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You can turn in your Bibles to 
the book of Jude, the book of Jude, that's that small book 
between third John and Revelation. A small and often neglected book, 
we could say, perhaps the name of the New Testament, but as 
all 66 books of the Old and New Testament are inspired, God breathed 
of God. They ought to be looked at and 
they ought to demand our attention as the people of God, as the 
people of the book, God's holy word. So we're going to read 
all of the all of the letter of Jude, one chapter, 25 verses, 
and then we will look at the particular parts and messages 
that Jude has for us in his letter. This is Jude, beginning at verse 
one, Jude, a bond servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James 
to those who are called sanctified by God, the father and preserved 
in Jesus Christ. Mercy, peace and love be multiplied 
to you. Beloved, while I was very diligent 
to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it 
necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for 
the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 
For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were 
marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who turn the grace 
of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our 
Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to remind you, though 
you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people 
out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 
And the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left 
their own abode, He has reserved an everlasting chains under darkness 
for the judgment of the great day as Sodom and Gomorrah and 
the cities around them in a similar manner to these having given 
themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh 
are set forth as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 
Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh reject authority 
and speak evil of dignitaries. Yet Michael the archangel, in 
contending with the devil when he disputed about the body of 
Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but 
said, The Lord rebuke you. But these speak evil of whatever 
they do not know, and whatever they know naturally, like brute 
beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them, 
for they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in 
the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion 
of Korah. These are spots in your love 
feasts while they feast with you without fear, serving only 
themselves. They are clouds without water 
carried about by the winds. Late autumn trees without fruit, 
twice dead, pulled up by the roots. Raging waves of the sea 
foaming up their own shame. Wandering stars for whom is reserved 
the blackness of darkness forever. Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, 
prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes 
with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment on all, to 
convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds 
which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the 
harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These 
are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts, 
and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain 
advantage. But you, beloved, remember the 
words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, how they told you that there would be mockers in the 
last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These 
are sensual persons who cause divisions, not having the spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves 
up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves 
in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ 
unto eternal life. and on some have compassion, 
making a distinction, but others save with fear, pulling them 
out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. 
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present 
you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 
to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, 
dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Well, let 
us pray once again. Father, we thank you again that 
we can gather here, that we can read from your scriptures, that 
we can hear your word preached, Father, and we ask God now for 
the ministry of your Holy Spirit, God, that he would help preacher 
and hearer to engage in this exercise of worship, Father. 
We just ask that we would glean much from this small book in 
the way of practical Christianity, in the way of theology, and in 
all things, Lord God, that you want us to glean from your holy 
scriptures. We just pray now that you would be with us And 
that we would go from this place, having dealt with our God, with 
our Christ, and that we might go living in a manner worthy 
of his gospel. And we pray again in his most 
precious name. Amen. Well, again, this is a small 
letter. The author, of course, identifies himself, Jude. He 
identifies himself as the brother of James. Most most likely, Jude 
is, as was James, the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, or 
we could say a half brother. of our Lord Jesus Christ. This 
letter was probably written between 60 and 65 AD. There are much similarities to 
the book of 2 Peter. If you were to read 2 Peter after 
reading the book of Jude, you would notice that Peter is dealing 
with a lot of the same issues that Jude is dealing with, and 
we won't get into a lot of the speculation of who these heretics, 
who these false teachers were. We'll just look at the text and 
see what Jude has to say concerning them. Some believe they were 
a group of incipient Gnostics, not a full-blown Gnostic sect, 
but nevertheless heretics, false teachers who were spoiled, who 
were deceived by false doctrine and sought to propagate it here 
to these believers to whom Jude is writing. But what we're going 
to do is just simply look at the anatomy of this letter, the 
various parts and the messages of the book of Jude, and hopefully 
gain some knowledge and some understanding from what Jude 
is writing to us. Like any other letter that we 
have in the New Testament, there's a beginning, a middle and an 
end. And Jude, of course, while sticking to some conventions 
of letter writing, is certainly not writing a conventional letter. 
He is inspired by God. This is a letter that is God 
breathed. Jude is carried along by the Holy Spirit to to pen 
this particular letter. And when we get to the purpose 
of the letter, we will notice why he is penning or why he was 
penning this letter to these believers in his day. But first 
off, we're going to look at the salutation. Secondly, the statement 
of intent or the statement of purpose. Thirdly, the denunciation, 
description and doom of the heretics. Fourthly, positive exhortations 
to believers. And then lastly, closing words 
of praise to God. But first, we'll have a look 
at the salutation. Jude brackets his particular 
letter with good things for Christians. In a previous job, we had to 
apply what was called the sandwich technique to dealing with people 
that we were managing. And what the sandwich technique 
was, is before you introduce something negative, you would 
introduce something positive. You're doing a great job. Things 
are great. You're fantastic. You're doing 
all the things that you should be doing. primarily, and then 
you'd hit them with something negative, and then at the end 
of your discussion with them, you'd complete the sandwich by 
saying, hey, keep doing a great job, you're doing fantastic. 
