October Remaining Authentic (Jude 3–4

October Remaining Authentic (Jude 3–4)

In our last lesson, we discovered the author of Judeis the brother of James and half-brother of our Lord.

Since this letter is written to a general audience of all believers, Jude doesn’t mention any specific readers.

However, he does state the purpose of his letter in these verses.

In this passage, we find fourrequirements for remaining authentic.

1. Realize the blessings of salvation (3a–b)

Jude begins this section by explaining the reason for writing this epistle.

His first word is Beloved(3a), which means he is writing out of a deep love for other believers.

He has no selfish reason for writing this letter, just a love for God’s people.

Next, he writes: although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation (3b).

Our common salvation is the salvationthat belongs to every one of us as believers.

Jude originally intended to write a very positive epistle about the blessings of the salvation we share.

What are some of the blessings of our common salvation?

Common grace is the grace of God by which he gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation.

Of all the blessings of Christian salvation none is greater than this, that we have access to God in prayer.

You will never know the blessings of salvation until you have cast yourself, just as you are, in utter helplessness up the sole mercy of God.

We are saved by what he does. Our salvation is entirely his prerogative. It is entirely in his hands and he does not commit himself to all who approach him.

There are many—answered prayer, peace that passes all understanding, and having a divine purpose for our lives, to mention a few.

However, the greatest blessing of our salvation is what Paul quotes from Psalm 32:1–2 in Romans 4:7:

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven.”

Then, how does Paul express this same truth with different words in the next verse?

As someone has said, “It would be worth it to be a Christian, even if there were no heaven, just to have our sins forgiven so we wouldn’t have to live with our guilt.”

How does Psalm 38:4b describe how we would feel if there were no forgiveness and cleansing from sin?

For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. Psalm 38:4

Because we are Christians, we have the wonderful blessing of freedom from the guilt of all confessed and forsaken sin (Job 33:9).

You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me. Job 33:9

There is a terrible danger facing believers, a horrifying danger that always lies right over the horizon.

What is it? The danger of false teaching. If a believer swallows false teaching, he dooms himself.

Any person who denies that God sent His Son into the world to save man—who denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world—will never be accepted by God.

He is doomed to spend eternity cut off from God.

Why?

Because he has not believed in the name of God’s Son.

Time and time again, God warns believers of apostasy.

This is the very reason for the books of Jude and Second Peter being written.

Strong warnings against false teachers are also issued by Paul in Galatians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, and Titus.

There are severe warnings all throughout Hebrews.

And Christ Himself gave strong warnings time and again throughout all the gospels.

No matter who the person is—no matter how well liked and influential and attractive his teachings may be—if he denies Jesus Christ and God’s Word, he is a false teacher.

Here is the thrust of the letter of Jude, the very purpose for which Jude writes.

Here is one of the most horrifying pictures in all the Bible, a picture of the characteristics and judgment of false teachers.

Believers are to contend for the faith against false teachers.

Jude had planned to write the believers, but he had never planned to write this particular letter.

He had planned to write about the great subject of salvation.

But he was not able to.

The believers were being attacked, but not by persecutors.

They were being attacked by false teachers and their false beliefs.

Jude is forced to snatch up his pen to expose the heretical teachers.

He was forced to warn believers of the horrible danger of apostasy.

He wanted to write a pastoral letter, to encourage them to grow in Christ, but now he must warn them and exhort them: they must go to war, to spiritual war.

They must earnestly contend and fight for the faith.

They must be diligent and strive unceasingly in the fight against false teaching.

They must not buckle under any whatsoever in standing up for the faith that has been delivered to the saints.

The faith must not be twisted, added to, or taken away from.

It must be kept pure and free from all error.

Note why: certain men had unknowingly crept into the church and were teaching false doctrine.

The characteristics and judgment of false teachers show how horrible false teaching is to God.

He considers false teachers to be the worst of all men upon earth, and He issues the most severe warning to them, warnings that far exceed the warnings to other men ( Mt. 5:19).

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Teachers, False—Judgment: false teachers are destined for judgment.

They reject Jesus Christ; therefore, judgment is waiting for them.

God has ordained from the beginning of time that all unbelievers shall be judged.

And both Jesus Christ and Scripture teach that the judgment for false teachers is to be far more severe than for other persons.

Teaches reject Jesus Christ; therefore, judgment is waiting for them. God has ordained from the beginning of time that all unbelievers shall be judged.

And both Jesus Christ and Scripture teach that the judgment for false teachers is to be far more severe than for other persons.

Teachers, False—Teachers are ungodly.

They do not live like God; they are different from God.

They have a different lifestyle than what God would have if He was walking upon earth.

God is perfect, moral, pure, just, and loving.

But false teachers are not moral, pure, just, or loving.

“Is your father a Christian?” said a Sunday-school teacher to a child.

The girl answered, “Yes, I believe that father is a Christian; but he has not worked much at it lately.”

No doubt there are many of that sort. Their religion has taken a holiday, and they themselves have gone to a sluggard’s bed.

Let them be aroused, for it is high time to awaken out of sleep.

It very often happens that the converts that are born in excitement die when the excitement is over.

Nobody can do as much damage to the church of God as the man who is within its walls, but not within its life.

They are deceptive, leading people away from the love and purity of God, the love and purity revealed in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

They were unnoticed by men, but not by God.

The Lord is not wringing His hands in heaven, worrying about those who deceive others through their teaching and through their lifestyles.

They may be hidden to some believers but as far as God is concerned, their condemnation was marked out long ago.

Their judgment is assured.

The truth will win out; our responsibility is to be on the side with the truth.

They do not teach the truth of God’s love and purity demonstrated in Christ.

They profane God and the truth of His love and godliness.

The idea behind the ancient word lewdness is sin that is practiced without shame, without any sense of conscience or decency.

Usually the word is used in the sense of sensual sins, such as sexual immorality.

But it can also be used in the sense of brazen anti-biblical teaching, when the truth is denied and lies are taught without shame.

Jude probably had both ideas in mind here, because as the rest of the letter will develop, these certain men had both moral problems and doctrinal problems.

These words of Jude show that there is a danger in preaching grace.

There are some who may take the truth of God’s grace and turn the grace of our God into lewdness.

But this doesn’t mean there is anything wrong or dangerous about the message of God’s grace.

It simply shows how corrupt the human heart is.

We are not told specifically how these men deny the only Lord God.

It may be that they denied Him with their ungodly living or it may be that they denied Him with their heretical doctrines.

Probably both were true.