BIBLE SHORTS

Part 7: Jude

Scripture

Jude

¹ Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

² May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

³ Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁵ Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—⁷ just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

⁸ Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. ⁹ But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” ¹⁰ But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. ¹² These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

¹⁴ It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, ¹⁵ to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ¹⁶ These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

¹⁷ But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” ¹⁹ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory 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.

Sermon Recap

Jude is a letter many of us read, scratch our heads, and move on. It quotes obscure ancient texts, references angels disputing over Moses's body, and warns about false teachers using imagery like wandering stars and waterless clouds. Pastor Pete walked through it to make sense of the strangeness and pull out what the letter is actually asking of us. Jude is one of Jesus's half-brothers, a man who didn't believe in Jesus during his earthly ministry but became a devoted follower after the resurrection. He wanted to write a warm letter about salvation, but circumstances forced him to write something more urgent. False teachers had crept into the churches, twisting grace into license for sin and denying Jesus as Lord.

A lot of what makes Jude confusing is that he quotes from sources outside the Bible, like 1 Enoch and the Assumption of Moses. These were Jewish writings well known to his original readers but unfamiliar to us. Pastor Pete compared it to how a modern preacher might quote a respected author to support a point. These texts aren't scripture, but they were part of how the early church understood the spiritual world. Jude uses them alongside Old Testament stories to make one consistent point. He lists six warnings from history, including Israel's rebellion in the wilderness, the angels who left their proper place in Genesis 6, Sodom and Gomorrah, Cain, Balaam, and Korah. The pattern across all of them is the same. God is not mocked, and rebellion brings judgment.

Jude then describes the false teachers and how to spot them. They rely on their own dreams, defile their bodies, reject biblical authority, and follow their instincts to their own destruction. Pastor Pete pointed to the modern parallels. Everyone has "their own truth." Everyone is told to "do their own research," which often means finding biased sources that confirm what they already wanted to believe. Jude's instruction is to look at the fruit of a teacher's life over years and decades. Jesus said in Matthew 7 that you'll know them by their fruits, and Jude gives six images of bad fruit: hidden reefs at love feasts, shepherds who feed only themselves, waterless clouds, fruitless trees, wild waves, and wandering stars. Pastor Pete shared an example of a pastor who had grown a large church and gained notoriety, but who had started by "merging" with another church and then firing the original pastor a few months later. That kind of fruit matters.

So what do we do? Jude tells us to build ourselves up in faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep ourselves in the love of God, and wait for the mercy of Jesus. This requires active choices, not passive drifting. We scroll passively on our devices but we need to actively choose prayer, scripture, and worship. And we also need to extend mercy to others. Have mercy on those who doubt. Snatch others out of the fire. Build the kind of accountability relationships where people can ask honest questions when you've drifted from community. Pastor Pete shared a small example of a coworker who simply asked about his sleep and schedule, and how cared for he felt by that one question.

One Thing: Contend for the faith by watching fruitfulness, practicing mercy, and remaining in love.

Discussion
Questions

Connecting

What's a piece of advice that sounded great on the internet but turned out to be terrible in real life?
Who is someone you can recognize just by their first few words or footsteps?

Considering

In verses 5-7 and 11, Jude lists six examples from history. What's the common thread Jude wants us to notice across all of them?
What do verses 20-23 tell us about both what we do for ourselves and what we do for others when false teaching is around?

Confessing

Are you actively keeping yourself in the love of God, or have you been passively drifting in your spiritual life?
Whose voices and teachers are shaping your view of the world right now, and have you looked at the fruit of their lives?

Committing

When was the last time you warned or checked in on a fellow believer who seemed to be drifting? Is there someone you need to reach out to this week?
What is one passive habit in your life you could replace with an active choice to seek God?

Next Steps

As part of our annual theme, Deep & Wide, we invite our church family to go deeper in relationship with God so that we can be the greatest blessing to one another and the world around us. Each week, we will follow up from the sermon with simple, practical steps to help us receive God’s blessing and apply the truths of the gospel more deeply into our lives.