Well, Jude isn't necessarily doing sales training or personnel 
management, but in a sense he is using something of a sandwich 
technique. He opens with something glorious, 
he closes with something glorious, and in between he deals with 
some negative things. Here we have Jude, first off, 
introducing himself, where the author identifies himself as 
is customary in letter writing. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus 
Christ and brother of James. Now, just a brief note on the 
use of bondservant here. That might just seem insignificant 
to you, but it is very significant, not only in Jude's relationship 
to Jesus Christ, but in the context of the letter and the heretics 
that Jude is dealing with. And just to illustrate this, 
you don't have to turn there, but in 1 Peter, Peter is dealing 
with trying to encourage persecuted Christians, trying to encourage 
them in the light of persecution, in the face of persecution, to 
endure, to act, to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel, 
even in the face of persecution. In 2 Peter, he does something 
different. He's doing what Judah's doing 
because of the activity of heretics. He's writing against those heretics, 
exhorting them to contend for the faith and to endure. One 
of the aspects of these heretics is that they reject authority. 
They don't want to have anything to do, for example, with the 
sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ. Well, in First Peter, writing 
for a different purpose, Peter introduces himself, Peter, an 
apostle of Jesus Christ. In Second Peter, when Peter is 
dealing with these heretics who reject authority, he introduces 
himself as Simon Peter, a bondservant, an apostle of Jesus Christ. What 
Jude is doing, and I think what Peter are doing, if I can argue 
this way, is that they are saying as apostles of Jesus Christ, 
as prominent figures of the church, they are slaves to their master, 
the Lord Jesus Christ. They're setting forth an example 
that they're not just believers. They're not just religious figures. No, they are bondservants, truly 
slaves to Jesus Christ, over and against the activities and 
the mindset of these heretics who were rejecting authority 
from the outset. So, Jude, that might not be first 
and foremost in his mind, but certainly applicable to identify 
himself as a bondservant of Jesus Christ, because that's true of 
all Christians. But secondly, so as to counter 
this mindset that believers are free from the rule of their master. And of course, for Christians, 
it is a joyful slavery. We rejoice in our bond servant 
status to Christ Jesus, our glorious savior. Secondly, in the salutation 
here, Jude addresses the recipients of the letter again, as is customary 
in many letters. He says, though, and he doesn't 
just he doesn't just go through the motions of addressing his 
audience. He he tells them what their state is or what their 
standing is. in Christ Jesus and under God, to those who are 
called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus 
Christ. That's a wonderful identification 
of the Jude's audience. Rather than just saying, although 
it would be fine, to the saints wherever, Jude says to those 
who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved 
in Jesus Christ. And like many other places in 
the New Testament, when the writers of the letters are addressing 
their audience, This contains the first, the middle, and the 
last of salvation. They are called, they are sanctified 
by God the Father, and they are preserved in Jesus Christ. Glorious 
theological realities. Again, Judas is just not going 
through the motions of addressing his audience for the sake of 
a salutation in a letter, but letting them know they're standing, 
rejoicing in their standing in Christ Jesus. And then thirdly, 
there's a benedictory address or well wishes or maybe better 
language, Divine blessings given to the recipients of the letter. 
Mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you. Mercy, peace and love. Yes, from God, certainly. And 
also among themselves. They are to exercise mercy. They 
are to they are to strive for peace and they are to certainly 
love one another. Now, this brings us into the 
statement of intent or the purpose of the letter, and it's very 
nice that Jude clearly sets out for us what the purpose of the 
letter is, essentially saying, this is why I'm writing to you. 
Notice the language here. First off, beloved, while I was 
very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, 
I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend 
earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to 
the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed. who long 
ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who 
turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord 
God and our Lord Jesus Christ. We have three things in here. 
First off, excuse me. First off, we have the original 
intention. Secondly, the necessitated intent. And thirdly, the reason 
for the new direction. What we have, first off, in the 
original intention is that Jude wanted to write something else 
to his audience that he actually ended up writing. Again, notice 
the language. Beloved, while I was very diligent 
to write to you concerning our common salvation, Jude had an 
original intention. Maybe he wanted to do something 
like what Paul does in Ephesians 1. He wanted to write to them 
some sort of doxological letter praising the triune God for salvation, 
for election by God the Father, for redemption by the blood of 
Jesus Christ for the sealing and the protection and the preservation 
by the Holy Spirit, perhaps a doxological treatment. Maybe he wanted to 
write something like Paul in Romans, an exposition, a long, 
rich exposition on the gospel of saving grace. But he was he 
was because of particular things that were going on in the early 
church among his recipients. He was compelled and and Things 
demanded that he take a different course of action. And that's 
what he alludes to here. He says, I found it necessary 
to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the 
faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. The 
demands of the situation here demanded that Jude put down the 
pen of exposition to pick up the pen of immediate exhortation 
and to write because circumstances demanded that these believers 
be exhorted to know these heretics, these false teachers, to identify 
them and to contend earnestly for the faith which was once 
for all delivered to the saints. This is the necessitated intent. 
Sometimes in the life of the church, in the life of a minister, 
in the life of Christians, we need to do perhaps not what we 
want to do, not what we want to do, but what we should do. 
Sometimes the normative needs to be set aside and that which 
is necessitated needs to be engaged in. Now, we see this in the life 
of a church. We've probably even seen this. 
