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JUDE KJV WEB Jd-1,2 (12j) Servant >> Bond servant >> Salutations – Jude was brother to James, brothers of Jesus. They both contributed to the New Testament cannon, and their writings have one thing in common: they are both scathing. James pounced on man’s sinful pride, while Jude wrote about those who allow their pride to have its way, who have crossed the line of blasphemy and developed a reprobate mind and have become incapable of salvation. Jude wrote that these religious psychopaths went as far as trying to change the doctrines of the faith that were once for all handed to the Church through the holy apostles. (28h) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects His people -- This verse goes with verse 24. God’s keeping ability is mysterious; the poem, “Footsteps in the sand”, encapsulates God working in us. We look back and see only one set of footprints and wonder why God has abandoned us and then discover that the footprints are His, for He is carrying us. Sometimes God must carry us, and we are not always aware of it. Those are generally times when we are weakest, least spiritual and least discerning of what God is doing in our lives. These are usually times of faltering, though we still believe in Him. He won’t carry us forever, though, only when we lose direction and become weary, when the path under our feet has eroded and we can’t see the way to go. He carries us when all the distractions and temptations of life overtake us, and we put down His knowledge and wisdom to satisfy an itch. Once we have had our fill of the flesh and taste its bitter consequences, we return to the Lord, and He sets us on our feet and teaches us how to walk in His power. During that time when He was carrying us, He was keeping us in the faith for the day of redemption. See also: God working in you; Jd-1; 228h Jd-1 (33m) Gift of God >> Believers are special to God >> We are beloved of God (91l) Thy kingdom come >> The called >> Titles of His calling >> Called as saints (213j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> His will becomes our will >> As a master owns a servant (228h) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> God works in you to keep you in His will -- This verse goes with verse 24. Jude said that we are kept for Jesus Christ. He is keeping us for the day of redemption so we can live victoriously over the flesh. He keeps us from backsliding and from falling away from the faith altogether, and He preserves us for Himself. However, we must do our part to avoid the enemy of our soul; in verse 21 he wrote: “keep yourselves in the love of God.” God keeps us, and we keep ourselves in the love of God. Jude wrote in passive voice that we are kept by Christ through the Holy Spirit, and God will give us the grace and strength of heart and mind to rise above the forces of darkness and evil that wants to destroy our faith. See also: God working in you; Jd-1,2; 28h KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd,3-21 (168c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to the world >> Do not conform to the world’s rejection of God Jd,3-19 (180b) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Wolves lead people into a cult >> Wolves bypass the cross – Peter said, “In the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation’” (2Pet 3-4). There are those who want to create doubt and disbelief in the people of God, hoping it will turn into unbelief, for if they can get God's people to doubt, they can capture them and hold them in bondage to their will. They speak to God’s people about their doctrines, appearing righteous, but underneath the façade their real motives are to lie, cheat and steal. They strive to lead the faithful into darkness, where the wolves can make sport of them. Every subtle difference between what they teach and what the Bible teaches is designed to guide them into darkness where the saints become lost, not knowing how to return, and then exploiting them, and it is always more than money they want. They have egos tall as skyscrapers with great incentive to make people quit believing in God, which is the goal of every wolf. Jd,3-16 (177c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine (Cults) >> Distorting Scripture for personal gain – There are some denominations that could lead a person into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but there are other denominations that have estranged themselves from the original faith that "was once for all handed down to the saints" (v3). Some churches don't teach that one must be born-again or need to be saved at all; these would be considered cults. The strictest form of the word “cult” refers to a teaching or denomination that denies the trinity, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormon Church. These are not even considered Christian religions by most branches of Christianity, but because they believe many things about the Bible, it should be considered a cult. However, if we get too strict in our definition, we may omit many divisive factions that should be held at arms length. This then should be our definition of a cult: a religion or denomination which teachings are insufficient to lead someone to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is a movement to liberalize the Church, to make it all-inclusive (Unitarianism), but doing this will not let in those who have a biblical view of Christianity or that one must be born-again to see the kingdom of heaven. Rather, it only lets in those with ulterior motives to further distort the teachings of the gospel. That doesn't sound very inclusive. We can expect these things to happen in the last days, when apostasy is prophesied to occur, and if we read the book of Jude, we will discover the fate of those who malign the gospel of Christ. Jd,3-13 (198a) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> Unteachable >> Resisting the knowledge of God – If Israel were like this during the days of Moses, it is no wonder he had such a hard time with them, and it is no wonder they all perished in the wilderness. God had absolutely no intention of giving them anything, and He did not feel sorry that they had been in bondage to Egypt for so long. The Bible says that God had compassion on them and pity, but it was for the sake of the promises to the fathers that He came and delivered Israel from bondage to Egypt; it had nothing to do with them. Rather, He made them wander around the wilderness of forty years until they all died; then He trained the next generation to serve the Lord. Jd,3-5 (184f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >> Trying to take advantage of God’s kindness KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd-3,4 (6j) Protecting the Gospel (Key verse) (7a) Responsibility >> Protecting the Gospel >> Contend earnestly for the faith – Verse 3 depicts the evangelical denomination, who consider themselves keepers of the faith. Many in this denomination have very conservative views of Christianity, which is a good thing, but they have thrown out the baby with the bathwater in some ways. We can’t say anything contrary to Evangelical beliefs without getting severely rebuked, shunned or ostracized from their straight and narrow path that they recognize as truth. In some respects the evangelicals have a good heart in this; it is good to contend earnestly for the faith to keep the truth untainted, but most of what they are keeping is not the truth that the original apostles "once for all handed down to the saints." Without the doctrines of the true faith there is very little left of Christianity, so evangelicals have done Christianity a favor by being very diligent and dogmatic about the Scriptures, but in their zeal to stamp out false doctrine there are many teachings they reject that are clearly Scriptural. For example, Evangelicals readily believe that God is working in us to effect our salvation, but they would shamefully argue with anyone about the doctrine of working (with) the grace of God. Another example is that Pentecostals believe just about everything Evangelicals believe, but there are some things about the Pentecostals that Evangelicals consider heresy, such as they shy from spiritual gifts, because they have often seen them misused. For Evangelicals to reject all forms of spiritual manifestation is a serious problem. They believe that all our works are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64-6), as though there were nothing we can do to please the Lord. This in itself is heresy. Although it was true before we got saved, now that we are saved, God has a trail of good works for us to follow, and the Evangelicals doctrinally deny this. See also: Evangelicals and Baptists; Rev 2-4,5; 193f (135m) Temple >> Your spirit is the temple of God >> The body of Christ >> Similarity in the body >> The things we have in common >> Common salvation – We hav e a common salvation and a common faith, yet look at all the denominations of Christianity; there are hundreds of them, all representing different versions of the true faith, but the first century church recognized only one. Anybody who spoke against it was considered a heretic or Gnostic, as they were called back then. Gnosticism is understood today as people who invent false teachings; they are wolves. Heretics have spread these false teachings from the beginning, starting in the First Century (Gal 5-12). If it weren’t for the Bible, there would not be a gospel. It would have been hijacked, hacked-up, and misconstrued until the original idea was completely lost in translation and died with no sign that it ever existed. With the Bible, though, the original