JUDE NOT JUDAS

JUDE NOT JUDAS:
I felt compelled to introduce this short book with the title, JUDE, NOT JUDAS, because if my name were Jude, I would want it clarified that I am not Judas Iscariot, that betrayed Jesus. He is referred to elsewhere as Judas (Mark 6:3), who was the half-brother of Jesus Christ. He could have introduced himself as the “brother of Jesus Christ.”
This Jude wanted to write his letter to other believer’s about the salvation they have “in common” but instead was urged by the Holy Spirit to write about the great falling away that will take place during the “last days” of his time, and is still part of the days we are living in today. Ever since Jesus was rejected by mankind this world is placed on a Divine time table. God is merciful enough to give man plenty of time repent (2 Peter 3:9) In Enoch’s day, God gave an evil society 969 years, before judgement fell. Methuselah was the oldest person who ever lived, and at the time of his physical birth, Enoch, it seems was “born spiritually” because the name of Methuselah is just too significant for this not to be so. His name means, “When he dies it shall be sent.” Bible scholars have said this is pointing to the flood of judgement that would come on the world. Those who study the time lines closely say that the flood of Noah’s day and the death of Methuselah took place at the same time.
So, as sure as judgment came in Noah’s day, at the time of Methuselah’s death, demonstrating the long-suffering of God then, the same is true today. God brought judgement then after being merciful for almost 1000 years, and God has been merciful to mankind now, since the death of Christ, for over 2000 years. This is wonderful to know, but just as judgement day came then, it will come again. From the historical record of Genesis we really know nothing about Enoch the preacher, but from Jude we learn about it.
The book of Jude is placed in our Bible’s just before the last book of the Bible, which is about the “wrath” that is yet to be poured out on the world of mostly Christ rejectors. Jude, inspired by God, like a prophet of old, gives us his final warning of the judgement yet to come. This may be the reason why the word “mercy” is found for the last time in our Bible (Jude 1:21). When judgement falls in the book of Revelation, any cries for mercy will be to no avail (see Rev 6:12-17).
Rev 6:12-17 (MSG) I watched while he ripped off the sixth seal: a bone-jarring earthquake, sun turned black as ink, moon all bloody, 13 stars falling out of the sky like figs shaken from a tree in a high wind, 14 sky snapped shut like a book, islands and mountains sliding this way and that. 15 And then pandemonium, everyone and his dog running for cover–kings, princes, generals, rich and strong, along with every commoner, slave or free. They hid in mountain caves and rocky dens, 16 calling out to mountains and rocks, “Refuge! Hide us from the One Seated on the Throne and the wrath of the Lamb! 17 The great Day of their wrath has come–who can stand it?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Jude 1:1-2 (KJV) 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: 2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied
Jude addresses his readers, with three very important descriptive words, that demonstrate the relationship that Jude has with his readers, and that they all have with the Godhead.
(1) First, he says they are “sanctified,” by God the Father. This word “sanctified” here means to be “set apart.”
(2) Another descriptive word is the word “called.” Jude mentions it last, but I am going to mention it in the order of how this happens chronologically in an individuals life.
All those who will ever be saved, have been “set apart” by God in eternity past, before birth (Jer 1:5; Eph 1:4-5). All who will ever get to experience heaven one day must be “called” to come to Christ. I believe this call comes from the Holy Spirit as the Word is preached, and people feel compelled to come to Christ. The Holy Spirit is not mentioned in the text, so some may disagree with my conclusions. I think there is good reason for the absence of the Holy Spirit being mentioned here. The goal of the Holy Spirit is always to point people to Christ, and to glorify Christ. He is is the invisible agent at work in a powerful and mysterious way that affects an attitude change in the heart of a person that enables them to respond in repentance and faith to Christ (John 16:13-14; John 6:44,63; John 3:5; Titus 3:5).
(3) The third descriptive word, but mentioned second in our text is that this people are said to be “preserved” in Jesus Christ.
I sometimes joke to myself about Christians that seem to always act like they are miserable and haven’t smiled for years, that maybe they have been “pickled” instead of preserved! To be “preserved” means to be “kept” which is how it is translated in the NIV translation of the Bible.
It is because true believers are “preserved” in Jesus Christ that they are eternally secure in Christ. My eternal security has nothing to do with me, but everything to do with my positional standing “in Chrst.” For anyone who truly believes in Christ to later be lost, would mean sin would be paid for twice, which a just God would never do. I think Abraham had insight into the “justice of God” when he appealed for God to spare Sodom. God did judge Sodom, but not until he delivered “justified Lot” out of it (2 Peter 2:7-9). I know Lot is not the perfect example of a model believer. He made some terrible choices that affected himself and his family in a very negative way. In fact the whole world is suffering today, as a result of some of these bad choices of Lot. That does not change the fact that He was one of God’s own, and therefore God delivered him, and Peter was not drunk when he said Lot was “righteous” and “godly.”