Not probably. We have seen this in the life of our own church 
when there are certain people or certain things that that cause 
problems, that stir up issues. Well, we need to, for a time, 
set aside the normative and focus on the issues that are at hand 
and deal biblically. And by the word of God, with 
those particular issues in those situations, if everything was 
just going along swimmingly, Jude would not have had to write 
to them, exhorting them to contend earnestly for the faith, which 
was once for all delivered to the saints. But things were not 
going swimmingly for these believers that Jude is writing to. And 
so Jude has to change his course of action, his particular direction. Now, he does. Still, if we read 
the letter in the salutation and in the doxology, he still 
does get to speak about common salvation. Jude wasn't going 
away from that entirely. But nevertheless, the focus in 
the direction of the letter changes. And I want to focus just very 
briefly on this statement, the purpose of the letter, the intent 
of the letter. I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you 
to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all 
delivered to the saints. First off, it is an earnest contention. It's not just something that 
we enter into haphazardly or that we enter into passively 
or that we enter into without zeal, without love for truth, 
without some sort of active desire for an intended end. There is 
an earnest contention. It is, again, marked by a zeal, 
marked by an act of love for the truth, marked first off by 
having a knowledge for the truth where we cannot contend earnestly 
for the truth, lest we have a knowledge of it. But once we do and when 
we do, we are to with zeal, with genuine desire for the completion 
of something or for the exercising of something to contend for the 
faith. And that language of contention 
is something that we ought to pay attention to. Also, the Apostle 
Paul uses the language in Philippians 1 that we are to strive for the 
faith of the gospel, that as one man with one spirit, Christians 
are to strive for the faith of the gospel. There is to be a 
contention. And I like the language of excuse 
me, the language that Calvin uses that we have to engage in 
various contests or rather he says various contests must be 
encountered and continual warfare maintained. Just to get an idea 
of this language of contention. It's not just that you talk at 
the water cooler with your hands in your pockets and you know 
you just talk back and forth with the heretic. You know, at 
the water cooler. No, it is an active. It is a 
contest that is encountered in and it is continual warfare that 
is maintained for the sake of Christ and for the sake of his 
precious truth. And notice the aspect or a character 
of this faith, the faith which was once for all delivered to 
the saints. Yet there may not have been a 
completed canon in the time of Jude, but nevertheless, the gospel 
message was complete. They had the doctrine of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. There was nothing to be added 
to the message of Christ crucified, resurrected and ascended for 
the sake of his people. They had a message that has once 
for all been delivered to them or they had a message that had 
once for all been delivered to them. And having that body of 
completed knowledge, they were to contend for it. And that's 
what that language of faith is. It isn't the individual's ability 
or the individual's act of believing, but rather Christianity, the 
doctrine of Christ, that body of precious objective truths 
committed to the church for her love, for her knowing, for her 
protection and for her propagation. This is the same language again 
that Paul uses, striving for the faith of the gospel. It's 
all of those glorious things that we learn from God's holy 
word. And I shared this quote with 
you before. This is John Gill describing 
what the faith is. What is, if you're to ask John 
Gill, and truly, I believe, reflecting the biblical force of the message 
of what it means. John Gill, what does the faith, 
which was once for all delivered to the saints, mean? The whole 
scheme of evangelical truths to be believed, he would answer. 
such as the doctrine of the Trinity, the deity and the sonship of 
Christ, the divinity and personality of the spirit, what regards the 
state and condition of man by nature as the doctrines of the 
imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity, the corruption of 
nature and the impotence of men to that which is good, what concerns 
the acts of grace in the Father, Son and Spirit towards and upon 
the sons of men, As the doctrines of everlasting love, eternal 
election, the covenant of grace, particular redemption, justification 
by the imputed righteousness of Christ, pardon and reconciliation 
by his blood, regeneration and sanctification by the grace of 
the spirit, final perseverance, the resurrection of the dead 
and the future glory of the saints with Christ. Amen. Now, we might 
not all be able to hammer off that. Oh, what what is the faith 
once for all delivered to the saints? Well, John Gill said 
we might not be able to do that. But nevertheless, we ought not 
to roll our eyes and say, oh, yeah, whatever. When we hear 
that description of the faith of the gospel given to us. Because 
if we just if we just say, oh, you know, as long as we're all 
Trinitarian, well, we include a lot of false doctrine into 
that camp. If we say, oh, just Trinitarianism 
is Christianity, we could we could go through this particular 
list. And if we if we leave off particular doctrines that ought 
to be held on to with great rigor and strength, then we include 
in the body of believers. a lot who actually really are 
not believers. So we need to be zealous for 
we need to earnestly contend for this body of objective truth 
that has been committed to the church for propagation, for protection 
and for us to love and glory in. The doctrine of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the faith of the gospel, the truths of God's word 
are not things that were to hold on to. Limp wristedly. They're 
not things that we are to let certain doctrines slip out of 
our fingers. So as to welcome and include 
people who are truly heretics, who are truly false teachers. 
We are to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for 
all delivered to the saints. We are to know what that is, 
what it means, what the Bible teaches concerning doctrine and 
theology. We are to love it. We are to 
communicate it to those who we love, to those whom we want to 
hear it. And we are to protect it against 
those who would assail it and who would oppose it. Earnestly 
contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the 
saints. And then we have, of course, 
The reason for the new direction. The reason why Jude had to move 
on to a new a new intention or why he had to move on to a new 
purpose for writing for certain men. Verse four of Jude for certain 
men have crept in unnoticed too long ago were marked out for 
this condemnation. ungodly men who turn the grace 
of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our 
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the contention, the 
earnest contention for the gospel always comes or certainly almost 
always comes as a response to those who would oppose that glorious 
gospel, that faith, that truth of our Lord Jesus Christ. And 
so when the church knows or when someone instructs the church 
and makes them aware of this fact, The body of believers is 
to rise up, they are to grip that doctrine, and they are to 
earnestly contend, to battle, to engage in those contestations 
against those who would seek to destroy the church, who would 
seek to bring reproach upon the Lord Jesus Christ and his glorious 
gospel. And notice, they turn to grace. 
