Lessons From Jude

Jude 1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

I really like the way that Jude starts this letter. The first words are Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. And after that he mentions that he is the brother of James. Being the servant of Jesus Christ came first. That is the way we all should think. Being a servant of Jesus should come first in our lives and in our thoughts. Serving our wonderful Lord who saved us should be our top priority.

JUD 1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

“preserved in Jesus Christ”. The Bible teaches over and over again that you cannot lose your salvation. When we believe in the Lord Jesus we are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus. God does it all. We do not sanctify ourselves at salvation. God does it. We do not preserve ourselves, God does it.

Our salvation does not rest in our power, it rests in His power. We do not have to hold out, we are preserved. We did not work to get saved and we do not work to stay saved. Salvation is a gift that God gives us if we believe. It would not be a gift if it had conditions attached to it as in if we had to do things to keep it, then it ceases to be a gift. If we could lose our salvation, then works would be involved. But salvation IS NOT of works.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:

Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Our works are not involved in our salvation. And we have Jesus’ promise that if we come to Him that we will not get kicked out.

Joh 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

When you get saved; you are saved forever! The gift of eternal life should make us grateful. We should want to do more for our saviour in response to His great love.

Have you thanked God lately for preserving you?

What have you done lately to help more people come to know this great salvation?

Jude 2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

What a wonderful thing to have in your heart for another. This man of God wanted them to have mercy peace and love in their lives. And not just a little bit but multiplied. In the verse before we see he is writing to Christians, and in the next verses we see him exhort them to earnestly contend for the faith. The why is because ungodly men had crept in their midst. And in the middle of all of that trouble Jude still wanted them to have peace and love in abundance. We know from Galatians that the source of love, joy, peace… is from the Lord. Christian, you truly can have peace and love multiplied in your life no matter how bad the circumstances.

Jude 3 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 ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

The common salvation. Words have meanings plural not meaning singular. That is why dictionaries have meaning one and meaning 2… The meaning is determined by the context. Common can mean often or prevalent as in you see it everywhere. It is common. But that does not fit this verse. The number of saved people were dwarfed by the numbers of lost people. Common can also mean shared by as in we both have this in common. That is the meaning that fits this context.

What this means is that the salvation that Jude had was the same salvation of those who he is writing to. They had the same salvation in common. This is true for everyone that gets saved because everyone is saved the exact same way and everyone that is saved has the exact same salvation. There are not multiple ways to get saved. Everyone that is saved got saved when they realized that they are a sinner and that they cannot work their way to heaven and decided to have faith and believe in Jesus and the work He did on the cross to pay for their sin and then simply call upon Him to save them with a repentant heart.

And when they do that they are saved by faith thru grace and not of works. And it is thru Jesus and Jesus alone. That is the salvation that everyone who is saved has in common. There is no other salvation.

It appears that Jude wanted to write a letter to these churches on the topic of the common salvation but when he found out about the false teachers that had entered into their midst it became more needful to write to them about the false teachers instead.

This letter was written after the severe persecution from Rome had started. Believers were under attack in a big way from outside persecution during this time. And Peter wrote 2^nd Peter to address the attacks from without. But there was another danger to the churches and that is the danger and attacks from within their ranks. Dealing with this is the purpose of the letter.

Jude clearly states the purpose of this letter in verse 3. And exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. His purpose is to strongly encourage them to do the right thing and that is to earnestly contend for the faith. Stand up for it, do not compromise, fight for it, do not back down. And not just for anything but for the faith. Stand for the truth given by the Almighty creator and savior of your soul. Do not let it be twisted or changed or compromised.

Jude says the faith that was once delivered. Once delivered. God’s word does not change. The faith here is talking about the body of truth of the faith. All of it. Every aspect of it. It is not that you should defend just 7 or 8 main points of the faith. You should defend all of it.

God’s truth is wonderful and it is worth defending. It is very sad to me when I look out at Christianity as a whole and see so few people who understand this.

Jude 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude found out about certain men that had crept in. Jude does not mention their names but to the readers it would be obvious who they are. And they were not saved men they were ungodly men. They joined these churches not to learn or be a blessing. They had one goal and that was to be false teachers like wolves among the sheep.

And they were able to creep in unawares. This is an important trait of false teachers.

2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Satan has deceitful workers who play the game and lie and fool people and can make themselves look like ministers of righteousness. They will use the same vocabulary. They know how to make it sound like they are Christians. However it is not real. They are false teachers and deceitful workers. But they are so good at their deception that they can and do sneak in without people being aware that a false teacher is among them.