teachings of the one true faith have been preserved, only Satan has invented vary-colored glasses that each person wears before he opens the Bible, representing his denomination of choice, thinking that without the glasses, he could not see into the Scriptures. Is it possible to take off our denominational glasses before we read the Bible? "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Mat 19-26). We hav e the teachings of the First Century Church meticulously transcribed and collated into one book. The Jews were highly proficient at copying manuscripts from many centuries of transcribing the Old Testament, so not one jot or tittle was lost. For all intents and purposes we have the original manuscripts in our New Testament, maybe not the actual papyrus itself; it may be on a different piece of paper, but transcribed verbatim. Nevertheless, having the Bible intact hasn’t slowed the gospel inventors from doing their devious work to distort the one true faith. See also: Gnosticism; Jd-4; 162kb / Gnosticism; denies that Jesus is God in human flesh; 1Jn 4-2,3; 150d (182e) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Three causes of interpreting Scripture falsely >> Because they have no regard for God’s word – Accuracy of doctrine can be compared to shooting a bow and arrow at a target; it is better to hit the bullseye than the outer rings. Again, an inaccurate version of the gospel is analogous to parallax in the field of astronomy, which is the concept of aiming our telescope at a star, and then slightly bumping the telescope off-course, so when we look into the eyepiece the star is no longer there but a completely different part of the sky, hundreds of light-years from our original subject. A slight bump on the telescope sends it hundreds of trillions of miles from our target, and the same is true about our interpretation of Scripture; slight deviations may not seem like much at the time, but thousands of years later a doctrine has formed around the divergence, and centuries later it gives birth to a belief system and yet another religion or another denomination of the Church. The truth is infinite and eternal like God and His creation, but when we read a passage in the Bible and interpret it based on a misconception of another passage, one mistake piggybacks on top of another in a cascade of misinterpretations, until our view of the Scriptures is completely distorted. (183k) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Truth is the enemy of the spirit of error >> Spirit of error rejects the truth – Jude paints a very grim picture of a type of people who would take over the gospel of Christ and turn it into a homosexual brothel. The description of these men grows abysmal with each passing verse. “Licentiousness” is a word that means having a license to sin; other translations use lewdness and lasciviousness, both referring to being preoccupied with sexual desire outside biblical marriage. In all cases it is about abusing the grace of God and inventing doctrines that give them a license to sin. Instead of using the grace of God to be forgiven and receive eternal life in heaven and avoid the condemnation of hell, they go on sinning under the assumption that God will forgive them no matter what they do or how often they do it. Since these people are so willing to take advantage of God’s kindness and demonstrate a complete lack of conscience, and since they have no interest in repentance or walking in the truth, how much more are they willing to take advantage of their fellow man? Jude is obviously referring to a spirit behind the consistent pairing of this religious philosophy and subsequent lifestyle; he is talking about demons that follow gross immorality of the gay lifestyle. In the process of turning the grace of God into a license to sin, they inadvertently deny the Lord Jesus Christ, who is their supposed Savior. Those who are doing this are not disobedient Christians if they are denying their own Lord and Master. Rather, they are false brethren who join the Church as troublemakers, seeking leadership positions for the sake of changing the doctrines and creating a spiritual environment that is conducive to their lifestyle and conducive to the spirits that are controlling them. See also: Homosexuality; KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd-3 (68e) Authority >> Jesus Delegates the Holy Spirit to us >> Sent from heaven – The best way to understand the Bible is to read it in our prayer closet, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to us, and then measure our teachers with the same scrutiny, trusting the Holy Spirit more than anyone. The Holy Spirit will correct the false teaching in us, though our teachers may not let Him correct them; yet, if we listen to Him and do what He says, we are guaranteed to know the truth. This is the case more now than ever, with so many deceptions in the Church. In the first century the saints could explicitly trust their teachers, but this is no longer the case. We should choose our teachers carefully, according to Jesus advice, “Take care what you listen to” (Mk 4-24); and we should not make the common mistake of believing every word of our preferred sources and disregard all other sources, for truth can come from unlikeliest places. (106l) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Purpose of hearing from God >> To protect your faith – God can (and does) protect His gospel through His own power, but He mostly uses us as His spokespeople to defend His word by preaching it. Essentially, the only time the gospel needs defending is when it is directly attacked. For example, Jesus drove the merchants out of the temple with a whip because they were profaning the old covenant temple. In another case He defended God's people when He rebuked the Pharisees because they were teaching Israel their own invented precepts, while directing an avenue of money-flow into their pockets. (130c) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Being in one accord >> Having one faith – The word of God is written along the page, but when we add layer upon layer of interpretation to it, truth gets buried. The best advice is to open our ears to the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, and let Him lead us into a common faith that the First Century Church had. Following Him, we will by-pass the false teachings that have accumulated over the centuries. We will weed the garden of our heart and escape the snare of the trapper and the lies of the deceiver and the conundrum of denominations that flood our mind with confusion, until we throw up our hands in surrender to deception, concluding that the truth is unknowable. It is sad just how many people actually believe this. Jesus loosed the Spirit of Truth upon this world; now the Holy Spirit is looking for those who are seeking Him with a whole heart, and He will affix Himself to them. His first request is to hand over the reigns of our lives. He will lead us into all the truth, but if we keep the reigns, we will steer ourselves back into a theological quagmire. (215f) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God views time in eternity >> God’s time is forever (239e) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Teachable students >> The teachable are taught by God – There are many things preachers and teachers have to offer that are profitable to our spiritual, mental and physical well-being. They have the potential to vault us light-years ahead of our personal studies, especially in the beginning of our walk with God. We can listen to a sermon, and the preacher can present the gospel in its entirety in one sitting that would otherwise take weeks and months of diligent study in the Scriptures. The Church pulpit certainly has its place. When we find a good teacher, we should embrace him like the value of gold and silver. A good teacher is working in concert with the Holy Spirit to deliver us a solid understanding of the truth. Churches that learn the truth together in this way have great potential for unity, and in that unity they will build strong bonds that Satan will not be able to immediately break. (250hh) Priorities >> God’s prerequisites >> Sequence of priorities >> Believe the first message; all subsequent messages are meant to dissuade you KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd,4-13 (186j) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >> God’s role in forming a reprobate >> Marked out for destruction – Jude is painting a word picture of some really ugly people who deny the Lord Jesus Christ and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness (enslaved to sexual desire). They behave like the demons and practice homosexuality and defile the flesh, and they reject authority and revile angelic majesties. They are extremely arrogant, whereas Michael the archangel respected the demonic world, knowing what kind of power they have, but these are ignorant of spiritual forces, thinking they can control them, when in fact they are being controlled by them. They revile things they do not understand and are destroyed by the same. Their kind lived in the days of Moses, who saw the miracles and would not repent of their grumbling, raised in Egypt under generations of misery. They thought being God’s chosen people and Abraham's descendants were myths, and so was the story that a Hebrew God would one day deliver them from all their miseries. They had long given up any hope of sanity, which slowly turned them into monsters, so when God showed-up, they could not believe in Him. They had grown into some of the most depraved people on earth, the very kind that God intended to destroy through them in the land of Canaan. Jude