The book of Jude was written by the half-brother
of Jesus, but he didn’t emphasize that connection; he wanted to be recognized
as “the servant of Jesus Christ.” Jude
had originally intended to write about our “common salvation”—a reference to
the fact that there isn’t one way to
be saved for some people and another way for others. However, he realized that there was a greater
need to exhort the body of believers to “earnestly contend for the faith.”
To contend is to “agonize earnestly in defense of.” This is a call to be continually active in
defensive of our faith. It’s when we get
lazy that we become more susceptible to false teaching. When you are in the Word and actively using
the truths of the scripture to guide you in life, you are most prepared to
recognize the truth and discern deception.
Jude describes our faith as having been “once delivered
unto the saints.” The word “once” is a
reference to a single time or once for all time. Saving faith is founded on the fact that when
Jesus died, was buried and resurrected, He conquered sin for eternity in that
one series of events. The truth that was
entrusted to the believers then is the same truth entrusted to believers now.
God’s truth will always be the same.
John 17:17
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
Psalms 119:89 “For
ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.”
Isaiah 40:8
“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand
for ever.”
1 Peter 1:25
“But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.”
Jude felt
that he needed to urge the believers to stay active in defending their faith because
“ungodly men” were infiltrating communities of believers.
Jude 1:4 “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.”
I liked the
way J. Vernon McGee described this as “creeps who crept in.” This infiltration was not unexpected; God knew
they would come and His judgment was certain.
They were manipulators of the truth regarding God’s grace. They were proponents of immorality that deny
Jesus as the Christ.
Personally, I
believe this is a very great danger to the true church today, but the
difference is that these false teachers are more and more often coming from within
the ranks of leadership in our churches.
It’s our very leaders who are falling for the deceit of the enemy and
encouraging their people to embrace the same false teaching that has deceived
them.
It is more
important than ever that the body of believers be immersed in the word of God
so that they can identify false teaching as did the Bereans whom Paul commended.
Acts 17:10–11 “And the brethren immediately sent away
Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more
noble than those in Thessalonica, in that
they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures
daily, whether those things were so.”
Jude then
goes on to remind his audience of God’s judgment against those that had
rejected His truth in the past.
Jude 1:5–7 “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. 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. 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.”
Although He
delivered all of the people of Israel from Egypt, He destroyed those who were
unbelievers before taking His people into the promised land. Although all the angels had been created
perfect, some chose to rebel against their assigned place and order and are now
bound in darkness awaiting the final judgment.
“Even as” connects the sin of the angels to the sin of the people of
Sodom and Gomorrha who gave themselves over to “fornication and going after
strange flesh” and will suffer the vengeance of eternal fire—hell. “Strange flesh” is a reference to going
against their natural created order. I
believe this supports the fact that the angels procreated with the women of
earth to produce a race of beings that were hybrids just as the people of Sodom
and Gomorrha practiced fornication between members of the same sex. Both the angels and the people of Sodom and
Gomorrha rebelled against the nature God had given them.
This is quite
a hot button issue in our culture today.
Sadly, many in professing Christendom are all too ready to compromise
their convictions in support of behavior that God has condemned. They are eager to stay culturally relevant
even if it means ignoring God’s word to do so.
God has declared very clearly in His word that marriage is to be between
a man and a woman and that the homosexual lifestyle is sinful.
Mark 10:5–9 “And Jesus answered and said unto them….But
from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this
cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they
twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What
therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
Romans 1:19–27 “Because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them; for God hath shewed
it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so
that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was
darkened….Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of
their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed
the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than
the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did
change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the
men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward
another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in
themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.”
In the
excerpt from Romans, Paul makes it clear that homosexuality is against God’s
natural order and will result in physical consequences (e.g., AIDS, etc.) and
eternal condemnation if such sin keeps one from accepting Jesus as Lord and
Savior.
(to be
continued…)
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