One
Reason of Jude
(Jude 1 - 3)
One
Reason of Jude
(Jude 1 - 3)
(Note: The characters do make references to The Gatherers For Christ series. This is written as if the Rapture had occurred and they are living in the Tribulation period.)
“In the first three verses of this little book,” Fuller began, “Jude gives the reason for his writing this epistle. Jude will tell us that he intended to write on some theme of our salvation, but the Spirit of God put up a red warning sign and instructed him to call attention to the days of apostasy which would be coming upon the church.” He looked at the ex-wrestler. “Marc, go ahead and read those first three verses.”
Shiva nodded. “I’d be happy to.” He found his place in the Book of Jude, and read the first three verses. “‘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: Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. 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.’ ”
“There are two points I would like to call to our attention regarding the first three verses that Marc just read to us. The first point is Assurance for believers, and the second point is a change of theme to apostasy. Jude, as we discovered in the introduction, is the English form of the name Judas. In the New Testament, there are three men who bear the name Judas, but we have very good evidence which identifies the writer of this epistle as the half brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. Marc, please read just the first verse.”
Shiva nodded. “‘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…’ ”
“What does that mean? ‘The servant of Jesus Christ.’ ”
King smiled. “The word servant is literally bond slave.”
“But what does that mean?” Staci asked. “Was Jude a slave?”
Fronk shook his head. “He wasn’t a slave as we are familiar with the term. He was a servant, a willing servant. He claimed no blood relationship with the Lord Jesus as if that would give him a superior position.” He paused. “Hey, this ought to lay to rest the notion which arose in the early church, in the post-apostolic period, that the family of Jesus was to be held in reverence because they were super-duper folk. The only super-duper dude in that family was and is our Lord Jesus.”
“Amen to that, brother,” Lenox agreed.
“He wasn’t just a servant,” Barrington pointed out, “but also a brother. This was also in the introduction, but it is still pointed out to us clearly in these first few verses. The brother of James is the way Jude identifies himself. Both James and Jude were half brothers of the Lord Jesus, and James was the writer of the epistle which bears his name…obviously. He was mentioned by the apostle Paul as one of the pillars in the church at Jerusalem.”
Fuller nodded. “So…Jude is a servant and a brother. What else does this verse tell us?”
Erin pursed her lips together in thought. “Is he writing to those who are sanctified by God?”
Fronk held up a finger as if to make a point. “Ah! But he also speaks to those who are preserved in Jesus and who are called.”
Staci blinked. “I’m not following that. How are they preserved in Christ and what are they called to do?”
“We’re getting to that,” Fuller assured her. “First, let me address Erin’s point of those who are sanctified by God. Trust me, Staci, just take notes on this. The Greek text of Nestle and that of Westcott and Hort, which are the best Greek texts that we have, use the verb agapaoµ, meaning ‘to love,’ instead of hagiazoµ, meaning to ‘sanctify.’ Most scholars agree that ‘to love’ is more accurate than ‘to sanctify,’ and it makes little bit more precious to our hearts to know that we are loved or beloved by God the Father.” He smiled. “I can see the confusion on your face.”
“I’m not into big words. Just give it to me straight.”
There were chuckles of amusement from the study group.
“Jude is addressing those who are loved by God the Father.”
“But God loves everyone.”
“Yes, He does. But He also will not call someone into the ministry who does not know Him.”
King nodded in agreement. “Jude is writing to those who are sanctified and loved by God who are also called.”
Staci paused. “Called to do what?”
Lenox turned to her. “Called to be servants of God. Called to do what He sends them out to do. Or to better put it, called to spread the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Staci smiled. “Well, why didn’t you all just say so in the first place?”
Fuller chuckled. “I would like to share with you the translation of Kenneth S. Wuest, the late Greek scholar at the Moody Bible Institute. His translation, Word Studies from the Greek New Testament, though a bit involved, in many places brings out the original meaning… ‘Jude, a bond slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who by God the Father have been loved and are in a state of being the permanent objects of His love, and who for Jesus Christ have been guarded and are in a permanent state of being carefully watched, to those who are called ones.’ Now this is a wonderful passage of Scripture. Staci, if you get anything from this first verse, just get this…We are beloved by God the Father and preserved for Jesus Christ.”
