Leavener
  • Home
  • About
  • Crisis Intervention
  • Disaster Relief
  • Community of Believers

Jude 1:1-25

4/28/2024

 
Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Jude
00:00
00:00
00:00

Rusty's Notes

JUNE 29, 67 AD - Paul and Peter Are Martyred
  • According to early church tradition, this is the day that Paul is beheaded in Rome during Nero’s reign.
  • Around the same time, Peter is found confounding the magic of Simon Magus, who is favored by Nero.
  • Peter is imprisoned and leads a captain of the guard to Christ, along with many others.
  • Peter is scourged, then crucified upside down because he does not feel worthy to die as did his Lord.
  • Aristarchus from Thessalonica, Erastus from Corinth, Trophimus from Ephesus, Joseph Barsabbas from Jerusalem, and Ananias of Damascus, along with many other Christians, are all martyred under Nero’s reign in A.D. 68
  • Andrew, the apostle and brother of Peter, is crucified in Patras, Greece on an x-shaped cross.49
  • Luke is crucified with him.
  • After preaching the gospel in India, Armenia, Southern Arabia, and Ethiopia, Bartholomew (also called Nathanael) one of the Twelve, is beaten and crucified in Albanopolis, Armenia.
  • John Mark brings the gospel to Alexandria, Egypt.
  • While there, he enrages a mob by telling them that the pagan god, Serapis, is worthless.
  • Mark is dragged with a rope around his neck through the streets by horses and then imprisoned for the night.
  • The following morning, the same ordeal is repeated until his death.
 
Nero and Vespasian June 9, 68
  • After fourteen years of Nero’s reign, the Roman people can no longer tolerate their cruel and embarrassing emperor.
  • So they revolt against Nero.
  • The Senate declares him to be a public enemy of the State, and soldiers pursue him.
  • Upon hearing this, Nero hides at the home of one of his freedmen in a villa outside of Rome where he commits suicide.
  • His famous last words are: “What an artist the world is losing in me.”
 
Crisis in the Churches of the Dispersion
  • False teachers have subtly infiltrated the dispersed Jewish churches and are spreading a false doctrine that perverts God’s grace to be license to sin.
  • These false brethren have successfully disguised themselves as true believers and have managed to partake of the Lord’s Supper with the church.
  • These false teachers can be described as follows: They are distorting the gospel by advocating sexual license under the banner of God’s grace.
  • They are “dreamers,” seeing visions that originate from themselves and not from the Lord.
  • They slander angels, which means they despise the Law of Moses that was delivered by angels.
  • They indulge their own needs when eating the Lord’s Supper.
  • They are grumblers and malcontents, pursuing their own will rather than God’s.
  • They are arrogant and use flattery to take advantage of God’s people.
  • They are scoffers, laughing at moral purity and Divine judgment.
  • They are devoid of the Spirit of God and provoke divisions in the church.
  • Jude possesses a copy of Peter’s second letter.
  • In it, he sees the fulfillment of Peter’s prediction about the coming of false teachers coming to pass before his eyes.54
  • Jude, the half-brother of Jesus and brother of “James the Just,” is burdened about this problem.
 
JUDE WRITES THE LETTER OF JUDE Year: A.D. 68
  • To: The dispersed Jewish Christians in and outside of Palestine Provocation: Jude exposes and announces condemnation on the false teachers who have infiltrated the churches.
  • He also reminds and exhorts the believers to return to and contend for the original faith that the apostles delivered to them.… [1]
 
GREETING
JUDE

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James:
  • Jude reveals himself to be a bond-servant of God, or a willing servant of God, because of His mercy and grace.
  • Jude, being the brother of James, was likely also the brother of Jesus.
To those who are the called, loved, by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.
  • God the Father is keeping all of His children for Jesus Christ.
  • This is a passage that speaks very clearly of eternal security.
  • Believers are kept by God and offered as a gift to Jesus.
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
  • A true knowledge of God results in mercy and grace from God, which breeds peace and contentment within the lives of believers.
  • We are dearly loved by God who has done everything we need for a safe and secure salvation.
 
