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Jude 1- Faith in Christ

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I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. Jude 1:5

Today we are going to take a look at maybe one of the most interesting verses in the entire New Testament. The Apostle Jude under the influence of the Holy Spirit makes reference to the Exodus of the Israelites, however Jude gives us a deeper revelation, as He reveals it was Jesus Christ who actually led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness.

This little detail brings so much confirmation to our essential doctrines of Christianity, such as the Trinity and the Deity of Christ. Yes Jesus Christ is God incarnate, if there is any doubt of that, you would have to reject text such as this from the Apostle Jude. If you actually look at  the original Greek, its actually the name of  Jesus (Lesous) instead of Lord (Kyrios) There is no doubt , it was our Lord Jesus Christ that was with the Israelites throughout the entire Exodus and beyond

So lets get into the heart of the text, what is the point the Holy Spirit is trying to make here? Some would suggest this text supports the idea you can “lose your salvation”, as if somehow you earned your salvation and then somehow you lost it. As you can probably tell, I reject this idea of losing your salvation, because first of all you never earned your salvation to begin with. The grace of God is something we can’t earn , its a gift of God , so none of us should boast (Ephesians 3:8-9) This idea that we did something to gain favor with God, and then lost it, in my opinion is a complete lack of understanding of the grace of God

So what is the Apostle Jude talking about? And how did these Israelites become destroyed? The late Dr. Michael Heiser made an interesting point, and I’m paraphrasing from the top of my head. But he suggested election and salvation are not the same thing, just because someone is an elect doesn’t mean they are automatically saved. And we can apply this to even todays world, there are alot of people who are born of Jewish descent, does that mean they are automatically saved? No, the only way to salvation is to be Born Again in Christ, so the fact that these are Israelites and they were still destroyed shouldn’t be a big hurdle for us to wrap our minds around.

What is the difference between the Israelites that were saved or anyone who is saved? As the Apostle Jude state here “afterward destroyed them that believed not” Again if we look at the Greek, we can see the root word “Pistis” which is primarily translated as faith, that is translated as believed. These people didn’t truly have faith in Christ for salvation, this is what separates all of us from salvation. We can’t save ourselves or earn our salvation, its genuine faith in Jesus Christ that can only save us, Amen!

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Luke 24- Christ Is Risen

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Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Luke 24:1-6

The resurrection of Jesus Christ, the greatest day in the history of the world. The day when God defeated sin and death forever and reconciled us back to the Father. This was all accomplished in a way that was beyond our human comprehension. Nobody ever expected God to become a man, in Jesus Christ, and die for the penalty of our sins. Then be risen on the 3rd day abolishing sin and death forever. The mystery of the gospel was fulfilled on this blessed Sunday morning!

As we see the woman came to the tomb on the first day of the week, which is Sunday. This is why the Church traditionally worshiped and gathered on Sunday morning, it had nothing to do with paganism or greek mythology, this was all about the event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The entire Christian faith is based on this event, as Paul said “If Christ is not risen, then we are faith is useless” ( 1 Corinthians 15:14) Without the resurrection of Christ , there is no Christianity, there is no deliverance from your sin, there is no reconciliation back to our Heavenly Father. 

He is not here, He is Risen, this is what the angels declared at the tomb. Remember how he spoke to you when he was at Galilee?  Jesus foretold of this moment , however the disciples didn’t understand until the tomb was empty!

Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. Luke 24:7-12

It says “They remembered His words” When the disciples saw the empty tomb, a lightbulb went off in their heads, The Lord prophesied about this moment and now it has been fulfilled. Now when the woman disciples originally ran back to the male disciples, they didn’t believe them. So Peter ran to the tomb to check for himself, it was just as the woman said, the tomb was empty! The Lord has Risen!

The stone has been rolled away, no longer is their a veil, a barrier between us and God. We have now been reconciled back to God, sin and death are defeated because Christ The Lord has Risen today! Hallelujah! 

Jude 1- Contend The Faith

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Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1:4-5

If we are being honest right now, Christianity is a mess. Liberalism has crept into the majority of our denominations, and has misled most people with a false gospel denying the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. As you can see, this is nothing new in the Church, as the Apostle Jude was dealing with this already in the first century. 

As the Apostle Jude wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Concerning our common salvation” We are united by Christ, and we are united by basic doctrines that are not negotiable. The Trinity, the Bible is the inspired Word of God, the Deity of Christ, these are doctrines most false groups deny and are unfaliable. These are doctrines that unite true believers in Christ. The true gospel message that we are all sinners, Christ became a man and died on the cross for our sins, and Christ rose from the dead on the 3rd day defeating sin and death forever. 

If you want to be able to discern false teachers and false religions, look for the red flags. Do they deny the Bible is the inspired Word of God? Do they deny the deity of Christ? Do they deny we must become Born Again? 

As the Apostle Jude continues to say “for certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men” We see this even today, look at what just happened to the UMC, wicked reprobates infiltrate the Churches and implement heresies to mislead the masses. They are ungodly and they are planted by Satan to try and destroy the Church

But as a Born Again Christian, you need to be led by the Holy Spirit, you need to be grounded in scripture, you need to be in prayer with God continually, and you won’t fall for these traps of Satan. As the Apostle John said “Don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone into the world” (1 John 4:1)

“They turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny our only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” A common denominator with cult groups is they employ a “works based salvation” they deny the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, they say you must do this and that or you can’t be saved, let them be accursed! (Galatians 1:8) The only way to salvation is through our Lord Jesus Christ, its by grace you are saved, beware for false religions and false groups who promote heresies! Amen!

Titus 3- Avoid Stupid Arguments

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But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. Titus 3:9-11

If there is a theme for social media, its right here, as the Apostle Paul said “Avoid stupid arguments” Ok I’m paraphrasing that , but we get the point. Stop wasting our time on dumb arguments that are not fruitful for anything. As the Apostle Paul says here “they are unprofitable and useless”

Next time you get into one of these arguments or debates, ask yourself “What is the point of this conversation”? Are you glorifying God or are you just trying to win an argument? Some people just want to argue for the sake of arguing, they have no real desire for truth. Discern , is this person really interested in hearing the truth? 

Another good question , “Is this topic relevant to their salvation”? Alot of Christians like to waste alot of time on non salvational issues, such as the timing of the Rapture or is the Earth old or new? While these can be interesting topics, and we can really dive into these, getting these “wrong” is not going to condemn you to Hell. We need to stay Kingdom focused. 

Now what about the person who just continually argues with you about the same thing over and over again? Well the Apostle Paul addressing this also “reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition or warning” If someone is preaching heresy and you correct them, if they won’t listen, you are to move on. One thing we need to learn is we are not the Holy Spirit. We are not going to be able to change peoples hearts and minds, we are not going to be able to make people repent of their sins, we are not going to regenerate them, these are all jobs of the Holy Spirit. All we can do is preach the truth faithfully

Many Christians spend too much time trying to convert a particular individual, thats not your job. If you shared the gospel with them and the love of Christ, there is nothing more you can do. Let God do his work and we do our work, the Church wastes too much time in pointless arguments and trying to be the Holy Spirit. 

As the Apostle Paul states “these people are self condemned” if you already shared the gospel with them, and they rejected the gospel, they have condemned themselves. You are not the Holy Spirit that is going to change their mind and heart, move on to more lost souls that are willing to receive the gospel, preach the gospel to all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!