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[0:00] Tonight, we're going to begin a new study from the pages of the New Testament.

[0:21] And in sequential order to Peter's writings is the book of Jude.

[0:37] Now, I've actually taught Jude before, and I know there's some of you in here that memorized it, and some of you didn't, but I'll try to bring something fresh.

[0:50] But I wanted to teach Jude. Theologians and scholars down through the centuries have recognized there's a unique relationship with Jude and 2 Peter.

[1:12] Jude is only 25 verses long. Jude has lived its life in the shadow of the book of Revelation.

[1:23] That gigantic book of prophecy. When the Lord visited John on the Isle of Patmos. And out of that, we have the book of Revelation.

[1:39] And Jude is just 25 verses. And we know that the divine author of Jude is the Spirit of God.

[1:51] Tonight, we're going to look at just a few verses, but it's going to be random. And next week, we'll start with the first verse. We're going to take a look at the human author.

[2:07] We're going to take a look at the divine author during our study. This study is going to last about 11 weeks.

[2:20] Jude's got 25 verses, and there's something sort of interesting. It's really an easy jump from 2 Peter to Jude.

[2:33] What made it easy is there's so many parallels between these two books. And the fact is that out of 25 verses contained in Jude, 19 of those have nearly direct references to 2 Peter.

[3:00] And remember, 2 Peter was about false prophets and false teachers, and Jude's going to cover the same territory. Nevertheless, there is a division among various scholars that is rather intriguing.

[3:17] Over the centuries, this question has not been resolved to the satisfaction of everyone.

[3:29] And here's the question. Did Peter use Jude as a resource for his book of 2 Peter?

[3:44] 2 Peter? Or did Jude use 2 Peter as a resource for his book titled simply Jude?

[3:58] Or the book of Jude? Jude. Jude. Now, a minority of scholars have suggested that Peter and Jude used a third resource, but they've never identified that resource.

[4:19] And that view has never gotten any traction, by the way. Nothing to suggest that it's remotely accurate. There is something, though, contained in these two books, which in my humble opinion, would suggest that 2 Peter came before Jude and then was followed by Jude.

[4:52] Almost all of 2 Peter chapters 2 and 3 predict that false teachers and false prophets are coming and that they will soon impact the church.

[5:12] Now, Peter wasn't talking about our day. He's talking about his day. Although it has continued into our day. In other words, Peter predicted in 2 Peter that the arrival of these false teachers in his day was still future.

[5:36] He could see it coming. The storm clouds were gathering. But it was still future. And then the book of Jude comes along and says, false teachers have arrived.

[5:58] They're here. That, to me, suggests that Jude came after 2 Peter.

[6:11] Because Jude said, they're here. And they're creating havoc in the church. So we have Peter telling us false teachers are on the way.

[6:26] Jude then says, they're here. They've arrived. I think that's strong evidence that 2 Peter was written first, followed by the book of Jude.

[6:38] Jude. I think there's another reason that suggests that 2 Peter came before Jude. And that is Jude's words used in verses 17 and 18 of his book.

[6:57] They're almost identical to the words used by Peter's prophecy. So it appears that Jude was telling us that false teachers have finally appeared just as Peter predicted.

[7:16] If we can add some language there. It's like Jude is saying. It's just like Peter said in 2 Peter. 2 Peter. It's also very instructive that in 2 Peter we find the word mocker.

[7:34] M-O-C-K-E-R. Knowing this first of all. This is in 2 Peter 3.3. Knowing this first of all that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking following after their own lusts.

[8:01] And then this shows up in Jude in the very next book verse 18 in the last times there will be mockers following after their own ungodly lusts.

[8:19] Almost an exact repetition of the two books. There's really only two times in the Bible that the word mocker is used in connection to prophecy.

[8:38] Which these are. Now there is a vague use of the word translated mocker in the book of Job but it has nothing to do with prophecy.