is describing demonically controlled homosexuals, steeped in the flesh, the dark narrative portraying their inner souls. They revel in the flesh as all they know, going from passion to desire to pleasure to greed, from impulse to impulse without skipping a beat. There is no love or faith or kindness or joy, just animal instincts, and God has a place prepared for them in hell, and there is no force great enough in heaven or earth to keep them from it. Man turned evil before the flood; having lost their conscience, they became swindlers, con artists and devised Ponzi schemes against the unsuspecting, leaving them in financial ruin without losing a night's sleep... and these people want to control the Church. See also: Reprobate (Psychopath) devoid of conscience; Mat 6-22,23; 186i Jd,4-11 (49c) Judgment >> Enemies of God’s righteousness are destroyed -- These verses go with verses 14,15 Jd-4 (26m) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Curse >> Deeds that return to the doer >> False doctrine (55e) Paradox >> Opposites >> Wolves creeping in who have been long beforehand marked out for destruction, are not very sneaky -- This verse goes with verses 12,13 (162kb) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> In bondage to the burdens of men >> In bondage to freedom (licentiousness) – The people whom Jude described are not Christians; anybody who denies Jesus Christ is not a Christian. Jude is probably referring to Gnosticism and the Gnostics, who crept into Christianity unnoticed, who blended into the surroundings as with camouflage. If their ideas were vastly different from Christianity, they wouldn’t have been able to infiltrate the Church. That is, there are some things about Gnosticism that seem to parallel Christianity, but these people do not believe in Jesus; they believe in “knowledge”. God has commanded us to know the word, and so for this reason knowledge is an aspect of Christianity, and this is how the Gnostics were able to infiltrate, in that just as we value our knowledge, so they value theirs. Just as we claim to have spiritual knowledge from God, so do they, but that is about as far as it goes regarding the similarities between Christianity and the Gnostics. Beyond that, the things they believe are blasphemous, toxic and cancerous to the Christian faith. We can hear the contempt in Jude’s words for these people, who pretend to be Christians while teaching that they can do what they want because they’re saved by grace, and God must forgive them. This suggests that there is no difference between how they live and people who are going to hell, except a handful of doctrines they assert to be true. That is not faith; it is not even knowledge; it is foolish, wishful thinking. When we die and meet God, He will not have to judge whether to let us into His heaven based on whether we were good enough. He won’t compare our righteousness to our sins. Instead, He will make a simple observation whether His Spirit dwells in us, and if that be the case, He will usher us into His heavenly kingdom, but if His Spirit does not dwell in us on the day of our death, then we cannot go to heaven. He has given us a life, and for decades we have had ample opportunity to decide to follow Jesus, so He could invest His Spirit in us. If we haven’t decided to follow Jesus before our death, we wouldn’t do it in a million years, and if we are not with Him, then He cannot trust to let us into His heaven. Instead, He will assign us another place, called Hades where we will exist until Judgment Day, and then He will throw us into the lake of fire. There is no future in that. Why people refuse to give their heart to Jesus and live for God, and become one of His children, taking upon themselves His priorities, His interests and His goals, instead preferring their life apart from God, only to be thrown into the lake of fire, is a mystery. See also: Gnosticism; Jd-3,4; 135m (172d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Communion between the world and the Church >> Worldliness in the Church -- This verse goes with verses 12-19. All Christians at some point before they got saved understood that God loves them and that the truth about God exists. In contrast, secularism is the notion that all truth is relative and that there are no absolutes, except what we find in science and nature. By this we know that Pontius Pilate was persuaded by secularism when he said, “What is truth?” (Jn 18-38). The world does not believe it operates under spiritual forces; secularism therefore defines common reality as all that is natural; what we can detect with our five senses is all that exists. Secularists understand that other people’s worldviews will be different from their own, and they celebrate this, calling it diversity and using it to prove that there are no absolutes. So when the Church fragments into multiple denominations and everyone has his own opinion, the Church is proving the world’s point that there is no absolute Truth. This suggests that secularism is the cause of division within the Church, and the fact that secularists are a million miles from understanding God’s perspective suggests also that they received their worldview from demons that govern the world. This is what Jude is saying; the inventor of secularism is Satan Himself. He would love for man to believe there is no such thing as a spirit, though he himself is a spirit. See also: Tares among the wheat; Jd,12-19; 172d / Atheism (Agnostic); 2Pet 3,3-9; 243c (177b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >> Distorting Scripture >> Distorting Scripture to avoid the truth (185a) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Dragging God’s grace through the mud >> Operating His grace through religion (199f) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Throwing God away >> Rejecting Christ to steal His glory (220b) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> Predestination >> Predestined according to the sovereignty of God -- This verse goes with verse 13 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd,5-7 (12e) Servant >> Bad examples -- These verses go with verse 11 (100g) Thy kingdom come >> Diligence >> Diligence in studying the word of God – The Bible was written to increase the faith of those who already believe. Jude’s audience was called beloved by the Father, kept for Jesus Christ. He didn’t write to unbelievers, and in fact no author of the Bible has ever written to an unbelieving audience. We are to this day the ones who read the Bible, though there will always be those who read it with ulterior motives. If people are seeking God and want to know Him, the Bible is the source of revealed truth, so people can read it and understand God’s purpose for mankind; they can get saved and become children of His plan. Jude’s audience was familiar with Moses and pharaoh and Sodom and Gomorrah, but it wasn’t Israel who was the subject of his dissertation, nor was it Abraham and Lot; rather, the subject involved those who did not believe. He described a people whom God destroyed from the land of Egypt and from Sodom and Gomorrah, a ghastly community of idolaters who have no reverence for God or His people. Jd-5 (21a) Sin >> Disobedience >> Demonstrating unbelief in the character of God – Jude described the Egyptians as those who were given the opportunity to believe and rejected it. That was part of the reason God delivered the Israelites from the hand of pharaoh through a series of stages, so at each step they had the opportunity to repent and change their minds and believe in God and be saved, but we know how the story went. He also saved them in stages so He could judge them with greater severity. Every stage He offered they rejected; every opportunity to repent they squandered. Evidence of Egypt’s faith would have been letting Israel go, which Moses commanded Pharaoh, falling on their faces, humbling themselves before Almighty God, but none of these things happened. It wasn’t just Pharaoh’s pride but the pride of all Egypt; the nation would not repent, and so they were subsequently destroyed. There was a moment of partial repentance when Pharaoh let Israel go after the firstborn of Egypt were killed, but then he recanted, and for that reason God destroyed them in the Red Sea. (28b) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects us through our faith – Jude was making the point that people like the Egyptians (and Sodom and Gomorrah~v7) are with us in our own generation, and their hearts are just as hardened beyond remedy as people in ancient times, who would not give two cents to have faith in Jesus. There are many enemies of the truth, and we need to protect ourselves from them and let God keep us in the faith through the midst of danger from potential for atrocity and malevolence on the grandest scale imaginable by the agency of demons. People are capable of anything in a state of unbelief. They would try to infiltrate the Church in effort to exploit us. Just as they cannot extract the nutrients from a sheep without killing and butchering it, so neither can they exploit the saints to extract from us what they want without killing our faith. (29a) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> Delivered from our persecutors – Jude is not saying that the people who fit this description ought to be ashamed of themselves; he is saying they are looking at the prospect of judgment so severe that they are not expected to survive. It may not come today or tomorrow, but it will come, especially if they are disrupting the faith of those who are walking in truth. (76i) Thy kingdom come >> Desires of your heart >> Your interests (151d) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> Moses -- This verse goes with verse 9 (238j) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Teachers "remind" their students >> Teaching by rote – Jude said that we know all things once for all, suggesting that he was talking to knowledgeable people as students of God’s word. Also, the Spirit of God was their teacher and revealed things to them, so they did not need to be told. If they needed to know anything, God Himself would instruct them, and they had the writings of both the Old and New Testaments. Jude’s audience was exceedingly familiar with the exile of Moses from the land of Egypt; he wasn’t trying to tell them anything new. