God's People: Living in the Last Days

Introduction:

Jude has emphasized to his audience thee certain judgment that will be come against false teachers and those who follow them.

He has exposed the true nature of false teachers that existed among the congregation that received his letter.

He has exhorted them to “earnestly contend for the faith.”

This is part recognition.

This is part memory.

This is a call to careful attention to the integrity of the congregation. They should remain watchful for the presence of fakes among them who enjoy deceiving them.

What are the last days like?

We might need to reexamine the scriptures for biblical teaching on what they are.

God’s People and the Last Days (Jude 17-18a).

Jude contrasts God’s people with the false teachers.

They claim new revelation from God.

God’s people have settled, authoritative information.

Jude calls upon them again to remember.

The goal isn’t just recalling information but to use that information actively by letting it define a way of living or course of action.

False teachers are a characteristic of the last days. The last days have existed at least since the ascension of Jesus and probably since his resurrection.

We aren’t awaiting the last days. We live in them.

2 Timothy 3:1-5; 1 John 2:18

Jude is making the point that his audience should not be caught off-guard or shocked by the presence of false teachers among them.

They had been as forewarned about the coming of false teachers as the false teachers have been forewarned about God’s judgment of them.

The Word of God permits us to prepare ourselves spiritually for the struggles that it teaches us to anticipate.

Jude warns about “mockers.”

The term used by Jude occurs in the New Testament only in 2 Peter in a similar statement.

While the word does mean to “make fun of,” the key thought seems be that these men are making fun of true teachers and true believers by imitating them in a distorted manner.

God’s People and Distinguishing Behavior (Jude 18b-21).

Jude’s call to action is found in Jude 21 when we exhorts them to “keep yourselves in the love of God.”

This helps us to see that Jude wishes to define the differences between faithful, obedient behavior and that which masquerades as authentic.

By seeing the differences, we can know truth from error.

We can spot error.

Jude says three, perhaps four things, of the “mockers.”

Repeating Jd. 16, he says they proceed according to the desires of their own ungodliness.

Unlike true believers, they do not wish to be godly in anyway. They want to live in an ungodly manner.

He says they cause division or are responsible for defining divisions. (See below)

They are “natural” not having (the) spirit.

God’s people evidence that we have the spirit of God through our obedience. Such obedience leads to purity of life and holiness rather than in the pursuit of our own desires. Romans 8:1ff.

We want to please God not ourselves.

Jude then begins to define for his audience what it means to “keep yourselves in the love of God.”

Spiritual maturity in the form of edification.

Prayer (always an indication of spiritual condition).

Conclusion

What Jude writes might seem obvious to you and me, but to many who profess Christ as Savior, it is not.

Salvation does not produce a person on spiritual auto-pilot.