[0:00] I think most everybody in here knows me. I'm Steve Taberski. One of the speakers and today I have the honor to stand before you and present God's word.
[0:13] ! It's a new book today. We're in Jude. You know there's a ring back and it's like it always is when you're standing here.
[0:25] Stand over here, it doesn't ring as much. So I'll stand over here a little bit. Today we're in Jude. Who knows where Jude is? Who has ever heard a sermon from Jude?
[0:42] Have you heard a sermon from Jude before? Turn it down a little bit. Brenda's heard a sermon from Jude?
[0:53] You know I took out my, since I use the electronic device now, I don't use my hard copy Bible that much anymore. But I took my Bible out when I was preparing for this and I said I want to see if I wrote down some nuggets.
[1:09] You know because I always take notes in my Bible. When I hear a good sermon I'll put notes in there. And I have nothing written in Jude. It's like I've never heard a sermon from Jude before.
[1:21] It's like people just don't preach from it. Jude is next to the last book of the Bible. And I really would like for you guys to pull your Bibles out. Look it up. Follow along with me.
[1:32] So Jude was, his real name is Judas. Jude is short for Judas.
[1:44] Now we know the Judas in the Bible. We all think of Judas Iscariot right away. And probably the translators of the Bible knew that Judas wasn't a really good name.
[1:57] We'll call him Jude. So, because who wants to, you know, learn about Jude, how to be a traitor? They want to read Jude. Judas, who wants to learn about Judas?
[2:08] Who wants, we don't want to learn about Jude, right? So, Jude was the brother of Jesus.
[2:21] He was half-brother of Jesus. His father was Joseph. His mother was Mary. As a matter of fact, Matthew 13, 55 through 56 lists Jesus' siblings.
[2:33] And it's when Jesus was in his hometown prophesying, doing what he does. The people there said, isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother Mary?
[2:46] And aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? And aren't his sisters with us? He says, where is this man getting these things from?
[2:59] So, that's where we see that Jesus had at least six siblings. He had four brothers, and it says sisters. So, there had to be at least more than one sister.
[3:11] So, there would be like nine people living in the home. You know, back then the homes were kind of small. Can you imagine being Jesus' brother? It's like, you know, why can't you clean up your room like Jesus does?
[3:28] You know, how come you can't get straight A's? Jesus does. So, it would be hard to live up to that. So, that's what his brothers had to live with.
[3:39] They were coming up. And, you know, the Bible records that his brothers didn't believe in him. John 7, 5 says that Jesus' brothers, they didn't believe who he was.
[3:52] And they even thought that he was bonkers. Like he wasn't playing with a full deck sometimes. Elevator didn't go to the last floor or whatever.
[4:03] You know, they just didn't think it. In Mark, it says when he was doing some things, when his family heard what he was doing, they went to take charge of him, for they said he was out of his mind.
[4:18] He's just crazy. It's Jesus. But Jude, Judas, wrote this book. Somewhere along the line, Judas and James, his other brother, he wrote the epistle of James.
[4:36] So, at some point, they decided, wait a minute, I do believe in this Jesus. I do. And does anybody know what changed their mind? The resurrection. The resurrection of Christ.
[4:47] After the resurrection of Christ. That'll pretty much do it. You know, you see your brother die and get buried and come back to life. Well, maybe there was something to what this guy was saying.
[5:00] Maybe he is the Messiah. And no, it wasn't maybe. They were 100% convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. So, let's look in Jude.
[5:15] And by the way, if you have unbelieving family members, don't give up on them. Even Jesus had unbelieving family members.
[5:28] And they miraculously turned around. So, just keep praying for them. And keep being a witness to them. Alright, let's look in Jude.
[5:40] Jude chapter, well, there's only one chapter. Jude verse 1. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ.
[5:56] Mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance. So, here on these first two verses, we see to whom Jesus is writing. Who? He's writing to Christians.
[6:08] To those who are called and loved of God and are kept in Jesus Christ. Most likely, Jewish Christians. Because as we read further in this letter of Jude, we see he gives examples from Jewish history.
[6:24] He talks about some Jewish. So, he's like, most likely it was Jewish, but it could be other, you know, other Christians. And it was most likely a letter that was to be shared with other congregations.
[6:37] It wasn't to a single congregation. It was a letter that was to be passed around to different churches. And as we read the next verses, we see the purpose for the writing in this letter.
[6:55] Listen. Y'all hear something? Who knows what that is?
[7:17] What's it? What is it? It's a call to arms. Those, you military men, I know some of you military men, aren't old enough to have had the trumpets play, but they use the call, they use trumpets.
[7:35] We're all familiar with Reveille, right? Get up in the morning and get going and taps. Those are the two. But that one is the trumpet call. It's a call to arms.
[7:48] It's to prepare soldiers. It's a signal to the soldiers today to prepare for combat. There's an impending battle. It's a message.
[8:00] You know, they know to get up and go. It's a summons to fight. And I think that it just so happens that the next verse is a summons to fight.
[8:13] It's funny. That thing played just in time. It says, in verse 3, it says, Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people.
[8:33] For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Lord.