These heretics, these false teachers, These troublemakers turn the 
grace of our God into lewdness. Now, of course, what this does 
not mean is that they can somehow objectively turn the grace of 
God into lewdness. Most likely, what they are, what 
you hear is saying is that they are using the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ as a cloak for vice. One of the things that Peter, 
Peter speaks that Peter writes in his particular epistle is 
this this exact thing. Peter uses the language that 
we are not to use liberty as a cloak for vice. You need not 
turn there. But we are not to use liberty 
as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God, we are to exercise, we 
are to carry out our lives as Christians in a wholesome manner. 
This one of the things that is that these heretics, these troublemakers 
were marked by is something called anti-nomianism. You've heard 
that term before from the pulpit. Yes, a large word, but basically 
what it means is against the law or anti-law. These believers 
felt that because perhaps they were saved by grace because of 
the gospel includes that forgiveness of sins and the fact that Jesus 
Christ died for sinners. Well, then we can now exercise 
our lives in a manner of sin, because grace has covered that 
they did not. They did not take the lesson. 
They did not take the exhortations of the of the apostles of Peter 
and Paul, for example, who would say, yes, you have been saved, 
but you now need to live your lives in a manner worthy of the 
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we see when we read 
some of these epistles. If we if we look at the book 
of Ephesians, Paul writes this wonderful doxological praise, 
a wonderful praise text regarding the salvation of a great triune 
God. And he writes about Jew and Gentile 
inclusion. Jew and Gentile are now one new 
man in Christ Jesus. He talks about the grace of God, 
that you're saved by grace through faith and not of your works. 
And then he gets to the fact that because of all of those 
things, you are now to walk in a manner worthy of your calling. 
Well, these people turned the grace of the God or they turned 
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ into a reason or used 
it as a cloak for vice, for lewdness, for sin, for all manner of iniquity. And in doing so, Jude writes 
here that they deny the only Lord and our Lord Jesus Christ. 
If we say we give Jesus Christ some sort of lip service, And 
we say, yes, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But then we 
go out and we commit all manner of iniquity actively. Then we 
do deny our Lord. We deny the only Lord God and 
our Lord Jesus Christ, because by our conduct, we show that 
we are not his. And so these these false teachers 
were turning the grace of God into lewdness and denying the 
only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ, which brings us thirdly 
to this, the denunciation description and doom of the heretics, the 
denunciation, description and doom of the heretics. First, 
though, if we look at verse verses five to seven, Jude calls to 
remembrance the historical historical examples of divine judgment. 
And he does this for a few particular reasons, I believe. But notice 
what Jude does here. He calls to readers remembrance 
divine judgment carried out in history. But I want to remind 
you, he says, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having 
saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward, destroyed 
those who did not believe and the angels who did not keep their 
proper domain but left their own abode. He has reserved an 
everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great 
day as Sodom and Gomorrah in the cities around them in a similar 
manner to these having given themselves over to sexual immorality 
and gone after strange flesh are set forth as an example suffering 
the vengeance of eternal fire. So what Jude is doing here, before 
he gets to an act of denunciation, although implicitly here there 
is one, but before he gets to denouncing these false teachers 
and these heretics, he brings forth a reminder. And it's a 
threefold reminder, which on a side note is very interesting. 
Throughout the book of Jude, we have a lot of threes. I don't 
want to attach too much significance to this, but nevertheless, very 
quickly, it is very interesting. Threes in the book of Jude, verse 
1A, a threefold identification of himself, Jude. Verse 1B, a 
threefold identification of his audience. Verse 4, a threefold 
identification of the ungodly men. Verses 5 to 7, we just read 
it, a threefold reminder of divine judgment. Verse 11, three examples 
of those who led people into transgression. And verse 14, 
another threefold description. of the ungodly men. And there 
probably are more, but that's just a simple, simple outline 
of threes in the book of Jude. It's very interesting. Maybe 
you did that to make it easy. Sometimes preachers do that from 
the pulpit. Three points tonight will be such and such and such. 
But nevertheless, here, Jude gives a threefold reminder of 
divine judgment in history. And I believe he gives this reminder 
of divine judgment to serve more than one purpose. First off, 
it serves as a warning to the false teachers and anyone who 
would follow their doctrine. God in the past, God in history, 
has not held back justice. God has exercised justice. He's 
not unjust. He's not arbitrary. He exercises 
justice according to his righteousness, according to his holiness, according 
to his holy law. And so Jude is bringing out the 
fact using this reminder as a warning that God has judged in the past. God does not. God is not soft. God does not pass over. God does 
not relax justice. Rather, according to his wisdom, 
according to his sovereignty, he carries it out. and he has 
done so in time and in history and he will exact his divine 
prerogative in eternal condemnation. when people transgress his holy 
law. So he first off is warning these 
by way of reminder. Secondly, Jude's believing audience 
was to be reassured that there was nothing new under the sun. 