"Thank you. I do get that.”
“You’re welcome.” He paused. “There are several words I would like to go over in this text because of their importance. The first word is preserved.” He looked at Staci. “You also asked about that.”
Staci nodded. “Yes, I did.”
“It is this word that gives us the key to the Book of Jude which presents the apostasy as it is presented nowhere else in Scripture. How frightful it is!”
“Renouncing the faith is a horrible thing,” Lenox replied.
“Yes, it is. But Jude doesn’t write just to frighten the daylights out of us. Nor does he write just to draw a vivid picture for our information. What is he doing?”
“He is giving us this background in order that he might give assurance in the days of apostasy,” Barrington answered.
“Exactly,” Fuller responed. “He uses the word keep four times, which is what the word preserve means. They are kept in Jesus Christ. God is the one who keeps them. If we skip down to verse 21, we read, ‘keep yourselves in the love of God’, and verse 24 says ‘now unto him that is able to keep you from falling.’ You may call it anything you want to, but it gives assurance of salvation to the believer even in the dark days of apostasy.”
“We saw much apostasy before the Rapture,” King replied. “That period is past. Today, many are coming to Christ even though we who are called and sanctified must now endure persecution.”
“But we are preserved,” Fuller pointed out. “Now looking again at the word preserved, it is interesting to note that in the physical world there are two ways of preserving food. One is with vinegar, and the other is with sugar.”
Fronk snorted. “Well, if that’s the case, then, there were many saints before the Rapture took place who I thought were preserved all right, but they were preserved in vinegar. At least, that was how they acted. They had a vinegar disposition.”
“That may be true,” Shiva replied, “but there were and are saints who are preserved in sugar.”
King nodded. “But even those who seem to be preserved in vinegar are preserved by God’s grace, which preserves and keeps them. The apostle John tells us in Revelation 12:11 that ‘… they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb …’, and that is the only way believers are going to make it through the Great Tribulation. And that is the only way we are going to overcome…by the blood of the Lamb. There is no merit or power in us to overcome the Evil One.” He paused. “Allow me to resort back to the illustration which the Lord Jesus Himself gave when He said, ‘I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 1’ Then He goes on to talk about His sheep, ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 2’ Now if a sheep is kept in safety, it is no credit to the sheep. A sheep cannot defend itself. It doesn’t have sharp fangs and claws to fight its enemy. Neither can it run. A jackrabbit can’t defend itself either, but a jackrabbit can get away from trouble. A sheep can’t even do that. A sheep is helpless. When one of God’s sheep says that he knows he is saved, he is not boasting of his own merit. He is boasting of his Shepherd. He has a wonderful Shepherd. My brothers and sisters, if you are saying that you are not sure of your salvation, you really are reflecting upon your Shepherd, because He says that He can keep you. He says that no created thing is able to take you out of His Father’s hand. It is not a question of whether or not you can hold on to Him. It is a question of His holding on to you. He says that He can, and it is a matter of your trusting Him.”
Lenox agreed. “Salvation rests upon the Word of God. It’s up to us whether we will believe Him or not. Our assurance of salvation rests upon that because He has made it very clear that we have a sure salvation.”
“That’s right, Michael.“ Fuller held up his Bible where he had it open to the book they were studying. “Right here in Jude we are presented with the dark days of apostasy, and God still says that He is able to keep His own. Not only are we preserved in Jesus Christ, safe in Him, but we are also called. That’s the second word I would like to look at today. The word called, as it is used in Scripture, is not only an invitation that is sent out, but it is an invitation that is sent out and accepted and made real because of the Spirit of God. Let me give you Paul’s statement as found in 1 Corinthians 1:22–24.” He referred to his notes and turned to that passage of scripture in his Bible. “‘For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.’ ” He looked at the Gatherers with him. “If you have found in Christ the wisdom and power of God and you have trusted Him, you are one of ‘the called.’ The invitation is sent out, and when it is accepted and believed, then you are the called. That is exactly what Jude means here, and Paul spelled it out for us as well.” He turned to Shiva. “Well, we covered the first verse, Marc. Why don’t you read the second verse once more and we’ll take a closer look at that.”