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd,6-13 (163j) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Used by Satan to destroy your own life (166j) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind cannot discern between good and evil >> The carnal mind agrees with the devil – Sodom and Gomorrah exhibited rebellion comparable to demons so that God sent hellfire upon, reserved for the devil and his angels. This is the level of distain God has for homosexuality. He hates that man walks by the natural impulses of his flesh instead of waking by faith in the Son of God, but when they follow unnatural impulses, it calls down judgment upon themselves. Every society that accepted homosexuality has crumbled under the weight of its own sin, so homosexuality will be the sin that tips the scales before God judges the world for rejecting His Truth and righteousness. Jude is making the point that homosexuality and demonic activity are related, for just as demons abandoned their own domain and murdered the Son of God, so homosexuals abandoned their proper abode and defiled entire civilizations with their immoral wickedness. See also: homosexuality; 181a (181a) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >> Rebelling against God >> Rebelling against the authority of God – The Nephilim were mentioned in the time of Noah (Gen 6,1-4). Satan transgressed every line that God drew, and one of those lines was having sex with women, creating the Nephilim. If Satan could have sex with women and gotten them pregnant, it would prove that man and demon are related; however, Gen 1-25 says, “God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind.” For this reason, cats cannot conceive with dogs and demons cannot conceive with women. Therefore, it must have happened some other way. We know that Satan will possess a man in the last days that we call the antichrist. He will so completely possess this man that even his DNA will be altered. However, this probably will not happen overnight, but over a course of many generations. Demon-possessed men having sex with women slowly changes the DNA through a process called epigenetics. This is done in isolation to the rest of society to concentrate the demonic contribution, until the Nephilim are made to walk the earth again. In this way Satan will have transgressed the line between man and demon, like crossing the line between animal species, like homosexuality crosses the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman, suggesting this progression: homosexuality à demon possession à degradation of society à judgment of God. See also: homosexuality; Jd,6-10; 135c (185e) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> The mystery of sin Jd,6-10 (135c) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the body >> Immorality >> Homosexuality – Jude adds another level of wickedness to the profile of homosexuality, and subsequently adds another layer of judgment to their impending destruction. Just as the angels “did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode,” so neither do homosexuals keep their own domain, but abandon God’s original design and lust for one another. This verse is foremost a description of Satan and his demons coercing the Jews to crucify their own Messiah, suggesting that Satan and his demons were just as responsible for putting Jesus to death as mankind. He was the malevolent spirit behind the cross. In order for Satan to accomplish this, he had to abandon his proper spiritual domain of darkness. He had no right to touch the apple of God’s eye, anymore than a homosexual has a right to burn in lust for his own gender. Every human is guilty of crucifying the Son of God, as is every demon, but the demons are unable to repent, and those who refuse to repent of the treasonous act of homosexuality God will punish with eternal fire with the devil and his angels, for there is no distinction between the sin of man and demons. See also: homosexuality; Jd-7; 167a Jd,6-8 (48d) Judgment >> God judges the world >> Satan is under God’s eternal judgment – It says that God has kept the demons in eternal bonds. Since demons are shackled, they have bondage to offer mankind. We can envision fetters attached to hands and feet, but when it comes to spiritual entities, it is anybody’s guess what these shackles mean. They try to put us in bondage to sin, and so it is likely that these eternal bonds are fetters of sin. They were once beautiful angels, until they decided to follow Lucifer. See also: rebellion; 203e (203e) Denying Christ >> Dishonor God >> Stepping out of position – Lucifer didn’t just want what belonged to God; he wanted to be God. Lucifer literally created the mystery of lawlessness, being the only thing he created in his attempt to become the Creator. When it says that demons abandoned their proper abode, it means they abandoned their post. God had given Lucifer the inheritance of the entire creation, but it wasn’t enough for him; he wanted God’s throne too. God was not interested in quibbling with Lucifer for the rest of eternity about whether he would have actually put his plan into action, so God allowed Lucifer to prove to all creation his real intensions beyond the shadow of a doubt. Now Satan cannot say that it was God’s word against his. Lucifer’s Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was God's throne, having given him the entire universe as his possession, 'but from [My throne] you shall not [sit], for in the day that you [put out your hand to take it] you will surely die' (Gen 2-17). As he made his attempt, God cast him to the earth. Jesus said in Lk 10-18, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning,” suggesting that it wasn’t Jesus who cast him to the earth, but His Father. Jesus was not in charge but Lucifer, suggesting that Lucifer was temporarily given authority above the Son of God. The Father gave a created being the place of Christ to prove that no created being is humble enough to assume Jesus' place. Therefore, if Lucifer, the prince of blasphemers now called Satan, was willing to coordinate a coo against God’s throne, how much more willing is he to perform any and all feats of rebellion against God, against His truth and against his people? See also: rebellion; Jd-8,9; 15k Jd-6 (47g) Judgment >> God judges the world >> Hell is a place of darkness -- This verse goes with verse 13 (49h) Judgment >> God judges the world >> The last days >> The day of judgment (184d) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Darkness >> God controls darkness >> God hides unbelief in darkness -- This verse goes with verse 13 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd,7-12 (3l) Responsibility >> To the Family >> God addresses both genders >> Evil men Jd-7 (47a) Judgment >> God Judges the world >> Hell is a place of sorrow >> It is a great fire prepared for the devil and his angels >> The lake of fire -- This verse goes with verse 23 (151bb) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> Abraham >> Story of Abraham (154g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Witness that the world is rebellious against God >> Witness against sin -- This verse goes with verse 11 (167a) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Lust of the fleshly mind – It wasn’t just Sodom and Gomorra, but the cities surrounding them that had given into this sin, meaning that it was spreading like cancer. It says they suffered in their person “the punishment of eternal fire,” not just fire that descended from heaven, but lust that engulfed them, leading to fire and brimstone. People who endorse homosexuality have been running from Scripture ever since it was written, trying to somehow interpret their way from impending doom, unless they repent. Most of the time they just give up, condemning the Scriptures and avoiding those who would bring these passages to mind. It is a losing game to use Scripture to validate homosexuality, though there are some who are arrogant enough to try, but they are only fooling themselves. They are pig-headed and refuse to acknowledge the will of God. It is not homosexuality but rebellion that seeks to express itself through homosexuality. See also: homosexuality; Jd,6-13; 166j Jd,8-10 (84l) Thy kingdom come >> Your words can lead to your own demise >> They can be destructive -- These verses go with verse 15 (163k) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Entertaining demons >> Disciplined by the devil as a son (164e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> Satan’s hierarchy of evil (175m) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Ignorant of God Jd-8,9 (15k) Servant >> Angels >> Limitations of angels – Satan does not have the same authority he once had, making it difficult to describe the relationship between Michael and the devil. The event of Michael the ark angel arguing with the devil about the body of Moses is nowhere in the Bible except here. Jude by revelation is saying that these two angels have a common past. Lucifer, was once Michael’s superior