Jude Introduction---an Encouragement and a Caution

 Jude Introductory Sermon & Encouragement  

  We need encouragment in our Christian path and walk.  The society we live in calls this Pride Month, but the Scriptures do not allow pride in sin. ( homosexual),---imagine that there are churches in our own area that exalt these kind of societal problems.  We should welcome all but we should expect they hear the Word of God to address their and our problems in this present age.  The Scriptures are unbroken. They have not changed.  God has not changed, and we need to conform to His Word, not the other way around.

  This problem was addressed by Jude as well....teachers of a faith that was not real, emphasized freedom from the law, and un-grounded in truth, but only in the mind,  they thought,  were a problem  . It was called Gnosticism ( and this is around today as well in some major older denominations)...emphasis on knowledge (gnosis-greek word) " which emancipated them from the claims of morality" The Second Epistle of Peter and the Epistle of Jude by Michael Green. Peter as well as the Apostle John addressed this problematic heresy as well 2 Peter " false teachers among you , who privily shall bring in damnable heresies" Jude 4 says they crept in ( used in some lit. as men who return secretly from a country) " unawares ...ungodly men , turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness ( unrestrained vice), and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ".

Jude calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. Origen in ancient times said, " And Jude wrote an Epistle, tiny in the extreme, but yet full of powerful words and heavenly grace."

" It is always more serious when the danger comes from within...But it ought not to have been surprising.  The Old Testament, the teaching of Jesus, and that of the apostles all contain ample warnings against the advent of false teacher." Green

In light of all this we are made aware of some powerful and pleasant comforts .   We as Christians if we have truly believed ( not once believed , but a certain belief that shows in the life and practice that we have truly believed---AA Hodge, Theology)  In other words, profession is not necessarily possession without testing and perseverance in the faith we profess.

1.  Christians are beloved by God the Father, vs. 1  ( whether we take the older mss of sanctified it does not matter)  We are made holy and beloved in God the Father.  Also beloved in  vs 17 and 20.

This is an encouragement to us.  Our holiness and love comes from God and is worked out in our lives as we trust in Jesus Christ.  Yes, it is God who does it.  We are the recipients, but it takes our choice to make it happen as Christians.  Our original or birth sin from Adam is renewed in Jesus Christ who gives us the ability to keep God's commandments.  

The one who does not yet believe still has original sin which has not been removed and so they act soley according to that nature , which is dead in sin and trespasses.  The unbeliever is a slave to sin, and does not have free will.  He/she is unable to do what is godly because they are unregenerate.

Believers are able to do what God asks because their natures have been regenerated, and have now a destination of heaven and a place to glorify God here now.

Ch .13 ARP Confession of Faith:

They who are effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart 

and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified really and

personally, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection,a by his 

word and Spirit dwelling in them;b the dominion of the whole body of sin 

is destroyed,c and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened 

and mortified,d and they more and more quickened and strengthened in 

all saving graces,e to the practice of true holiness, without which no man 

shall see the Lord.f 

2. preserved in Jesus Christ...perfect passive participle as above again.

Jude is speaking about the wonder of the continuing preservation with which Jesus keeps those who trust Him. " We know that whosoever is born of God...the wicked one touches him not." I John 5:18

I Peter 1:5- who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation

3. Lastly, we are called.  The Christian is called by God through Jesus Christ. He/she is not out there on his own, adrift.  He is preserved and loved, and God is in His life because God has called him/her to holiness .

We are partakers of the heavenly calling.  Hebrews 3.

God has reached down and chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.  

  ---Conclusion.  Amidst the drifting teaching and losses we experience in this life we have a certain assurance that we as Christians are preserved, beloved and called.  We have nothing to fear  for the LORD is our light and salvation. Jude urges his readers to grow in their knowledge of Christian truth , v 20; ( But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on 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); to bear a firm witness for the truth v. 3 Jude exhorts them to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints; and to seek to reclaim those whose faith was wavering.  v 22-23 ( ESV introduction to Jude)

For the Christian----God loves us; Christ keeps us, God calls us. What shall we render unto Him for all His benefits?  Heb. 12:28 " Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God, acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire."