Have you ever read the Book of Jude? It is amazing how many books of the Bible are so under read.
Jude, wrote by a brother of Jesus Himself, one who was not a believer till after the death bury and Resurrection of Jesus.
It is harder to convince a family member of things than it is someone who has never met you. For your family knows you as no one else does.
Jude grew up in the shadow of Jesus, he truly had the perfect older brother, one that he could not live up to.
Yet despite the fact that as a half brother to Christ Jude does not use that to assert his authority to write this letter. That's quite interesting when you think about it. Instead he calls himself a servant to Christ. My first impression was that he was not equaling himself to God as a brother to Christ rather preferring to establish himself as a servant, unworthy to be called a brother. He was keeping the Holiness of Christ and the Uniqueness of Christ as The Son of God.
Most of us would use the closeness to Christ to assert ourselves, we would bludgeon everyone with our own importance due to our physical relationship with Him.
Jude decided to write a letter to remind people of the common salvation. The salvation that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Yet he had to turn from his original purpose to write of the Good News of Jesus Christ to write to them of false prophets that had crept into the church.
Jud 1:3 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.
I have pointed this out before many times yet I am going to do it once again, Jude a brother of Christ had to warn of false prophets just a few years after Christ had ascended to heaven.
He had to warn people and remind them that men were corrupting the Message from God. They were teaching the Grace of God and making it a liberty instead of a responsibility.
If they had to resound this message just a few years after Christ then we will most definitely have to do it time and time again today.
God extended Grace to us that we might be forgiven of sin and live life for Him. They were making the Grace of God to be an excuse for living however they want. They were no longer teaching the judgment of God and the wrath to come but only the Grace of God that forgives sin.
Yes He does forgive sin but He does not allow you to live however you want.
Jude reminds of the people of Israel who after being taken out of bondage in Egypt, the ones who saw the plagues, ate manna, had water from a rock and then did not believe that He could deliver the Promised Land to them, He did not allow them a reward. He destroyed them. A hole in the ground opened up and swallowed them!
Jud 1:5 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.
God is a God of Grace, long suffering towards usward but He is a God of Justice, of Boundaries, of Wrath.
Even today we have people preaching of a God who is love and peace and joy, they leave out the living and dying for Him.
They leave out the Holy Temple that we are and that we must honor Him with our lives, for our lives belong to Him for He bought them with a price, The Blood of Christ that was spilt on mount Calvary.
There is a return on the investment that God made in you. He expects to be honored, and to be put first. He expects you to learn and grow in His Word that you might go and spread the Word.
Not to take the very gift that He gave you and waste it on sinful living to please the flesh, He wants you to sharpen the Spiritual side and live for Him.
Sacrificing ourselves daily on the Cross that He might live through us.
It is no wonder that America is dying for we have taken God and made Him to be of no consequence. We take His Grace and His blessings and we continue living as if we are the whole reason He died. We are the special thing that He wanted. We are the sole purpose for being.
He came and died that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
We Are the reason He died but not to live as we want, but to live as He would have us do.
Jud 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
Jud 1:9 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.
The one other thing I want to bring to your attention before we move to the next section is this:
Jude brought up the fact that these profaners, and false prophets speak evil of dignities. They are completely bereft of any understanding of authority over them.
They also rail against satan even though they do not understand the weakness in this.
Michael the archangel when fighting with satan did not rail against satan but used the name of God to rebuke him.
We are powerless except in the name of Christ and the goodness and Holiness of God to rebuke and defeat satan. Any who rail against satan in their own power are setting themselves up for a rude awakening.
They flaunt the grace of God and they lean on their own authority to defeat the powers of darkness. This type of person needs to be left alone and very very fast. For this type of person has no understanding of either God or satan and they know not whereof they speak.
They are speaking to be heard and not to spread the message of Christ, they are not about God's work but about the money and the "respect" they will have here on earth from those the mislead and drive astray. They will have their "reward" here on earth.
Jud 1:17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Jud 1:18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
Jud 1:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
Jude has a very low opinion of these types. He has made it perfectly clear what he thinks of this type of "minister". This type of "preacher".
Jud 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Jud 1:15 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.
