In his sermon, David Green introduces the book of Jude, highlighting its authorship, themes, and significance. Jude, identified as the half-brother of Jesus and brother of James, writes to Christians urging them to contend for their faith against false teachings and apostasy. The book of Jude, situated between 3 John and Revelation, is unique in its focus on apostasy, warning of false teachers who distort God's grace and deny Christ. The sermon explores the complexity of Jude's identity, distinguishing him from other figures named Judas in the New Testament. Jude's humility is noted as he identifies not as Jesus' brother, but as his slave. The letter, possibly written between 60 and 80 AD, addresses the urgent need to defend the faith amid growing apostasy, a theme echoed in 2 Peter. Green emphasizes the timeless relevance of Jude's message, urging believers to remain vigilant and faithful. The series will delve into the desires, warnings, and teachings of Jude, underscoring the importance of upholding truth without resorting to persecution.

Alright, you can go ahead and take out your copy of God's Word. And today we're going to introduce a new series, a series from the letter of the book of Jude. We're going to read the full letter here just as an introduction And then we'll look at a little bit of background to it. Jude, right there after 3 John and right before Revelation. It says, Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed Those who were long before marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons, who turned the grace of our God into sensuality and deny only, who deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to remind you, though you know all things, that Jesus, having once saved the people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 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, just as Sodom and Gomorrah in the cities around them having indulged in the same way as those in gross sexual immorality and having gone after strange flesh are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet in the same way these men also by dreaming defile the flesh and reject authority and blaspheme glorious ones.

But Michael the archangel when he disputing with the devil was arguing about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a blasphemous judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. But these men blaspheme the things which they do not understand, the things which they know by instinct like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them, for they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have poured themselves into the air of Balaam and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reeves in your love-fests when they feast with you without fear carrying for themselves clouds without water carried along by winds autumn trees without fruit doubly dead un- uprooted wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam, wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. But Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, also prophesied about these men saying, Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

These are grumblers finding fault, following after their own lusts. Their mouth speaks arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of their own benefit. But you beloved must remember the words which that were spoken beforehand and by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They were saying to you, and the last time there will be mockers following after their own ungodly lusts. These are they who cause divisions, worldly minded, not having the Spirit.

But you beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And on some who are doubting, have mercy, and for others save, snatching them out of the fire and when others have mercy with fear, hating even the tunic polluted by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory majesty might and authority before all time and now and forever amen. This is the text, the letter, the book of Jude. Not a very long book, not a very long letter.

So for the next few weeks this is where we'll be, Lord Lumen. By way of introduction, the writer identifies himself simply as Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James. We see that in verse 1. This helps us out because there are no less than six people who are identified as Jude or Judas in the New Testament. But being the brother of James limits him to two men, two possibilities.

There is Judas, not Iscariot, the apostle. So if you go over to John chapter 14, John chapter 14 and verse 22. John 14 and verse 22. 22, Judas not Iscariot, the Bible tells us, said to him, Lord what then has happened that you are going to disclose yourself to us and not to the world. And so we're reminded that there was indeed another Judas not Iscariot.

Of course we remember Judas Iscariot mostly because he was the one who betrayed the Lord, but there was another Judas among them. Over in Acts chapter 1 and verse 13 It says, And when they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying, that is Peter, James, John, and Andrew, Philip, that is Peter, where they were staying rather, that is Peter, James and John, and Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. So that's the way that the translators have it here, but if you look there is a, if you have a Bible with a footnote there, you'll notice that there's a little note that there in the bottom or in the side, and it says, or brother of James. And so there's some complexity in the Greek. Some commentators believe that that is brother of James.

Others believe that is the son of James. And so there's some complexity there back and forth. In fact, even though John MacArthur had some hand in the translation of the LSB, MacArthur in his notes he says that that is brother of James but others of the translators they said it was the son of James and so that's why there's a footnote there. And among the English translations some of them say brother and some say son. Depending on which commentator you read after it's one or the other there is of course like I said some complexity there but I bring this out to say that one possibility of who wrote Jude, but most folks believe that The writer of Jude was not this individual, but rather the other Jude that I want to speak of, and that is the Lord's half-brother, the half-brother of Jesus Christ, Jude.

His brother, James, was the leader of the Church of Jerusalem. And so we're familiar with that James. If you remember from back about, I don't know, maybe two years ago. We went through the book of Acts, but we certainly ran into James quite frequently. For instance, in Acts chapter 12, in verse 17, There's a good example of that James there and it says, but motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he recounted to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison, he said, report these things to James and the brothers that he left and went to another place.

And so James was kind of the, you might say the leader there, or maybe even the, you might say the main pastor of the church, and so that is definitely the James that I believe he's speaking of here. This Jude, as he writes here, being the brother of James, Jude was a, this Jude was not an apostle, Jude was not an apostle, but he clearly distinguishes himself from the apostles. From the apostles. And so if you go into our text there in Jude, verse 17, He says, but you, beloved, must remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so out of these two possibilities of which Jude was it, It would seem awkward and weird for him to say, remember the words that were spoken before him by the apostles, if this was the apostle.

And so I believe this was the half-brother of Jesus Christ. Now, the brothers of Jesus, If you go to John chapter 7, John chapter 7 and verse 5. At first, these men were not believers. So in John chapter 7 and verse 5, it says, for not even his brothers were believing in him. So we often talk about how Jesus went to his own and his own received him not.