officer, the greatest angel of the angelic host. Although things have changed since Lucifer lost His position as the most powerful created being, Michael still treated him with reverence, remembering the status and authority he once had in heaven. He did not hold Satan in contempt because of his fallen state, but pitied him. In contrast, ignorant, wicked men through rebellion revile angelic majesties. The Bible says there was war in heaven (Rev 12,7-9); these fallen angels still have power and authority in the angelic realm. They use it only for evil now, being incapable of choosing good, whereas man is caught in the middle, having the ability to choose between good and evil, but the fallen angels have already made their decision; it is cast in stone. They are the epitome of what it means to be in bondage to sin, while man is still being tested and a verdict has not been reached. Once the spirit leaves the body, the testing is finalized by the death of the flesh. If they have not sided with Christ, they will no longer be able to choose good, having already made their choice and becoming like the fallen angels, unable to repent. Those in heaven who believe in Jesus are in the opposite condition, unable to choose evil; the are happy and content. See also: rebellion; Jd-8; 134b Jd-8 (134b) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Mediator between the natural and the spiritual realms >> Manifesting the kingdom of darkness through disobedience – Satan works with people who diametrically oppose the truth, who say some of the most atrocious things against God, things that cause the Christian’s skin to crawl. The devil stands behind the person, leading them to acquire a belief system they think is unique, but that Satan has inspired in countless others who are open to his hatred of God. False religions follow theology that demons believe, according to the principle, “deceiving and being deceived” (2Tim 3-13). This goes for the devil, who deceived himself into believing His own false notions about God. We hear their blasphemy, and we could argue with them, but we would get nowhere. What matters more than trying to convince them of the truth is protecting the Church from their negative influence, making it clear that if they will not believe in the gospel, not to trouble those who do. They are led by demons, so it is only natural they should dissuade others from believing in Jesus, and every person they discourage from the faith is a feather in their cap. In their heart they know they’re rushing headlong into judgment, knowing what the Bible says but thinking they know better. They know the truth, but they don’t believe it, and they are too weak in heart to resist the devil, and they have covered too much ground to turn back now. See also: rebellion; Jd,6-8; 48d (145f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Deliverance from demon possession >> Human state >> Filthiness >> Being defiled Jd-9 (67m) Authority >> Jesus delegates authority >> There is authority in Jesus’ name (151d) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> Moses -- This verse goes with verse 5. The Bible states that after Moses died, His body hidden so people would not build a shrine over his remains and make it a place of idolatry, like the Catholics did to Peter’s supposed remains, building St Peter's Basilica over his bones. Jd-10,11 (218j) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Reaping the harvest >> Reaping the harvest in eternity Jd-10 (23c) Sin >> Pride is defensive (25b) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Hate evil with hate -- This verse goes with verse 23. These people destroy the things they hate, and they hate the things that destroy them. They are at war with creation and with the creator and with each other and themselves, and for this reason God has commanded us to “Come out from their midst and be separate” (2Cor 6-16,17). We are not at war with them or with our enemies who hate us, and we are certainly not at war with God. Rather, we are at war with spiritual forces of wickedness in high places. This is the root of slavery to corruption (Rom 8-21), and it refers to the nature of sin that has been sown into the fabric of creation. Jd-11 (12e) Servant >> Bad examples -- This verse goes with verses 5-7 (151g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> Adam -- This verse goes with verse 14 (154g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Witness that the world is rebellious against God >> Witness against sin -- This verse goes with verse 7 (215g) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The judgments of God come suddenly >> Without warning KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd,12-19 (172d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Communion between the world and the Church >> Worldliness in the Church -- These verses go with verse 4. Back in the day, the majority of church members were poor, but nowadays a link has been made between Christianity and wealth. Big money often assumes the blessing of God, as though money is proof of possession. Going to church is thus a natural recourse for many wealthy people, who use the weekly routine to improve their image in society, and the Church needs their money, so Christianity has become a rich man's club. The Church should seek alternative methods to conduct their faith that require far less money, so it doesn’t depend on wealthy people to sustain itself, most who do not know God. See also: Tares among the wheat; Jd-19; 79b Jd-12,13 (22l) Sin >> Pride glorifies self >> Seeking the glory of man (23i) Sin >> Poverty (Oppression) >> God’s perspective on the poor – God does not respect the poor for being poor; He respects them for believing in His gospel and trusting in His ability to supply their needs. There are poor people who do not serve God, which is a travesty, and think that God should help them because they’re poor, not because they believe in Him. (55e) Paradox >> Opposites >> Wolves creeping in who have been long beforehand marked out for destruction, are not very sneaky -- These verses go with verse 4 (171h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Decorating the outside to simulate the inside >> Simulating the outer man to portray the inner man -- These verses go with verse 16 (181k) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Deceiving and being deceived (197e) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> Fruitlessness >> A fruitless life offends God – These people are dangerous, not that they carry a gun or conceal a knife, but there are other dangers referring to faith, such as they have a corrosive effect on the Church and are not easily detectable. They know how to talk religion, and they have mastered the Jesus-smile. Meanwhile, they don’t have the slightest interest in the things of God, nor do they have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. If allowed to remain, they will influence God’s people with their godless values and lifestyle, and over time their influence will redefine a new normal of behavior. They don’t do any of these things on purpose; they don’t know God. Misconstruing the freedom of Christ, they are frauds who practice deception, instead of investing their lives into the Kingdom of God, unaware they are on their way to hell. Those who pretend to be Christians have no choice but to have a detrimental effect on the saints, tempting us to relax on the principles of faith and love, and soon we will begin to think like them about the gospel, that it’s just a matter of believing a set of doctrines. Jd-12 (25l) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> You’re walking in death if you’re not walking in Jesus (84g) Thy kingdom come >> Words of your mouth >> Boasting in men is not needed (131j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Many members but one body >> Many partakers but one loaf of bread (159c) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit godliness >> Counterfeit Christian (241a) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Taking away the key of knowledge >> Hindering unity in the Church – That is a wretched spiritual state of a human being. These people cause almost all the division and disunity that is in the Church today, suggesting there must be many of them with us who fit this description, who fill our congregations and are even preaching in our pulpits, and the Church as a whole is incognizant of them. We don’t know them because they have taken the key of knowledge from us. John in Revelation called it the key of David; some say it is worship, so they worship God in their services and sing songs and raise their hands. They think that the higher they jump and the louder they sing, the more they are worshipping God and the more they are turning the key of David. Jesus called them the "keys of the kingdom", meaning there is more than one. Dozens of times throughout the New Testament it speaks of the Holy Spirit and the word of God in unison. These are the keys of the kingdom: the Spirit and the word. We operate in the Spirit through prayer, and we operate in the word of God by studying the Bible and coming to know the truth. Together, we use them to worship God, but the people that Jude has mentioned here have taken away the key of knowledge, teaching other things instead. They put the gospel in other words and teach it in other ways that are not true, so they don’t bring the Holy Spirit and God’s truth together. They try to show us their point in the Bible, and we don’t see it, so they have to pound it into us from week to week until we can’t help but see it in the Bible, brainwashing us to their belief systems. On the contrary, the teachings