Making a Difference
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Jude 20-25
Jude 20-25
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.
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.
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.
Introduction
Introduction
The Book of Jude is a very rich book. It contains so much content we can speak on it for much longer that it takes to read it.
It connects truth of the other writers New Testament with application, purpose, and warnings.
We live in a such a unique age in all of history.
Transportation! - 66 years from first flight to moon landing!
Communication! - live phone/video/instant
Information! - Collection/digestion/dissemination of information!
I will be narrowing the focus of the book by following the main outline of this short book as given by the author.
He will be addressing several things in order, and we will follow that order this morning.
He tells us who is writing.
He tells who he is writing to.
He tells why he is writing.
He tells who to beware of.
He tells us how to respond.
1. Written by Jude
1. Written by Jude
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:
The writer is Jude, which is the English form of the name Judas. Jude, he tells us here, is the brother of James. Now, in the Gospel records there are three or four men by the name of James, and there are three men by the name of Judas. We are helped in our identification of the writer of this epistle by the record in Matthew:
55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
There are two other men by the name of Judas, and they both were among the twelve apostles of our Lord. The best known, of course, is Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed the Lord. The other apostle by the name of Judas is distinguished in this way:
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
The way he is identified is just that he is not Judas Iscariot.
We believe that the writer of this epistle is the Judas which Scripture mentions, Judas, the half–brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. So two of these brothers, James, the writer of the Epistle of James, and Judas, the writer of the Epistle of Jude, are half–brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we have an account from person that direct, first-hand knowledge of Jesus Christ, and has given his life to follow him.
He also references the writing of Peter when speaking of false teachers.
2. Written to Christians
2. Written to Christians
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
Addresses to Christians.
These are people that have heard the Gospel message and responded to it.
It is absolutely clear that these people are believing, practicing Christians.
3. Written with a purpose
3. Written with a purpose
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.
“Contend” for the faith!
Contend - fight, struggle, to bring salvation to others.
do we fight or struggle to get the Gospel out?
Is it just a matter of convince for us?
If it is easy OK, of not then I wait for another time.
As long as our faith is easy and not confrontational then everything is OK.
As you wrestle with the thought of what this new year holds for you, let me encourage you to be willing to contend for the Faith of Christ!
This new year, 2018, please do not discount you ability to follow Christ!
The main thing that you should focus on is your willingness to follow Christ!
You can if you want to!
4. Written with a warning
4. Written with a warning
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.
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.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The bulk of the message that Jude was communicating to these Christians is that there are those that claim Christ, but in reality they are false teachers.
He provides descriptions of these false teachers so they could be identified.
Lets look at this list for two reasons.
Reason #1 - So we can identify those false teachers.
Reason #2 - So we can identify these characteristics in our own life and abandon them.
Description of false teachers
Description of false teachers
v.4 - “Certain Men” - What do characterizes these “Certain Men”?
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.
Ungodly Men
Turning Grace in lasciviousness (def: lust or strong sexual desires.)
Denying Christ
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.
Like those from Isreal that God helped, yet they 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.
They are like the angels that left what made for them.
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.
They are like those of Sodom that gave themselves over to sexual sins.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
They defile the flesh (def:)
They despise God’s dominion over them.
They speak evil of the rulers and government over them.
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.
They speak evil
They corrupt themselves - calling it natural
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.
Cain
Cain
They are like Cain.
What was Cain like?
He was a religious person, but he wanted to do it his way instead of God’s way!
Balaam
Balaam
They are like Balaam.
What was Balaam like?
Balaam was caught up in Idol worship and fornication!
Core (Korah)
Core (Korah)
They are like Korah.
What was Korah like?
He lead a rebellion against Moses - God’s anointed leader at that time for Isreal.
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.
They have a presence but not substance.
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
Follow their own desires
Seek the approval of men instead the approval of God!
18 how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
They are mockers of truth
Walk after ungodly desires
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
Sensual
Not Christians.
WOW! That is quite a group of people!
This is not the DESCRIPTION that I want to summarize my life!
And yet we can see these characteristics in people and among churches all over in our society!
5. Written for a purpose
5. Written for a purpose
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.
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.
Keep yourselves for God
Keep yourselves for God
LOVE GOD.
Grow in your faith
The first step is simply to decide that you want to grow!
You don't even need a full plan right now.
Just decide that you want to grow!
Prayer
Prayer plays a huge role in the spiritual growth of a Christian.
That is a great place to start and focus.
Love of God
Keep yourself in God’s love.
A great expression of God’s love can be found in the Bible that you HOLD!
Keep in the Bible.
Reach out to to others.
Reach out to to others.
LOVE OTHERS.
Have compassion!
What is compassion? Here is a practical working definition of compassion derived from the usage of the word in scripture.
“Compassion is turning concern into personal involvement!”
“Compassion is turning concern into personal involvement!”
Having concern for others is a great thing.
i) You should be concerned when you see the needs of others.
Another key component of compassion is that it is meeting a need of the other person.
ii) As you journey through this life and see things and meet people, you will encounter situations where others have needs.
(1) You should be concerned.
(2) Allow poverty to concern you.
(3) Allow cancer to concern you.
(4) Allow injustice to concern you.
(5) Allow crime to concern you.
(6) Allow unemployment to concern you.
Don’t GET so calloused in life that the misfortune and plight of others does not pull at your heart.
iii) Concern is a great thing.
(1) Concern, gives you that double take when you see a child being mistreated.
(2) Concern, is that second look when you see an accident.
(3) Concern, sparks that inner dialogue – “Is there something I can do?”
BE CONCERNED.
But don’t let it stop at concern! Turn that concern in to personal involvement- have COMPASSION!
You are not PHYSICALLY able to help everyone - but you can help some!
“And of some have compassion,”
When you do you can MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Summary
Summary
There are some people that you cannot help!
There are some people that you cannot help!
There are some that you can influence!
There are some that you can influence!
Even in this passage we see the TWO great commandments....
Love GOD and Love OTHERS.
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Call to action
Call to action
Make a difference in 2018!
HOW?
Keep yourself close to God. (Love God)
Reach out with compassion to others. (Love Others)
2018 is not primarily about YOU! It is about GOD and OTHERS.
“How can I stay close to God this year?”
“How can be involved in the lives of others this year?”
Answer these questions with action, with changes in priorities, and a adjustments to your schedule.
Prayer
Prayer