JUDE’S PURPOSE IN WRITING
3 Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all.
  • Jude wants his readers to fight for truth because it is the very message from God to the world.
  • This Gospel of grace is what God has handed down to the saints for delivery to the world.
  • Jude is concerned about the message of God’s grace being perverted and leading people to deception.
4 For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago,, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.
  • The false teachers encouraged a life of celebration of sin and also had some form of denial of Jesus’s identity.
  • All false teachings, as defined by the Bible, deny some aspect of Jesus, and encourage godless behavior.
  • In this context the godless behavior is abusing grace through sinful behavior.
  • The false teachers were likely appealing to eternal security as a reason to sin all-the-more.
  • Such teachings are often the result of having heard the truth about God’s grace in Christ.
  • If God’s grace is truly free, then it can naturally be twisted to encourage sin.
  • A legalistic Gospel would never yield false teachings.
 
APOSTATES: PAST AND PRESENT
5 Now I want to remind you, although you came to know all these things once and for all, that Jesus saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe;
  • The believers knew the Gospel and knew God at the core of their beings.
  • Jude is appealing to this reality as he reminds God’s children about the truth.
  • The Gospel of grace is indeed free, according to James, but it will never lead to sinful behavior.
  • God is not a fan of sin which is precisely why Jude recounts the Old Testament story of the Exodus.
6 and the angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deep darkness for the judgment on the great day. 7 Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns committed sexual immorality and perversions, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
  • Sodom and Gomorrah have been personified as the epitome of sexual immorality.
  • These two cities are an example of what happens to those who reject the Gospel in general, and the false teachers encouraging sin in particular.
  • There is an eternal punishment which awaits all who are not in Christ through faith.
8 In the same way these people—relying on their dreams—defile their flesh, reject authority, and slander glorious ones. 9 Yet when Michael the archangel
  • The false teachers seem fascinated by communication with angelic beings.
  • Yet these teachers know nothing of true angels or demons.
was disputing with the devil in an argument about Moses’s body,
  • No Old Testament data, or New Testament data, testifies to the argument mentioned in this passage.
  • We do know that Moses died and was buried, so perhaps Satan accused Moses after his death.
  • Satan may have been arguing that Moses was not deserving of resurrection.
he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
  • Michael did not appeal to his position as an archangel to rebuke Satan.
  • Instead, Michael appealed to the Lord’s power to fight the devil.
10 But these people blaspheme anything they do not understand. And what they do understand by instinct—like irrational animals—by these things they are destroyed.
  • The false teachers are acting as authoritative representatives of God, but they actually do not know anything.
  • If one invests in their message, they will find only immorality and discontent.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, have plunged into Balaam’s error for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
  • The “way of Balaam” is merchandising one’s gifts and ministry just for the purpose of making money.
  • It is using the spiritual to gain the material.[2]
  • The story of Core (Korah) is found in Numbers 16, and it too centers on rebellion against authority.
  • Korah and his followers resented the leadership of Moses and dared God to do anything about their rebellion.[3]
  • All 3… the tragedy of rejecting authority.
 
