JUDE

The Beautiful Book Series

The Book of Jude
•The most neglected book of NT
•Somehow strange and hard for us to
comprehend
•Jude relates a statement made by Enoch
concerning the fate of the ungodly
apostates
The Book of Jude
• The word apocrypha means “hidden”
• Some of what the Apocrypha say is true and
correct. However, due to the historical and
theological errors, the books must be viewed as
fallible historical and religious documents, not as
the inspired, authoritative Word of God
Who is Jude?
• The name is Judah or Judas
• Biological half-brother of Jesus
• Acts 1:14 says that Jesus’
brothers did not believe in Him
until they saw Christ after His
resurrection
Who is Jude?
• In 1 Corinthians 9:5, we saw
that Jesus’ brothers who
trusted the Lord, went about
serving Him.
• Mary was no longer a virgin
anymore after Jesus’ birth
because she bore many
children after that
Purpose of the Book of Jude
• This epistle of Jude was written after the
resurrection of Christ.
• There were many second-generation Christians
in churches by that time and hence, the
churches were facing a different set of issues
Purpose of the Book of Jude

Today, two things often corrupt

the Church
•Legalism
•Licentiousness
Legalism
• Legalism was initially addressed in the early church as
recorded in Acts 15 at the first Church Council in
Jerusalem
• There were Jews who were requiring Gentiles (non-
Jewish people) to follow Jewish laws if they were
going to believe in Jesus
Legalism
• In other words, for Gentiles to follow Jesus as their
Lord and Savior, they also had to follow Jewish laws
and customs, even though they weren’t Jewish
• Some also believe that even after believing in Christ,
one must still do “such and such” before being
allowed into heaven. The do not believe in the
sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice.
Licentiousness
• They believe that once you are saved, you can
live in any way you like. You do not need to try
to live a Christ-like life nor confess your sins
(when you fall into sin).
• They believe that they have received a licence to
sin freely when they received Jesus as their
Saviour.
Licentiousness
• As it is today, licentiousness was also a common
false teaching during Jude’s time.
• Just as in the epistle of 2 Peter, Apostle Peter
had to address similar sins of obsession of the
“Christians” over sex and money.
Licentiousness
• Satan is well aware that Licentiousness is more
enticing than Legalism because it is less
burdensome to people and thus, they are more
easily attracted to it
Summary of Jude
vv. 1 - 3
• Jude called himself a bond
servant of Christ
• Jude originally wanted to write
about Salvation but he sensed
an impending crisis
• He needed to contend for the
faith by warning of the false
doctrines of Legalism and
Licentiousness
Contend for the Faith
• Jude is concerned because “the faith”—the Christian message of the
gospel—is under attack from false teachers who are spreading
dangerous heresies
• The Greek word Jude chooses, translated “contend earnestly”
• Usually describes an athlete striving with extreme intensity to win the
victory in a physical competition
• Jude wants all believers to contend earnestly for the faith
• A true contender vigorously endeavors to win the competition, not
holding anything back
v. 4
• People in the Church are often
unaware of the wolves in sheep’s
clothing propagating false
teachings
• These false teachers are denying
the Master and the Lord when
they preach hyper-grace
Hyper-grace
• The term hyper-grace has been used to describe a new wave of
teaching that emphasizes the grace of God to the exclusion of other
vital teachings such as repentance and confession of sin
• Hyper-grace teachers maintain that all sin, past, present, and future,
has already been forgiven, so there is no need for a believer to ever
confess it
vv. 5 -7
• Two million people came out
of Egypt but God destroyed
many who did not believe
• Same today, they had never
trusted Christ and hence were
never saved in the first place
vv. 5 -7
• Genesis 6:2 mentions the sons
of God.
• In one book (1 Enoch) of the
Apocrypha, it was explained
that these sons of God were
“angels fallen from grace” who
had perverted sex with the
daughters of man and had
produced a strange breed of
people.
vv. 5 -7
• These fallen angels were now
locked in “eternal chains under
darkness” awaiting judgement
• Some speculate that these
angels are currently bound
under Euphrates river
vv. 5 -7
• Sodom and Gomorrah were
punished and destroyed for
their state of homosexuality
• These people were being
punished in eternal fire
• The three examples show that all
who live this kind of life are
rebelling against God and will be
judged by God
• They are just living the lifestyle
of unbelievers
• God “judges by works” and not
by our mere profession of a
creed
• It is your behavior and
lifestyle that shows if you
are truly born-again
• If you rebel without any
conscience, then you
should check yourself as
suggested in 2 Corinthians
13:5.
Test Ourselves
5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the
faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not
recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ
is in you—unless indeed you [a]fail the test?
2 Corinthians 13:5
vv. 8 - 10
• The people were so rebellious that they were not even afraid to
blaspheme God.
• They make their own rules as if they were God
• Verse 9 speaks about the burial of Moses. Michael, the archangel,
fought with Satan over who should bury Moses
vv. 8 - 10
• Deuteronomy 34:5-6 state that
nobody knows where Moses
died except that he died on a
mountain
• In the Jewish book, “Testament
of Moses”, it says that God sent
Michael to bury Moses
vv. 8 - 10
• Michael, in the fight with
Satan, did not dare to say, “I
rebuke you, Satan” but he
said, “The Lord rebukes you,
Satan”
• Michael was aware of his
standing and his need for
humility
vv. 8 - 10
• We are all under God’s authority and we cannot act as
if we are the big guys making all the rules in the
church
• It is obvious that the behavior of a man will tell you
who he is - whether he is a true believer or not
v. 11

Jude listed Cain’s

envy of his brother,
Abel, as the 4th
example
v. 11

• The 5th example

was about Balaam in
Chapter 22 of the
book of Numbers.
• Balaam served God
only for money.
v. 11
• The 6th example was
about Korah who was a
rebel against Moses and
wanted the limelight for
himself.
• It was about his pride
which is the sin that God
hates most.
• So, we have to be careful of people who are envious,
money grabbers and people who fight for fame and
power.
• These people are not behaving like the lowly and
humble Servant of Galilee, Jesus, as described in
Matthew 11:28-30.
Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to Me, all [a]who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My
yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you will find [b]rest for
your souls. 30 For My yoke is comfortable, and
My burden is light.”
vv. 11-13
• Chaotic waves -
churning up their own
shameful deeds like
dirty foam
vv. 11-13
• They are also like
clouds without water
which give no rain,
which get swept away
by the wind
vv. 11-13

•Like
shepherds caring
only for
themselves
vv. 14-16
• Enoch’s prophesy regarding the
ungodly
• Execute judgment upon all
• Convict all the ungodly and their
ways
vv. 14-16
• These people are grumblers, are never contented,
and are always following their own sinful desires
instead of following Christ
• They are loud-mouth boasters and show favoritism to
the rich and famous to gain advantage
vv. 17-19
• Christ predicted that there will be scoffers who follow their own
passion instead of the doctrines of Christ
• They will cause divisions because they are devoid of the Holy Spirit,
but filled with the spirit of the world
1 Corinthians 2:12

12 Now we have not received the spirit of

the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so
that we may know the things freely given to
us by God.
vv. 20-21
• We must have mercy
on those who doubt,
and we should do our
best to save them by
snatching them out of
the fire
vv. 20-21
• But we must be careful
that we do not let
ourselves get tainted
in the process
vv. 24-25

•It is used as the benediction

•Teach that we must thank God who can
keep us from straying
Discussion
Questions
•Share your experiences contending
for the Truth
•Share the dangers of being too
contentious, when contending for
the Truth