What makes that interesting is he doesn't qualify the name James. Now why might that be important as a clue? The absence of a qualifier, in other words if it had been just some James that you're not aware of, it would have been followed with James, the son of so-and-so or James, the brother of so-and-so or James, the local furniture salesman or whatever the case might be. But he felt that he didn't have to qualify this because most scholars agree that what we're talking about is James, that pillar in the local church who figures so prominently in his own right, the brother of Jesus. Right? Or better, the half-brother of Jesus. That's one of the ways we can determine the identity of this particular Jew. He was the brother of James who was the half-brother of Jesus. Now, James does something quite similar to this in his own book. He doesn't really make too big a case concerning who he is. In other words, James was a great pillar in the church, but nowhere in James' own letter do you read him ever bragging about that or ever mentioning that. Everything that James and Jude both engage in by way of communication via letter is done really kind of on the down low. They're trying to remain humble. Now why do you think that might be? Why all the need for humility here? Now, humility is always a good thing, but they seem to go to the extra degree here to bring out this humility in what they've written. Why do you think that might be? Yeah, what happens if you announce right at the top of your letter, you know, Jude, the half brother of Jesus Christ, You're going to lose a lot of your audience right off the bat because people are going to get the idea that you're somehow using that as a means of self-aggrandizement or something of that nature. Now, there's another reason that's not quite as evident that might factor into their need for humility. Because they went to collect him because he was out of his mind. His brothers and his family went to collect Jesus when he was teaching because they had said he was out of his mind. Very good. Leave it to Kevin to bring up this obscure passage, right? That's not where I was going. I was kind of going with Acts chapter seven. No, that's actually really good because it gives us kind of two sides. Two sides to attack this from. But in Acts chapter seven, we're told, We're told that Jesus's brothers did not believe, hence why they wanted their brother Jesus to be put in the loony bin, because they considered him crazy. That's the flip side, right? But again, in Acts chapter 7, verse 5, we learned that the brothers were not believing. And again, that's why they wanted to see their brother kind of dealt with in that way. In fact, most theologians believe that the brothers didn't believe until after the resurrection, and maybe not until after the ascension. We get a kind of a hint of that in Acts chapter one, verse 14. You know, there we read about the gathering of the apostles in the upper room following Jesus's ascension. And who was there in addition to the 12 devoting themselves to prayer? Well, we're told Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers were there. Okay. So it could be, Very possible that neither James nor Jude would have wanted to be perceived as cashing in on their brother's name to make a name for themselves. It could be coupled with this idea that they were late to the game, which would have been a humbling thing too. I mean, can you imagine being the half-brother of Jesus, being in his company? This is God incarnate. for his whole life, or at least your whole life, and not acknowledging or being able to recognize him as who he really was when so many people were flocking to him. Yeah. That reference was John chapter 7, but also... That's what I said, John 7, then I went to Acts 1.14, did I not? No, you said Acts 7. Yeah, that's a totally different story in Acts 7. Yeah. But also, I think that... they also realized that that relationship didn't matter anymore. It didn't exist, for one thing, anymore. But even then, it didn't matter. They were just the same with Christ now as the rest of them. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, that's another interesting tidbit of information that we're to consider when we think about this. Now, the Roman Catholics insist that Jesus didn't have any brothers. You know that whole story, right? This helps them preserve the doctrine of the perpetual virginity. of Mary. Well, part of it is the Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception was that she was sinless when she gave birth to Christ. The Perpetual Virginity says that she was perpetually a virgin afterwards. There's only one problem, and it's a really big problem with that, and that is that the word translated as brothers, adelphoi, means, somebody help me out here, brothers. You mean it can't mean cousins? That's what the Catholics say. No, he had cousins. Well, no, Adelphoi means brothers. It means it either in the Christian sense or either in the literal sense, but it never means cousins. And so again, you know, they just make things out of whole cloth to support an erroneous doctrine as they do with many other things too. So when was the letter written? Well, most scholars believe that given that there's no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem, it was written sometime