THE PRELUDE TO THE Jude 1 Jude, the servant of 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. 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.

In many ways it’s a beautiful, simple little book, - the way that it is written. And yet, even though there are only twenty-five verses, each are packed full of exhortations and warnings. It is most likely that Jude, the brother of the Lord Jesus, was the author (Mt. 13: 55 Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?) It says much about him that he was humble enough to be known as the brother of James, rather than take advantage of being known as the brother of Jesus. There are a number of idiosyncrasies in this small epistle, for example, look at how he uses the ‘3-point’ strategy, ∗ v.1 sanctified, preserved, called ∗ v.2 mercy, peace, love ∗ v.4 ungodly, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God ∗ v.8 defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. etc. … He is straightforward, - he ‘shoots from the hip’, - he tells it as he sees it.

In some other ways though you need to know your when you read Jude. You need to know something about the as well. Jude can become complex. In many ways he’s simple and straightforward but you need to ‘keep up with him’ if you are going to really benefit from his epistle. This epistle isn’t for ‘dosers’, and it is definitely not for people who are willing to accommodate straying away from the one true . This epistle has often been dubbed as The Acts of the Apostates and that is a very apt title! … You will see all these things and what I mean as we study through this book over these next eight weeks.

D.G. 2 ADDRESSED TO THE SAVED ∗ Imagine! Such an epistle! I’ve got to tell you how it begins in the Greek, jIouvda" jIhsou' Cristou' dou'lo" ∗ It begins with Judas, - Jude. Imagine! An epistle aimed at Apostates and a Judas is writing it! ∗ By the way, what is an apostate? An apostate is one who abandons the truth and knowingly/consciously/actively replaces it with error. ∗ Praise God though this Judas is altogether different from the Judas that betrayed our Saviour. ∗ Yes, it must be said that Judas, - we’ll call him Jude, - initially did not believe Jesus’ claims, ∗ Jn. 7:2 Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. 3 His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. 4 For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. 5 For neither did his brethren believe in him. ∗ But somewhere ‘along the line’ Jude came to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and look at how he describes the experience: ∗ sanctified by God the Father. He had been separated unto God. ∗ As a Jew, he belonged to a privileged people, but even this people had sinned against God and were far away. ∗ Jesus came in order to bring this same people back to God, … and Jude was one of those who saw their need met in Christ. ∗ The Jews knew what ‘sanctified’ meant. They knew their history, for when the people of God entered into the tabernacle in the wilderness or the temple in Jerusalem they had to be sanctified, cleansed and made clean. ∗ Jude had been made clean by the blood of his Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was shed for sinners on Calvary. ∗ He was sanctified, and he was also preserved in Jesus Christ, … what a joy! ∗ Again in the you were made clean by the killing of the lamb that you brought into the area of sacrifice, but it was only a sacrifice for sin as long as sin was ‘kept from your door.’ D.G. 3 ∗ There was no full and complete assurance of sins forgiven for when you walked outside the gate and you sinned, a sacrifice was needed all over again. ∗ However, Jude was under a new covenant, a covenant whereby he was preserved in Jesus Christ. ∗ When you are saved, when you are truly born again of the Holy Spirit, you are preserved in Christ. ∗ Your life changes, - its direction, its behaviour, its priorities, - it all changes, and Christ is at the forefront of your very being. ∗ In just a few verses time Jude is going to be showing us men who had a form of godliness, but denied the saving and keeping power of the God Who redeems. ∗ It is important to know this fact, that even in the midst of apostasy and a leaving-off from the truth of God God keeps unto Himself, - he preserves, - a people saved by grace. ∗ Knowing the persecution that would fall upon His followers Jesus prayed in the Garden, Jn. 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me … ∗ Sanctified, preserved, … called, … called before the foundation of the world. ∗ Before I ever breathed a breath of this earth’s air my salvation was in the plan of Almighty God. ∗ This is a hard doctrine that many find difficult to take hold of, but it is a doctrine of Scripture and even though we cannot plumb its depths we’ve got to believe it as the Word of God. ∗ There are many similarities between the of Peter and Jude; Peter also emphasises this great Biblical truth, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. ∗ That’s our standing in Christ. That’s how the Bible says it is! ∗ This epistle is addressed to the saved, - the sanctified, the preserved, and the called.