Shiva nodded. “I’d be glad to.” He read Jude 2. “‘Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.’ ”
“We need to recognize the difference between these three words…mercy, peace, and love. Then we need to see the strong relationship between them. So what are these three words?”
“Love is an attribute of God,” Staci said. “Because God is love, He is merciful and has provided grace. The love of God encompasses all of mankind. My favorite verse says it all. ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 3’ It isn’t His will that any should perish. Today He loves every human being on this earth, and He has no favorites.”
Barrington nodded. “There’s a verse I have in my notes that goes with what you’re saying, Staci. Way back in the Book of Exodus, God made it clear to even a man like Moses that He didn’t answer his prayer because he was Moses. ‘And he said, I … will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.’ That’s found in Exodus 33:19. God answered Moses’ prayer because He found the explanation in Himself; He treats all His creatures alike in that sense.”
“My brothers and sisters,” King began as he smiled, “isn’t God wonderful? God loves us today. If we only knew how much He loves us, it would break our hearts. I believe we would all be in tears. We would just be completely overcome if we even fully comprehended His great love for us.”
Fronk let out a whooping holler that made Erin and Staci jump. “Now you can keep from experiencing God’s love, but you cannot keep Him from loving you. That’s hot! And you can’t keep the sun from shining, but you can put up an umbrella to keep the sun from shining on you. And, let’s face it, people! There are certain umbrellas you can put up to keep from experiencing the love of God. Like the umbrella of resistance to His will, or the umbrella of sin in your life. You can keep right on going with that, but I see keep your umbrella’s where they belong. In the closet!”
“You sure are a bit off, Crazy Man,” Lenox replied, shaking his head. “But what you say does make a lot of sense.”
After everyone had a good chuckle, Fuller leaned forward and continued the study. “Although God loved you, He did not save you by love.”
Staci frowned. “Huh? God didn’t save us by His love? I don’t know what you mean by that.”
Fuller held up a hand. “You see, God has other attributes. He is holy. He is righteous. He is just.”
“He simply cannot let down the bars of heaven and, by lowering His standards, bring you in,” King added helpfully.
Fuller nodded. “Right. He cannot do that any more than a human judge can uphold the laws of the land and yet accept a bribe under the table for letting a criminal off. If he does that, he is a crooked judge. And if God is going to do that with human beings, He is no better than a crooked judge. I do not mean to be irreverent because God is not a crooked judge. But what people don’t seem to understand is that God has to maintain His holiness and His righteousness and His justice. Like you mentioned before, Staci, in John 3:16, ‘God so loved the world,’ and He loved the world with a merciful love, a love that had a concern and care for human beings. And because of it, He gave His only begotten Son…He provided His Son as the substitute. Now God, on a righteous basis, can save a sinner if he or she will come to Him and accept His salvation. This is called the grace of God. ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. 4’ Now you can see that the grace of God, not the love of God, has to do with the sins of men. God has provided a Savior who has paid the penalty for sins. On that basis, God saves sinners. That is the grace of God.”
Erin shrugged her shoulders. “But sin has brought tragedy to the human family. We often hear the question, Why does a God of love permit cancer?”
“Well,” King began, “disease and death came to the human family as consequences of sin. God sees the misery that sin has caused, and the mercy of God goes out to man. God is rich in mercy. If you come to Him as a sinner and accept His salvation, He will save you by grace. Then, because He is rich in mercy, He will extend His mercy to you. He will bring comfort to you at that time. He will help you and comfort your heart. You can trust Him in your time of need. No matter what that need is.”
“Before the Rapture, John Saint has had two major operations for cancer,” Lenox pointed out, “and the doctors had told him that the cancer was still in his body and can break out at anytime. From where John was sitting right then, he must have had a great big question. Why? He told me that his only refuge was in his heavenly Father because he knew He had the answer, although He hadn’t told him what that answer was. John shared with me that all he was asking from Him was mercy. He had already saved John by His grace, but now John wanted His mercy. And Mercy is that love of His which goes out to us in our misery here upon this earth.”
Barrington nodded. “Amen, brother.”
“A sinner needs the grace of God,” Shiva replied with a nod. “And he sure needs a whole lot of mercy. I know that is my case.”
