Whenever we attain a position in any field, we work hard to keep it. Jude, half-brother of Jesus, encourages true believers to keep our position in Christ. He assures that Christ has kept us.
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Key Verse
Jude 1:21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
Snapshot
- 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
Introduction
The author is Jude the brother of James, half-brother of Jesus Christ. He
- 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
Keywords – The word “keep” is repeated many times in both positive and negative context. “Mercy” is also another key word.
They did not keep their position
Various levels:
- Fallen Archangel (Satan)
- Fallen Angels
- False teachers throughout the ages
- People of Sodom, Gomorrah, etc.
Characteristics of losing position
- Usurp
- Unreasoning
- Unstable
- Under eternal bondage
Usurp - Positions
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.
Usurp - power
Various levels:
- Fallen Archangel (Satan)
- Fallen Angels
- False teachers throughout the ages
- People of Sodom, Gomorrah, etc.
Usurp - power
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
Unreasoning
..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.
Unstable
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.
Under Eternal Bondage
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,
Characteristics of Keeping Position
- Let God
- Let Go
- Look to Eternity
- Love Mercy
Let God
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!”
Let Go
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!!
Look to Eternity
waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
Only one thing to be anxious about!!
Love Mercy
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!!
Outcome of Losing Position
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:
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.
Recap
- 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
The Wheel of Life
Turns round and round
Few reach the top
But all come down
The smartest keep
The Eternal Crown
Discussion
- 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?