Enemies Within
-1-
Can one single chapter rightly be called a book? This ‘book’ actually contains volumes of information. It is condensed into one chapter. It follows as a sort of sequel to II Peter.
Jude describes a fierce battle that the church will be in right up until the time that Jesus returns. Whether you are aware of it or not, that battle is raging even now. It is the most crucial of all battles, and for the most part, many believers have no idea that it is happening.
Before we get into the main message of the book of Jude, I would like to talk a bit about Jude, the human author. The real author, as I am sure you understand, is God, the Holy Spirit.
The name, Jude, is also presented in scripture as Judas. He calls himself the brother of James. Why would he identify himself that way? While there may be more than one reason, I think that the main one is that Jude feels his readers would know the ‘James’ to which he referred. More than one James is mentioned in scripture. A ‘prominent’ James in the Bible is the brother of John. Peter, James and John were a group of three that Jesus called apart from the twelve on occasion. This James was put to death by Herod very early in the history of the church.
The list of apostles that Jesus chose includes two men by the name of James and two by the name of Judas. The second apostle James was known as ‘James the less’. Some Bible scholars believe that James the Less stepped up to be the church leader after the First James was executed and also is the author of the book of James. If James the Less is the lead pastor of the Jerusalem church, we have a biblical problem. The apostle Paul, as he was sharing his testimony with the Galatians says that early in his Christian walk, he went to Jerusalem, did not meet with any apostles, but did meet with James … the Lord’s brother.
This could not have been James the Less, an apostle of Jesus. Why? Because none of Jesus’s brothers believed He was the messiah until after His death, according to John 7:3-5 3 So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world." 5 For not even his brothers believed in him.
Why, do you suppose, the brothers had not believed in Him? What would it have been like living with Jesus?
First of all, Jesus was the eldest. In most families, being the oldest carried with it extra responsibilities. Parents hope that their firstborn will kind of set an example of behavior for the others to follow. Often parents, in looking back, realize that they were harder on their first child. Why? Maybe because kids don’t come with an instruction manual. We think it is better to err on the side of strictness than permissiveness.
We don’t know how much older He was than the next one in line, but Jesus was different. He did not sin. He was perfect. I wonder if Mary or Joseph ever said, “Now James, why can’t you be more like your brother!”
How would you have liked being child number two? He always did the right thing. He never got chewed out. Never had to take a time out. Never got sent to his room. And certainly never had his hide tanned.
What were the names of Jesus’ brothers? We can discover that in Matthew. Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? Mt 13:55
Four brothers. Two of which have the same names as two of the apostles. But the above verses point out that the brothers did not believe that Jesus was God’s son, the Messiah. So I have to take the position that James, the brother of the Lord, the author of the book, and pastor of the Jerusalem church, and Jude, his brother, were both not apostles chosen by Jesus.
These both came to faith after Jesus died and rose again. But even as Jesus was dying on the cross, and His mother Mary was there alone, Jesus, the eldest, made provision for his mother. His last will and testament was that she go home and live with apostle John. Joseph obviously had passed away by then. Jesus did not pass the caregiving responsibility on to James, the next in line.
But the resurrection of Jesus from the dead must have had something to do with the brothers becoming believers. As a matter of fact, Jesus made it a point to appear … alive from the dead, to His brother James.
Once they became believers, the spiritual ‘growth’ of Jesus’ brothers must have been very rapid and intense, because James, the Lord’s brother, became the church leader shortly after the first James was killed by Herod.
We will notice that the writer of James does not identify himself as an apostle of Jesus, and neither does Jude. This is because neither of them were believers when Jesus chose the twelve.
Both of these brothers humbly identify themselves as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 ¶ Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
What a change in Jude’s attitude towards his ‘half-brother’ Jesus. From resentment to adoration. He could have called himself ‘the brother of the Lord Jesus’. But that would have indicated a measure of pride. Does calling himself ‘the brother of James’ not also show a measure of pride? I would say that it could, but in this case I think that it only shows that he has not been known to the church at large, and by identifying with brother James it will help his credibility.
He writes to the ‘called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ’.
What about the word ‘called’? In Revelation 7;14 we read “These will wage war against the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”
In this case the words ‘called’ and ‘chosen’ are used together. Is there a difference and is it important? Yes to both. Here is what Jesus said. “ ... many are called, but few are chosen.” Mt 22:14
Many times in scripture the word ‘called’ is used in the sense that it includes being chosen. That is how Jude is using the word. He could have said, Called and Chosen.