Jude calls these men ungodly men and says that they turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

They teach in a way that fools many but their teaching is not according to the grace of God and they deny the person and the works of Jesus. Our world today is full of this kind of Bible teacher. Some of their messages actually sound good. And they have personality’s that attract many. Some end up having very large congregations. But they do not teach the faith that was once delivered to the saints. They teach a wide range of errors. Some even deny that Jesus is God the Son who existed in eternity past. Some deny that His work on the cross was sufficient and cannot be added to. The list of false teaching out there today is huge. There is a great need for real Christians who will earnestly content for the faith.

Jude 5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

There was a mixed multitude that went out of Egypt with Moses and the real believers. They came along for the wrong reasons and ended up causing a great amount of trouble. They fooled many into thinking they believed but they did not fool God. It took time, but in the end God did judge them. It has been well said the wheels of God’s justice sometimes turn slow but they never slip.

God does not miss anything. Judgment will always be done. That is the main point that Jude is now making. The next example of this is the angels.

Jude 6 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 the great day.

Some try to make verse 6 say something that it does not say. Some like to apply a theory to it and say it is proof of their theory. A general rule of Bible study is that a matter is established by 2 or 3 witnesses. Never build a belief off of only one verse. The question to ask here is what was the angels’ first estate. Their first estate was how God created them.

In the beginning there was only God and He created everything in the 6 days of creation. Angels are created beings and since God created everything in those 6 days then the Angels were created in those 6 days. On the 7^th day God looked at all He created and it was very good. So on day 7 the Angels were very good. That was their state. That was their first estate.

When Satan sinned in pride and fell 1/3 of the Angels followed Satan and they became demons. And God says they have been reserved unto the judgment of the grate day. So Jude is keeping the same theme here. God’s judgment has a set time. It is not done on our timetable. But it is guaranteed. God will always bring judgment upon wickedness.

So for examples Jude used false believers who left Egypt and then the fallen angels who are reserved unto judgment and next is the example of Sodom and Gomorrha and the cities around them.

Jude 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Now that the example of God’s judgment have been given Jude says it will be likewise to these false teachers.

Jude 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

So since judgment is guaranteed and that judgment is done by God, then let God handle the judgment part.

Jude 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

Angels are extremely powerful. God sent only one Angel to wipe out an entire army in the Old Testament. And yet Michael said to the devil The Lord rebuke thee.

The point being made is yes we are to content for the faith. We are to make a stand for God’s Word. However, we are to fully realize that God is aware of it all and God will judge it all and judgment will come from God on it in His time. So we are to content for the faith but we are not to meet out punishment. That is God’s job.

Jude 10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

The false teachers speak evil of God’s truths which they know not. That makes sense. If they were saved then they would know and understand those truths and if they knew those truths then they would not speak evil of them. They do not understand spiritual truths. The Bible tells us that the lost in fact cannot understand the Word of God because it is spiritually discerned.

1Co_2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

God’s truth are foolishness to the lost and they cannot receive them and they cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned. To understand you must be saved.

Jude 11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

Now we learn some of the main motivations for the false teacher. With Cain it was pride. Cain demanded a works salvation. He brought the works of his hands as an offering to God. And it was rejected. The false teacher is also guilty of pride. He is prideful enough to think that he knows better than God. In the case of both they are rejected by God.

And another motivation of the false teacher is the error of Balaam which is greed. He wanted to curse God’s people for money. Greed and the lust for money and status and reward is a common motivation for false teachers. They want reward and power and things. I think of the preacher who took money from his congregation to buy expensive air conditioned dog houses for his dogs. Fancy cars, expensive houses and expensive jewelry and other extravagant living are very common among false teachers.

Allowing the false teachers in your congregation fouls your services.

Jude 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

The false teachers were present in their feasts. They were participating and eating with them. And they did this very boldly and without fear. That is another mark of a false teacher. They are bold and not shy. And this boldness and confidence that the false teacher has fools many.

But Jude uses very visual powerful language to expose what they really are underneath. They are clouds without water. So they put on a good show and maybe even look like they are going to produce rain but they produce nothing. It is only a vain show. Actually empty and not capable of producing anything good and helpful like rain is.

They are also like trees who put on a show of producing fruit but the fruit is so bad it withers and they actually produce zero fruit. It is all an empty vain show. They are actually twice dead Jude says. They are dead spiritually because they are not saved and they will die eternally so they are twice dead.

The shame of the false teacher is really out in the open for any who have the eyes to see and they are reserved for the darkness of the lake of fire forever.

Jude 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Jude 14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

Jude 15 To execute judgment upon all, 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.

Jude 16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

Jude 17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Jude 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

Jude 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

The issue of false teachers and the ungodly was never a surprise to God and God has always wanted His own to be warned about it. God had Enoch who was before the flood teach and warn about the ungodly and how they really are not getting away with anything. In the end they will all receive judgment.

