Jude Part 1

Introduction: This short epistle of Jude is one of the most sobering books of Scripture. Jude addresses current things that Jesus and other apostles said would happen among the saints. It shows that the church is susceptible to unwary infiltration by the ungodly. It also reveals outstanding characteristics of such as these, who have no part in the eternal kingdom of God, yet for various reasons slip into the church. Jude exposes them for what they are and depicts their final end. Appropriate countermeasures are given for keeping this infiltration minimized and checked. It is a warning against the notion that salvation by free grace is a license to sin and that church membership alone is absolute proof of sonship and eternal life. It is a stern prompt for the church to be a society of holy persons. A comparative study of 2 Peter 2 is very helpful since the subject matter is virtually identical. 1. Jude styles himself “...the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James.” A. This is Jude the apostle, called Judas in JOH 14:22. 1. He is the brother of James the elder, and of Christ. GAL 1:19. 2. That he does not call himself an apostle here, only a servant, is no more proof that he was not an apostle than Paul’s address in PHIL 1:1. 3. In contrast with the characteristics of the ungodly with which he will deal that have a problem with authority (v. 8), Jude finds it suitable to be the servant of his righteous Brother, and therefore also unlike Cain who slew his brother whose righteousness and preference before God were more than he could endure. Note JUDE 1:11. B. He writes “...to them that are sanctified by God the Father...” 1. sanctified: Of a person: Made holy, endowed with saintly character; spec. made holy by the divine grace of the Holy Spirit. 2. God the Father makes them holy by election and predestination in Christ their saving Head. EPH 1:3-6. 3. God the Father in grace by the Holy Spirit makes them inwardly holy in their new man by regeneration. TIT 3:5 c/w 2CO 4:16; EPH 4:23-24. 4. The legal cost of this sanctification was the sacrificed body and blood of Jesus Christ. HEB 10:10, 14, 29; 13:11-12. C. “...and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.” 1. The real hope of eternal salvation is not in personal perseverance but in preservation. PSA 37:28 c/w JOH 10:27-30. 2. God is faithful to His own covenant of salvation. 1TH 5:23-24. 3. They are effectually called out of spiritual death to spiritual life and eternal glory, being thus predestinated according to God’s own purpose in Christ. JOH 5:25; 1PE 5:10 c/w ROM 8:28-30; 2TI 1:9. 2. “Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.” A. multiply: trans. To cause to become much, many, or more; to make many or manifold... B. Those whom God has sanctified by Christ Jesus are already the recipients of His mercy, peace and love. 1. Their election and regeneration are according to His mercy, not their works. ROM 9:15-16; TIT 3:5. 2. Their peace with God is owing to their legal pardon by Christ’s blood. COL 1:20. 3. God’s love for sinners is the very basis of quickening grace. EPH 2:4-5. C. For the elect are available many more realizations of mercy, peace and love. 1. They have a throne of grace to appeal to for mercy when they fall. HEB 4:16. 2. They can enjoy “...the peace of God, which passeth all understanding...” (PHIL 4:6-7). 3. Their love may abound as they grow in Christ. PHIL 1:9-11. 3. This verse indicates that Jude had previously written them concerning the common salvation and the need for earnest contention for the faith. If so, that was another letter not committed to the canon of Scripture. c/w 1CO 5:9; COL 4:16; 3JO 1:9. A. This implies that there was, or could be, a challenge to the doctrine of the common salvation for which they needed to mount an opposition. 1. common: ‘Belonging equally to more than one’ (J.); possessed or shared alike by both or all (the persons or things in question). 2. It is a grave error to promote multiple modes of salvation unto God, especially among those all under the New Testament. 3. Paul denounced the error of imposing “do and live” righteousness of Moses’ Law upon any New Testament Christian. GAL 2:21; 3:21. 4. The doctrine of common salvation repudiates any notion of different modes of salvation according to dispensations, or according to age, or that there is a different way of salvation for Jews and Gentiles. a. All are alike under the condemnation of sin by nature. ROM 3:9. b. God’s elect are alike saved by grace whether Jew or Gentile. ACT 15:8-11. c. All, Jew or Gentile, are alike called to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. ACT 17:30; 26:20. d. All the saved, Jew or Gentile, are alike justified by faith. ROM 3:29-30. e. All the saved are born passively by the uncontrolled Spirit. JOH 3:7-8. 5. In light of JUDE 1:4, it is possible or even likely that false teachers with divisive doctrines of salvation and corrupt morals had become an infecting problem. c/w 2PE 2:1, 14, 18. B. “...ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” 1. earnest: Of persons: Serious, as opposed to trifling; usually in emphatic sense, intensely serious, gravely impassioned, in any purpose, feeling, conviction, or action; sincerely zealous. Of feelings, convictions, etc.: Intense, ardent. Of actions or words: Proceeding from or implying intensity of feeling or conviction. 2. JER 9:3 condemns those not valiant for the truth. 3. The true gospel is worth defending. PHIL 1:16-17, 27. 4. Gainsayers’ mouths should be stopped by sound doctrine. TIT 1:9-11. 5. “The faith” (not “some of the faith” or “faith for the present dispensation only”) was once delivered. This refutes any notion of post-apostolic testaments or gospels like Mormonism or that the faith was re-delivered via Protestantism. C. Contention for the faith of the gospel (PHIL 1:27) of Jesus Christ is not only necessary for evangelistic outreach. It is also the most important countermeasure to prevent or expose insincere infiltrators who would dilute, corrupt or deny the faith. 1. Unyielding preaching of truth leads them to repentance or drives them away. JOH 6:61-66; 3:20-21. 2. Doctrinal indifference and lethargy are open doors of invitation to serpent-seed. MAT 13:24-25, 38-39.