prior to AD 70. It almost certainly would have had to been sometime prior to AD 70. We have another important clue in verses 17 and 18 of Jude. What chapter? The only chapter. But notice that Jude refers to, quote, the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which it was said, in the last time there will be mockers following after their own godly lusts. This is actually a close parallel to what Peter says in 2 Peter chapters 2 and 3. And there he mentions this as a future concern. One of the things Peter wanted his readers to understand was there was coming a time when false teachers would begin to infiltrate the church. There was coming a time when mockers and scoffers and those who had seek to pervert or twist the gospel to their own ends would make inroads into the church. That hadn't happened quite yet during Peter's writing, but he anticipated that it would happen. When you read Jude, you get the idea that this is already happening, right? It's already happening. It's clear that he's already dealing with this sort of thing. And he even refers back to what Jesus and the apostles had said would come. This would place the writing of this letter probably sometime between 67 and 69 to 70 AD itself. It could have been written right before the destruction of Jerusalem, which is why there's no mention of that happening. Now, just so you're aware, there are some scholars who actually have suggested that it could have been written as early as A.D. 50 or so. And the way they arrive at that is they say that Peter obviously borrowed some of his things, his quotes, from Jude. And, okay, how do we get around that? Well, we believe, most scholars believe that Jude actually borrowed some things from Peter, right? There's nothing says that Peter had to borrow his things from Jude. The chronology just doesn't fit. So it's a safe estimate to place a dating on this letter between 67 and 70 AD. Who was his audience? We really don't know. Yeah, those who were called. Yeah, we know it's to the elect. We know that it's to Christians. But really, we really don't have a city. We don't have a church mentioned, anything like that. So we really don't know. So instead of resorting to blind speculation, I think it's best to be content with not knowing because Jude doesn't tell us. I don't really think his audience is that important anyway because so much of what's written in scripture is intended to be applicable for generation after generation after generation and this is certainly applicable to us today, is it not? This warning about false teachers and this warning about the need for continual vigilance in the church when it comes to identifying and dealing with any wolves that might come in among the sheep. And this leads really to the theme. What are the main themes or what is the central theme in Jude's letter? Well, it might interest you to know, maybe not, because it's so short, but Jude is the only letter in the entire New Testament that's devoted exclusively to confronting apostasy, which, as you know, is the abandonment of or the falling away from the faith. Now, we've discussed this at length, especially if you'll remember our studies back in Hebrews chapter six, Remember when we looked at Hebrews 6, 4-6? You can turn there. Let's read that again together. This is probably one of the more concise definitions of apostasy. Hebrews 6. I did say Hebrews, right? Hebrews 6, 4-6. Here the writer says, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and become partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. Now what did we conclude about the identity of those who were once enlightened, those who had tasted the heavenly gift, those who had become partakers of the Holy Spirit, etc. Were they believers who for some reason simply gave up their salvation? No. No. The Bible is abundantly clear with regard to the eternal security of those who have been born from above. So if that's not the case, if we're not talking about believers who fall away from the faith and lose their salvation, who are these individuals? What exactly is an apostate? An apostate is simply an imposter. An apostate is simply an imposter. An apostate is one who might look the part, they might play the part of the true believer, They might see for themselves what the church has to offer, what God's word says about genuine salvation, how the Holy Spirit works among the saints, in and through and among the saints. And then when they realize that none of that is truly satisfying, when they realize that they just can't get their way, they leave it all behind. These are the people who try Jesus. We've talked about that, right? That's one of the reasons that little mantra is so prevalent in society today because there are people who believe that you can actually just try Jesus on as one option from among many in the religious world. You know, I've had people come to me and say, well, you know, even in this church, I had a guy come to me one time and I said, what brings you here? And he says, well, you know, I was a Buddhist and then I was a Taoist, got heavily into martial arts. and all that. And then, you know, I was, I think he said a Confucianist or something along those lines, something that's compatible with the martial arts. And he says, you know, I just, lately I've been very curious about