There will always be people who do ungodly deeds that they ungodly commit and there will always be sinners who will speak against God. People who will walk after their own lusts. And there will always be people who hold other people in admiration because they are people of advantage and status.

Jude then encourages them to remember what Jesus said. Jesus taught that in the last times there will be mockers. Please do not be confused by the term. In the Bible the last times actually covers from the day that Jesus ascended until He comes back. So it was the last times in Jude’s day and it is the last times today. However, we are obviously closer to Jesus’ return. And Jesus taught that there will be mockers who will walk after their own lusts who will be fleshly and sensual. And the reason is given. They do not have the Holy Spirit; they are not saved.

The point is we should not be surprised that there are false teachers and we should not be surprised that there are ungodly people and mockers. And Jude has taught that we are to be strong and contend for the faith. We are to make a stand. However, the meeting out of judgment is to be left to God.

Since we are not to be meeting out judgment on it what are we to be concerned about doing? That is what Jude ends his letter with. What are we to be focused on?

The first thing is we are to be focused on building ourselves up in the faith.

Jude 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

And make note it is holy faith. Holy when used about God it is talking about His chapter and His attributes and how He is pure and without sin. When Holy is used attached to things or us it is talking about Holy as in set apart to God. Our faith is not just any faith. People have faith in things all the time. For example when you get on an airplane you are exercising faith that the plane is sound and you are also exercising faith that the pilot knows what he is doing.

People can have faith in things that are wrong. Some have faith that a woman can hear all the prayers of all people all at the same time. They really believe that but it is not true. Only God has the attribute of being all present and all knowing. People can and do have faith in errors. Holy faith is faith that is set apart to God, faith that serves God. And for it to be that kind of faith it must line up with God’s Word.

It is this Holy faith that lines up with God’s Word that we are to by busy building ourselves up in. That means that our faith can grow and get stronger. It only takes faith as small as a mustard seed to get saved. But after salvation our faith can grow stronger. We can learn more and believe more and trust more and do more.

And we are to be focused on praying, and notice it is praying in the Holy Ghost. That means that we let Him lead us in prayer and that we are praying in the will of God.

And we are to be focused on having compassion and a compassion that makes a difference.

JUD 1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:

As Christians we are to have compassion. We sometimes need to enter in (so to speak) to the suffering of others. We need to genuinely care. Our compassion can make a big difference. However, it needs to be a real working compassion. The right kind of compassion can not only be a huge blessing to another brother in Christ, but it can also help lead a lost soul to Christ. Real compassion shows the lost that we are for real. Real compassion shows forth the love of Christ, and that is what many of the lost need to see to get saved.

Others need a different approach.

JUD 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Some need to hear more about hell. They need to hear so that they will fear the judgment that is coming. They need to understand how awful their sin is to a Holy God. They also need to hear how Jesus has paid for their sin so that they do not have to go there. The Love of Jesus offers them a way out. And all they have to do is turn to Him with a repentant heart. We need to be concerned about and active in pulling the lost out of the fire.

Some will ask, how do I always show compassion and how do I keep a heart for the souls of men? Verse 21 is the answer.

JUD 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

If you keep yourself in the love of God, then His love will manifest itself thru you. God loves souls. If you have the love of God filling your heart, then you cannot help but show compassion and be concerned and active in pulling people out of the fire. If you keep looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, then you will want others to also receive His Great Mercy.

Some will ask, how do I always show compassion and how do I keep a heart for the souls of men? Verse 21 is the answer.

JUD 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Jude 24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

Once saved you do not have to persevere you are preserved. You are held in His Almighty hand. You are kept. You cannot lose your salvation. You did no work to receive it and you do not have to do any work to keep it. Eternal salvation is eternal. Once you receive it, it is forever.

Yes we mess up and we fall short and we make mistakes. But once this life is over we are changed. That old man is put off forever. We will no longer carry the old sin nature around with us. We will be presented before His glory without sin. And when we see His glory it will be with exceeding joy.

Jude 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

This is another place where the Bible declares that Jesus is God. God our Saviour. Our only Saviour is Jesus so this is clearly stating that Jesus is the only wise God. And to Him belongs all glory and all majesty and dominion and power forever. Amen and Amen!!!

General Information about Jude

The book of Jude warns us against apostasy and false doctrine.

The key word is ungodly

The key verse is Jud 3 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 ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

The theme of the book is contending for the faith.

This book teaches us to be alert for false teachers who will creep in unawares and will divert believers from the truth.

This book was written by Jude who was the half-brother of Jesus around 67-68 A.D.

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