Epistle of Jude Lesson Four

So we have Apostates inside our Church, "whom have crept in unawares" How do we deal with these "creeps"? Notice Jude does not ask us to roll up our Bible's and clobber these "certain men" but to look inside ourselves!

Jud 1:17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Jud 1:18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

This is a fulfillment of prophecy! This should make you excited because prophecy is one of the many things that can be used to prove the Super Natural Orgins of the Bible.

Jud 1:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

Jud 1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

- Romans 10:17
- Ephesians 6:18

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

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

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

Following the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our witnessing endeavors.

Jud 1:24 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,

Many sermons could be preached on the above section of Scripture.

Jud 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Is Jesus God?

Epistle of Jude Lesson Three

Introduction:

(vs5) 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.

- Ideally we as Christians should read all of these Old Testament Readings and know exactly what Jude is talking about.

“As for the root facts, the fundamental doctrines, the primary truths of Scripture, we must from day to day insist upon them. We must never say of them, ‘Everybody knows them’; for, alas! everybody forgets them.” (Spurgeon)

“The use of God’s Word is not only to teach what we could not have otherwise known, but also to rouse us to a serious meditation of those things which we already understand, and not to suffer us to grow torpid in a cold knowledge.” (Calvin)

- Israel’s Example (Numbers 14)


(vs6) 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.

- (Genesis 6)


(vs7) 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.

- (Genesis 19, Ezekiel 16:29)


(vs8) Likewise also these [filthy] dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

- “Reject Authority” – (ie the Bible, beliefs, lifestyle)


(vs9) 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.

- (Deuteronomy 34:5-6)
- This proves to us that Michael is not Jesus, as some heretical groups have thought. Jesus rebuked the devil in His own authority, but Michael did not. “The point of contrast is that Michael could not reject the devil’s accusation on his own authority.” (Bauckham)
- Guideline for Spiritual Warfare


(vs10) 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.

(vs11) 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.

- (Genesis 4, Hebrews 11:4)
- (Numbers 22-25, 31)
- (Numbers 16)

(vs12) These are spots in your feasts of charity (Love Feast), 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;

(vs13) Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

(vs14) And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

(vs15) 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.

- Book of Enoch?

(vs16) 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.

Epistle of Jude Lesson Two

Epistle of Jude Lesson Two


Opening Prayer:

“Abba Father please open Your Word to our hearts and hearts to Your Service in Jesus Name, Amen.”

Introduction:

(vs3) 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.

(vs4) 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.

“the common salvation” – This is not “common” as in cheap or something that everybody has but simply equally shared. What does this mean? How does this apply?

Back in the 80’s a survey poll found that 70% of Americans who go to church say that you can be a good Christian without going to church. Is this a true belief based on Jude’s idea of a “common salvation” (Hbr. 10:25)?

“I found it necessary” – No doubt Jude was following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Is this a lesson to us (through Jude’s action) to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in every decision that we make?

“contend” – How does this jive with our age of “tolerance” (Gal. 1:6-9)? We can contend without being contentious!

We can “contend” in many different ways:

- Positive: Give an unmarred Christian Witness, Tracts, Support training of Faithful Christian Workers, etc. What are some other examples?
- Negative: Withhold Support from those who compromise the Faith either in message or actions. What are some other examples?
- Practical: Living uncompromised lives and give the credit to Christ who has done the “good work” in us.

"The truth is like a lion. Whoever heard of defending a lion? Just turn it loose and it will defend itself." – Spurgeon.

“the faith once for all time delivered” – What is “the faith” referring to?

“The faith is the body of truth that very early in the church’s history took on a definite form (cf. Acts 2:42; Romans 6:17; Galatians 1:23).” (Blum)

How does this apply to the Book of Mormon, Science and Health, etc?
“There is no other gospel, there will be none. Its content will be more fully understood, its implications will be developed, its predictions will be fulfilled; but it will never be supplemented or succeeded or supplanted.” (Erdman)

“For there are certain men crept in unawares” – How did these men creep in “unawares” (Matt. 7:15, 2Cor. 11:13-15)?

“who were before of old ordained to this condemnation” – What is this “condemnation”?

How do you recognize false teachers (Matt. 7:16-20)?

“turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness” – Are we to use grace as a license to sin (Rom. 6:1-2)?

“and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” How is this done (actions, Theology)?

Closing Prayer:

“May the Testimony of Christ dwell richly in our lives and hearts as we enter Your Mission Field with Your Message of Forgiveness, Amen.”