of the Spirit and the word are crystal clear in the Scriptures; every writer in the New Testament spoke this way, but because we don’t think so, since our false shepherds have brainwashed us to their perspectives, we don’t understand the gospel as it is written. We put a foreign key into a lock and try to turn it, and it doesn’t move. What are we attempting to unlock? Are we not trying to unlock the power of God? We are not trying to make Him work for us, but to know the truth and to be set free to work for Him. God is highly zealous for His ways; He wants His Church to grow both spiritually and numerically in that order. He wants this more than we do, and so it would behoove us to work with Him in this way rather than searching for another set of keys to make God work for us. We have a lot of gabby doctrines that never set anyone free, and we need to trade them in for the truth of God, and be cleansed from all defilement of flesh and Spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2Cor 7-1). See also: Spirit and the Word (Spirit gives boldness to speak the word of God); 2Cor 3-12; 85f Jd-13 (47g) Judgment >> God Judges the world >> Hell is a place of darkness -- This verse goes with verse 6 (53k) Paradox >> Opposites >> What I used to think >> I thought sinners liked darkness (153c) Shame (Key verse) (153d) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Shame >> Hiding under a cloud of guilt >> Your sin will find you out (161c) Works of the devil >> Wandering from the character of God >> Wander from the truth – These “church people” crash the saint’s pot blesses, who have no regard for genuine faith and have no reverence for God. Jude calls them hidden reefs, the metaphor of a Christian resembling a ship at sea, and we know what hidden reefs do to the hulls of ships. They are the most hazardous obstacles in the open ocean, especially the ones that are uncharted and rise from the depths, hundreds of miles from the nearest land and stop just short of the water’s surface, making them invisible to the ship’s spotter. These can tear a hole in the bottom of a ship, inviting it to the ocean floor. (184d) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Darkness >> God controls darkness >> God hides unbelief in darkness -- This verse goes with verse 6 (220b) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> Predestination >> Predestined according to the sovereignty of God -- This verse goes with verse 4 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd-14,15 (20k) Sin >> Disobedience >> Rejecting the word (49c) Judgment >> Enemies of God’s righteousness are destroyed -- These verses go with verses 4-11. Enoch could have prophesied about the White Throne Judgment against the wicked in sending them to hell, but he didn’t. Instead, he prophesied about the victory of the Church. In fact, they are two sides of the same coin. The wicked will become an object of horror throughout eternity as a lesson to all creation that we should not rebel. His judgment against them will be extremely severe for reasons we cannot fully understand at this time, because we have never yet seen the Lord face-to-face. The day we meet Him we will begin to understand His severity against the wicked. There is a day when we will fully understand Him, and that day is the last day of eternity, meaning we will never fully understand His ways. Until then we must trust that what God is doing is righteous, holy and perfect. (49h) Judgment >> God judges the world >> The last days >> The day of judgment (89l) Thy kingdom come >> God convicts us of sin >> Conviction reminds us to repent (133h) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holiness >> The body of Christ is holy >> God’s people are holy to the Lord (142a) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> Prophesy about the dispensation >> The end times – It is no wonder Enoch found favor with God; he prophesied about the second coming of Christ six centuries from Noah’s flood before God took him. This suggests that Enoch lived among a growing wickedness, enduring their sin and felt his spirit vexed day after day by their lawless deeds (2Pet 2-8). At the seventh generation from Adam, God gave testimony to him about the First Resurrection, and then He raptured him, punctuating its importance. God had been looking forward to this day since He created Adam, being the greatest day of mankind, the day of gathering God’s people together as one body. Not a soul will be missing, as Jesus said about His disciples, “I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled” (Jn 17-12). The First Resurrection represents total victory for the Church over sin and death and over Satan and his minions. The Church represents only a fraction of all the people who ever lived, for most people will not be counted in the roles of heaven (Mat 7-13,14). Throughout the ages God has been selecting only a handful of people from the masses. (156K) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Living an ungodly lifestyle >> Practicing sin Jd-14 (151g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> Adam -- This verse goes with verse 11 Jd-15 (84l) Thy kingdom come >> Your words can lead to your own demise >> They can be destructive -- This verse goes with verses 8-10 (186b) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Cursing the Holy Spirit >> Consider the work of the Holy Spirit to be sin Jd-16 (17e) Sin >> Judging in the flesh >> Based on greed (75j) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Being manipulative >> Controlling people by abusing authority (76a) Thy kingdom come >> Hidden motives >> Based on selfish ambition (93m) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Exception >> Following evil along the broad way -- This verse goes with verse 18 (158b) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Divide and conquer >> Strife >> Grumbling (162i) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> Bad company >> Bad company will entangle you in their bondage – Jude equated the deeds of the wicked with the sins of the Egyptians (v5); pharaoh held the Israelites in bondage to their lust for power and glory. Prior to judging the world, God will convict them of the evil they have perpetrated against His people and the harsh things they have spoken against the Lord. People think they can get away with saying anything they want against God, and He has in fact taken truckloads of abuse ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. (167b) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Carnal mind cares only for itself – The people to whom Judas refers are devoid of the Spirit; they are worldly-minded, caring only for themselves, and they have no regard for the afterlife. Peter also warned us about those who preach that the second coming of Christ will never happen, that everything remains the same from the beginning (2Pet 3,3-7). They hold to a secular worldview and discount any belief in a spiritual realm and retell their own rendition of history, that since the beginning of time God has been absent. They deny the stories of the Bible, including Moses, claiming that the cycles of life are all that exist, turning slowly, indefinitely under their own power as though God were dead. That is what they believe and they jam it down our throats. These are dangerous people to the saints with their lies and deceptions prepared as their religion of unbelief. (171h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Decorating the outside to simulate the inside >> Simulating the outer man to portray the inner man -- This verse goes with verses 12&13 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd,17-21 (68k) Authority >> Discernment >> Judging truth and error >> Perceiving wicked plans – Judas advised us to keep ourselves in the love of God, praying always in the Holy Spirit; this is how we avoid such men as these (See 2Timothy chapter 3). We must be vigilant, praying in a way that we cannot pray without God, staying spiritually in touch with the Lord, opposing such people by exposing them. We must not let our love to grow cold or lose our discernment of their pernicious ways. Jd-17 (239a) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Teachers "remind" their students >> Recalling the word of God Jd-18 (49l) Judgment >> God judges the world >> Condition of the world in the last days (93m) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Exception >> Following evil along the broad way -- This verse goes with verse 16 (243c) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Mocking >> Mocking the Church Jd-19 (79b) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind >> Satan will control your mind if you don’t – There are many "goats" (unsaved church attendants) marbled throughout the assembly in our churches all across America today. Jude in this verse is talking about people in church who are not saved; they are false brethren if not wolves in sheep’s clothing. They go to church for ulterior motives. They never found a social club they liked, but the Church seems to fit their needs. They learn the language of Christianity and familiarize themselves with the Bible. The pastor could preach a salvation message, but they don’t get saved. They are a danger to the flock who trust God for their salvation. We have an element of trust with our fellow believers, and when we trust people with intensions of exploiting us, the process of victimization has already begun. The best way to make this kind of people leave before they hurt anybody is to preach highly concentrated truth from the pulpit, but if our teaching if filled with religiosity and false doctrine, these things don’t make impostors leave. In fact, it