[8:54] Nothing to do with 2 Peter. And nothing to do with Jude. So we can discount that. The book of Jude make a mental note of this guys.

[9:08] The book of Jude deals with truth. All the Bible deals with truth. But Jude especially deals with truth.

[9:26] There's no important commodity in the word of God than truth. That's why it's called the word of God.

[9:38] If it wasn't true we wouldn't be referring to it as the word of God. And what do we need as we live in this part of the 21st century?

[9:57] And seeking an answer to that question I thought specifically about this class. We're made up of fathers mothers upstairs a lot of grandparents in here single guys are in here and if the Lord does not return for another hundred years all of us in here are going to be gone.

[10:33] No reason to get depressed will be with the Lord. But when we depart this life we're going to leave behind family.

[10:49] We're going to have relatives such as children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren still on this planet. even the single men in here will leave behind spiritual children that they have greatly influenced and will continue to influence in their journey at Highland Park.

[11:14] I remember Dr. McCarthy used to talk about that in his church he said all you men in here are spiritual fathers. You may not be physical fathers but you're spiritual fathers.

[11:25] These little kids running around here you're instructing them. You're teaching them. And so we have great influence on the kids.

[11:42] Let's be honest we face today titanic problems concerning all of life. It's just unbelievable the things that are going on.

[11:57] How much more so will those problems be compounded in the next half of the century? Now I don't imagine I'm going to be here in 2050 I'll be 102 almost Oscars age.

[12:18] I'll tell you what I wish I had the ability to convince my sons and my grandchildren and I got two great grandchildren of the unsurpassed and infinite value of this book.

[12:46] I wish I could do that. I want them to read it to understand it to embrace it to embrace every truth taught in this book we call the Holy Bible.

[13:04] I always remember when John MacArthur was on Larry King Live debating that great governor of California Gavin Newsom and Newsom was attacking the Bible and MacArthur said the Bible is the inerrant word of God and Larry King said John which Bible and John MacArthur said the Holy Bible and they stopped right there they weren't going to debate that the Holy Bible but I want my boys to be now one of them is my boy Branson Rob loves the word of God is taking it to India other places as it regards truth there is a foundation that I need to lay that's going to be everything that I say on this topic in the lessons to come down the road we are faced with a cosmic assault on truth it's what

[14:27] John MacArthur termed and others jumped on the bandwagon but he called it the truth war and he wrote a book called the truth war and I've read it it's good read I think I've got an extra copy at home so first come first serve and I would suggest as did MacArthur that the truth war is every bit as real as any war we've ever fought on earth and our country alone has been involved in a lot of them it's a real war and it's being really waged raged waged and victims of this war as in any war have lost lives some of the victims have lost not only their lives but their eternal lives and those numbers are in the billions with a bee and as

[15:55] I speak right now we all know there are people entering into eternity this night without God without Christ without the spirit of God and why is that so because they have rejected the truth God has given them this war on truth has been around for millennia a millennia is a thousand years war on truth has been around several millennia!

[16:39] as it pertains to the human family this war began really just a short period of time after the creation of our first parents Adam and Eve!

[17:00] we can't know for sure when it happened I think we're talking mere weeks or months but I don't know that picture them now they're placed in a perfect environment Garden of Eden and there they enjoyed fellowship with God the scriptures tell us that they walked they being Adam and Eve they walked with God in the cool of the evening and I would submit that this divine person that is spoken of there in Genesis was none other than the pre-incarnate

[18:02] Lord Jesus Christ the second person of the trinity we call that a Christophany or a theophany a pre-incarnate appearance and the Lord did appear many times in the Old Testament and the Lord gave our first parents through Adam many positive advantages and commands he gave them life breathe life into Adam self conscious life he commanded our parents to subdue the earth and fill it he gave our parents the privilege of enjoying the tree of life additionally he could enjoy almost every tree of the garden

[19:14] Adam could Adam had the privilege of naming all the animals what an amazing thing and he was given a wife remember Dr.