This is a doctrine that provides believer’s with enough hope and incentive to make them want to live to please God (1 John 3:1-3). If someone with “stinkin thinkin” concludes from it that they have some sort of license to sin, then they are only revealing that they have never experienced this life changing effects of the Good News of Jesus Christ. When sinners come to Christ, they do come, “just as they are” but they never can remain any longer that way, because the grace of God that saved their soul, will produce in their hearts a desire to live “righteously and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:11-14).
Those who pervert this doctrine are identified in this letter by Jude. He describes exactly what they do in Jude 1:4, where Jude tells us why he wrote this epistle. Let us take a look at this verse from two different translations to get the sense of it.
Jude 1:4 (NIV)
For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Jude 1:4 (NLT)
I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
It is not the doctrine of eternal security that is at fault for people living immoral lives. The problem is with the incorrect and unbalanced way in which some teach it. Any doctrine can be perverted by those who have never had their hearts changed to begin with.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Jude 1:1-2 (KJV) 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: 2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied
I would like to point out a couple more interesting things about these two verses. Jude seems to love the use of three point outlines. In this verse, Jude mentions the work of the trinity by telling us of the actions of each in bringing lost people to Christ.
In the second verse Jude greets his readers with a trinitarian greeting. Paul and others would often say “grace” and “peace” but here Jude mentions “mercy” as well. This is no doubt Jude’s style, but if we consider the positioning of this book in our bible’s it is not without significance as well. The time for receiving God’s mercy is now. Many today are playing “Russian Roulette” with their souls. They live their lives as if there is plenty of time to receive Christ in their life. This is the most foolish thing anyone can do. That would be akin to being offered two glasses of chocolate milk, and being told that one had poison in it. I know of nobody that we go ahead and select a glass even if their was only a one in ten chance of getting the glass with poison in it. It would make the rest of us cringe if we saw someone do it. Yet people gamble this way with their soul everyday, not knowing that this may be their last day on earth, and they can go out into eternity without God.
I hope and pray that someone will be awakened to to their senses today to embrace Christ for their eternal salvation and not to presume upon this mercy of God.
The word “peace” is found one more time after Jude in Revelation, but not in a good way. In Revelation 6, where we told about the four horseman of the Apocalypse. The first seal seems to describe someone, or some force that will conquer in a powerful way without warfare, and win over the hearts of many as world peace is promised. The second seal identifies the red horse rider as one who has come to “take peace from the earth.” As the seals are unfolded the Anti-Christ’s true intentions are being discovered, but many have already been deceived into embracing the promises of world peace, which were very temporary.
The word “love” is actually only found two more times in the Bible. It is mentioned in connection with the church at Ephesus that “left their first love” (Rev 2:4), and then once more in (Rev 2:19) where Jesus commends the church of Thyatira for their acts of “charity.” This is the same Greek word, “agape” that is translated “love” here in Jude. Keep in mind though that in Revelation 2-3 we have not yet got into the section of Revelation dealing with God’s wrath being poured out, that does begin until Revelation 6:12-17.
So, this three-fold encouragement is needed for the times that are about to come. Since Christ was crucified the church needs this message today. If any are going to escape God’s coming wrath it is time now, to embrace the mercy, peace and love of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Jude 1:3-4 (NLT) Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 4 I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
I would to make comment on the enlarged portions of the text I highlighted above.
(1) The salvation we all share.
The KJV refers to it as “common salvation.” This is not what Jude actually got to write about, but what I would like to say is that when we study the New Testament and we learn about what it means to be saved, we should find out that there are certain things about this salvation that we all have in common. All those who experience salvation, have found salvation in Christ and in Christ alone (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). There is just no getting around it. The idea that there are “many paths to God” is foreign to the teaching of the Bible. It is true there are various circumstances and life experiences that are unique to each individual in how they came to Christ. It is however, not true that there are many ways to God, since the Bible clearly prescribes only “one way” through Christ. All those who have come to Christ have come “by grace” and “through faith” (Eph 2:8-9). The only part that I played in my salvation is that I ran as fast as I could from God, and He ran after me and caught me, and saved me from myself. Even the “faith” that demonstrated in reaching out to God, that I once thought came from me, independent of God, was too, a “gift” from Him (Eph 2:8-9). Everything about our salvation is a gift from God (James 1:17,18; Titus 3:5; Acts 5:31; 2 Timothy 2:24-26; Romans 6:23; Philippians 1:29; Acts 2:38 etc.)
(2)We are to “earnestly contend for the faith” (KJV).
“The faith” that Jude is referring to here is not “faith in Christ” itself, but the body of truth that God has given to the Christian church through the writings of the eye witnesses of Christ. The apostles and some of their associates penned the scriptures for us. The apostle Paul was a special late eye-witness to the resurrection of Christ, but was not an eye-witness of the life of Christ while on earth. These are the writings we should get especially familiar with because these contain the doctrines that the Christian church is commanded here to “earnestly contend” for. When Jude uses the term “once and for all” this has been taken to mean, that God’s revelation is final and complete, and no more additions are to be added to it.