They there are these these false teachers among them, these terrorists, 
these troublemakers, but they are to understand and to somehow 
in a strange way, but in a in a righteous way, Be reminded 
of the fact, or be assured of the fact, that there is nothing 
new under the sun. The godly throughout history, 
throughout the history of the church, have been beset by the 
ungodly and their activities. Ever since Adam, in that first 
day of the transgression, evil has been in this world. Sin and 
sinner have been in this world and against the people of God. 
They exact their particular activities and these believers that Judah's 
writing to be writing to her to be reassured of that. Nothing 
new. There is nothing new under the 
sun. You are going through what God's people have been going 
through since the beginning of sin. And thirdly, they are to 
recognize and be confident in the fact of the inevitable doom 
of the wicked. Because Jude begins with this 
language in verse 8, likewise also these dreamers. So he reminds 
them of divine justice in the past and then he says at verse 
8, likewise also these ungodly men who have crept in unnoticed. But they are to recognize and 
to be confident in the fact of the inevitable doom of the wicked. 
Now they are not to have some sort of wretched fascination 
with the destruction of people. But nevertheless, they are to 
be they are to be confident that God will exercise justice according 
to his will. You can turn to Philippians for 
a moment. Philippians, chapter one, just to understand something 
of this. Philippians, chapter one. In something very similar to 
the book of Jude. I'll begin reading in verse twenty 
seven. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, 
so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear 
of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, 
striving together for the faith of the gospel. And notice here, 
verse 28, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, 
which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation and that 
from God, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not 
only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, having 
the same conflict which you saw in me. And now here is in me. 
I would say that that Philippians 127 to 29 is sort of a good summary 
of the book of Jude, if I can. If I can offer that up there 
to strive for the faith of the gospel, they're not to be in 
any way terrified by their adversaries. That is, to them, a proof of 
perdition to their adversaries. But to the believers, it is proof 
of salvation and that from God. So we see here that they can 
gain confidence from the fact that there will be a destruction 
of the ungodly, whether whether that comes, whether that comes 
now in their own time or in the future judgment. Nevertheless, 
Because of the fact that these were being assailed, that the 
Philippian believers were being assailed by those who opposed 
them, that was proof of their destruction, their condemnation, 
the fact that God would render justice upon them for hating 
God and for hating his people. So we have the fact here, again, 
thirdly, that they were the believers were to recognize and be confident 
in the fact of the inevitable doom of the wicked. And Jude 
will bring that out, that the doom of these ungodly men who 
have crept in unnoticed is inevitable. Next notice, verses 8 to 10, 
we have Jude connecting the previous historical examples with the 
current activity of these particular heretics. Likewise, also these 
dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority and speak evil of dignitaries. So Jude is now describing some 
of the activities, some of the sins, some of the transgressions 
of these particular ungodly men. First off, they defile the flesh. Most likely, this is a reference 
to sexual immorality, to sexual perversion, perhaps even homosexuality, 
because Jude likens them unto Sodom and Gomorrah, who went 
after strange flesh. These these people who had crept 
in unnoticed, remember, turn the grace of God into into lewdness 
and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So one 
of the things that marks these ungodly men was sexual immorality. They reject authority. They reject 
authority. We already brought this out in 
the beginning. When Jude identifies himself as a bondservant of Jesus 
Christ, he may very well be writing against those who would say that 
they aren't bondservants to no one. Although, of course, they 
would be bondservants or slaves to sin. But here we have a characterization 
of these ungodly men. A second one, they reject authority. 
And this is most likely a reference to the fact that they reject 
the sovereign lordship and authority of our Savior and King and Lord, 
the Lord Jesus Christ. When that is a simple and an 
obvious aspect of the center, not touched by the grace, the 
amazing and victorious grace of God, they reject the authority 
of Christ. We could look back to Psalm 2, 
where it's not just the kings and those who are in authority 
who want to cut off. the bonds and the courts that 
God and his Christ have set up according to their sovereign 
will. But it is also anyone who would follow after those kings 
and those who are in authority who seek to do that, who do not 
kiss the sun, lest he be angry and they perish in the way. So 
they reject the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jude has 
already said this in saying that they deny him previously in verse 
four, and they speak evil of dignitaries as we move through 
the book of Jude. Thankfully, I won't be. I won't 
be getting into a lot of detail with a lot of these things because 
there are some difficult words, difficult phrases, difficult 
metaphors. But I think what we're getting 
here when it says that when Jude writes that they speak evil of 
dignitaries, the following verse tells us probably what that is. 
Because he writes, Yet Michael the archangel, in contending 
with the devil, when he disputed the body of Moses, dared not 
bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, The Lord 
rebuke you. So these dreamers, these ungodly 
men who had crept in unnoticed, speaking evil of dignitaries, 
that's probably a reference to unwholesome and uncomely mockery 
against fallen angels, if we're reading verse 9 properly after 
that. Now, does that mean that fallen angels, does that mean 
that the devil doesn't deserve a reviling accusation that there's 
some sort of worthiness or value to them? That's probably not 
what Jude is arguing here. What Jude is arguing here is 
that we ought to just simply commit these things unto God. 