Christianity. So I thought I'd just give Christianity a whirl. I'm like, you do know that's not what we do here, right? Christianity is not something you test drive. Christianity is a religion that is made up of true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who got that way based upon the sovereign will of God in salvation, which totally went over his head. And it wasn't long before he left. I mean, he ended up coming a few weeks and then kind of bounced out. I don't know what he is today, but Before he left, he did remark about how much he had enjoyed being here, and how much he enjoyed our fellowship, and how much he enjoyed this, that, and the other thing. And I wanted so badly to tell him, you know, you're really kind of pointing out what the meaning of Hebrews 6, 4 through 6 is. You have openly admitted that you've been blessed by the messages, that you have been impressed by the Holy Spirit's work in this place, or what you consider to be the Holy Spirit's work in this place. You've openly confessed that you've tasted everything the church has to offer, and now you're walking away. Well, according to Hebrews 6, 4 through 6, and thank God, we don't know when people cross that line. But by all indications, he's one of the people who, for him, it's impossible ever to gain him to repentance again. because he has once again put Christ to open chain. He's counted the blood of Christ as nothing. So I know a lot of times, especially if you grew up in independent fundamental Baptist circles, an apostate is what? We have another word for it in independent fundamental Baptist circles. You be nice. I'm not going to repeat it. He can tell you afterwards. A backslider. And we've grown accustomed to this idea that people can inhabit the church and, you know, they can they can drift off into unrepentant heinous sin. And, you know, the little old ladies just shake their head and say, well, he's a backslider. He'll come back. Yeah, Freddie. Yes, yes, they rededicate their lives for as long as it takes for the next shiny object, sin, to come along and then they'll backslide again, knowing full well that they can just remedy that by coming back. Are those people genuinely saved? No, no. They really haven't backslidden. There's nothing to slide back from. But I do know this, according to Hebrews 6, four through six, there's a group of individuals who will ultimately slide away and never be brought back. It's impossible. That's a fearful thing. Yeah, Irma. They would, at that point, I think at some point, prove themselves to be reprobate. Yeah, but again, the beautiful thing is we don't know who they are. I've never, and that's why I didn't go that, far with this individual, I shudder to think what situation could arise where I would declare, I don't think I could even declare, you're a poster child for Hebrews 6, 4 through 6. I don't know if that would ever happen. Yeah. I'm curious to know how this applies to the fellow in first and second Corinthians that apparently was living a great sin and Paul is writing to them and saying, you know, you guys, the overseers, How are you allowing this to happen so they threw him out? Right. Then in 2 Corinthians it says, listen, about that fellow, restore him. Well, yeah. Now, that's a person who had tasted and done this and still was in abject, rebellious sin. So had he been saved? Don't know. Don't know. Obviously, he was saved. See, this is what I just said. We don't know when somebody reaches Hebrews 6, 4 through 6 level. We don't know. And don't confuse the fact of what Paul did under apostolic authority. Yeah, Paul said, I have decided to turn such a one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his soul might be saved. Well, that's apostolic insight. We don't, I hope nobody here claims to have apostolic insight. Yeah, yeah. Well, I don't, that doesn't ring a bell. I know he uses that phraseology elsewhere, but I don't know if it's relative to that particular individual. The point is, though, Here is a man who fell into grievous sin. And if this is the same individual that Paul said, restore him, then that's just the end result of successful church discipline. Remember, church discipline always has as its aim restoration. It's not punitive, it's restorative. That's the goal of church discipline. So if this man did repent and did turn around and come full circle, then oh yeah, we would restore that individual. Sure. So that's what I'm saying. We don't know when somebody crosses this particular bridge into full-blown apostasy. But what Jude is warning his readers against in this book is the danger of even coming close. Be vigilant. Be on your guard. Yeah. I like what you said, though. It would be evident from what Jude is saying that they were just acting. Yeah. And those are the tariffs if they persist or remain. Or shoppers, but they're never serious anyway. But that doesn't mean that that, it would not necessarily mean that at some point in the future that a work might not be done in him through election. