Sermon Tone Analysis

Jude #1

Jude 1; Matthew 28:10

They Will See Me

These next few messages we are going to look at this epistle written by Jude.

We could certainly spend several weeks here but I had only planned to spend two weeks in this book.

My primary focus on those two is /“Contending for the faith” /and/ “Responding to Apostasy.”

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But as I began to get into the background and study of our author, God began to speak and showed me something that we needed to dwell on today before looking at those two messages.

So, who’s the author of this letter?

Well, there are 3 options we could consider.

* (1) He could be some unknown leader in the early church in Jerusalem who happened to be named Jude.

* (2) He could be the Jude who is the other Judas who was part of the original 12 disciples of Jesus.

or

* (3) he could be Jude, the earthly or ½ brother of Jesus.

Well, we can rule out the 1st option because all those accepted as Biblical New Testament authors had some direct connection with Jesus as an apostle, companion of an apostle, in a supernatural way like Paul, or as in James’ case as a brother to Jesus.

Then, I believe we rule out the 2nd option because an apostel would have identified himself accordingly.

Peter’s letters begin, /“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ”/ and /“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.”/

John begins his 2nd and 3rd letters, /“The Elder”/ a term for a Pastor.

Having written those letters late in life, he had outlived all the other apostles, and he had been the Pastor of the large church in Ephesus.

He was simply “the Pastor” to all who knew him or of him.

Had this Jude been one of the 12 he would have said so to who his authority.

That brings us to the 3rd possibility.

We know Jesus had other earthly brothers.

They were obviously not begotten of God.

But they were certainly the offspring of Mary and Joseph.

We see them in Matthew 12:46; Mark 3:31, Luke 8:19; and John 7:3.

His sisters are mentioned in Matthew 13:56 and Mark 6:3.

It was the fact that Jesus seemed to have come out of a normal home that caused those in Nazareth to doubt him.

If you read those verses you find that his siblings didn’t believe in him before his Resurrection.

They ridiculed him at times and expressed frustration or embarrassment at him.

Oh but that all changed.

People, whatever you may have thought about Jesus: teacher, martyr, example, or lunatic, whatever your view, it changes when you realize and embrace that not only did he die on a cross to pay for our sins, as an innocent substitutionary sacrifice.

But also, he blew out the door of that grave and came out alive on the 3rd Day!

And so, when the women, including his mother found the empty tomb, he appeared to them in Matthew 28:10 and said /“Do not be afraid, Go and tell My Brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”/

“But wait”, you say, … of course, they grew up around Jesus. they were younger siblings when Jesus confounded the teachers in the temple with his knowledge of the Scriptures.

They were most certainly at the Wedding when he turned water into win.

Surely they believed in him all along.

How could you live in the house with Jesus and not believe in him?

Well you know what they say?

“Familiarity breeds contempt”.

Perhaps in their sinful state theyw ere too close to Jesus and too in love with themselves to SEE HIM for who he is.

Oh people, we need to SEE JESUS today … take another look.

Oh I don’t know how many times I’ve had to answer a painful question for disillusioned new believer.

They come to Christ in faith.

And in their new faith they have found joy and excitement.

In their joy and gratitude, they come to Worship Services and to Bible Study on Sunday morning and they find less people there at Bible Study.

Then they come to Wednesday night Bible Class and find fewer still.

Then they ask, “where is everyone, why aren’t they here getting this?”

And I saidly don’t have a good answer for them.

Oh, sure, some are hindered by things outside of their control.

But most just have other cares, like Demas in 2 Timothy 4:10, where Paul says /“Demas, because he loved the world, has deserted me, and has gone to Thessalonica.”/

People if we stop seeing Jesus, seeing what he did for us, we stop seeing the cross where he was tortured, beaten, mocked, nailed, lifted up, bled and died to satisfy God’s law for me.

If we stop seeing the Empty tomb where he defeated death and hell.

We don’t realize the Power he has over the dead things in our lives.

If we stop seeing him ascending in the clouds to the right hand of the Father we may forget that he is In CHARGE and will return “in the same way you have seen him go into heaven”.

New Life, Jude, James and their other brothers and sisters missed the great truth about Jesus for 20-30 years … definitely for the 3 ½ years of his public ministry.

*Read John 7:1-10*

/“Even his OWN BROTHERS did not believe in Him” /

My, My, My, brothers and sisters who bear his name, do we believe in him?

Do we see him?

He is our Sacrifice, Substitute, Subduer of the Grave, and Sovereign Savior?

And that’s Why I’m Souled Out!

I was sitting in Starbucks on Thursday working on this message with my headphones on and that song, “Souled Out” was playing and I honestly was overcome, tears welled up in my eyes.

He is our Sacrifice, Substitute, Subduer of the Grave and Sovereign Savior!

And that IS Why I am Souled Out.

Do you SEE Him as he is?

Souled Out (H.

Walker)

/I am souled Out, my mind is made up; I am souled out, my mind is made up/

/My heart is fixed, my mind’s made up, no room no vacancies, I’m all filled up/

/His Spirit lives in me and that’s the reason I’m souled out … YES/

There was a time when his own household did not see him for who he is.

You know, sometimes we have BOUGHT IN but we are not SOLD OUT.

Folks I was overwhelmed when I realized that we want to buy stock, we want to make an investment in Christianity hoping for a profit.

But we have to realize we are bankrupt and we have to sell out to Jesus!

Oh when we see him for who he is, it will change us!

New Life, are you all in or just hedging your bets?

For the earthly brothers of Jesus something had to happen

For certain God must reveal himself to us.

God has to draw us.

But we cannot blame our lack of action on God, we are all without excuse because God has and does reveal himself to us.

Just like he did for his family.

Romans 10:17 says /“faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”/

Well, Jesus IS the Word of God, so every word that Jesus spoke for 33 years on earth was the living, articulated Word of God.

They had the general revelation of seeing creation, then they had the revelation of the actual hand of God at work in the ministry of Jesus, but they still did not believe.

Yet, after the resurrection, Jesus made an appointment with them, look again Matthew 28:10 “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Oh how I wish this very personal event was recorded for us.

Much like Jesus also appeared to Peter alone to set right this one who had denied him.

We don’t know what this was like but I imagine it was much like others.

Like when Jesus appeared to Mary, he just spoke her name, and the familiarity and love in his voice was all she needed and she knew he was alive.

When Jesus appeared to Thomas, he said, “Look … here’s the physical evidence … my hand and feet show the nail scars … my side bears the scar of the soldier’s spear.”

And Thomas cried “My Lord and My God.”

I’m sure that Jesus’ family had been with Mary those hours between death and resurrection and she had told them of the horror of his death.

They KNEW he was dead.

So, he appeared to them in Galilee.

What do you think that was like?

Do you think they were frightened because they knew He MUST be who they say He is?

I think it must have been like Joseph’s brothers in Egypt when he had become a great ruler there after they sold him into slavery.

They had come seeking help in the famine and didn’t know he was their brother.

Then came the moment that he revealed he was their brother whom they had rejected, sold, and forgotten about.

In Genesis 45, 20 years down the road from when they last had seen him, they didn’t know who he was.