[8:53] So what he's saying here is, I would rather have written about the love of God, which we just, that's the thing to do, right?
[9:04] We just sang three songs about the love of God and how, and that's what we like to talk about in church. The love of God and it's a good thing.
[9:17] But Jude is calling us now to fight. It's time to fight. You know, you may be saying, wait a minute, I don't come to church to learn how to fight.
[9:31] I'm a, you might, some of you might be like me. I'm a lover, not a fighter. Okay? What's so funny about that?
[9:43] I'm shaking my head no. We saw him look good. You know, you say, I didn't come to church to learn how to fight.
[9:53] I came to learn about God's love and to get refreshed with that God's love. Because after all, God is love. That's what the Bible says in 1 John 4, we read, Beloved, let us love one another.
[10:07] For love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. And I love Romans 8, especially in the King James Version.
[10:24] Romans 8, 38 says, For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[10:43] The gospel is a love story. The gospel is the message that God loves you and that He gave Himself for you.
[10:55] And we see it in John 3, 16. He says, For God so loved the world He gave His only Son that whoso believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. We can have, it's this gospel message that gives us peace with God.
[11:12] But it's the same gospel message that makes us soldiers in the Savior's arms. There's several places in the Bible that talks about being in the army.
[11:31] Remember when you were a kid you sang you like to sing. Remember in the motions? I may never march in the infantry ride in the cavalry shoot the artillery I may never zoom more the enemy but I'm in the Lord's army Yes, sir!
[11:58] It's true. That's what we are soldiers of the King soldiers of the cross and I got some verses for that a host of verses that speak about the wars and conflicts that we wage.
[12:10] It says share in the suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ in 2 Timothy 2-3. 1 Timothy 1-18 says wage a good warfare.
[12:23] 1 Timothy 6-12 says fight the good fight of the faith. And then he says put to death the deeds of the body in Romans 8. Put on the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6.
[12:37] Abstain from the passage of your flesh which will wage war against your soul in 1 Peter 2. As soldiers as Christians and as soldiers for the Savior we wage war on multiple fronts.
[12:59] Our biggest battleground though is within ourselves. We have a sinful nature in us but we also are indwelt as Christians with the Holy Spirit.
[13:15] And the Galatians 5-17 says for the desire of the flesh is against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for these are in opposition to one another.
[13:26] So you continually have a war waged within yourself daily as you live your life. A lot of you people in here are pretty old and you've probably heard this story a bunch of times about the Indian parable about the grandfather telling his grandson about the two wolves that lives within him.
[13:48] It says there's a white wolf and there's a black wolf within me. The black wolf represents hatred, greed, envy, lying, and the white wolf represents truth, honesty, represents forgiveness and giving.
[14:14] And the grandson says well grandfather which wolf wins? The grandfather says it's the one I feed. The Bible tells us that if you walk in the spirit you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh.
[14:35] Feed one. Be careful what you take in your body, in your mind. If you're listening to things that are ungodly you're feeding the dark wolf.
[14:50] If you are watching things that are not pure and true and honest you're feeding the dark wolf. another children's song.
[15:03] Be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little ears what you hear. Those are just honest amazing truths that we you know that our little kids will be taught.
[15:19] I'm kind of sad we don't really sing those anymore. Kind of old now to be singing them but the little kids could be singing. Paul at the end of his life I'll get to that in a minute.
[15:44] Let's see back in verse 3. It says to contend what does it say to contend for in verse 3?
[15:54] the faith. The faith. What is what is the faith? Yeah.
[16:10] The faith is is was I'm sorry I lost my place I got so many pages up here.
[16:25] Basically the faith is the teaching of the apostles of Jesus Christ of who God was who Jesus was how to get to heaven.
[16:36] these are foundational truths that make the faith something that we should be contending for or what's the word?
[16:53] Protecting the faith. He tells us to contend for the faith because these false teachers are coming in and they're perverting the faith. They're perverting the message.
[17:07] So we're supposed to fight for that. That's what Paul at the end of his life writes to Timothy. I've fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.
[17:19] Another place in 2 Corinthians 13 5 says examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. 1 Timothy 4 1 clearly says that in latter times some will abandon the faith following deceiving spirits.
[17:40] And that's what Jude's talking about. Jude's saying that these guys have infiltrated the church. Jesus warned about it. Jesus told them there's going to be coming people that's going to lead you astray.
[17:53] Paul wrote about it. Paul warned that they're on the lookout for these guys. They're there. They're coming. They're coming. Peter said they're coming.
[18:05] Well, Jude is saying they're here. They're here. And they're here today. We've got people that want to pervert our faith.
[18:15] faith. We've got in this day and age with political correctness and oh I'm okay. You're okay. Everybody's okay.
[18:26] I should respect you. Oh, you're homosexual. You're welcome in the church because Jesus welcomes everybody. You're welcome to come. You're welcome to break bread with us.
[18:39] It doesn't matter. that's what it is that we're fighting against apostasy where we're taking God's message and perverting it, making it something that it's not true.
[18:54] And they want us to accept this. They want the people now want the church to say it's okay to abort babies. They want the church to say it's okay for gay people to get married married.