I want to illustrate how that works. Are you familiar with an old TV series called ‘Mission Impossible’? An agent hears a phone ringing in a phone booth, or he receives a cassette tape and player in a package, or he receives a ‘mission’ request in some other way. He plays the tape. The message begins something like this; “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to …. “ At the end of the message we invariably hear, “this message will self-destruct in 15 seconds”.
The calling of God is much like that. At least it should be. Except for the self-destruct part. We read at the end of the book of Revelation, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come,’ and let him that hears say, ‘Come.’ And let him that is thirsty come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Rev 22:17, That is a call.
A ‘call’ could look like this; “Will you take my yoke upon you and follow Me?” “Will you count the cost, take up your cross and follow Me?” Will you confess your sin, repent and believe in Jesus, the one who took your place on the cross?
“Will you come to Christ?” “Will you take of the water of life?”
The bride (the church) says come. That is the call. Many (hopefully) are being called. So who are ‘the chosen’? ‘The chosen’ are the ones who say Yes. I accept. I repent of my sins and take Jesus as my Saviour and Lord.
All of those who ‘accept the mission’ become the chosen. Many hear the call but do not accept. Being ‘called’ is not enough. A person needs to accept the call. Then he is one of the chosen. Jesus said. “ ... many are called, but few are chosen.”
Jude is writing to the called … but more specifically, the called and chosen. He says that we (the called and chosen) are beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
Jude is likely writing to the same scattered group to whom Peter and James wrote. This means he may not have known them personally, but he knew all about them. By the Holy Spirits ‘overseeing’ the writing, Jude is writing to you and to me as well.
He is saying .. you are beloved in God the Father. How wonderful is that! These are the same words that the Father said to Jesus …”This is my beloved Son, hear Him”
And, says Jude, we are kept. We did not become a child of God because we ‘didn’t sin all that much’. We did not become a child of God because we tried so hard to be good neighbors and treat everybody fairly. This had absolutely nothing to do with it. He called on us to repent and believe. We accepted the call … and repented and believed. That’s all we had to do. After that we ‘are kept’. We are secure.
1:2 - May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
When Peter opened both of his letters he said, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you”. Why do I bring that up? Just because I think that Jude wrote his letter after Peter wrote both of his. I think Jude read Peter’s letters. We are going to see some marked similarities between Jude’s words and what Peter said, especially in his second letter. That does not take away from the fact that the Holy Spirit inspired Jude’s words. These are the very words of God. But the Spirit allowed men to write, using their own thoughts … yet totally guided by the Spirit.
So Peter’s opening welcome used the words grace and peace … while Jude uses the words mercy instead of grace and he also adds the word love.
Mercy and grace are somewhat similar. There are not too many verses in the Bible that have both words in one sentence, but here is one example. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
When you see the word ‘grace’ in scripture, think ‘favor’. Mercy is a much better understood word than grace. When you know that you have some kind deserving punishment or penalty about to be administered to you, and then it suddenly is reversed, that is mercy. Favor includes things like unexpected special treatment or gifts. This verse in Hebrews puts them both together in a wonderful way.
We draw near to the throne of grace. We are coming to God in prayer and we should realize that we are coming to a place where the One on the throne is waiting to give out special gifts and other favors. That is what He is waiting to do. But as we approach the throne, we also understand that we don’t deserve anything but discipline. We know perfectly that we failed to serve Him with all our heart, all our strength and all our mind.
But this verse in Hebrews says that we also receive mercy. We receive a forgiveness that we most certainly do not deserve. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. And then we find grace to help in time of need. God is a God of special favors that He wants to give us. He wants us to be equipped with what we need to thrive in this sinful world. That special favor that you need to make it through is just waiting for you to humbly come before His throne to receive it.
Well, Jude left off the word ‘grace’. But do not think it is significant. He said, May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. If you put all that together, including the love, Jude’s greeting covers it all.
Jude now gives his main reason for writing this letter.
3. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Our common salvation is a wonderful topic to dwell on. Jude had fully intended to do that. When we look at the big picture, there is nothing more important than our salvation.
God is, and always has been, in eternity. Eternal life with Him is something that we cannot even begin to understand or describe. But the other side of the coin certainly helps us to want and understand salvation. We also do not know the details of spending an eternity without God, but we can get a pretty good picture.