The Lord rebuked you. That's what these these ungodly 
men were probably entertaining. They were engaging in this unwholesome, 
this sinful, this wretched reviling of these dignitaries or these 
angels. Now this is something that you 
know you might be going through some of this and all none of 
this is really prevalent or none of this is relevant to the modern 
church. Well I believe this does take place today maybe maybe 
a little more a little more innocently. But we don't need to if we can 
take it if we can take an application from this to the modern church. 
We don't need to choreograph dances. And we don't need to 
write lyrics for songs that have Christians bouncing around in 
their seats, mocking the devil and mocking fallen angels. That's 
just that's just silly. What we need to do is follow 
the example that Jude sets forth here in Michael, the archangel. 
The Lord rebuke you when we read, when we read throughout the Holy 
Scriptures is what what our response is to be to the activity of the 
devil or to the devil himself. It is that we are just simply 
to resist him. And if we are to verbalize anything, 
we are to verbalize what Jude gives us here. The Lord rebuked 
you. We don't have to create a two minute dance and teach 
kids how to, you know, how to, you know, mock the devil and 
tell him to sit on a tap. We don't really have to do that. 
We just have to say the Lord rebuked you. But, you know, again, 
people doing it today are a little more innocent. But but if you've 
ever and if you've ever been within the context or if you've 
ever been to a very hyper charismatic environment or church or service 
or tent meeting, you can see this going on. And it's just 
it is very silly. We need to exercise some Christian 
professionalism. If I can use that language and 
simply rebuke the Lord or sorry, I apologize, rebuke the devil 
and any of these sorts of things with the statement of Jude. the 
Lord rebuke you. Moving on then to verse 11, Jude 
now pronounces a woe, an imprecation, a curse of God upon these ungodly 
men and lumps them in by using a threefold example, lumps them 
in with three men who led people astray, who led people into sin 
and into transgression. Verse 11, woe to them, for they 
have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error 
of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. So, 
again, Jude has already brought forth a divine example or a historical 
example of divine judgment. He has said that these ungodly 
men will likewise be the recipients of that divine judgment. And 
now he pronounces a woe on them, saying that they have gone in 
the way of Cain, Balaam and Korah. They are rebellious. They are 
greedy. They are ungodly. They are sinners and They will 
incur the wrath of God. They will incur that they will 
be the recipients, the righteous, the rightful recipients of God's 
divine justice. And Jude continues here with 
very interesting language, with very poetic and wordy language 
describing these particular heretics. Notice the language beginning 
at verse 12. These are spots in your love 
feasts while they feast with you without fear, serving only 
themselves. They are clouds without water 
carried about by the winds. Late autumn trees without fruit, 
twice dead, pulled up by the roots. Raging waves of the sea, 
foaming up their own shame. Wandering stars, for whom is 
reserved the blackness of darkness forever. That's not a very good 
description. If you're of that particular 
camp of these heretics, not you out here, but if anybody reading 
this were, they would not feel very attractive, very handsome. 
at all. This is quite an indictment of 
these people who were active in the time of Jude and in the 
time of his recipients. And I believe what Jude is saying 
here, if we can use words to sum it up, is that they are dangerous, 
they are immoral, they are worthless, and they are untrustworthy. What 
do I mean by that? Well, to sort of decipher some 
of this language, These are spots in your love feasts while they 
feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. First 
off, just the simple sin of selfishness. They feast with you without fear, 
serving only themselves. We can think of first Corinthians 
11 as something of a of another example in another book of Holy 
Scripture, the New Testament. But nevertheless, here, what 
does it mean for these to be dangerous? Well, this word translated 
spots. is often used in extra-biblical 
literature to refer to hidden reefs. Merchant mariners might 
think they were in calm waters as they're traveling through 
the ocean or some part of the sea, and then they hit a rocky 
reef or a hidden reef of rocks. Well, Jude is most likely saying 
here, if we take that understanding in that language, that these 
are dangerous teachers. You might think that you're in 
calm water. They did creep in unnoticed. 
Excuse me, but there are hidden reefs beneath this seemingly 
calm water. And these false teachers are 
dangerous. They are they are immoral. They are late autumn trees without 
fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots. They if the previous 
language that Judah has given us is any indication, the statement 
that they are immoral is an understatement. They are again, they are late 
autumn trees. without fruit, twice dead, pulled 
up by the roots. They are a body of immoral heretics, 
again turning the grace of God into lewdness and denying the 
only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They are worthless, raging 
waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame. They are untrustworthy, 
wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 
Now, if this is what is in the back of Jude's minds, of course, 
navigating by wandering stars or by moving celestial bodies 
was not the most accurate way of getting from point A to point 
B. to point C. Merchant mariners, for example, 
would not be wise to plot their course by wandering stars, but 
rather by fixed celestial bodies. So these false teachers, these 
heretics, were like wandering stars. And to fix yourselves, 
believers, Christians those called sanctified and preserved to align 
yourselves to their teaching is to align yourselves to untrustworthy 
or like aligning yourselves to untrustworthy stars moving celestial 
bodies for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. So Jude paints a picture here 
and he pulls no punches. It is not a pretty picture. These 
heretics, these false teachers are ungodly and they are ungodly 
in a fourfold manner according to the next set of verses. Now 
we get to the fact of the doom of these particular heretics, 
these ungodly men. Notice the repetition of the 
word ungodly as Jude continues to paint this picture. Now Enoch, 
the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, 
Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints to execute 
judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of 
all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly 
way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken 
against him. So again, Jude does not paint 
a pretty picture. He indicts these men with an 
ugly picture of their state, their activities, and certainly 
of their upcoming judgment. They will not enter into eternal 
bliss. Rather, they will be recipients 
of justice, of judgment, of condemnation. When the Lord comes with ten 
thousands of his saints to execute judgment on all and to convict 
all who are ungodly. And so Jude, again, describes 
these heretics. He denunciates them. He denounces 
their activities. He describes them. And then he 
states the fact that they will surely meet their doom by the 
righteous exercise of the Lord in his justice. And he reminds 
them again, at verse 16, he gives another description of their 
activities, but he reminds his believers again. And in that 
we have good instruction. Let's read this, verses 16 to 
19. These are grumblers, complainers walking according to their own 
lusts, and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain 
advantage. Paul and Peter write about these 
particular types of people or this characteristic of the ungodly. They are selfish. They're walking 
according to their own lusts. They're grumblers and complainers, 
never satisfied because they are in error, because they are 
deceived and deceiving. And they mouth great swelling 
words, flattering people to gain advantage and activity of the 
center of the false teacher. They might have they might be 
able to articulate sentences. They can string sentences together, 
have the appearance, the semblance of wisdom. But nevertheless, 
their words are empty and they are active in flattering people. 