THE APOSTATES’ DOOM
12 These people are dangerous reefs at your love feasts as they eat with you without reverence. They are shepherds who only look after themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; trees in late autumn—fruitless, twice dead and uprooted.
  • Jude is clearly not speaking about Christians.
  • This presents an important factor in who the Bible labels as false teachers.
  • True biblical false teachers are never true Christians.
13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.
14 It was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly concerning all the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against him.”
  • All that we know about Enoch from Scripture is found in Genesis 5:18–24; Hebrews 11:5; and these two verses in Jude.
  • He is called “the seventh from Adam” to identify him as the godly Enoch, since Cain had a son of the same name (Gen. 4:17).[4]
  • Bible scholars tell us that this quotation is from an apocryphal book called The Book of Enoch.
  • The fact that Jude quoted from this nonbiblical book does not mean the book is inspired and trustworthy, any more than Paul’s quotations from the Greek poets put God’s “seal of approval” on everything they wrote.
  • The Spirit of God led Jude to use this quotation and make it a part of the inspired Scriptures.[5]
  • All who reject Christ will experience judgment and conviction.
  • Jude, therefore, believes these false teachers to be under condemnation and awaiting an everlasting darkness.
16 These people are discontented grumblers, living according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage.
17 But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Notice that Jude differentiates between those false teachers and believers.
  • Jude has not been addressing believers in a condemning way.
  • Instead, he recognizes their holiness in the midst of the false teachers and insists that they were even warned of such teachers.
18 They told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.” 19 These people create divisions and are worldly, not having the Spirit.
  • The false teachers did not have the Spirit of God within them.
  • Therefore, they were not Christians, nor were they led by the Spirit.
  • This would have been critical for the early church to grasp so they did not embrace the lies being taught.
 
EXHORTATION AND BENEDICTION
20 But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith,
  • The Gospel builds up God’s children.
  • Whereas it condemns all who reject Christ, it continuously encourages and matures Christians.
praying in the Holy Spirit,
  • This is not speaking of talking in some sort of mystical tongue.
  • Instead, Jude is describing the location of the Christian in Christ and calling Christians to pray to God with their location in mind.
21 keep yourselves in the love of God,
  • Jude encourages Christians to remind themselves constantly of God’s love.
  • It is God’s love that will always lead us into a deeper understanding of the truth.
waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. 22 Have mercy on those who waver; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
  • Jude is making it clear that there are different types of people.
  • Some, likely believers, doubt aspects of God’s truth.
  • These people are to be encouraged through gentleness and patience.
  • Others, who do not know God, are to be loved to Christ that they may be rescued from the fire.
24 Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.[6]
  • Jude ends with an encouragement to Christians.
  • Our salvation and security are God’s problem and agenda.
  • It is God’s job to keep us spiritually safe and to help us persevere in the Spirit.
  • God is able to make us stand in the midst of any attack of the world, and also at the final judgment.
  • Christians will stand proudly in the love of Christ as God judges all who have rejected His Son.
  • This includes the false teachers mentioned in this letter.[7]

[1] Viola, Frank. The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: An Extraordinary Guide to Understanding the New Testament. Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 554.
[3] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 555.
[4] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 557.
[5] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 557.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jud 1–25.
[7] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. Jude.

