out of Egypt, but then what happened? When they were brought out of that slavery, what took place?

I heard rebellion. They rebelled in the desert, and what did God do? Judged them and wiped out generation, the older generations, right, above 20.

Those are the ones that are gone, because remember the spies went in, and they didn't believe, and we're grasshoppers.

We can't overtake the land. God promised it to us, you know, and you had two that were in there, like with the heart of Jude, right?

Joshua and Caleb, we can do this, God is for us. Let's go, the others say no, and they did not believe, and God wipes them out.

Verse six, that's just one example, Israel in the wilderness. Verse six, and the angels which kept, and this is related to these apostates.

This is speaking to them. This is what's going to happen to them. That's what Jude is saying. Remember this.

This is how God deals with those, and God deals severely, and God deals harshly with those, and God judges those who oppose him, and go against the truth of God.

In verse six, and the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of that great day.

Of course, those are the angels that with Satan rebelled and were fallen, right? That's an example.

There's no second chance. It's done, it's over. They're fallen, and that's their condemnation forever, and particularly with angels, and God's purpose and plan, there is absolutely no plan of salvation for them.

Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully, God has been merciful to us, because in Adam and Eve's sin, and death passed upon all men that all have sinned, it says in Romans five, it could have been that there was no plan of salvation, no remedy, no hope, no savior for us, but we are the ones, as Jude said, and you'll see this contrast.

This is the apostates, but you. These are those that rebel against God, but this is your state.

This is what God has done for you. Remember this. It's so important for you to remember this. Verse seven, even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, or to gross immorality, and going after strange flesh, there's this twistedness, there's this perversion against God's order when it comes to physical relationships.

They are set forth as an example. Notice that word there. It reminds me of,

I think, in first Corinthians 10, where Paul writes to the church, and he says that those things written before time above Israel in the wilderness were written for our example, for a warning for us, so that we don't go that way, so that we make sure that we guard and mark our steps and our thinking.

There is an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

You'll notice in verse five, the word destroyed. Verse six, judgment. Verse seven, fire.

And I just did that this morning, and I'm sure that as we go through the other ones, you see them. But of course, Sodom and Gomorrah, a pit of immorality, just a horrible, horrible twisting of what

God had intended to be right, and to be proper, and to be undefiled, they change it, and we see that they are judged.

Verse eight, likewise also, these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

And you notice how Jude says, here's what happened to them in the Old Testament, likewise these.

Those in the Old Testament rebelled. Those in the Old Testament lived in this gross immorality.

These in the Old Testament did not believe. These in the Old Testament exalted themselves above God, or tried to get above the authority of God, and above the wisdom of God, as the angels did.

And they, of course, were judged. And the same thing is gonna happen to these filthy dreamers, he says, who defile the flesh, or they have no moral restraints.

That's what he's saying here. These are their characteristics as he starts going on. Not only will they be judged, but this is what they're like.

And they speak, well, they're filthy dreamers who defile the flesh.

I said they have no moral constraints, and they pollute even their own bodies.

And then in verse nine, we have this verse about Michael the archangel. This is the only mention in the

Bible of this instance where it says he contended with the devil. He disputed about the body of Moses.

He does not bring, or does not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the

Lord rebuked thee. As he's talking about these people and their characteristics, he said, even

Michael the archangel, who had commission from the Lord, and I haven't studied this fully out, but it appears as if Michael had something to do with the burial of Moses in the

Old Testament. And at that time, there's this contention against Satan.

And even then, when he had the right to, when he had a commission from God, I'm talking about Michael the archangel, where he could have just blasted

Satan, and said, I've been sent here by God. He doesn't bring any railing accusation. But these apostates who come in their own name, who are self -commissioned men, they are not men of God.

They are men of this world. They are sensual. They are devilish. Their teaching is such.

What do they do? Verse 10, they speak evil of those things which they know not. They don't even know what they're talking about, and they speak evil against it and other people, it says.

But what they know naturally as brute beasts in those things, they corrupt themselves.

Creepy, isn't it? I mean, if you think about, I mean, just this position.

And what does Jude say? Well, let's just love everybody.

Let's just tolerate everything. I mean, they're coming in the name of the Lord, right?

I mean, they open up the Bible, right? They use the Bible. We gotta be careful how some people who open the

Bible and use the Bible, what we need to do is test Scripture with Scripture, don't we?

And in context, and making sure that where they're not making the Scriptures fit what it is that they've got as far as their agenda, this big, huge, poisonous, hypodermic needle full of venom that can devastate a church, can devastate a life, and of course, damn a soul.

