Why do we sing these verses in a scripture song?
Jude 1:24-25
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
- It’s a beautiful promise!
The key words in the verses are:
Jude 1:24-25
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Let’s go back and have a look at this book to understand why Jude ends with such a statement
Jude 1:1-2
1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
Jude is addressing a certain group of people
- They are sanctified, preserved and called
- Good people!
Jude 1:3
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.
“common salvation”
- Through the Bible it refers to things that are held in common amongst people and also profane things
- So it’s not exactly clear which one it is referring to
- Examples of good
- Acts 2:44
And all that believed were together, and had all things common; - Acts 4:32
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
- Acts 2:44
- Examples of bad
- Mark 7:2
And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. - Rom 14:14
I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
- Mark 7:2
- Either way he is giving a warning
- How do we know?
“ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was one delivered unto the saints”
- You got to fight
- It was once delivered to the saints
- Something new is coming in!
What happened?
Jude 1:4
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
“certain men crept in unawares”
- Feeling of deception
“who were before of old ordained to this condemnation”
- The word “ordained” does not mean that they had been chosen by God long time ago to be bad men – sounds like predestination in a bad sense
- Ordained means – to write before (of time), of old set forth or designated before hand (in the scriptures of the OT)
- Meaning these people were prophesied before this ever happened
What type of men?
- Ungodly men
What did they do?
- “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness”
- “lasciviousness” means filthy, unbridled lust
- It’s dirty!
- They made grace dirty
- That’s why you need to fight for the common salvation
- Remember – that can mean salvation that we all hold in common, or because the salvation was made filthy or defiled. Both interpretations fit.
- “denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ”
- When we turn grace into filthiness, we end up denying God and Jesus
Jude 1:5-7
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Jude now is reminding us of something. There are 3 groups of people:
- Israelites that left Egypt
- Angels that were in heaven
- Sodom and Gomorrah
What happened to them though?
- Israelites that left Egypt – destroyed
- Angels that were in heaven – reserved for judgment
- Sodom and Gomorrah – suffered eternal fire
Basically all are, or will be, destroyed. Why? What happened to them though?
- Israelites that left Egypt – believed not
- Angels that were in heaven – kept not… but left…
- Sodom and Gomorrah – gave themselves over
All of them did not remain in the same state as at the beginning
- I guess they all believed, kept, and didn’t give themselves over at one point
- That is why Jude is addressing those that are sanctified and preserved and called
- Matthew 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.- Why are so few chosen?
- They don’t fight, they aren’t sanctified, they aren’t preserved
Also interesting that there are these 3 different groups of people with different past, yet they all ended up being lost:
- Israelites that left Egypt – were lost, then saved, then lost
- Angels that were in heaven – were saved, then lost
- Sodom and Gomorrah – they were lost
Jude 1:8
Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
“likewise” – in similar manner
“these filthy dreamers”
- The people that crept in and made God’s grace filthy!
- The only other place this word dreamer is used in the Greek is:
- Acts 2:17
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:- This is a prophecy of how there would be prophets in the last days!
- So these filthy dreamers are false prophets!
What do they do?
- Defile the flesh
- Despise dominion
- Speak evil of dignities
How does this correlate with what we just read? Let’s start with the most obvious of the three that definitely correlates with the previous groups:
- Defile the flesh – Sodom and Gomorrah
- Despise dominion –
- Speak evil of dignities –
How do we know which one is connected to which group for the other two?
- Israelites and Angels
- The word “dignities” means honor, praise and worship
- NASB
Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. - Now that’s pretty clear!
So how does this correlate with what we just read?
- Defile the flesh – Sodom and Gomorrah
- Despise dominion – Israelites
- Speak evil of dignities – Angels
Jude 1:9
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Michael (who is Jesus)
- He even fought with the devil
- He is showing us how to fight
The fight was about the body of Moses
- He didn’t bring against him a railing accusation
- Railing means evil speaking, slander, blasphemy
- Slander means false spoken statement
- Accusation means judgment, condemnation
- When you put it together it is – evil speaking judgment or condemnation
- Jesus refused to speak slanderous judgment or condemnation
- He could have gone back to heaven and just complained to the angels about the devil – can you believe what the devil did!