    Categories

    All
    12 Tribes
    1 Corinthians
    1 John
    1 Kings
    1 Peter
    1 Samuel
    1st Missionary Journey
    1 Thessalonians
    1 Timothy
    2 Corinthians
    2 John
    2 Kings
    2nd Missionary Journey
    2 Peter
    2 Samuel
    2 Thessalonians
    2 Timothy
    3 John
    3rd Missionary Journey
    4th Missionary Journey
    Aaron
    Abide
    Abraham
    Accountability
    Acts
    Adam & Eve
    Addiction
    Amos
    Angels
    Anxiety
    Apostles
    Ascension
    Assurance
    Atonement
    Baptism
    Barak
    Barnabas
    Bathsheba
    Behavior
    Bible
    Bible Stories
    Bible Stories
    Blessings
    Blood
    Boaz
    Camp
    Child Of God
    Children
    Chosen
    Christmas
    Church
    Church Discipline
    Circumcision
    Clean
    Colossians
    Comfort
    Community
    Confess
    Conscience
    Contentment
    Courage
    Covenants
    Creation
    Crowns
    Crucifixion
    Daniel
    David
    Day Of The Lord
    Deacon
    Death
    Deborah
    Demon Possession
    Dinah
    Disciples
    Discipline
    Division
    Divorce
    Easter
    Elders
    Elect
    Elijah
    Elisha
    Emotions
    Employer/Employee
    Encouragement
    End Times
    Enoch
    Ephesians
    Esau
    Esther
    Exchanged Life
    Exodus
    Expectations
    Ezekiel
    Ezra / Nehemiah
    Faith
    Faithfulness
    False Teachers
    False Teaching
    Family
    Favoritism
    Fear
    Finances
    Flesh
    Flood
    Focus
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Free Will
    Friendship
    Fruit Of The Spirit
    Galatians
    Genesis
    Gentiles
    Gideon
    Giving
    Glory
    Godliness
    God's Will
    Goliath
    Gospel
    Gospels
    Government
    Grace
    Hannah
    Happiness
    Healing
    Hebrews
    High Priest
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Spirit
    Hope
    Hosea
    Humanity
    Humbleness
    Hurting
    Husband
    Identity
    Immorality
    Integrity
    Interviews
    Isaac
    Israel
    Jacob
    James
    Jeremiah
    Jericho
    Jesus
    Jewish Feasts
    John
    Jonah
    Jonathan
    Joseph
    Joshua
    Joy
    Jude
    Judges
    Justification
    Kings Of Israel
    Lamentations
    Lawsuits
    Law Vs Grace
    Leah
    Leavener
    Legalism
    Leper
    Leviticus
    Life
    Listen
    Lord's Supper
    Love
    Luke
    Malachi
    Mark
    Marriage
    Martyrs
    Matthew
    Melchizedek
    Mental Health
    Mentoring
    Mercy
    Messianic Miracles
    Micah
    Ministry
    Mission
    Money
    Moses
    Mother's Day
    Mystery
    Names Of God
    New Covenant
    New Creation
    New Testamant
    New Testament
    Noah
    Numbers
    Old Covenant
    Old Testament
    Old Testament
    Onesimus
    Overseers
    Parables
    Parenting
    Passover
    Patience
    Paul
    Peace
    Pentecost
    Perfect
    Perseverance
    Peter
    Philemon
    Philippians
    Physical Body
    Plagues
    Poverty
    Power Of Sin
    Prayer
    Predestination
    Pride
    Promised Land
    Protection
    Proverbs
    Prunes
    Psalms
    Rachel
    Rahab
    Rebekah
    Redeemed
    Relationships
    Repentance
    Resurrection
    Rich People
    Righteousness
    Romans
    Ruth
    Sabbath Rest
    Sabbath Rest
    Sacrifice
    Salvation
    Samson
    Samuel
    Sanctification
    Saul
    Sermon On The Mount
    Servant
    Sex
    Shepherds
    Sin Nature
    Small Groups
    Sodom & Gomorah
    Solomon
    Soul
    Sovereignty
    Spirit
    Spiritual Body
    Spiritual Gifts
    Spiritual Maturity
    Spiritual Warfare
    Spiritual Warfare
    Stephen
    Storms
    Submit
    Suffering
    Tabernacle
    Teen Challenge
    Temple
    Temptation
    Ten Commandments
    Testimony
    Thanksgiving
    Thessalonians
    Timothy
    Titus
    Tongue
    Transformation
    Trials
    Trinity
    Trust
    Truth
    Unity
    Victory
    Walk By The Spirit
    Widows
    Wife
    Wilderness
    Wisdom
    Wise Men
    Wive
    Women
    Works
    Zacchaeus

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Teachers

    Rusty Kennedy
    Keith Tyner
    Terry Cooper
    Matt Tully
    Wes Cate
    Dan Luedke

    RSS Feed

About
Director
Board Members
Why Leavener?
Blog Entries
​Privacy Policy



Ministry Aspects
Crisis Intervention
- The Burke House Project
Disaster Relief
- Journal
Community of Believers
- Teachings
- Live

Community
Garage
Small Groups
Contact
E-mail - rusty@leavener.com
Phone - 317-841-8825

© Copyright 2023 Leavener
  • Director
  • Elders - Board Members
  • Why Leavener?
  • Blog Entries
  • Privacy Policy
  • Journal
  • Sundays at Pinheads
  • Teachings
  • Live
  • Small Groups
  • Student Camp
  • Israel Trips
  • Dad & Daughter Dance
  • My Identity in Jesus Christ