Sermon Tone Analysis

*Protecting Our Salvation*

*Jude           March 6, 2005*

* *

*Scripture Reading:*

 

“And do this, understanding the present time.

The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”

(Ro 13:11 NivUS)

 

*Introduction:*

 

The book of Jude is not popularly studied nor commonly discussed.

It is small but it is not insignificant.

It concerns a critical threat to our salvation message common to all times and places – past, present and future.

It is about the threat of false teachers.

Jude was written in about 65 AD to a group of churches perhaps in Syria.

Jude himself fills in the rest as he opens his letter.

/“1 ¶  Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: /

 

Jude and James; bros. of Jesus, radical – ethical.

“"Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?

Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” (Mt 13:55 NivUS)

 

“3  Jesus’ brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. 4  No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret.

Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." 5  For even his own brothers did not believe in him.”

(Joh 7:3-5 NivUS)

 

“When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."”

(Mr 3:21 NivUS)

 

 “46 ¶  While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.

47  Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."

48  He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"

49  Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.

50  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."”

(Mt 12:46-50 NivUS)

 

Called:

 

“13 ¶  But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

14  He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

(2Th 2:13-14 NivUS)

 

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

(1Pe 2:9 NivUS)

 

Loved:

 

“7 ¶  Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

10  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

(1Jo 4:7-10 NivUS)

 

Kept: (see also Lk. 15; lost sheep~/coin~/son)

 

“While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.

None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

(Joh 17:12 NivUS)

 

 “This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."” (Joh 18:9 NivUS)

 

 “In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”

(Mt 18:14 NivUS)

 

 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."”

(Lu 19:10 NivUS)

 

/2  Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

/

 

If we believe vs. 1, vs. 2 naturally follows.

/3 ¶  Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

/

 

Salvation: (see also 1Cor.

7:26 “due to the present crisis [marriage]”)

 

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed— not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence— continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” (Php 2:12 NivUS)

 

Contend:

 

“6 ¶  I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7  which is really no gospel at all.

Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

(Ga 1:6-7 NivUS)

 

 “We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.” (Ga 2:5 NivUS)

 

i.e.

– job~/school~/marriage

 

Once for all~/Entrusted: (complete; not to be + or -)

 

“18  I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.

19  And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”

(Re 22:18-19 NivUS)

 

There is something more urgent here than growing in salvation – keeping it alive.

Some would make a different gospel.

/4  For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.

They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

/

 

Major Threat: grace w~/o agreement.

Deny Jesus:

 

“26  If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27  but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

28  Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

29  How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Heb 10:26-29 NivUS)

 

 “1 ¶  What shall we say, then?

Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2  By no means!

We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

3  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

(Ro 6:1-3 NivUS)

 

 “15  What then?

Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?

By no means!

16  Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey— whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Ro 6:15-16 NivUS)

 

/5  Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.

/

 

Deny his authority~/leadership.

/6  And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home— these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

/

 

Deny his sovereignty~/slander him.

/7  In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion.

They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

/

 

Deny his holiness.

/8 ¶  In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.

/

 

 

 

/9  But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" /

 

 

 

/10  Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals— these are the very things that destroy them.

/

 

 

 

/11  Woe to them!

They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

/

 

Balaam: Num.

22:4-20

 

Korah: Num.

16:1-3, 31-35

 

/12  These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm— shepherds who feed only themselves.

They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted— twice dead.