to gain advantage. And then Jude reminds them here. 
But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before 
by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told you that 
there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according 
to their own ungodly lusts. This is instructive for us because 
Jude directs us and we ought to always be directed to apostolic 
testimony. When we when we are faced with 
problems, when we are faced with trials, when we are faced with 
heretics, when we are faced with those who oppose Christ, his 
church and his gospel, we are to go and to remember or go to 
and remember the words spoken before by the apostles of our 
Lord Jesus Christ were to go to the word of God. were to go 
to the scriptures in order to battle these particular things. 
And Jude instructs them well and directs them well to go to 
a destination where you cannot air the inspired word of God 
again. But you, beloved, remember the 
words which were spoken before. by the apostles of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Not only is this instructive 
in telling where the believer is to go, but also here, Jude, 
it serves as a reminder again that there is nothing new under 
the sun or that they ought to have known these things, that 
these were to come among them. They were to be watchful. If 
this is any indication to us, this language, while they feast 
with you without fear in your in your love feast, they were 
present at the love feasts of these particular believers. And 
the believers were eating with them and hearing them and talking 
to them. So this is something of an indictment. Not only should 
they have been watchful, but they should have known while 
they were among them that they were among them and sought to 
kick them out of their particular camp. But you, beloved, remember, 
How they told you that there would be mockers in the last 
time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. And 
then another description before we move on to the exhortation 
and close. These are sensual persons who 
cause divisions, not having the spirit. Jude here indicts these 
as not having the spirit. And then he will move on to believers 
who do have the spirit exhorting them. And this is where we get 
to the to the closing or the end of this sandwich technique, 
if we can use that concerning the book of Jude. We have Jude 
now closing with good things. He is described. He is denounced. 
He has spoken of the doom of these heretics. And now he gets 
to positive exhortations. for the believers that he is 
writing to. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your 
most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves 
in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ 
unto eternal life. He has already spoken to them 
as those who are sanctified by God the Father. Now he is exhorting 
them to be sanctified by God the Father or to actively be 
engaging in growing in the grace and in the knowledge of their 
Lord Jesus Christ building yourselves up on your most holy faith. And 
contrary to these false teachers who had crept in unnoticed these 
ungodly men they are to pray in the Holy Spirit because that 
is only how true prayer can be rendered unto God. This isn't 
that they were somehow supposed to have a higher level of prayer 
than just regular Christians that you know Christians generally 
speaking pray but you know hyper super elite Christians pray in 
the Holy Spirit. speak tongues and all that nonsense. 
No, what he is saying is that contrary to these heretics who 
do not have the Spirit, verse 19, you pray in the Holy Spirit 
because that's what Christians do. When we pray in the Holy 
Spirit or when we pray, we are praying in the Holy Spirit because 
he is with us, guiding us, instructing us by and with the Word of God. And then notice again something 
of that Philippians 2, 12 and 13. Keep yourselves in the love 
of God. This isn't a verse, of course, 
that would support the fact that believers in and of themselves 
need to keep themselves and maintain their faith. in Christ, no rather 
it is that Philippians 2, 12 and 13. Work out your own salvation 
with fear and trembling, for it is God that is at work in 
you, both to will and to do, for his good pleasure. Keep yourselves 
in the love of God. Isn't that wonderful? In the 
love of God. And then there is hope. There 
is hope. An aspect of Christian living is that there is a looking 
forward unto that day of redemption. We have been redeemed, but there 
is also that day of redemption looking for the mercy of our 
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And then something that 
the church ought to be active in. Something that the church 
ought to be active in. We ought not just to be concerned 
with ourselves, but rather we are to put the interests of others. 
Ahead of those of our own and on some have compassion making 
a distinction But others save with fear pulling them out of 
the fire hating even the garment defiled by the flesh I think 
what we can also take from this brethren is an example that we 
do need to deal with brothers and sisters in Christ differently 
we can't just we can't just hammer everybody with you know, you're 
horrible repent and Jesus Christ, you know, we need we need to 
we need to see that people need to be dealt with in different 
manners on some have compassion, making a distinction, but others 
save with fear. Some people will require because 
of their disposition, because of their because of the you know, 
the uniqueness of their particular situation, they would need us 
to exercise a level of compassion. We need to speak lightly to them. 