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because we don't know who they are. Again, that's the, that's the most comforting thing about this. Can you imagine being in a church where they knew or claim to know that you were a poster child for Hebrews six, four through six. And as you walked out the door, they said, you do know that there's no, never any hope for you being saved. What kind of church would do that? The Roman Catholic Church. Good point. Yeah, they did it to you, right? Yeah, they will write you off like that. But no biblical church would ever do that. Yeah. But I think it's important to note here, too, that there's also another kind of apostate that Jude has more in mind here. It's not just the apostate who falls away and that's that. What Jude had in mind here was the kind of apostate that wasn't content to simply walk away. Some of them stick around and attempt to sow seeds of doubt, seeds of disunity, disharmony among the weaker members of the church. You know, they always seem to be on a personal mission to win others to their brand of false teaching. And if that sort of thing is unchecked, it can leave a lot of destruction in its wake. You know, if we, for example, allow people in this church who are constantly seeking to bend the minds and wills of others to their own way of thinking, that's a dangerous scenario, right? And if you ever get inclinations that you're gonna do that sort of thing, you need to know that will not stand in this church, right? Because we can't afford for the teaching that goes on here to be undone constantly only in the name of building up self. We've had people, you know, over the years, you know, we've had people who have attempted to do that. And there are distant memories in this place because we simply could not abide their being here any longer, seeking to be subversive. and so on and so forth. Why do they do that? Well, most of them feel like it vindicates them somehow, right? In other words, the only way they can elevate themselves is to denigrate others. A lot of the false teaching that goes on in the local churches for that reason. They want to appear more astute. They want to appear better trained and more credible than anyone else in the church because it elevates them, they think. This is the kind of situation that Jude was facing and he wanted his readers to know the importance of earnestly contending for the faith, building themselves up in their most holy faith, as he says, praying in the Spirit, and keeping themselves in the love of God. So let's begin reading at verse one. Let's read the first four verses. I'll tell you right now, we're not going to make it through four verses. We're only going to make it through really one word. It's a hyphenated word, but anyway, let's read verses one through four. Jude. a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every attempt to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was delivered once for all, handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. You know, he opens this letter in a very customary fashion. He begins with the acknowledgement that in addition to being the brother of James, he is more importantly a bondservant of Jesus Christ. And we've talked about this before. I believe it was during my Philippian study when we talked about How tragic it is, really, that the word doulos has been translated as bondservant. And now why is that tragic? Well, it's tragic because that's not what the word means. The word is literally translated as slave. Slave. So when Jude and others use this word, They're implying that those who follow Jesus Christ do so because they have been made his slaves. Now, why is that so important? Well, it's important because words mean things. And anytime we interpret the scriptures, we want to be as accurate as possible, really with a total disregard for political correctness. I realized that the word slave is a buzzword in today's society, and a lot of people would never use that word because, you know, it makes certain people feel bad. It makes me feel bad. I mean, the first goads to come to this country were indentured servants. For 20 years, my however great grandfather, was an indentured servant, and if you don't know anything about indentured servitude in this country, back in the mid to late 1600s into the 1700s and not so much into the 1800s, but if you know anything about indentured servitude, it was not at all unlike the slavery in the South was during the 19th century and before. I don't like the word slave. I don't like the word slave because, you know, as a free man in these United States, I don't like the idea in my flesh that I belong to somebody else. Right? So we can, we can reject that. We can recoil against that until we understand that the one to whom we belong is Jesus Christ. And the reason we belong to him, it's not unlike slavery in the world. The reason we belong to him is because we have been purchased. We've been bought with a price. That's the definition of a slave. One who has been bought by another and placed into service by that person. In our case, that just happens to be Jesus Christ. Remember, we talked about that book that John MacArthur wrote, a very controversial book called Slave. Some of you even read that book. It's a great little book that talks about this very issue. MacArthur, he takes it a little further than I would be comfortable taking it, but I believe what he writes is correct. But he believes that there was an intentional cover-up English translators of the scriptures concerning our identity in Christ. Listen to what he says in chapter one of the book. He says, time