Jud 1:16 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.
Jude, wrote by a brother of Jesus Himself, one who was not a believer till after the death bury and Resurrection of Jesus.
It is harder to convince a family member of things than it is someone who has never met you. For your family knows you as no one else does.
Jude grew up in the shadow of Jesus, he truly had the perfect older brother, one that he could not live up to.
Yet despite the fact that as a half brother to Christ Jude does not use that to assert his authority to write this letter. That's quite interesting when you think about it. Instead he calls himself a servant to Christ. My first impression was that he was not equaling himself to God as a brother to Christ rather preferring to establish himself as a servant, unworthy to be called a brother. He was keeping the Holiness of Christ and the Uniqueness of Christ as The Son of God.
Most of us would use the closeness to Christ to assert ourselves, we would bludgeon everyone with our own importance due to our physical relationship with Him.
Jude decided to write a letter to remind people of the common salvation. The salvation that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Yet he had to turn from his original purpose to write of the Good News of Jesus Christ to write to them of false prophets that had crept into the church.
Jud 1:3 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.
I have pointed this out before many times yet I am going to do it once again, Jude a brother of Christ had to warn of false prophets just a few years after Christ had ascended to heaven.
He had to warn people and remind them that men were corrupting the Message from God. They were teaching the Grace of God and making it a liberty instead of a responsibility.
If they had to resound this message just a few years after Christ then we will most definitely have to do it time and time again today.
God extended Grace to us that we might be forgiven of sin and live life for Him. They were making the Grace of God to be an excuse for living however they want. They were no longer teaching the judgment of God and the wrath to come but only the Grace of God that forgives sin.
Yes He does forgive sin but He does not allow you to live however you want.
Jude reminds of the people of Israel who after being taken out of bondage in Egypt, the ones who saw the plagues, ate manna, had water from a rock and then did not believe that He could deliver the Promised Land to them, He did not allow them a reward. He destroyed them. A hole in the ground opened up and swallowed them!
Jud 1:5 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.
God is a God of Grace, long suffering towards usward but He is a God of Justice, of Boundaries, of Wrath.
Even today we have people preaching of a God who is love and peace and joy, they leave out the living and dying for Him.
They leave out the Holy Temple that we are and that we must honor Him with our lives, for our lives belong to Him for He bought them with a price, The Blood of Christ that was spilt on mount Calvary.
There is a return on the investment that God made in you. He expects to be honored, and to be put first. He expects you to learn and grow in His Word that you might go and spread the Word.
Not to take the very gift that He gave you and waste it on sinful living to please the flesh, He wants you to sharpen the Spiritual side and live for Him.
Sacrificing ourselves daily on the Cross that He might live through us.
It is no wonder that America is dying for we have taken God and made Him to be of no consequence. We take His Grace and His blessings and we continue living as if we are the whole reason He died. We are the special thing that He wanted. We are the sole purpose for being.
He came and died that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
We Are the reason He died but not to live as we want, but to live as He would have us do.
Jud 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
Jud 1:9 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.
The one other thing I want to bring to your attention before we move to the next section is this:
Jude brought up the fact that these profaners, and false prophets speak evil of dignities. They are completely bereft of any understanding of authority over them.
They also rail against satan even though they do not understand the weakness in this.
Michael the archangel when fighting with satan did not rail against satan but used the name of God to rebuke him.
We are powerless except in the name of Christ and the goodness and Holiness of God to rebuke and defeat satan. Any who rail against satan in their own power are setting themselves up for a rude awakening.
They flaunt the grace of God and they lean on their own authority to defeat the powers of darkness. This type of person needs to be left alone and very very fast. For this type of person has no understanding of either God or satan and they know not whereof they speak.
They are speaking to be heard and not to spread the message of Christ, they are not about God's work but about the money and the "respect" they will have here on earth from those the mislead and drive astray. They will have their "reward" here on earth.
Jud 1:17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Jud 1:18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
Jud 1:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
Jude has a very low opinion of these types. He has made it perfectly clear what he thinks of this type of "minister". This type of "preacher".
Jud 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Jud 1:15 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.
Jud 1:16 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.
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