There will be a total absence of good. There will be no fellowship with one another. It is called ‘outer darkness’. Jesus says that individuals will be gnashing their teeth in pain and agony. Jesus also points out that it will be an eternity of continual regret and remorse. And He points out that it was originally created for the Devil and ‘his angels’.
I have not been able to verify this, but some Bible scholars have indicated that Jesus mentions hell or hades more than He mentioned Heaven. But even in the few words that I have mentioned about hell, it is enough to say, Let’s talk about Salvation!
Jude was going to talk about that. He calls it the ‘common’ salvation. This word can easily be taken the wrong way. He is not putting salvation down. Rather, he is elevating it. Salvation, that wonderful act of God, reaching down in mercy and grace and love, … is not for just some. It is common, meaning it is for all. How great is that! But as Jude is about to get into his real reason for writing … which is to fight hard in the war of truth against falsehood … we will see he really is emphasizing the importance of truth as it relates to this common salvation.
The truth has been under attack for a very long time, and Jude is giving a kind of battle cry to join in … on God’s side.
3. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
4. For certain people have crept in unnoticed ...
Peter had said, But false prophets arose among the people, just as there WILL BE false teachers among you … (2 Peter 2:1) Peter said that they will come, Jude says they are here. He says, certain people have crept in. The truth has been under attack, and it is under attack now.
By the way, what is truth? Pontius Pilate asked Jesus that question. (I want to share this text from Young’s Literal Translation) Pilate, therefore, said to him, 'Art thou then a king?' Jesus answered, 'Thou dost say it; because a king I am, I for this have been born, and for this I have come to the world, that I may testify to the truth; every one who is of the truth, doth hear my voice.' (John 18:37)
What is truth and how important is truth? According to this verse, Jesus states that it is the whole reason that He came to earth. Leaving the splendor of heaven and eternity, coming to this earth, living as a human, suffering indignity and death … all to show us truth. From God’s viewpoint, truth is that important.
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. (John 18:38) And a few minutes later, Pilate had Jesus whipped.
At one point during His ministry, Jesus had said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) How important is truth? Jesus actually calls Himself, Truth. What did Pilate do with truth? He had Him whipped and then crucified.
Jesus also said, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)
How important is Truth? It (He) sets us free from sin and death. He gives us life. He, (the Truth) is also our Way.
First we hear the truth, next we understand the truth, we believe the truth, we assent to the truth, we live the truth, we learn the truth, and we proclaim the truth.
Jesus, in His prayer in John 17 said, Your word is truth. Truth is more precious to us than anything and everything.
It is because of the importance of truth that it is constantly under attack. Satan has done his best to eliminate truth, to cover the truth, to twist the truth with his lies and deception.
The Devil has employed demons and men and women in his attack against God’s truth. Most effectively he has employed people who are associated with the truth in some way. The deadliest assaults against truth come from the inside. This is what Jude is telling us. 4. For certain people have crept in unnoticed ...
Paul describes these enemies within … For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
(2 Corinthians 11:14-15)
They look like regular ministers of righteousness. In the battle for truth, how do we fight against someone who looks and talks like a ‘righteous’ minister? Peter said they were coming. Jude says, They are here now. Paul said to Timothy, Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
(1 Tim 4.1)
Enemies of truth have been here all along, so when Peter spoke of them as coming, when Paul speaks of them as coming in the later times, these men are indicating that the enemies will multiply. He says that in 2 Timothy 3;13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Jesus, as He talked about the last days said, “There will come a time when false christs, false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance.” (Matt 24:24-25)
How do we fight this? Jude is appealing to you to contend for the faith. I wish I had a ‘magic bullet’ that we could use. But it comes down to this. The battle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces that are using these imposters and false teachers. Our weapons are not physical. Our ‘intellect’ is not even the weapon to use. We have to believe in the power of prayer and the power of the Word. The writer of Hebrews says, For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
Our weapons are described by Paul;
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, (Ephesians 6:11-18)
We are living in dangerous times. The enemy is all around us and within churches. The enemy appears as righteous and holy ministers. Our battle is not to ‘take them out’. It is to know and to teach and to preach truth. It is ‘The Faith’ that we are defending.
You say that you are not on the front lines of the battle and that you may never be on the battle front. In that case you need to realize that Satan is not only against truth, he is also against you. You need to protect yourself.
To protect yourself you need to stay in God’s word and know it well. Not just in bits and pieces. Not just being familiar with a collection of verses. You need to know the Word in its context and understand what it is saying. It is going to get much worse than it is. Jesus said that the false prophets that are coming are even going to substantiate their words with actual miracles. That is coming. Are you ready? Are you getting ready?