and again throughout the pages of scripture, believers are referred to as slaves of God and slaves of Christ. In fact, whereas the outside world called them Christians, the earliest believers repeatedly referred to themselves in the New Testament as the Lord's slaves. For them, the two ideas were synonymous. To be a Christian was to be a slave of Christ. Now what's this big cover up? What's the big conspiracy that MacArthur speaks of? Well, again, if you do a simple word study, going back as far as the King James Version and the Geneva Bible that predates it, even though if you look at the Greek, the word doulos is used, most often it's translated not as slave, but as bondservant, a bondservant. I believe there's only one place in the King James where it's actually translated appropriately as slave. And this carries through in most of our translations today. Now this wouldn't be so serious if the word servant were one of the possible translations of the word doulos. But is that the case? No. What does doulos mean? Slave. What else can it mean? Nothing. So what does it mean, servant? No, there are other words that could have been translated into servant, but not doulos. Doulos every time means slave. It's used either to describe the status of a slave or an attitude corresponding to that of a slave. Listen to the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. It says the meaning is so unequivocal and self-contained, that it is superfluous to give examples of the individual terms or to trace the history of the group. The emphasis here is always on serving as a slave. Hence we have a service which is not a matter of choice for the one who renders it, which he has to perform whether he likes it or not, because he's subject as a slave to an alien will, to the will of his owner. The term stresses the slave's dependence on his master. So again, it means slave, but we've translated it to mean servant. Somebody here, probably several of you, have heard messages where this is talked about, right? What it means to be a bondservant of Christ. And in those messages, I remember very clearly being taught about how we're actually bondservants, which means that we've been offered our freedom, You ever heard that in a sermon? Yeah, what bondservant means is you've been offered your freedom, but out of love for Christ and a healthy fear of hell, I might add, we've made the choice to stick around and help him out with his earthly mission of seeking and saving the lost. You see where that interjection of Arminian thought gets put in there, right? You've got this idea that, yeah, we've been given our freedom, but we've decided to follow Jesus. We've decided to stay with Jesus. No. No, and this is why it's so shocking once we realize the word doulos actually means slave. It's so shocking because we have to wrestle with this idea that we are not our own. We have to wrestle and struggle with this idea that in salvation, we were actually bought with a price. And we were translated or transported from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son against what would have been our natural inclination or will. We didn't decide anything. And that's why he'll go on to say, in addition to using this word doulos, he'll go on to say that he's referring here or addressing in this letter, the elect, those who are chosen, right? MacArthur also notes, he says, instead of teaching the New Testament gospel, where sinners are called to submit to Christ, the contemporary message is exactly the opposite. Jesus is here to fulfill all your wishes. Likening him to a personal assistant or a personal trainer, many churchgoers speak of a personal Savior who is eager to do their bidding and help them with their quest for self-satisfaction or individual accomplishment. The New Testament understanding of the believer's relationship to Christ could not be more opposite. He is the master and owner. We are His possession. He is the King, the Lord, and the Son of God. We are His subjects and His subordinates. In a word, we are His slaves. You see why that's important now? It's important because lest we think otherwise, for us to think that we are somehow willing servants, which we are, don't get me wrong. That's why we had to have that heart transplant, where our heart of stone was taken out and replaced with a heart of flesh, a heart that's inclined and desires nothing more than to please the Lord in everything we think, say, and do. So we have been given, along with salvation, we've been given that inclination to act in a way contrary to our fleshly nature. We've finally been given the wherewithal and the desire to serve the one who has purchased us with his blood. So don't get me wrong, the idea of willingness is there, but it's not our doing, is it? I didn't just wake up one day and say, you know, I think I'm willing now. But that's how the gospel is presented today. Won't you just decide? Jesus wants you to be willing. Jesus wants you to love Him. Jesus wants you to obey Him. You know, how many times did you sit in the message, at the end of the message, the guy says, won't you come? What's that song they sing? It's not just as I am. It's Jesus is waiting. The Savior is waiting. Yeah. Bringing back some bad memories for Chris. Yeah. But no. You know, as believers, in addition to having that