What does Jude do? He doesn't tolerate this. This whole thing is a battle cry.

I remember one time I was in Fort Dix, New Jersey in basic training, and we were sleeping, heard noise, a bunch of noise.

Somebody was yelling downstairs. We had a two -tiered barracks, and I ran down there. And there's this guy laying in bed, and there's blood everywhere.

And it was like, how do you lay in bed? I mean, what did he do? Did he cut himself? I mean, what, somebody beat him up and throw him back in the bed, but what he was prone to, just these really devastating nosebleeds.

And blood was everywhere, and he was frantic because he didn't know what was happening. And everybody's just standing around like this, you know, what do you do?

And so all I could think of was, sound the cry, 911. And I went to the nearest phone that I could, and there was a red sticker on it, and it said, dial this for the ambulance.

And I just dialed it, and within a few minutes, the ambulance came to help take care of him.

Other guys had already put stuff on his face to help him out and try to settle him down, but it wasn't like, oh yeah, you're gonna, if I went to him, would it be just, okay, you're gonna be all right, don't, don't, yeah, it's fine, you don't.

No, there was a need for a cry, and that's a poor illustration, because I know I was trying to think of other ones, but hasn't there ever been a time when you're dealing with somebody, and as I said from the very beginning, and you think that the issue that you're gonna be talking about, or the issue in their life is this little minor thing, and all of a sudden, as the conversation goes on, you begin to think, and your eyes and your heart opens, and you see that there is something that is drastic, and it's serious, and it needs to be nipped in the bud, and it needs to be dealt with right away.

And Jude says in verse 11, woe to them, woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, murdering their brother.

That's the idea you have, and they come in, and they infiltrate into the church, and their whole motive, with this false pretense that they have, this shield, this face, this facade, that they've come in the name of the

Lord, and all is going to be well, and listen to me, what I have to say. They've come in to kill, and to steal, and to destroy.

Who's that a description of? Satan, John chapter 10, right? He's come to kill, steal, and destroy, and they've gone in the way of Cain, and they've run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, they're in it for the money, greedy.

And they, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah, you remember

Pastor, I think Pastor Mike just talked about that just a little while ago. What did Korah do? He and those around him said,

Aaron, and as far as the priesthood, are you the only ones that can represent God? Are you the only ones that can do this, this work?

And they rebelled against Aaron, and against Moses, and Moses set up the proposition that if what you're doing is wrong, let something new be done here, and let the earth be opened up, and let

Korah, and all those that have gone with him be swallowed, and it happened. And again, we're hearing about this is the judgment that is going to be coming to those who believe, this is, that verse there kind of ties back to the other verses that we looked at with the different example, like Israel was judged, the angels were judged,

Sodom was judged, was not Cain judged? As he was banished, and as he was marked, he was, and we also have

Balaam, and we also have Korah, who were judged. Then he goes back kind of in the description of these men, they are spots in your feasts of charity, or your translation might say, they are hidden reefs, and they are rock ledges underneath the sea, and if your boat, your life, your church goes that way, it is doomed to be shipwrecked.

That's what they're like there, but notice, they're not icebergs sticking up, so that everybody can see, but they're hidden reefs, there's this subtlety, there's this hidden agenda, where they propose to be good, and they come with this pretense that, that if you listen to them, all is going to be well, but they're hidden reefs ready to shipwreck anybody.

They, and notice in that verse also, it goes along with verse four, where they have crept in, in verse 12, it says, these are spots or hidden reefs in your feasts of charity, in your love feast fellowships within the church, they are there, and this word can also mean spots, it can also mean stains, they are just dirty spots on the garments of the church, and it ought not to be so, be careful, and watch out for this type of infiltration.

It says, notice it says, feeding themselves, they only care for themselves, it's kind of the idea of what a shepherd does, what a pastor does, the word there, the feeding, but they're feeding not the people, they're feeding themselves, they're in it for themselves, without fear, clouds without water, carried about of winds, trees without fruit, twice dead plucked up, raging waves of the sea, foaming up their shame, wandering stars to whom reserve the blackness of darkness forever, and in those verses there, all we see is that their ministry is empty.

They promise, like you would see a cloud, and if it was a drought, and if you're in a church and you want to be taught, you want to be refreshed by the word of God, here comes this cloud, these apostates, but there's nothing for you, it's empty.

They make all of these swelling promises, you will, if you listen to me, you'll have spiritual life, you'll have spiritual nourishment, but it leaves you famished and famine, there's nothing there for you, it's all empty, there's no fruit in their ministry, and they're wandering stars, or they're just a flash in the pan, just a momentary brilliance, there goes the comet, goes by, and that's it, and that's their lives, it's just nothing, there's no consistency, but the person that Jude would have us to be is one who stays in the trenches, who stays faithful to the word of God.

