The Gospels

Acts of the Apostles

Paul’s Letters

Other Letters

Revelation

A New Testament JourneyLesson 27: Jude – Keep your Position

Hebrews – The Real Deal

James – All or nothing

1 Peter – Dimensions of Suffering

2 Peter – Darkness before Dawning

1 John – Enjoy Fellowship

2 John – Love in Truth

3 John – Model the Gospel

Jude – Keep your Position

EVENT TIMELINE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

Introduction Characteristics of losing

position◦ Usurp◦ Unreasoning◦ Unstable◦ Under eternal bondage

Characteristics of keeping position◦ Let God◦ Let go◦ Look to eternity◦ Love mercy

Outcome Discussion

The author is Jude the brother of James,

Half-brother of Jesus Christ.

Addresses the dangerous penetration of false teachers in Christian leadership and

Encourages true believers to keep our position in Christ

Assures that Christ has kept us

The word “keep” is repeated many times in both positive and negative context. “Mercy” is also another key word.

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

Various levels:

Fallen Archangel (Satan)

Fallen Angels

False teachers throughout the ages

People of Sodom, Gomorrah, etc.

Usurp

Unreasoning

Unstable

Under eternal bondage

4 For certain persons

have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into

licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject

authority, and revile angelic majesties.

(Cross ref. 2 peter 2:10 )

Challenging the devil is not our job, it’s God’s

..things which they know by instinct, like

unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

clouds without water,

carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit,

doubly dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own

shame like foam;

wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He

has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,

Let God

Let Go

Look to Eternity

Love Mercy

9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the

body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said,

“The Lord rebuke you!”

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God..,v 20,21

To hold on to something, we need to let go of other things!!

waiting anxiously for

the mercy of our Lord

Jesus Christ to eternal life.

Only one thing to be anxious about!!

22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23

save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on

some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Hate the sin and love the sinner!!

6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day

To those who are the

called, beloved in

God the Father, and

kept for Jesus Christ:1

24 Now to Him who is

able to keep you

from stumbling, and to

make you stand in

the presence of His

glory blameless with great joy,

25 to the only God our Savior, through

Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Characteristics of losing position◦ Usurp◦ Unreasoning◦ Unstable◦ Under eternal bondage

Characteristics of keeping position◦ Let God◦ Let go◦ Look to eternity◦ Love mercy

Outcome: Jesus keeps (from falling/ in eternal darkness)

The Wheel of Life

Turns round and round

Few reach the top

But all come down

The smartest keepThe Eternal Crown

If Christ has “kept us” why do we need to “keep our position”?

What steps to we need to take to keep our position?

While ungodly leaders pollute the ranks of godly leaders, what response does Jude indicate to this?

What warnings and assurances do we find in this book?