Jude – A Call to Arms
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.
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. (Jude 1:1-3)
JUDE WAS THE BROTHER OF JAMES AND BOTH OF THEM WERE HALF-BROTHERS to Jesus. As they grew up in the home of Jesus, none of his brothers thought about their oldest brother, Jesus, being the Promised One that Moses said would come to Israel to be the King of Israel; And certainly not the sacrificial Lamb, slain before the foundation of the world. (For neither did his brethren believe in him. (John 7:5) It took Jesus’ resurrection from the dead to convince His brothers that He was, indeed, the promised Savior and Jewish Messiah.
JAMES (NOT A DISCIPLE) WAS THE OLDEST OF JESUS' BROTHERS and was the author of the short, New Testament book that bears his name. In case you’re interested, there are five books in the Bible that have only one chapter. If we go by the number of words, they would be listed as: Third John (219 words) Second John (245 words) Philemon (335 words) Obadiah (440 words) Jude (461 words) This information comes from www.overviewbible.com but it doesn’t say which Bible version was used to do the counting.
JUDE'S 25 VERSES ARE VERY CLOSELY RELATED TO 2nd PETER, especially the 2nd chapter. While Jude makes no references to Peter or the people to whom he was writing, yet many believe that Jude wrote his book to be circulated to the same people as Peter’s book. Since it was not addressed to anyone in particular, it is assumed that it was to be circulated. Jude was certainly on the same page with Peter and reinforced what he had to say. It has also been discussed if his book came before or after Peter’s book.
JUDE'S BOOK WAS DISCUSSED BY THE CHURCH FATHERS UNTIL, at last it was recognized as canon, that is, one of the books of the Bible. Jude was familiar with the book of Enoch, which is widely recognized but never counted as a book of the Bible. He mentions Enoch as being the 7th from Adam, which means that Enoch may have known Adam. Enoch was a preacher of righteousness, wrote a book and never died but was taken by God into Heaven (Genesis 5:24). Enoch, Peter, and Jude all have strong opinions about the obnoxious characteristics of false prophets. This is in stark contrast to the cultural political correctness that prevails in America, where anything goes, except…the Bible and Christianity.
McGEE MAKES AN IMPORTANT POINT on “the common salvation.” “Now, Jude says here that he was planning on writing on some facet of our salvation. It could have been on redemption, on the person of Christ, on sanctification, or any number of themes, but he didn't write on any of those themes because "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." The thought here is that the Holy Spirit detoured Jude from writing on some theme of the faith in order that he might sound a warning concerning the impending apostasy.” (McGee)
WARREN WIERSBE ADDS TO THAT: “I must confess that I sympathize with Jude. In my own ministry, I would much rather encourage the saints than declare war on the apostates. But when the enemy is in the field, the watchmen dare not go to sleep. The Christian life is a battleground, not a playground.”(Wiersbe)
McGee CONTINUES: “The apostasy is a departure from the faith, that is, from the apostles' doctrine. Apostasy was just a little cloud the size of a man's hand in Jude's day, but now it is a storm of hurricane force that fills the land. As Jude writes about the apostasy that was coming on the earth, we can see that many of the things he mentions are already taking place in the world in our day. My friend, the apostasy is not something we are looking forward to; the apostasy is here. It is all about us today.” (McGee)
FOR THE PAST HUNDRED YEARS IN AMERICA, we have agreed on five fundamentals of the faith as being essential for Biblical agreement. We believe in: 1. The inspiration, preservation and authority of the Bible as the Word of God; 2. The virgin birth of Christ; 3. His sinless life and vicarious atonement upon the cross for the sins of the whole world. 4. His bodily resurrection from the dead. 5. His glorious return to earth to reign with His own.
WHILE WE MAY DISAGREE ON OTHER LESSER IMPORTANT POINTS OF FAITH, fundamental, Bible-believing Christians agree on these things and it is proper for us to be in fellowship with each other upon the common belief of these things. When we read Jude’s words of contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints, we believe that is what we are doing today.
WE MUST CONTEND FOR THE FAITH WITHOUT BEING CONTENTIOUS, ugly, and bone-headed. We are instructed by Paul: And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. (2Timothy2:24-26)
WE CANNOT CONVERT ANYONE. That is not our job. We are witnesses, teachers, preachers, praying people. I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. (1Corinthians 3:6-7) Ω
Read Through the Bible in a Year
JUNE 18, 2018 – MONDAY
A.M. Nehemiah 7-8 P.M. Acts 3
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.) If you are behind in reading, read the passage for today and then go back.
Good Memory Verse:
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:18) (Write verses on scraps of paper and put in your pocket to memorize like President Abraham Lincoln did. Or, write on a half 3x5 card. I like the bright green cards I got from Amazon. I cut them in half and use them for rewriting all my memory verses. I write them by hand or on my daddy’s Royal typewriter.)
Song for Today:
Wonderful Words of Life (3:05) – (Gaither Group + Trio + Solo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q499q89HOpM
You may need to delete an ad or turn off the song when finished to avoid something else you do not want to hear.
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