attracts them, being the very kind of people who invented such doctrines centuries earlier. It is too late to do anything about troublemakers after they have hurt people; we want to take preemptive action before this happens. They have ulterior motives for going to church, and ultimately they will harm the faith of those who are trusting in Jesus for eternal life. Many pastors are not willing to preach the unadulterated truth because they know it will cause many to leave, but this will result in our advantage, since there are many in the assembly who fit the description that Jude gives. They cause divisions; they are worldly-minded and they are devoid of the Spirit. Churches these days are filled with people like this almost everywhere we go. There are many goats among the sheep, many tares among the wheat, and what was Jesus’ answer? Let them grow together and at the end of the harvest He will deal with them. See also: Tares among the wheat; Jd-4; 172d (158g) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Divide and conquer >> Division (Cliques) >> Special interest groups (167d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Bound to the earth Jd-20 (82d) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Our approach >> How to pray (95e) Thy kingdom come >> Positive attitude >> Speaking in tongues >> Tongues are a form of prayer – The Church is designed to help build up one another, called edification, but Jude said that we should also build up ourselves as students of God’s word and disciples of prayer, which encompasses our ministry toward God. We build up ourselves in our most holy faith, and in so doing we come into relationship with Him. Jude said that our faith is most holy to the Lord. The old covenant temple also had a Most Holy Place... as we come to God, we come to a Most Holy Place with Him. Jude included praying in the Holy Spirit as a building-up process, which most churches either place at the top of their list and misconstrue or place at the bottom of their list and reject it altogether. We need to find middle ground between rejecting this gift and misusing it. Jude spoke about ministering to God, and when we pray in the Holy Spirit, we are talking to God, not man. We speak in tongues for the express purpose of seeking direction from Him. Therefore, when we speak in tongues, we are asking God to lead us, and based on the context of this verse, we ask Him to lead us from "mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts. These are those who cause divisions and are sensual, not having the Spirit." God protects us from them by exposing them, so we can distinguish the true brethren from the enemies of our faith. (106m) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Purpose of hearing from God >> God gives us direction (Attitude) (133c) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holiness >> God is holy >> The Holy Spirit (139g) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> We build the temple through Christ Jd-21 (7g) Responsibility >> Protecting the gospel >> Defending your territory (24e) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Waiting creates anxiety – Jude used the word “anxious” to mean anticipation. To be anxious has a negative connotation, whereas there is nothing negative about anticipating the promise of eternal life. We must go through many pitfalls and difficulties of this life by faith in the Son of God, so in the end we will receive both eternal life and the rewards that accumulated over a lifetime of service to Him. (93a) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> Keep yourself on the narrow way – There are many in the Church who have the attitude that God must do everything for them because they are not able of doing anything for themselves, but this verse, and a host of others, entirely refutes that notion. They have a very convenient outlook that dismisses any sense of responsibility. In contrast, when Jude said, “Keep yourselves in the love of God,” that is something we must do. God keeps us in His love as we keep ourselves in the love of God. When Jesus returns, He will come for a Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless (Eph 5-27), serving Him in Spirit and truth with a whole heart. (116a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through good works >> Works that God put in your heart – We must do something to protect the treasure that lives within us. We often find ourselves fending off those who would rob our faith, and we must protect it by keeping ourselves in the love of God. Despite the circumstances of misfortune and hardship that befall us at various times and in varying degrees, we must not abandon our faith in God and our love for the brethren and our ability to practice love in every situation. This is the true faith; we all come short of it, and God takes up the slack, and there is forgiveness. He calls us to promote His kingdom on the earth through our mortal flesh in obedience to His will according to the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. We come to God because of our failings, and He is faithful, for He cannot deny Himself, and He calls us to remain faithful to Him. (124c) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Acts of love >> Love is the proper motive for all you do (126ka) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Patience >> Have patience for the return of Christ >> The spiritual return of Christ – We know that Christ will one day physically return to earth and set up His millennial kingdom, but before that He will make His spiritual debut, referring to a Great Endtime Revival. In those days the Church will operate in obedience and dedication with great faith and love that will be as though Jesus Christ has already returned and dwells among His people. God has been waiting for us to manifest His kingdom for the last 2000 years, and here we sit waiting for Him; this is a common problem in many venues of life, such as two people scheduled to meet but have their wires crossed, each waiting for the other in different locations. In this case our heart is in the wrong place. When we think of all the complaining Paul did in his epistles, people grudgingly served Christ even then. Everybody who dies in the Lord immediately gets ushered into heaven, a place called the New Jerusalem. (Its name will probably be changed to something else.) A day is coming when Jesus will return to the earth, and shortly before that the First Resurrection will occur, and every person who ever died in the Lord will receive resurrected bodies. The ultimate victory over sin and death is to receive a body that cannot die, nor can it sin. See also: Great Endtime Revival (Two periods: first century and last century); Mk 11-23; 215e KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd-22,23 (5e) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Disciples preach the gospel (115d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through your ministry >> Through your calling >> In preaching the gospel (149d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Compel them to come in >> Forceful persuasion – The man who gets saved on his deathbed wished he had his life all over again so he could dedicate all his years to Christ, but if he doesn't have this attitude, he probably didn't get saved. Many a person has been snatched from the fires of hell after leading a life of debauchery and on his deathbed repented from his lifelong disobedience. Had he to do it all over again, he would have lived for Jesus. He needs a revelation of the futility of his life, regardless of the successes he may have achieved. He needs a revelation of Jesus Christ as the one who loved him and died for his soul. Of course no one knows if the person who repents on his deathbed really meant it, because he doesn’t have his life to prove His newfound faith, but God knows. The worst we could do to someone on His deathbed is not go to him with the gospel of salvation. He spent his life and now he is entering into eternity with nothing to show for all his years and no way to appeal to God for mercy, except by his newfound faith. In that way he is like the the criminal crucified next to Jesus, "'Remember me when You come in Your kingdom!' And [Jesus] said to him, 'Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.'" Some of the worst sinners can be saved this way, and with some it is the only way they can be saved, because they were unreachable in good health when death wasn't staring him in the face. God finally gets his attention on his deathbed, and some of the questions he was never willing to contemplate in life become his prime focus prior to entering eternity, such as whether there is life after death and where people go when they die. This is the thing that God has over each of us: our mortality. We better not lie on our deathbed, for this is the place where the most important things are assigned the proper value, and usually they have nothing to do with the things we valued in life, proving that we had believed a lie. See also: Salvation on the deathbed; Jd-23; 55f Jd-22 (20j) Sin >> Doubt is based on past experience Jd-23 (16c) Sin >> Man’s nature is instinctively evil >> Man has a body of sin (25b) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Hate evil with hate -- This verse goes with verse 10 (46a) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >> Violent take it by force >> Taking the kingdom by force (47a) Judgment >> God Judges the world >> Hell is a place of sorrow >> It is a great fire prepared for the devil and his angels >> The lake of fire -- This verse goes with verse 7 (55f) Paradox >> Opposites >> Love/hate relationships – There