This is the third lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I give an overview of the book of Jude.
Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.
Transcript:
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the third lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I'm going to do an overview of Jude.
In the first lesson I talked about why Jude was written and why it's in the Bible. We see this in verses three and four.
Jude 3 Beloveds, making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you urging you to contend for the faith which has been delivered over once for all to the saints. 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
Jude wrote this because he saw that people were creeping into the church who were denying Jesus and distorting the grace of God. Jude is in the Bible because we have those problems in the church today. The lessons from Jude and the teachings from Jude are very applicable to us in the 21st century.
In the second lesson I talked about the historical and geographical context. As I said earlier, in this lesson I'm going to give an overview of Jude.
I'm going to divide Jude into five sections. The first section is the first four verses and that's the introduction. The second section is verses five through seven. Those verses remind us that Jesus is a judge. The third section is verses eight through 16. That's where Jude described the problem he was addressing. The fourth section is verses 17 through 23. That's where Jude stated what our response as Christians should be to the problem that he identified. And then the fifth section is verses 24 and 25. They are the conclusion of Jude.
Let's start with the first section, which is the first four verses of Jude. The first four verses are the introduction. We learn the identity of the author and the recipients. We also learn the purpose of the book of Jude
Jude 1 Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those called, loved by God the Father, and having been kept for Jesus Christ. 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Jude 3 Beloveds, making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you urging you to contend for the faith which has been delivered over once for all to the saints. 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
We see that this book was written by Jude. It was written to the called, so it wasn't written to a specific group of Christians in a certain geographical area, it was written to Christians in general.
Then we see the purpose of the book which I talked about at the very beginning of this lesson. Jude recognized that people had crept into the church and they were denying Jesus and they were corrupting grace. He wrote to deal with that.
That's the first section, the introduction. Now let's read the second section. In these verses Jude reminds us that Jesus has functioned as a judge. The way Jude did that is he went into the Old Testament and cited examples of where Jesus acted as a judge. He talked about Exodus, disobedient angels, and the city of Sodom.
Jude 5 Now I want to remind you, you who know all things once for all, that Jesus, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels, the ones not keeping their own realm but having left their own dwelling, He kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having committed sexual sins in similar manner as these, and having departed after strange flesh, undergoing punishment, are exhibited as an example of eternal fire.
In these verse Jude cited the fact that Jesus punished some people after the Exodus, He punished angels who were disobedient, and He punished the city of Sodom for their sin. Let's think about why Jude gave these examples of Jesus acting as a judge.
One of the reasons Jude wrote Jude is because he recognized that there were people who had crept into the church and were distorting grace. They were turning the grace of God into sensuality. In other words, they were teaching that since God is gracious and has forgiven us for our sins, and since we have eternal life, then it's not that serious to be sinning. What Jude pointed out here is that throughout history Jesus has acted as a judge. Those of us living in the Church Age need to take that seriously. We need to recognize that sin is very serious, something that we have to take very seriously.
That is section two. Now let's look at section three. Here, Jude stated the problem that he was identifying. Throughout this section, Jude described the people who had crept into the church secretly. He drew a contrast between how things should be and how these people who had crept into the church were acting. He also used some examples from the Old Testament as similarities to what these people in the church were doing wrong. Jude also cited a prophecy where the existence of these people in the church had been foretold.
Jude 8 Nevertheless, likewise also these men, dreaming, indeed are defiling flesh, rejecting authority, and blaspheming majesties. 9 But Michael the Archangel, when arguing with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses. He did not dare to pronounce an abusive judgment; rather, he said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these men indeed are blaspheming the things they do not understand, and the things they naturally know, by them, like speechless animals, they are being destroyed. 11 Woe to them, because they went in the way of Cain, they were poured out to the error of the wage of Balaam, and they were destroyed in the rebellion of Korah. 12 These are those who are stains in your love, eating together with you without fear, shepherding themselves, waterless clouds, being taken away by winds, unfruitful autumn trees, having died twice, having been uprooted, 13 wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shames, wandering stars, to whom the gloom of darkness has been kept forever.
Jude 14 But Enoch, seventh from Adam, also prophesied about these saying, “Behold, the Lord came with His holy thousands, 15 to make judgment against everyone and to reprove every soul concerning all their deeds of ungodliness by which they lived ungodly, and concerning all the harshness which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 16 These are grumblers and faultfinders, following after their own lusts. Their mouth speaks boastfully, admiring people for the sake of gain.
We see that Jude described these people who had crept into the church. Jude made reference to Michael the archangel and how he did not dare pronounce a railing judgment against the devil. Jude drew a contrast between Michael the archangel and these people who had crept into the church who were using very abusive language. Jude also referred to Cain, Balaam, and Korah as examples of sin, saying that these men who had crept into the church were doing the same things those men had done. Towards the end, Jude made reference to a prophecy by Enoch in which Enoch had prophesied the existence of these men who had crept into the church.
That is the third section where Jude stated the problem. Now let's look at the fourth section where Jude stated how Christians should respond to this. Basically, this can be summed up with three commands: remind, keep, and show.
Jude 17 But you, beloveds, remind yourselves of the words spoken ahead of time by the apostles of our master Jesus Christ, 18 because they were telling you, “At the end time there will be mockers following after their own lusts of ungodliness.” 19 These are the ones causing division, unspiritual, not having the Spirit.
Jude 20 But you, beloveds, building yourselves up in your holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our master Jesus Christ into eternal life. 22 And indeed, show mercy to those who are doubting, 23 save them, snatching them out of the fire, show them mercy in fear, even hating the garment being polluted by the flesh.
There are a lot of words in that section, but essentially, it comes down to three commands. Jude told us to remind ourselves that the existence of these men had been foretold. He urged Christians to keep ourselves or to protect ourselves. Then he told us to show mercy to those who are doubting.
That is the fourth section. Now let's read the last section, the conclusion, which is the last two verses. These last two verses are a well-known doxology that is used very often in church services.
Jude 24 Now to the One being able to keep you from stumbling, and to stand before His glory, blameless, with gladness, 25 to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Master, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time and now also to all eternity, amen.
That's the conclusion of Jude. Again, those last two verses are very familiar. They're used very often as a doxology.
That is an overview of the book of Jude. In the next lesson I'm going to start a verse by verse exposition of the book of Jude.
Let me close by reminding us again why Jude was written and why it's in the Bible.
Jude 3 Beloveds, making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you urging you to contend for the faith which has been delivered over once for all to the saints. 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
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Scripture quotations from Jude taken from a translation by Bible Mountain.
“All other Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
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1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
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