D.G. 4 BLESSINGS TO BE MULTIPLIED ∗ It’s good to be saved, and among God’s people it’s good to show you’re glad to be saved. ∗ There is a world that cares nothing for God, and yet God instilled it within your heart to love Him; the apostle wrote, We love him, because he first loved us. ∗ And there are blessings too numerous to count. Remember the context, though. Apostasy and false dead religion, - even in the name of Christianity, - was prevalent in Jude’s day. ∗ Mercy is God’s gift to those who are being faithful as they follow after the ways of God. ∗ You know, the Bible is a problem Book. It causes all sorts of difficulties and dilemmas, ∗ So what you need to do is change what it says, - that’s a principle that goes back to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. ∗ And if you change what the Bible says it brings in a different point of view that ends up in confusion. ∗ And when a Minister stands up and tells you what he thinks the Bible should be saying, instead of telling you simply what it does say, then the Minister is putting his or her own interpretation upon God’s Word. ∗ We are not told to ‘interpret’ God’s Word, we’re told to preach it! … to tell it as it is! ∗ Faith is also a problem, because if you look at it, what does faith actually mean? It can mean many, many things, and it can take you off in all sorts of directions. ∗ So, the Minister stands up and he or she tells you what he or she thinks it is, … instead of taking you to the Word and telling you what the Word says it is! ∗ Mercy is that which God gives to His people in their time of need. ∗ Reinterpretations are not of God. What God has given us (the Bible), - stick with it as it is!! ∗ … And peace and love will follow when God’s people respect the mercy and goodness of God just as He has given them to us.

D.G. 5 ∗ Peace is something we have God through the shedding of the blood of His own dearly-beloved Son. It’s a pleasure we share with those who have been similarly cleansed, and it emanates in the characteristic of love, agaph. ∗ Additives destroy and belittle the mercies of God. Down through the centuries, when God’s people humbly receive all that He has for them the blessings are multiplied over and over again. ∗ What God has given to us … we can’t better it, … just enjoy it and live by it! ∗ The epistle is addressed to the saved, there are blessings to be multiplied. In the midst of all this Jude tells them to …

EARNESTLY CONTEND FOR THE FAITH ∗ As we shall see, these faithful born-again believers are surrounded by members in their churches who have not been saved by God’s grace. ∗ It is a fact that we have got to accept no matter how we try to guard against it, … in many of our churches there are members who have never been born again. ∗ It’s sad, but that seems to be the way it is. ∗ Jude felt compelled to write to these faithful believers who sat beside other members of the on a Sunday morning and the night before they were out in the pub, or with someone else’s wife, or just plain showed no signs of regeneration. ∗ And those people had no real and meaningful interest in Godly things, and the sad fact was that some of them had risen to places of authority within the local church. ∗ In the midst of such a proliferation of confusion Jude felt compelled to tell those who were faithful to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. ∗ And what faith is that? It is not the new form of evangelicalism which shares the theological bed of adultery with all sorts of so-called Christians. ∗ What faith are we talking about here? It is the faith that stood up against, - and continues to stand up against, - falsehood; it is the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. ∗ Faith alone! Scripture alone! Christ alone! Grace alone! D.G. 6 ∗ Contending for the faith means standing up against an organisation that is hell-bent on compromise, ∗ They knew the truth but chose to divert themselves from it. ∗ I’ll not labour this point at the moment, for we have to come back to it as we study through Jude. ∗ But the emphasis here is to stand up and stand out for Christ.

CONCLUSION. ∗ It’s a great wee epistle, this epistle of Jude. Read it through and read it again and again. It’s only twenty-five verses, - it won’t take you long, … but get into the mind of this man and see the relevance of what he has to say to our churches today. ∗ It is addressed to the saved, so it’s for you in these days. ∗ There are the many blessings to be multiplied, and make sure you don’t miss out on them. ∗ And earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. ∗ God’s Word is the guiding light for God’s people. We daren’t substitute it or replace it with anything else. ∗ I trust that God will teach us valuable lessons as we make our way through this epistle of Jude.