are three kinds of people in the world: those who need a little encouragement to believe, those who finally repent and believe on their deathbeds, and those whose lives are so polluted that even their clothes pose a hazard. God calls us to have mercy on all, but we have reason to be concerned for our well-being when interacting with this third group, because they are dangerous, volatile and unpredictable, even near death. Some were homosexual drug addicts, infected with every known disease, caring only for themselves. They stole anything they could get their grimy hands on without batting an eye to feed their ravenous habit. Jude didn’t say these would be saved; he just said to have mercy on them with fear, not knowing whom God may be calling to his kingdom and glory. The “mercy” to which Jude refers is not so much ministering to them as to avoid judging them. We shouldn’t backslide into their darkness in effort to be merciful to them. See also: Salvation on the deathbed; 108a (63e) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcasm >> Exaggerate the truth to make a point (69e) Authority >> Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Righteous anger >> Church is angry at sin (88k) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God >> Revering God (108a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Balance between truth and error >> Wisdom brings balance between truth and error – Some of the most depraved people can be saved on their deathbeds. Trying to reach them in life with the gospel is almost impossible, but in death we have a much better chance of winning them to Christ. In the New Testament clothing represents our deeds, so when Jude says, “… hating even the garment polluted by the flesh,” he was referring to hating their former manner of life. They may have led horrific lives, “hateful, hating one another” (Tit 3-3); even so, we must rush to their deathbed and offer them the opportunity to receive eternal life. We think that certain people are disqualified from heaven because of the things they have said and done, but we have no idea whom God has prepared to receive eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. One thing is impossible, they will never see heaven if their plan in life was to repent on their deathbed. If they lived however they wanted and then had in mind to repent and ask Jesus in their heart at the last moment to escape the fires of hell, they will find that heaven eludes them, because their heart is not right with God. A person with this attitude toward God better brace himself for the eternal flames of hell. It is like a man jumping out of an airplane moments before it crashes and expecting to survive; that only works on the cartoons. Just as true repentance must happen in a person’s heart who can demonstrate his faith throughout his life, so true repentance must happen to the man on his deathbed, though he doesn’t have his life to prove the sincerity of his faith, but God knows his heart. See also: Salvation on the deathbed; Jd-22,23; 149d (189aa) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Holy sacrifice >> The smell of death >> Stench of the dead (194e) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Hate evil >> Condemning sin >> Hate evil by being innocent of it KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd-24,25 (137k) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Maturity >> Stages of maturity are levels of accountability >> It is our responsibility to be mature – There are many so-called Christians who think the process of maturity is something that transpires outside their consciousness, as though God works on them at night while they are asleep, as though they had no part in it, or as though spiritual maturity were just a matter of time, like baking a cake. God always involves our will as He instills His gifts and abilities; therefore He calls us to work with Him, as it is written, “Working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2Cor 6-1). Some use the word “blameless” to describe Jesus' view of us, instead of as a descriptor of our actual behavior. They say that regardless of our lifestyle He looks on us and sees the blood of Jesus covering our sin. That is true in certain contexts, but it is not the context of this verse. Jude is speaking of literal blamelessness. God is asking us to actually be blameless in our behavior. A theoretical blamelessness is nice, but being literally blameless is better, so our hypocrisy doesn’t undo our promotion of God’s coming kingdom. See also: Blameless; 234a / Working the grace of God (God clothes us with good works); Rev 7,13-15; 113c (234a) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> God chooses us as we seek His glory >> As we submit to Him – We are called to seek the glory of God. Some people are confused about this phrase, as though we were trying to steal His glory, but we are seeking to glorify Him, knowing that in turn He will glorify us. Jude writes about standing in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy. Some people take this as a theoretical blamelessness, but Eph 5-27 says, “That He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” This is not a virtual blamelessness or a theoretical one or hypothetical, but one that is practical and applicable to this life. See also: Blameless; Jd-24; 41l Jd-24 (28h) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects His people -- This verse goes with verse 1&2 (41l) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >> Blameless before God >> Prepare to enter His presence – Although we will never be perfect or actually be blameless, God has called us to live this life as we will in heaven (Mat 6-10), seeking His attributes in a practical sense and living by them. Blamelessness is difficult to achieve on any level walking in sinful flesh, in fact impossible, for there are many pitfalls and temptations; nevertheless, the gauntlet has been thrown to seek blamelessness and achieve it much as possible, and where we fail God will finish our faith (Heb 12-2). Paul said in Rom 7-18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” We are depraved from the inside-out, so this pursuit of blamelessness is not an attempt to be blameless before God but before men. Striving to be like Him is the only way to convey our love for Him. If we believe in Jesus but live like the devil, no one will believe our gospel, not even us. Although we will never achieve perfection or blamelessness, to pursue it is in that sense to be blamelessness even when we fall short of it. If our pursuit is sincere, that is all God wants to see in us. We encourage the brethren when we live as we believe and exhibit His attributes, though we are tainted by sin and are full of faults. See also: Blameless; Jd-24,25; 137k (43i) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Perfected by God (104i) Thy kingdom come >> Pure in heart shall see God >> Shall see Jesus >> Being in the presence of Jesus (125e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Joy >> Joy is the result of partaking of the Holy Spirit >> Joy of the revelation of Jesus Christ (228h) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> God works in you to keep you in His will -- This verse goes with verse 1 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Jd-25 (66a) Authority >> Lordship of Christ >> He is Lord over all creation >> over life and death (66f) Authority >> Jesus’ authority >> His position with the Father >> Jesus has authority over all things from the Father (115a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Working God’s grace through Christ >> Worship God through Christ – Jude worshipped God, attributing to him glory, majesty, dominion and authority now and forever. He speaks of worshipping the Father through the Son, saying that God the Father is our Savior. We know that Jesus is the Savior of the world, but here it says that the Father is the Savior, in that the members of the trinity are all one, so to call Jesus the Savior is to call the Father the Savior. Plus, it is biblical in that the Father sent the Son (Jn 3-16). (252i) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship God >> Worship God for who He is >> Glorifying God (253b) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is equal with the Father >> Jesus has all the external qualities of the Father >> Son is infinite and eternal like the Father – It is always good to hear the Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ existed before all time (NASB). There are many occurrences in Scripture reminding us that Jesus lived in eternity past, yet there are cults by the droves that deny the divinity of Jesus Christ. When they do this, they deny the Scriptures that speak of Him in this way, and for this reason they are not Christian religions. Cults and false religions are born of rebellion and unbelief and are willfully ignorant of the Scriptures. They do not acknowledge certain Bible verses that diametrically oppose their heretical doctrines, and when they avoid these verses, it is a telltale sign of their contempt for God and His word. Why do they insist on using the Bible to determine their doctrine if they don’t believe what the Bible teaches? They want to integrate into Christianity because it is pervasive throughout the world and their aim is to mimic true believers to make their religion appear legitimate, so they can skim certain believers who are weak in faith and unsure what the Bible says. (253h) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Father and Son glorify each other >> Father and Son represent each other (255h) Trinity >> Father, Son and Holy Spirit >> Three in one >> There is only one God