That was true even in his own household where we know that when Jesus was born, he was born of a virgin, his mother had never had any children, but later Mary and Joseph, they were married and they had children. And so there were other children born and as those other children began to grow up and everything, they didn't right away receive Jesus as the Messiah. They did not readily receive Him as their Savior. But later, later they did. Over in Acts chapter 1, Acts chapter 1 and verse 14.

It says, these all with one accord were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers. And so we find that Mary was there and his brothers, the brothers of Jesus. And so they did come to Christ. They did later receive him as their Savior. Receive him as their Savior.

Now in his great humility, Jude does not use this as a, he does not take this family tree or family, he does not use his older brother as anything special. You know sometimes in the scriptures you read of the Jews and they thought that they were something special because they were descendants, physical descendants of Abraham and they thought that that would get them into heaven. Even in our day, we have some folks who think, well just because my dad or my granddad was preacher such-and-such, that's got me a special place in the church or in heaven or at this conference or whatever. Some people even go so far as to say, well I knew such and such a preacher. Can you imagine being able to go places and say, well, Jesus was my older brother.

But Jude didn't do that. But Jude didn't do that. You see, he identifies himself as a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James. Yes, I'm going to tell you, I'm in that family. But I'm not just a brother to Jesus, I'm a slave to Jesus.

I'm going to identify with Jesus as every believer should. He identifies himself the way that Peter did, the way that Paul did, a slave of Jesus Christ. And I think that's important. He didn't use that as some, He didn't use his brother as some card to get in places, special. Well, so that's who wrote the book was Jude, and I believe it was Jude, the half-brother of Jesus.

He wrote this, The date and place, obviously these letters didn't have a date at the top of the letter like we usually do, but I believe it was sometime between 8016 and 8080. I believe it was probably more so between 8060 and 70. I believe it was before the fall of Jerusalem. Some say he wrote it from Jerusalem, others say it was from Palestine, some say it was from Alexandria, Egypt. The reality is we don't know for sure.

Why did he write the letter and who did he write it to? Well, we're not sure exactly who he wrote it to, except for the threefold description that we find in the first verse. So you look there in the first verse and he says, Jewed a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ." So we know he's writing to a group of believers, probably to a church and maybe even a group of churches. They were Christians, no doubt about it. And he was writing an urgent letter.

He was writing an urgent letter. And we see this urgent crisis as he begins to write, and he says he says, I was making every effort verse 3, to write you about our common salvation, I felt a necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints, for certain persons have kept in unnoticed." There was a problem. There was a terrible problem. False teachers had infiltrated that group of people. False teachers had infiltrated that church or churches and were using God's grace as justification for sexual immorality.

Rather than writing about salvation as he planned, Jude has to shift his focus to urge believers to defend the faith. While other into faith, while other books of the Bible, other letters from Other men in the New Testament address apostasy. Jude is the only book of the Bible entirely devoted addressing the subject of apostasy. In fact, some have even called this book the Acts of the Apostates. The Acts of the Apostates.

The theme of the book is contending for the faith and the first 16 verses tell us why we are to contend. We're to contend because of false teachers. The last verses show us how to contend. Now this this book, this letter is right before Revelation and for good reason. It comprehends conditions that are at the end of this age.

The book denounces antinomianism, which made a license out of liberty and repudiated the lordship of Christ. And we see it today, an age where people will mock true Christian liberty and then go out and do whatever they want to whoever they want in the name of Christ. And as we go through this, we'll see that. In dealing with apostasy, Jude quotes from 2 Peter 3, verse 3, almost verbatim, in verses 17 and 18. So let's just look at that real quick here.

So if you go to 2nd Peter 3 and verse 3, Peter 3 and verse 3. Knowing this first of all, then in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts. And if we compare that to Jude verses 17 and 18, But you, beloved, must remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you in the last time there will be mockers following after their own ungodly lusts." So you see he's quoting from Peter, 2 Peter 3 verse 3. So that tells us that this was written after Peter wrote 2 Peter. This shows us that 2 Peter was written first and Jude writes afterwards telling his readers that what Peter warned about was true and that this is a growing problem even in the first century.

Keep that in mind because They weren't just talking about some far off problem that's going to happen at the very end of the age. This is a problem that is ongoing throughout all of the so-called church age. That The last days is not just the very end right before when Christ comes back. The last days is a period of time that began when our Lord ascended up into heaven and goes on all the way through until the time when he returns. And so we see these things happening in our day, they saw them happening in their day as well.

What he wrote to his original readers was relevant and what we read of it today is relevant for us. We must contend for the faith. As we go through this we'll break this up into probably about five sermons. We'll look at the desires of Jude. We'll take a look at the declaration of war against apostates.

We'll take a look at the damnable outcome of apostates. Fourthly, we'll see the denunciation of apostates, and then lastly we'll see the doxology of Jude. While it is very important to see the seriousness of apostates. One thing that we must notice, nowhere in here, and nowhere in any of scripture, is there any such thing as the burning of heretics at the stake or the persecution of others who disagree with none of that sort of thing. We still are to take the truth seriously And I believe that we see that here in this letter.

So I trust it will be a great blessing as we look at it. And so I thank you for your attention this morning. Do we have any questions as we look at this introduction? They are, they are, they are the same name in the Greek, yes. Yes, very good, Very good question.

Jude and Judas are the same in the Greek. All right. Any others? Let's have some.