As Paul wrote to Timothy, you remember when I talked about how Jesus said, teach them what

I've taught you, and in Acts chapter two, it was what the apostle, the apostle's doctrine was important, and Paul wrote in second

Timothy, I believe in chapter two, he says, the things that I have taught you, you find faithful men and teach them so that they can teach other people.

There's nothing new here, and it's something that should be propagated, these men don't do that, they come up with their own opinion, they come up with their own system of teaching for their own pleasure, and it's just nothing but trouble for the church, and again,

I won't go into it, but Enoch's prophecy here concerning the coming of the Lord, they're going to be judged, verse 16, these people are murmurs or grumblers, they're fault finders, they're complainers, they walk about in their own lusts, or they're, again, morally impure, they have great, proud, swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage, it's all for gain, but then,

Jude makes a switch here, and he says, but beloved, and the whole thing is, is you are not this way, and you need to be careful as you contend for the faith, he says, but beloved, remember the words which were spoken before the apostles of the

Lord Jesus Christ, and he says, do not listen to men, do not listen to their false teaching, do not put any stake in what they dream up, but what's sure, what is it that's constant, what is it that's settled, what is it that we live and die for, it's the word of the apostles, it's the very word of God, and I believe, if you notice here, he says to remember the word of the apostles, how they told you, there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodliness,

I mean, ungodly lust, that's a quote from 2 Peter 3 .3, that's from the apostle

Peter, Jude is equating to the apostle Peter, or to Peter, that he is an apostle with the word of God, and that's what we ought to listen to.

And again, there's another, he kind of goes back in verse 18, he says, I mean, in verse 19, he says, these be they who separate themselves, or they're the ones that cause divisions, and they're sensual, or they're worldly -minded, and they do not have the spirit, it's very clear.

And then, as I finish up, what Jude did at the beginning was, you remember

I talked about how he wanted to exhort, and he wanted to encourage, and about the common salvation, the fellowship, and all the good things, and just kind of have this great rehearsal, and maybe kind of like going along with the hymn, count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the

Lord has done, but then he finds out about this thing, and it's onward Christian soldiers, marching after war, the hymn changes.

But now, at the end of the book, he comes back to encourage and to teach them.

What's the remedy? What is it that we as the church ought to do in the face of apostasy?

Those who would come in and do that, he says, but beloved, building up yourselves in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our

Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, and the key verb here is keep yourselves. Guard yourselves, stay in the place of obedience, stay there, and the way that you keep yourselves, the way that the

Greek construction is here, as I understand it, is that's the key verb, and the way that you do that is by building yourselves up in the most holy faith, by praying in the

Holy Spirit, and by looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be vigilant, we see this in Peter, he does the same thing, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about as a roaring lion.

1 Peter 5, in verse seven. And then he talks about not only staying in the trenches and staying faithful and building yourself up, but he then says, what do you do with those that are in the church that may have been influenced by these teachings of the apostates?

And he says in verse 22, and of some, have compassion. These are the people that may have fallen victim to the teaching of these apostates, have pity upon them, be merciful to them, maybe it is that they just were swayed and they were just taken aside, but have compassion, have pity upon them, make a difference in their lives.

And then he says, others, there's a different group, maybe these are the ones that were really committed to the teaching, and they need a little bit of a sterner and a little more forceful of an admonition to flee away from these teachings, save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire.

You see, they're kind of a little bit more entrapped by it, but when you do that, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh, be careful not to get sucked in to this teaching, as you hear it, just guard yourself, be careful,

Paul does the same admonition in Galatians chapter six when he talks to him about helping those who have difficulties.

And then at the very end, there's this great doxology. So not only do these apostates come in, here's the characteristics, they're going to be judged, this is what you ought to do as believers for remedy in the church, just to bolster, to keep on keeping on, help those that are in the group that may have been swayed, but more than anything, remember this, that in the midst of the presence of apostasy, even in the church,

God is able to keep you from falling. God is able to keep you from falling, or it says here, the word in the

Greek means to stumble as like a horse stumbling, and what could you stumble into? There may be some concern, what happens if I was to stumble into this apostasy, this apostate teaching, and be tempted to go aside and be caught up in it?