(3) We are to be alert to the false teaching that perverts the doctrine of God’s grace to teach that it is okay to live immoral lives.
God’s grace does not ever give anyone a license to sin. Paul addressed this idea as absurd (Romans 6:1-2), and later in Titus 2:11-14. God’s initial grace in salvation is His “unmerited favor” bestowed upon believing sinners, who have actually merited “death and hell” as the fitting punishment for their sins (Romans 3:19,23). The degree whereby one may have sinned to a greater capacity than another is irrelevant when it comes to being lost and without Christ, and each persons need of Him.
On the other hand, God’s grace from the point of salvation to glorification, is an ongoing work of God’s ENABLING GRACE so that we can all “keep on keeping on for Christ” (see Jude 1:24-25).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Jude 5-19 (MSG)
[5] I’m laying this out as clearly as I can, even though you once knew all this well enough and shouldn’t need reminding. Here it is in brief: The Master saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Later he destroyed those who defected.[6] And you know the story of the angels who didn’t stick to their post, abandoning it for other, darker missions. But they are now chained and jailed in a black hole until the great Judgment Day.[7] Sodom and Gomorrah, which went to sexual rack and ruin along with the surrounding cities that acted just like them, are another example. Burning and burning and never burning up, they serve still as a stock warning. [8] This is exactly the same program of these latest infiltrators: dirty sex, rule and rulers thrown out, glory dragged in the mud.
[9] The Archangel Michael, who went to the mat with the Devil as they fought over the body of Moses, wouldn’t have dared level him with a blasphemous curse, but said simply, “No you don’t. God will take care of you!”[10] But these people sneer at anything they can’t understand, and by doing whatever they feel like doing—living by animal instinct only—they participate in their own destruction.[11] I’m fed up with them! They’ve gone down Cain’s road; they’ve been sucked into Balaam’s error by greed; they’re canceled out in Korah’s rebellion.
[12] These people are warts on your love feasts as you worship and eat together. They’re giving you a black eye—carousing shamelessly, grabbing anything that isn’t nailed down. They’re—Puffs of smoke pushed by gusts of wind; late autumn trees stripped clean of leaf and fruit, Doubly dead, pulled up by the roots; [13] wild ocean waves leaving nothing on the beach but the foam of their shame; Lost stars in outer space on their way to the black hole.
[14] Enoch, the seventh after Adam, prophesied of them: “Look! The Master comes with thousands of holy angels[15] to bring judgment against them all, convicting each person of every defiling act of shameless sacrilege, of every dirty word they have spewed of their pious filth.”[16] These are the “grumblers,” the bellyachers, grabbing for the biggest piece of the pie, talking big, saying anything they think will get them ahead.
[17] But remember, dear friends, that the apostles of our Master, Jesus Christ, told us this would happen:[18] “In the last days there will be people who don’t take these things seriously anymore. They’ll treat them like a joke, and make a religion of their own whims and lusts.”[19] These are the ones who split churches, thinking only of themselves. There’s nothing to them, no sign of the Spirit!
I hope my readers will read carefully Jude’s description of those who by their immoral behavior clearly demonstrate that they are those who never knew anything about God’s Grace to begin with. Paul warned that these kind of individuals would worm their way into the church (Acts 20: 17-31). Paul said that He warned the elders at Ephesus about “grievous wolves” that would arise within their own ranks. He was so heart broken about it that he warned them night and day with tears.
What Paul warned the elders about in Acts 20 is what Jude is saying here. Anytime Gods’ genuine people are armed to do the work God has called them to do, there will always be imposters and counterfeit’s nearby to try to deceive, destroy and devour the very work that God has been building. It happened back then, and the Devil is working through those same kind of people today, in many of our churches. These are people who Jude says quite clearly “do not have the Spirit” (vs 19), and Paul said these people will have no part in Christ (Romans 8:16).
___________________________________________________________________________________
Jude 20-25 (MSG)
[20] But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit,[21] staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!
[22] Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith.[23] Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven.
[24] And now to him who can keep you on your feet, standing tall in his bright presence, fresh and celebrating—[25] to our one God, our only Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Master, be glory, majesty, strength, and rule before all time, and now, and to the end of all time. Yes.
In these final few verses remaining in Jude God’s people are encouraged to take appropriate measures to stay centered in God’s love, seeking God’s mercy, and pursuing the enjoyment of life with God now, as preparation for the day when we will be with him forever. Living in the enjoyment of God’s Kingdom right now, is a kind of “dress rehearsal” for the real show! (Romans 14:17).
We should always pursue God like it all depends on us (Jude 20-21), and yet trust God for His ability to “keep us” on track with him (Jude 24-25). Along the way, on this journey we need to hold one another accountable. We need to get to know each other in such a way that we understand one another’s blind spots, and learn the best way to restore each person back into God’s grace (Jude 22-23).