- We got to be careful not to use the devils weapons against Satan, it will only result in a sure loss
- Railing means evil speaking, slander, blasphemy
- But said, The Lord rebuke thee
- We have to allow the Lord to be the one to rebuke them
- Zechariah 3:1-4
1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2 And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. 4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. - We got to let the Lord do His part
- We got to believe, keep, and not give ourselves over
Jude 1:10
But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
“these speak evil”
- That’s why we shouldn’t have a railing accusation
- That is Satan’s method
Look what other versions say though
NASB
But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
NLT
But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction.
Unthinking and unreasoning animals!
- That’s why in the previous verse – don’t bring a railing accusation
- Sometimes it’s just no use
- We got to be able to reason together, study together, prove all things, test all things
- This is why they are destroyed – can’t be reasoned with
Jude 1:11
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Three people mentioned:
- Cain
- Balaam
- Core (Korah)
Why? What is common about all these three people?
- They all couldn’t be reasoned with!
- Cain
- Genesis 4:6-7
6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
- Genesis 4:6-7
- Balaam
- He is the most famous
- Even the donkey had to speak to him to finally get his attention!
- Korah
- Numbers 16:8-14
8 And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi… 12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up: 13 Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us? 14 Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.
- Numbers 16:8-14
All were unreasonable!!
Jude 1:12-13
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
“spots”
- From concordance: means reefs, hidden rocks in the ocean, people who by their conduct damage others morally, wreck them as it were
“feast with you, feeding themselves without fear”
- They are amongst us
- “feeding” means to tend as a shepherd
- They just care for themselves
- False shepherds
Four metaphors are given:
- Clouds
- Clouds are meant to have water – not a true cloud
- All clouds are carried about with wind
- Fake cloud
- Trees
- Trees are meant to have fruit
- Abnormal Tree
- Waves
- Raging means untamed, wild
- All waves have order usually
- Full of shame
- Abnormal wave
- Stars
- Fixed stars are valuable as navigational aids
- A wandering star is like a shooting star – shines just for a while
- Wandering means an erratic (unpredictable) teacher
- Unordered Star
- All these just have the form but aren’t the true or real thing
Observation:
- Trees – land
- Waves – sea
- Clouds – sky
- Stars – space
- You’ll find these people everywhere!
Jude 1:14-15
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Why Enoch?
- He is an example of a person who never died
- But why in this context?
- He was preserved, sanctified and called
- How to contend
- Look at his message, it was very straight and to the point!
- Enoch preached the judgment message
- Preached against the ungodly!
- What was his message
- The Lord is coming
- Execute judgment on everyone
- Convince the ungodly that they are ungodly
- Their deeds
- Their hard speeches
- This is how these people become ungodly men
- Jude 1:4
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Jude 1:4
Jude 1:16
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
“murmurers, complainers”
- Hard speeches in the previous verse
“walking after their own lusts”
- Ungodly deeds
NASB
These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.
- Be careful when people flatter you. This group like to talk but don’t like to be reasoned with and they will lead many away for the sake of their own gain.
Jude 1:17-19
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
Don’t be surprised for this group has been prophesied of before already.
What is their problem? Had everything to do with the tongue
- Verse 15 – hard speeches
- Verse 16 – murmurer and complainer
- Verse 16 – mouth speaks great swelling words
- Verse 17 – mocker – scoffer, derider (to ridicule), a false teacher
“who should walk after their own ungodly lusts”
- You shall know them by their fruits
“who separate themselves”
- They scoff and then they separate to do their own thing
Jude 1:20-21
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
How to make sure we are not like that group and also be deceived?
- Build your faith
- Pray
- Keep yourselves in the love of God
- If we don’t we will become like them, start mocking them and scoffing at them
- We will bring against them a railing accusation
- Look for God’s mercy
- Feel sorry them, pray for them
Jude 1:22-23
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Whether that is compassion for those who have crept in or those who are being led astray by these people – we have to do our best to make a difference
“hating even the garment spotted by the flesh”
- Flesh is mentioned in verse 7-8
- Sodom and Gomorrah
- How can we make a difference?
- Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed anyways
- But we can be like Abraham who interceded as much as he could for them
- We can be like Lot who housed the angels and still tried to plead for the men to behave themselves and also for his daughters
Jude 1:24-25
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
But at the end
- We have to ask God to keep us from falling
“to present you faultless”
- Revelation 14:5
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
THEME – to be kept from apostasy