And Jude says, don't be concerned. Here's the exhortation again, and here's just a great admonition that in the light of the context here when it comes to apostates infiltrating the church,

God can, and God will, and God is able to keep you from falling, and not only to keep you from falling in this life, into this, to be carried about with all wind of doctrine, as it says,

I believe in Ephesians, but it says, he can present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

God is able, I remember one time in San Antonio, Texas, one of the brothers in the church, it's just one of those memories that you have when somebody's teaching or preaching, and he said,

God is able to take his children and carry them and to take care of them all through their lives, the preservation of God, and then he's able to take them and to present them before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

Christ's joy and our joy too, mixed with all of that, but God is able, as Peter put it, we are kept by the power of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

And don't be concerned, but you be concerned about the things you should be concerned about, and God is able to preserve you,

God is able to keep you. And then he says, at the very end here, to the only wise God, our

Savior, and of course, it's all to be attributed to God. I mean, Jude then blurts out at the end here, you've heard

Pastor Mike say this, that in the Greek, it's just this staccato, it's just this machine gun, glory, majesty, dominion, authority.

I mean, it's almost like, when Paul gets caught up at different times, he would do the same thing. It's just doxology, it is these words of praise.

In the Greek is glory, and logos is words, and it's these words of praise, doxology, unto the

Lord, because brethren, it is not by our might that we were saved, not by our ability that we're saved, and it's not by our might nor ability that we're kept.

We're kept by the strong hand, underneath of the everlasting arms. Isn't that a comfort? And Jude kind of bookends all that he said in the middle, this whole stirring up, contend, this battle cry and this warning shout, and he kind of bookends it with, you're called, you're the ones that are set apart for God, you're the ones that are sanctified, and yet you're the ones also that God is able to keep, and one day, he's gonna present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

Don't worry, you're not gonna stumble. God is going to take care of you. He is going to be faithful to you, and he's going to bring you all the way through.

Will you be tempted? Yes, but God is able even in that, to give a way of escape, as it says in Corinthians.

Any question? Yes, Peggy. They don't tip their hand, and they don't, what

Peggy was saying, it seems like they've crept in unawares, and you would say, think with the description that you'd be able to pick them out.

That's exactly why Jude wrote the book, so that we know we can pick them out, because some people, they might come in with these flattering words and these great motives, and you don't really see it, and you have to have a discernment to look behind what they're saying and live, do they live and see, do they live what they're teaching?

Does their walk match their talk? And many times in Christianity today, anything goes. It doesn't matter.

The guy's teaching, oh yeah, he's got a Bible, and he's opened it, and let's let him rip, and the pulpit is wide open for anybody to teach from, and that's why we believe, as an elder, board is leadership that is crucial to guard the pulpit and the teaching in the church.

Louis. What is this pulpit, first, because it's got 85 % of what they say is what

God's teaching, and right now it's the hidden part.

Yeah, the hidden part, the wreath, what they teach, and it could be 99 .99 % truth, and that .01

or whatever it is of arsenic, it's gonna kill you, and it's gonna devastate the church.

Is the book relevant for us? Of course it is, isn't it? To be on guard, and aren't you thankful that ultimately, though, in the end of the book, it's

God who's gonna protect us, it's the Lord that's gonna watch over us, he's gonna give us the wisdom, the discernment to see these people, maybe, that infiltrate the church, and to be careful, and so don't be too harsh.

When you see other believers, maybe, or you even see leadership in the church who take a stand, who take a hard stand, and take a firm stand against things, there's a reason for it, and it's for the protection and the safety and the well -being and the health of the church, and ultimately, it's for the glory of God, for the name of Jesus Christ, it's for the sake of the honor of our great

God, let's pray. Father, we read the end of this book, and we are so grateful that you are the one who has not only delivered us, and yet, you keep on delivering us from our sin, and from the onslaught of Satan, from self, and yet, the word of God here says that you are able to keep us from stumbling and falling into these ways, and into these pernicious truths and paths, this ungodliness, because you desire, as we have seen all through the book, the

Bible, as we've been studying it in this series, you have desired to redeem a people for your very namesake, and those people, you desire to make them holy, to make them pursuers of God, seeking after the

Lord, to be used as the children of Israel were desiring as Moses went before Pharaoh, to let

God's people go so that they could worship God properly, and you've taken us out of Egypt, and we've seen it all through the scriptures, all the theme of the redemption of mankind, and your dealings with your people, so that you would have a people for your very own namesake, and we're thankful that we see it, even as we come to the conclusion of the word of God, that it is still true, it's still your desire to preserve and to present one day faultless your special bride, your lovely and dear children, and we're thankful that we're recipients of your grace, and that we can say to the only wise

God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power, both now and ever, amen.