[19:32] McBride preaching on that said Adam saw his wife and he said wow wow and in the midst of all this with many positive commands the Lord also gave Adam one negative command he was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil don't do that Adam was given a stern warning he said in the day that he ate from that tree of knowledge of good and evil he would die I'm not sure Adam understood all that that meant but he was told by the Lord if you eat from that tree you're going to die!

[20:24] while Adam and Eve enjoyed the peace comfort and beauty of the garden the war on truth was declared let me set the stage for this declaration of war the man and woman were enjoying the garden and they came upon the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they knew of the prohibition placed upon them by the living God in the tree that day there was a serpent and I don't think we can afford to think of this serpent at that point as a snake that's what it became as punishment from

[21:28] God I hate snakes I hate them Diane can go pick them up I won't let her unless she surrenders her keys to the house I hate them I found one in my house one day about a year ago I was about that big and I was scared to death never didn't catch it either the serpent was craftier and he spoke words he's talking to Eve that were enjoyable to hear now this serpent whatever he was was indwelt with Satan the arch enemy of God and this is how the serpent began the conversation with

[22:33] Eve as Adam listened in now the serpent was craftier than any beast of the field which Yahweh sacred name of God had made and he said to the woman indeed has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden well no God didn't say that work that thought down teach it to your children your grandchildren as long as you have breath every untruth and every lie that has ever been told by Satan demons known as fallen angels or humans flow from that lie right there they all come from that they come from that one and

[23:43] Satan spoke this lie in the form of a challenge indeed as God said all untruth and we live in a world of untruth have spread across this globe to poison and kill billions of people started right there when Satan confronted Eve with this lie the wellhead of truth was poisoned we have a well and it was poisoned and everything that flowed from that well was tainted with sin to this day we call this the sin nature and everyone has it in fact we are trapped within a nature that is motivated and energized by sin and we can't escape we are incapable of escaping this trap only God can free us from our nature to sin now just how bad is this sin nature it's so bad that from the spiritual standpoint we are already dead the Bible in many places describe our condition as dead in trespasses and sins what does it mean to be dead death is the inability to do anything you can't breathe you can't think you can't speak you lay there till they shovel dirt over you you lay there you have no capacity to function and the

[26:18] Bible describes humans as dead in trespasses and sins even when man fallen man does something good it is tainted with sin and nauseating to the nostrils of God all of our works are as a filthy rag to the nostrils of God every one of them and let me say one thing about this sin nature it's global I've been in a lot of cultures 47 countries it's everywhere I saw a photograph this week of some Muslim high ranking Muslim guys in Saudi Arabia that were around a pit burning Bibles and laughing carrying on this is why I'm not God

[27:24] I just said let's take care of that right now the sin nature is global it is the engine that drives individuals families and governments now we have the privilege to live in the greatest and freest nation on earth but this day of sin has so permeated our culture and our society that it's captured our government law medicine education and in increasing numbers churches churches God has though through his prophets and writers of the new testament given ample warning concerning the war on truth but we live in a day when even churches are asking does truth really matter anymore mark this thought down beloved no one will stand before God ignorant of the assault on truth two of the many writers that

[28:52] God sent to author his inspired word were John and Jude they were not the only ones but they were very important in declaring the warning concerning what was coming now we've studied John's writings many times in his day he dealt with the Gnostics that's with a G N-O-S these were guys that self-described themselves as the ascended learners they had more knowledge they believed themselves to be ascended learners they believed they had more knowledge than anyone else and so they told people what to believe and they were deniers of the faith the apostle

[29:59] John warned about them but so did Jude why in our day are these warnings so pertinent I think there are a number of reasons first I would suggest time is short time it's getting shorter time is short nothing has to happen for the Lord Jesus Christ to return for his church I would suggest it's the next tick on the prophetic clock now some well-meaning people try and impose conditions on the return of Christ they say well the temple has to be rebuilt no that's