We need to speak slowly to them. Yes, speaking the word of God. 
Yes, approaching it biblically, but speaking with kind words, 
speaking with compassion on others. We need to perhaps bring things 
a little more heavily to them. There may need to be an open 
and a vocal and a louder command to repent, to turn from their 
activity in sin and to turn unto the Lord Jesus Christ, to return 
to the path, to the way everlasting. There are different ways that 
we need to handle different people. We again, I've run across some 
people who just, you know, very strong headed. No, we need to 
just deal with everybody one way. They just need to believe 
and repent. Well, there are ways, as Jude says, that we at times 
when we need to make distinctions, we need to be compassionate on 
some others. We need to save with fear, pulling 
them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the 
flesh and the closing doxology. A wonderful doxology that we've 
read many days as a closing benediction, closing words at the end of the 
service. Notice the language Jude uses 
here. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and 
to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with 
exceeding joy. To God, our Savior, who alone 
is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and 
forever. Amen. Wonderful language that 
Jude closes with. Jude gives us or writes of the 
God who preserves, the God who justifies, the God of salvation, 
the God deserving of praise and honor, the God of sovereign authority. And he writes of the fact that 
God, he is all these things eternally. A wonderful doxology of praise. Jude began with Wonderful salvation 
theology concerning the recipients of the letter. He closes directing 
them to the God who is worthy of honor, who is worthy of all 
praise. And just very quickly in closing. 
Just a few things that we can gain from this, and I will be 
brief. First, we are to rejoice in our salvation. We get this 
clearly from the salutation and closing doxology. We are the 
called. We are the sanctified. We are 
the preserved. And we are also those who Jude 
writes to here when he says now to him who is able to keep you 
from stumbling. That's a glorious thing. We are 
not preserved because of our wholesome activity. We are preserved 
because of the one who is able to keep us from stumbling. We 
are to rejoice in our salvation. Secondly, we're to take doctrine 
seriously and contend for it. We get this from the statement 
of purpose. We are to contend earnestly for 
the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 
We are to know troublemakers when we see them and we are to 
handle them. Making a distinction, perhaps 
as we deal with believers, we make a distinction as we deal 
with those who are unbelievers. We need to make a distinction. 
We don't compromise the truth, but we can deal with some people 
with a little more grace and reverence with others. Perhaps 
they need something of a heavy hand because they are opposing 
the living and true God, the God of the armies. of Israel. 
Thirdly we are to be comforted when we are tried by our enemies 
by the fact that first there is nothing new under the sun 
and secondly that their destruction the knowledge or knowing that 
their destruction is inevitable. We are not to be terrified by 
our adversaries. Paul writes. We are to rather 
be encouraged that that is evidence of their perdition and it is 
evidence to us of our salvation and that from God and we are 
to know again that there is nothing new under the sun. What what 
we are going through now if we are beset by trial by evil by 
sinners we can rest assured that believers prior to us have have 
been opposed have been assailed have been tried. Fourthly, for 
the unbeliever, there is a coming judgment and you need to repent. 
When Jude is writing here of this prophecy that the Lord will 
be coming with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment 
on all. He is not just saying that those 
in Jude's time who were heretics and false teachers will be the 
recipients of divine justice. If you are here today and you 
don't know Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, you will also be 
the recipient of that divine justice and it will not be a 
good day for you. And your current state, your 
current lot is not good. If you're here today, this is 
for child. This is for adult. If you are not in Christ Jesus, 
believing in him, you need to repent. You need to believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That's the simplicity, 
not not belittling the gospel, but the simplicity of the gospel. 
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Glorious 
truth. And finally, we need to be mindful 
of our brethren. We need to be mindful of our 
brethren. We can't just look away when we see some who are 
perhaps entrapped in some sort of heresy, some sort of danger, 
some sort of bad doctrine. We need to have compassion on 
them, making distinction. But on others, we need to save 
with fear, pulling them out of the fire. We need to be watchful. 
We need to observe, not in a condescending way, not in a sneaky espionage 
way, but we need to in a loving manner observe our brethren. 
and seek to have compassion on them and seek to pull them out 
of the fire perhaps so that they might walk in the way everlasting 
afresh, anew and strong. Well, why don't we pray? Father, 
we thank you so much for your holy word. We thank you for what 
it tells us, Lord God. We thank you for what we can 
take from it. We thank you, Lord God. And we 
just pray that we would heed the exhortation of Jude. We pray 
that we would rejoice in the fact that we are called. We are 
sanctified. We are preserved in Christ Jesus. 
We ask, Father, that you would help us to to earnestly contend 
for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 
And we pray that we would do so. We would do so not in a heavy-handed 
manner or an offensive manner, Lord God, but that with grace 
and reverence and fear we might seek to defend your glorious 
truth. We just pray, Father, that you would help us to love 
each other, that we would demonstrate and show that Christian love, 
having compassion towards one another, Father, that we would 
be strong in the truth, that we would love each other, and 
that we would seek to go from here doing and acting and thinking 
and speaking according to your most holy word. And we just pray 
that you'd go with each and every one of us now, that you would 
help us, Father, to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of our great 
Christ and of your glorious gospel. And it's in the name of our Savior 
and Redeemer that we pray. Amen.