inclination to follow Him, one of the most comforting things for those of us who've been purchased by the blood of Christ is the fact that we are His slaves. It's an uplifting thing. It's one of those edifying truths we possess. I don't think we think nearly enough about just how privileged we are to have been enlisted as slaves of Christ, to do His bidding. And I don't know about you, but I'm ecstatic to be numbered among God's slaves. The writers of Scripture were obviously ecstatic to be numbered among God's slaves because they use that phrase so often. Paul identifies himself as a slave to Christ in the beginning of Philippians. He does it in the beginning of Titus. And in 1 Corinthians 7, 21, note what he says very clearly there. Now, this is the one that really sealed the deal as far as my thinking about our relationship to Christ as slaves. He says, were you a slave when called? He's asking, were you genuinely a slave, like Onesimus? Were you a slave when the Lord called you? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity. For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed man of the Lord. Likewise, he who was free when called is what? A slave of Christ. You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men. Paul's saying, it's not a good thing to be slaves of men. If you can escape that situation, Take whatever opportunity presents itself and run. But if you're called as a free man, you need to know that you are now enslaved to Christ. Isn't that the message of the entire scripture? We talk a lot about there are only two kinds of people in the world today, right? The redeemed and the unredeemed. The regenerate and the unregenerate. The saved man and the lost man. There's no in-between status there. Right? And we've talked, again, we've talked a lot about that. Well, the same thing's true about slavery. Do you realize, even if you're an unbeliever here tonight, you're a slave. You're a slave to sin. You're a slave doing the bidding of your father, the devil, we're told. So we're all slaves, yeah. especially in a caste system like that yeah indenture to sell yourself was to pay off the debt. Once you paid off your debt, you were turned out. Yeah. Yeah. You had nothing to do with the master any longer. So to be a do-loss, which was the lowest form of self-indulgence, you're permanent. You're not going anywhere. Well, if you're, and I'm not saying you're not familiar with early American history, but many of those who did a five-year indenture would end up never being set free. Because you might ask, pass me the salt, and that would go in a contract that night by your master to give you five more years. You know that. But you're right. There was a type of slavery that you might eventually get out of, but this is not that. That's the point. This is a case where if you were a Dulas, that was it. Especially in that caste system, the Hebrew caste system, not unlike the caste system still in India. Whatever you were born into, and really even in all of Europe at one time with the feudal societies, where you were either part of the aristocracy or you were part of the peasantry. There was never a crossing of that line. Unless, of course, you went into the priesthood and then you would be somewhere in the middle, right? But that's a very good point because this describes that sort of slavery that the only way that changes, and this would have been true physically as well as spiritually, is by divine decree. Fiat decree. The condition of the servant, their life, was completely dependent on whoever owned that. So if you were property of someone who was pretty rough, trouble, whatever, your life was horrible. But if you belonged to someone who genuinely loved you, Yeah, and a lot of people stayed in that situation because that's when you put your ear to the doorknob and they would yeah they would put a all through your ear and then that ear that marked you as someone who was in slavery willingly. You decided to stay on even though you know because you were being treated and that's another word to describe us in Scripture too is that's what's happened in Christ. in a manner of speaking, but only because we were his doulos to begin with. To put a good light on it, I think of the verse that says, it is freedom that you have been set free. If slave has such a horrible connotation, it's all negative, it's all terrible, it's all bad, it's all I don't have my will, I don't have my life. But imagine if the word meant Yeah, that's very good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When slavery, I mean, you know what set us free? Slavery. We were bought with a price. We gained our freedom by becoming slaves. That's why the writers of the New Testament really crow about that as a virtue. They're not ashamed to call themselves slaves of Christ. All negative connotations are washed away when you realize that, when you realize who has purchased you. That's kind of what Chris was saying. If you've had a really good master, you could praise the Lord for that. Who's greater than Jesus, right? Well, it goes back to election because a slave doesn't choose his master. Very good. The master chooses him. And as a servant today, you're either hard, hard, or thick. But as a slave, you're owned. Yep, yep, that's awesome. So, anyway, we'll continue our study next week.