[30:59] Jewish that's for Israel well okay but the red heifer has to be in Israel well first of all it is a rancher in Texas gave five without blemish but that's Israel doesn't have anything to do with the church and they say well there has to be the ark of the covenant it's got to be located no it doesn't that doesn't impact the church it might impact that guy on television the movie Indiana Jones but I think the next tick on the prophetic clock is the return of Christ for his church ask yourself this question how many people in your extended family would miss the rapture of the church if it occurred today this is one of the reasons we do business with the war on truth we're to be vessels of truth another reason this topic is important is because of our relationship with Christ he described himself as truth

[32:30] I'm the way the truth and the life Dr. Francis Schaeffer a man I greatly admired now with the Lord called Jesus true truth always like that he's true truth I think that's appropriate if we're going to be true disciples of him who is ultimate truth we must embrace truth and defend truth at every opportunity another reason for engaging in the truth war that is so vitally important is because of the culture we live in we live in a time when darkness is spreading throughout our land and the world and we're called to be light bearers aren't we we're to be light bearers we're the candles that illuminate the way if our candle goes out who will take up the cause of defending

[33:48] God's truth and a final reason I will mention is the fact that we live in the last days John has told us that in fact he called it times these are the last times but in the last days we're in a period of church history and we refer to this as the Laodicea model of the church you remember the seven churches of revelation the last one was Laodicea let me read these inspired words and to the angel of the church in Laodicea write this is what the amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God says this is revelation chapter 3 I know your deeds you're neither cold nor hot

[34:54] I wish that you were cold or hot so because you are lukewarm and either cold or hot I will spit you out of my mouth I will vomit you out of my mouth because you say I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing and you do not know that you are wretched and pitiful and poor and blind and naked I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire that you may become rich and white garments so that you may clothe yourself that your shame of your nakedness will not be manifested and I salve to anoint your eyes that you may not see those whom I love I reprove and discipline therefore be zealous and repent behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and will dine with him and he with me by the way that's not an evangelical passage we use it for that reason but that's

[36:14] Jesus who's outside the church he's knocking on the door he's not inside he who overcomes I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down on my father on his throne he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches the laodicea church was without christ in fact the holy spirit closes out this chapter that Jesus is standing outside he wasn't even invited in that describes thousands of churches today in america it's amazing these churches had chosen to not engage in the truth war when you choose to do nothing you become a combatant on the other side Jesus said that if we are not for him we're against him there's no neutral parties in this conflict so how do we become engaged in this truth war and

[37:32] God's side well we do so by heeding and obeying his word and we're going to be looking at God's teachings on truth in the book of Jude our primary focus though not our only focus will be the small book known as Jude and is there we read these words this is in Jude 3 contend earnestly for the faith we'll do more of that in the weeks to come it's a command from God we're to be contenders for the faith we live in a day when if we don't start contending there may not be much faith left to contend for I close with one final reason we should contend it has been a long war against God and his truth in which the devil himself is engaged and in which he has deployed millions of demons men and women also to help him now listen to this

[38:39] Satan's most effective tool has been to use people who are associated with the truth in some way the deadliest assaults against the truth come from the inside this is what is called apostasy it is a defection from the truth the greatest assaults on the truth do not come from outside the church it comes from within by people who claim to know truth embrace truth teach truth but they're defectors who like to name the name of Christ and at the same time reject what he taught these defectors are the apostates of our day and they are everywhere and you see them every day on television so how do we get to this point in church history

[39:45]  Jude tells us and we'll get into that these people crept in unnoticed they crept in that inspired truth should make the hairs on the backs of our necks stand up apostates can enter into our churches unnoticed spread a poison of lies before we even know it and we'll begin next time more with the book of Jude and we're going to figure out which Jude he's talking about and that's important because the name Jude shows up in the New Testament eight times in those references the Bible uses Jude Judah and Judas so we're going to look at that name and figure out just how important he is as the author of this second to last book of the Bible that bears his name