Jude describes a fierce battle that the church will be in right up until the time that Jesus returns. Whether you are aware of it or not, that battle is raging even now. It is the most crucial of all battles, and for the most part, many believers have no idea that it is happening.
Before we get into the main message of the book of Jude, I would like to talk a bit about Jude, the human author. The real author, as I am sure you understand, is God, the Holy Spirit.
The name, Jude, is also presented in scripture as Judas. He calls himself the brother of James. Why would he identify himself that way? While there may be more than one reason, I think that the main one is that Jude feels his readers would know the ‘James’ to which he referred. More than one James is mentioned in scripture. A ‘prominent’ James in the Bible is the brother of John. Peter, James and John were a group of three that Jesus called apart from the twelve on occasion. This James was put to death by Herod very early in the history of the church.
The list of apostles that Jesus chose includes two men by the name of James and two by the name of Judas. The second apostle James was known as ‘James the less’. Some Bible scholars believe that James the Less stepped up to be the church leader after the First James was executed and also is the author of the book of James. If James the Less is the lead pastor of the Jerusalem church, we have a biblical problem. The apostle Paul, as he was sharing his testimony with the Galatians says that early in his Christian walk, he went to Jerusalem, did not meet with any apostles, but did meet with James … the Lord’s brother.
This could not have been James the Less, an apostle of Jesus. Why? Because none of Jesus’s brothers believed He was the messiah until after His death, according to John 7:3-5 3 So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world." 5 For not even his brothers believed in him.
Why, do you suppose, the brothers had not believed in Him? What would it have been like living with Jesus?
First of all, Jesus was the eldest. In most families, being the oldest carried with it extra responsibilities. Parents hope that their firstborn will kind of set an example of behavior for the others to follow. Often parents, in looking back, realize that they were harder on their first child. Why? Maybe because kids don’t come with an instruction manual. We think it is better to err on the side of strictness than permissiveness.
We don’t know how much older He was than the next one in line, but Jesus was different. He did not sin. He was perfect. I wonder if Mary or Joseph ever said, “Now James, why can’t you be more like your brother!”
How would you have liked being child number two? He always did the right thing. He never got chewed out. Never had to take a time out. Never got sent to his room. And certainly never had his hide tanned.
What were the names of Jesus’ brothers? We can discover that in Matthew. Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? Mt 13:55
Four brothers. Two of which have the same names as two of the apostles. But the above verses point out that the brothers did not believe that Jesus was God’s son, the Messiah. So I have to take the position that James, the brother of the Lord, the author of the book, and pastor of the Jerusalem church, and Jude, his brother, were both not apostles chosen by Jesus.
These both came to faith after Jesus died and rose again. But even as Jesus was dying on the cross, and His mother Mary was there alone, Jesus, the eldest, made provision for his mother. His last will and testament was that she go home and live with apostle John. Joseph obviously had passed away by then. Jesus did not pass the caregiving responsibility on to James, the next in line.
But the resurrection of Jesus from the dead must have had something to do with the brothers becoming believers. As a matter of fact, Jesus made it a point to appear … alive from the dead, to His brother James.
Once they became believers, the spiritual ‘growth’ of Jesus’ brothers must have been very rapid and intense, because James, the Lord’s brother, became the church leader shortly after the first James was killed by Herod.
We will notice that the writer of James does not identify himself as an apostle of Jesus, and neither does Jude. This is because neither of them were believers when Jesus chose the twelve.
Both of these brothers humbly identify themselves as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 ¶ Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
What a change in Jude’s attitude towards his ‘half-brother’ Jesus. From resentment to adoration. He could have called himself ‘the brother of the Lord Jesus’. But that would have indicated a measure of pride. Does calling himself ‘the brother of James’ not also show a measure of pride? I would say that it could, but in this case I think that it only shows that he has not been known to the church at large, and by identifying with brother James it will help his credibility.
He writes to the ‘called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ’.
What about the word ‘called’? In Revelation 7;14 we read “These will wage war against the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”
In this case the words ‘called’ and ‘chosen’ are used together. Is there a difference and is it important? Yes to both. Here is what Jesus said. “ ... many are called, but few are chosen.” Mt 22:14
Many times in scripture the word ‘called’ is used in the sense that it includes being chosen. That is how Jude is using the word. He could have said, Called and Chosen.