“God must pardon before He can heal,” Fuller said. “Men must be justified before they can be sanctified. In the order of the manifestation of God’s purposes of salvation, the grace of God must go before the mercy of God. The grace must go before and take away and make way for the mercy of God. Then, the peace of God is that experience which comes to the heart that is trusting Christ. Paul says, ‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 5’ Peace with God is to know that God is not difficult to get along with. He isn’t making it hard for me. He’s not making it hard for you. He wants us to know that He hasn’t anything against us now that we know we are sinners and have trusted Christ as our Savior. The world may point its finger at you and reject you, but God has accepted you. He loves you, and He wants to give you that peace so that at night you can pillow your head on God’s promises.”
King smiled. “‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 6’ ” He nodded. “This verse is a soft pillow for a tired heart. What a wonderful promise it is!”
“All of this finally brings us to the third verse in Jude, and it will bring us to the conclusion of this part of our study. We talked about assurance for believers. Now we’ll see a change of theme to apostasy. Remember, we discussed earlier how Jude intended to write this epistle in a different direction, but he was led by the Spirit to change his theme. Marc, read the third verse if you will.”
2
From Common Salvation To Apostasy
(Jude 3)
Shiva nodded and read the third verse. “‘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.’ ”
Fuller smiled. “‘Beloved.’ I love how this verse starts out. When Jude uses that term, it really means folk who are loved of God. God’s beloved children. But what is ‘common salvation’? What do you think that means?”
“Let’s understand that the word common is the English translation of the Greek word koineµs,” King replied. “The New Testament was not written in classical Greek but in koineµ Greek or common Greek, meaning that it was understood by everyone, educated and uneducated, all over the Roman Empire in the days of the apostles. When Jude said that he had intended to write of the ‘common salvation,’ he must have been referring to something that people throughout the Roman Empire would understand.”
Shiva pointed at verse 3 in his Bible. “Jude says here that he was planning on writing about some aspect of our salvation. It could have been on redemption, on the person of Christ, on sanctification, or any number of themes, but he didn’t write on any of those themes because ‘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.’ ”
Barrington nodded. “I think the thought here is that the Holy Spirit detoured Jude from writing on some theme of the faith in order that he might sound a warning concerning the impending apostasy.”
Fronk snorted. “The apostasy is a departure from the faith, that is, from the apostles’ doctrine. Apostasy was just a little cloud the size of a man’s hand in Jude’s day, but then before the Rapture, it became a storm of hurricane force that filled the land.”
“There was a compulsion, a necessity, a constraint upon Jude,” Erin pointed out. “That’s how I understand it. He said, ‘When I was about to write to you about some great doctrine which the apostles gave us, a necessity was laid upon me instead to exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith.’ ”
“Contend,” Fuller repeated. “There are expositors who suggest that this means to contend on your knees. Well, I have never been able to find any authority for that view, but the thought here is to contend without being contentious. As Paul put it, ‘And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 7’ The word contend, as Jude uses it, has in it the idea of agony. David…?”
King took it from there. “The Greek word is epagoµnizesthai, and we get our English word agony from the noun of this word. Instead of writing on some great doctrine, Jude is saying that we are to contend or defend the great doctrines of Christianity.”
“‘Contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.’ ” Shiva smiled. “I like that. Now that is a little something I like to call heavy.”
Fronk looked at him. “Oh, you and things that are heavy! Is that wrestling jargon or something? You say heavy every chance you get. Have you ever tried the light stuff? Like a feather?”
The Gatherers laughed.
“Let’s get back to the basics here,” Fuller said, shaking his head. “Talking about faith mentioned in this verse…‘The faith’ was the body of truth given once for all. In the Book of Acts it is called the apostles’ doctrine. ‘And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 8 ” Notice that the apostles’ doctrine is the first thing mentioned. Since that is number one on God’s church parade, our church is not a church unless it is doing just that. In our conclusion, let me just say this…We are told in Ephesians 4:15 to speak the truth in love or, as someone has translated it, truthing in love.” He paused. “If you are going to give out the truth, give it out in love. If you do not give it out in love, there is some question about whether or not you are actually giving out the truth. And we are to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks us…in meekness and fear. A believer should not have a short fuse and become angry when someone differs with him. Especially in these last days.”
This concludes Jude Part 1.