[19:11] It's okay. And not only is it okay, church, we want you to celebrate it with us. We want you to say I'm happy for you.
[19:24] I'm so happy that you have found yourself that you're but it's not what God said. It's not it's a perversion of the gospel.
[19:36] It's a perversion of God's teachings. And we should fight against it. Why should we fight against it? Well, one he tells us to another reason we should fight against it is because if we allow it to go on without checking it, without telling the truth, then there's people that are going to believe it.
[19:56] They don't know any better. And they're going to die and go to hell because we didn't fight against it. And to fight against it doesn't mean, you know, he said contend, contend for the faith, but he doesn't say be contentious.
[20:16] In other words, we need to speak the truth in love. We don't need to be vindictive or hateful to people, but we just need to tell them the truth in a loving way.
[20:33] No, I don't agree with this and here's why. The Bible says this. And that's to be what we use too to defend the faith.
[20:45] You know, when Jesus was in the desert being tempted by Satan, over and over again Satan would say something in Jesus' words where it is written.
[20:56] He used the word. The Bible says that his word is the sword of spirit. It's the sword of, sharper than any two-edged sword in Hebrews.
[21:14] So we are to defend the truth with the truth. That's all we, you know, it's not us.
[21:26] It's God's word. All we have to do is just to proclaim it. And so it's therefore we should study it so that we can be prepared.
[21:37] We're supposed to always be prepared to give an answer for our faith and for what we believe. to the next verses, verses 5 through 7 are some examples that he gave of people that were allowed, that allowed themselves to be led astray.
[22:10] first one he says, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
[22:28] We just got through studying this in my Sunday school class and Kenny and Savannah could probably tell the story about how the Egyptians were holding the Israelites captive and God did miraculous wonders with plagues to cause the Egyptians to let the people go.
[22:50] And then he led them through the wilderness with a pillar of fire at night and a cloud during the day. He fed them manna, he parted the sea, he gave them, you know, but then they complained, he gave them meat.
[23:10] Every time you turn around, they would be complaining again about something and God would take care of it. We're thirsty, well here's water. Over and over again, they would do this, but they were there, they had made it to the promised land and they sent the spies over.
[23:32] Ten spies came back and said, we can't, those people are too big over there, they're too mighty, there's no way we can take them. Two said, two of them said, no, God said we can take it.
[23:45] God's on our side, we'll take it. But the people allowed the ten, the message of the ten that was not correct, partially correct, very much like people get led astray today.
[24:01] They take the scripture partially correct, but we're going to add this or we're going to change that. And these people allowed themselves to be led astray from the right path and God said, okay, that's it.
[24:20] They spied for 40 days, you're going to wander around in the desert for 40 years, a year for every day that they spied. and every one of you who are 20 years and older will die in the wilderness.
[24:36] You will not go into the promised land. So that was one example he gave. Then the next example he says, and the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, hath reserved an everlasting chain under darkness, under the judgment of the great day.
[24:54] So Satan, when he rebelled against God, took a third of the host of the angels with him. A third of people allowed Satan to lead them astray.
[25:10] So they were kept until the day of judgment, which we'll see, I think, when the tribulation comes, these ones that are held in an abyss will be released for a time.
[25:32] Pre-tribulation so I'm thinking I won't be here for that, so that's okay. Don't lead me astray, John.
[25:52] And then he talked about the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities that God destroyed because of their lasciviousness and the way they were living.
[26:05] All of these people probably started out good, but they finished bad. The Israelites finished bad there. The angels started out until Satan led them astray.
[26:20] and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah more than likely started out good and finished poorly. So that's what the book of Jude starts out as.
[26:38] A warning that, hey, they're here and to fight. as Christians we need to not only be lovers but fighters.
[26:52] Fight for the truth in a loving way. Speak the truth in love, but you've got to know it first. And you've got to be a Christian first.
[27:04] I don't know if there's people in here who don't know Christ, but I'll tell you, the truth is that God loves you and He died for you. And all you have to do is accept His sacrifice for your sin, call Him to be Lord of your life, and you can be saved.
[27:23] Let's pray. Father, I forgot to pray at the beginning, that's probably why I got all mixed up sometimes, but I thank You Lord that it's Your Word.
[27:35] I read several verses from Your Word today, Lord. I skipped some verses, and I just pray, Father, thanking You that Your Word is true, and it's sharper than any two-edged sword, and it won't return to You void, Lord.
[27:51] It'll accomplish the purpose that You have for it, and I pray, Father, today, that we as Christians will take it seriously at our role as soldiers.
[28:05] Lord, it's not if we're a soldier or not. Because we're automatically soldiers in Your army when we're saved. The question is, are we going to be a loyal soldier or not?
[28:19] I pray, Father, that all of us will be loyal to You, quick to give an answer, Lord, not contentiously, not condemning anyone, but, Father, just simply providing them with Your truth, truth, that You love them, and, Lord, that here's what Your Word says about things.
[28:44] It's not our words, it's Your words, Lord. May it always be Your words that we speak when we have to correct anyone or contend any teaching or falseness out there.
[29:01] thank You again for loving us in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, you guys come up with a consensus.