I want to illustrate how that works. Are you familiar with an old TV series called ‘Mission Impossible’? An agent hears a phone ringing in a phone booth, or he receives a cassette tape and player in a package, or he receives a ‘mission’ request in some other way. He plays the tape. The message begins something like this; “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to …. “ At the end of the message we invariably hear, “this message will self-destruct in 15 seconds”.
The calling of God is much like that. At least it should be. Except for the self-destruct part. We read at the end of the book of Revelation, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come,’ and let him that hears say, ‘Come.’ And let him that is thirsty come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Rev 22:17, That is a call.
A ‘call’ could look like this; “Will you take my yoke upon you and follow Me?” “Will you count the cost, take up your cross and follow Me?” Will you confess your sin, repent and believe in Jesus, the one who took your place on the cross?
“Will you come to Christ?” “Will you take of the water of life?”
The bride (the church) says come. That is the call. Many (hopefully) are being called. So who are ‘the chosen’? ‘The chosen’ are the ones who say Yes. I accept. I repent of my sins and take Jesus as my Saviour and Lord.
All of those who ‘accept the mission’ become the chosen. Many hear the call but do not accept. Being ‘called’ is not enough. A person needs to accept the call. Then he is one of the chosen. Jesus said. “ ... many are called, but few are chosen.”
Jude is writing to the called … but more specifically, the called and chosen. He says that we (the called and chosen) are beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
Jude is likely writing to the same scattered group to whom Peter and James wrote. This means he may not have known them personally, but he knew all about them. By the Holy Spirits ‘overseeing’ the writing, Jude is writing to you and to me as well.
He is saying .. you are beloved in God the Father. How wonderful is that! These are the same words that the Father said to Jesus …”This is my beloved Son, hear Him”
And, says Jude, we are kept. We did not become a child of God because we ‘didn’t sin all that much’. We did not become a child of God because we tried so hard to be good neighbors and treat everybody fairly. This had absolutely nothing to do with it. He called on us to repent and believe. We accepted the call … and repented and believed. That’s all we had to do. After that we ‘are kept’. We are secure.
1:2 - May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
When Peter opened both of his letters he said, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you”. Why do I bring that up? Just because I think that Jude wrote his letter after Peter wrote both of his. I think Jude read Peter’s letters. We are going to see some marked similarities between Jude’s words and what Peter said, especially in his second letter. That does not take away from the fact that the Holy Spirit inspired Jude’s words. These are the very words of God. But the Spirit allowed men to write, using their own thoughts … yet totally guided by the Spirit.
So Peter’s opening welcome used the words grace and peace … while Jude uses the words mercy instead of grace and he also adds the word love.
Mercy and grace are somewhat similar. There are not too many verses in the Bible that have both words in one sentence, but here is one example. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
When you see the word ‘grace’ in scripture, think ‘favor’. Mercy is a much better understood word than grace. When you know that you have some kind deserving punishment or penalty about to be administered to you, and then it suddenly is reversed, that is mercy. Favor includes things like unexpected special treatment or gifts. This verse in Hebrews puts them both together in a wonderful way.
We draw near to the throne of grace. We are coming to God in prayer and we should realize that we are coming to a place where the One on the throne is waiting to give out special gifts and other favors. That is what He is waiting to do. But as we approach the throne, we also understand that we don’t deserve anything but discipline. We know perfectly that we failed to serve Him with all our heart, all our strength and all our mind.
But this verse in Hebrews says that we also receive mercy. We receive a forgiveness that we most certainly do not deserve. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. And then we find grace to help in time of need. God is a God of special favors that He wants to give us. He wants us to be equipped with what we need to thrive in this sinful world. That special favor that you need to make it through is just waiting for you to humbly come before His throne to receive it.
Well, Jude left off the word ‘grace’. But do not think it is significant. He said, May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. If you put all that together, including the love, Jude’s greeting covers it all.
Jude now gives his main reason for writing this letter.
3. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Our common salvation is a wonderful topic to dwell on. Jude had fully intended to do that. When we look at the big picture, there is nothing more important than our salvation.
God is, and always has been, in eternity. Eternal life with Him is something that we cannot even begin to understand or describe. But the other side of the coin certainly helps us to want and understand salvation. We also do not know the details of spending an eternity without God, but we can get a pretty good picture.
There will be a total absence of good. There will be no fellowship with one another. It is called ‘outer darkness’. Jesus says that individuals will be gnashing their teeth in pain and agony. Jesus also points out that it will be an eternity of continual regret and remorse. And He points out that it was originally created for the Devil and ‘his angels’.
I have not been able to verify this, but some Bible scholars have indicated that Jesus mentions hell or hades more than He mentioned Heaven. But even in the few words that I have mentioned about hell, it is enough to say, Let’s talk about Salvation!
Jude was going to talk about that. He calls it the ‘common’ salvation. This word can easily be taken the wrong way. He is not putting salvation down. Rather, he is elevating it. Salvation, that wonderful act of God, reaching down in mercy and grace and love, … is not for just some. It is common, meaning it is for all. How great is that! But as Jude is about to get into his real reason for writing … which is to fight hard in the war of truth against falsehood … we will see he really is emphasizing the importance of truth as it relates to this common salvation.
The truth has been under attack for a very long time, and Jude is giving a kind of battle cry to join in … on God’s side.
3. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
4. For certain people have crept in unnoticed ...
Peter had said, But false prophets arose among the people, just as there WILL BE false teachers among you … (2 Peter 2:1) Peter said that they will come, Jude says they are here. He says, certain people have crept in. The truth has been under attack, and it is under attack now.
By the way, what is truth? Pontius Pilate asked Jesus that question. (I want to share this text from Young’s Literal Translation) Pilate, therefore, said to him, 'Art thou then a king?' Jesus answered, 'Thou dost say it; because a king I am, I for this have been born, and for this I have come to the world, that I may testify to the truth; every one who is of the truth, doth hear my voice.' (John 18:37)
What is truth and how important is truth? According to this verse, Jesus states that it is the whole reason that He came to earth. Leaving the splendor of heaven and eternity, coming to this earth, living as a human, suffering indignity and death … all to show us truth. From God’s viewpoint, truth is that important.
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. (John 18:38) And a few minutes later, Pilate had Jesus whipped.
At one point during His ministry, Jesus had said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) How important is truth? Jesus actually calls Himself, Truth. What did Pilate do with truth? He had Him whipped and then crucified.
Jesus also said, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)
How important is Truth? It (He) sets us free from sin and death. He gives us life. He, (the Truth) is also our Way.
First we hear the truth, next we understand the truth, we believe the truth, we assent to the truth, we live the truth, we learn the truth, and we proclaim the truth.
Jesus, in His prayer in John 17 said, Your word is truth. Truth is more precious to us than anything and everything.
It is because of the importance of truth that it is constantly under attack. Satan has done his best to eliminate truth, to cover the truth, to twist the truth with his lies and deception.
The Devil has employed demons and men and women in his attack against God’s truth. Most effectively he has employed people who are associated with the truth in some way. The deadliest assaults against truth come from the inside. This is what Jude is telling us. 4. For certain people have crept in unnoticed ...
Paul describes these enemies within … For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
(2 Corinthians 11:14-15)
They look like regular ministers of righteousness. In the battle for truth, how do we fight against someone who looks and talks like a ‘righteous’ minister? Peter said they were coming. Jude says, They are here now. Paul said to Timothy, Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
(1 Tim 4.1)
Enemies of truth have been here all along, so when Peter spoke of them as coming, when Paul speaks of them as coming in the later times, these men are indicating that the enemies will multiply. He says that in 2 Timothy 3;13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Jesus, as He talked about the last days said, “There will come a time when false christs, false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance.” (Matt 24:24-25)
How do we fight this? Jude is appealing to you to contend for the faith. I wish I had a ‘magic bullet’ that we could use. But it comes down to this. The battle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces that are using these imposters and false teachers. Our weapons are not physical. Our ‘intellect’ is not even the weapon to use. We have to believe in the power of prayer and the power of the Word. The writer of Hebrews says, For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
Our weapons are described by Paul;
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, (Ephesians 6:11-18)
We are living in dangerous times. The enemy is all around us and within churches. The enemy appears as righteous and holy ministers. Our battle is not to ‘take them out’. It is to know and to teach and to preach truth. It is ‘The Faith’ that we are defending.
You say that you are not on the front lines of the battle and that you may never be on the battle front. In that case you need to realize that Satan is not only against truth, he is also against you. You need to protect yourself.
To protect yourself you need to stay in God’s word and know it well. Not just in bits and pieces. Not just being familiar with a collection of verses. You need to know the Word in its context and understand what it is saying. It is going to get much worse than it is. Jesus said that the false prophets that are coming are even going to substantiate their words with actual miracles. That is coming. Are you ready? Are you getting ready?