With The Perrys - Teach The Text: Jude

Episode Date: October 30, 2019

We're introducing a new series to 30 Minutes with The Perry's titled "Teach The Text". During Teach The Text, either Jackie or Preston will walk through a bible passage that they're currently studying. On this first episode of "Teach The Text", Jackie will walk through the book of Jude.  To get a copy of Jackie's bible study on Jude, go www.lifeway.com/jude Subscribe to the Perrys' newsletter: https://withtheperrys.myflodesk.com/zhfus4jx1s Join Preston's discipleship community for men: https://www.patreon.com/PrestonPerry/membership To support the work of the Perrys, donate via PayPal: https://paypal.me/withtheperrys Shop BOLD Apparel: boldapparel.shop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What up Saints and Ates? Oh my goodness, we have a thief. That's not your saying. First of all, we won flesh. It's my saying. You're saying, it's my saying. Hey, Saints and Ains. What up with y'all?

That's yours. What up with y'all? That's you. Man, whatever, dog. Keep your stuff. Staying your lane. You are a hater. How y'all doing, man?

We haven't did a podcast in a while. In ages. We missed y'all. A little bit. I hope. I missed y'all. Oh, okay. I don't know about y'all.

I don't know if y'all missed us. But apparently they did. I don't know how many tweets and DMs and I could post a picture of a hot dog and they're saying y'all gonna do a podcast on hot dog soon somebody was like, are you guys quitting? Why you give her that voice? I don't know.

Something tells me she wasn't brown. I looked at her picture and I just thought she's sitting like that. Are you guys quitting? Come on. But yeah, we've been a part of a spoken war tour called The Pose and Autumn Tour. So we've done about 30 cities. California, left, Texas, and South Africa.

So if you want to come out and see us, go to www. The PIATor.com. Anywho. Yeah, man, so I want to introduce a new thing to you guys on 30 Minutes with the Perrys called Teach the Text. Teach the Text, sir. Yes, Teach the Text will be something that we do periodically. And we will talk about a text that we're studying, and one of us will teach it and go

through the text with you guys. And me and Jackie, we're both teachers. We both love the Word of God. We both love studying the Word of God. So we thought it would be beneficial for you guys to, yeah, experience this series with us. Yeah. So today I want to talk about the book of Jude because... Jude is my home boy.

Can you stop interrupting me? Goodness gracious. Wow, that was long suffering, wasn't it? So rude. Look at you walking in the spirit. Because my beautiful wife, She just completed a Bible study on the Book of Jude, and it's amazing. How you know?

I know because you came home every single day when you learned something new. Because you show late. I'm watching the game. Oh, can you pause? Can you pause it? Can you pause? Can you pause? Let me tell you this part that I'm studying it.

Hey, I'm just trying to watch the brine. Yeah, but I think it would be dope if we walk through the Book of Jude and you teach all you have been learning. Well, I can't teach all, but I can teach some because we only got 30 minutes. Have you read Jew before? Like, because I know for me, I've never heard a sermon on Jude. I've rarely heard you quote it. Don't nobody sing it.

Don't nobody put it in the Instagram captions. Jude is like a stepbrother that nobody wants. Yeah. I mean, I haven't seen a lot of people or heard a lot of people teach the book of Jew in this entirety. But, you know, I'm in the apologetic spaces often. So I hear contend for the faith, which is in Jew. Verse three.

all the time. We kind of, apologists, kind of use that scripture like Christians use. John 360. John 360 for God so love the world. That and also First Peter 315 about defending the faith, but not in its entirety. I haven't heard it in this entirety. You're actually the first person I've seen personally do a whole Bible study on the book of Jews. So kudos to you. Praise God. Yeah, I just, I felt like a personal obligation to teach on Jude. But let me, introduce even how I wanted to. So when I was a new believer, I was a part of a church. I think I've mentioned this in the podcast about church, but that was a part of the church, part of a church that was really legalistic. And so I felt like at any moment I'd go to hell, like if I talk on the phone

too long and, you know, not give the gospel in six days. And I found the verse, Jude 24 and 25, where it says, now to him who was able to keep you from falling. And that was the first time I feel like as a Christian where I realized that my like when I stand before God, it wouldn't be because of my primarily because of my own efforts. It would be because God's hands were stronger than my legs. And I was a tweet. It is. And I was like, man, like, I wonder now 10 years later, I wonder what brought you to verse 24 and 25. Like what preceded this doxology to even give him like, I guess, the need to have to close in that way. That's a good question. Let's start off with the question. Who is Jude? Well, if you read verse one, it starts by saying Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, which I think when you look at introductions in the Bible, people can tend to skim them when it's so much there.

Introduction tells us a lot. It tells us a lot. The text about the person. They're not useless. So Jude, when he says, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. First, I wanted to figure out who James was. And so James was a prominent bishop in the church of Jerusalem, in the early church, and James was also a brother of Jesus. So that automatically made me say, oh, if Jude is a brother of James and James is a brother of Jesus, then Jude is a brother of Jesus, which makes his statement about how he relates

to Jesus even more impactful. How so? Because he doesn't call Jesus his brother. He calls him his master. for him to say, I am a servant of Jesus Christ, is to say that Jesus is my Lord. Wow. So you're saying like we would have been named dropped. Absolutely.

Brother of Jesus. What do you mean? I want everything for free. Jesus is my brother for God's sakes. I sat at his table all the time. Right. I grew up with this man. I saw the first chair that he built.

We took baths together. So it's like you're reading the epistle of a very humble man. And a submitted man. That's dope. That's dope. That's encouraging to know that he walked in that type of humility. This book is very small. Yes.

It's literally one chapter. 25 verses. Right. So I can see this book, and I have seen this book, and I have seen this book, skimmed over, not really paid that much attention to. Why is the book of truth even important? Like, why should people read it? Well, we should primarily read it because it's in God's work.

In Second Timothy 316, it tells us how all the scriptures breathe out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training. Theanustos. What? What's that? That's tongues? No, that's the Greek word for God breathed. Theanosthos. Oh, I thought you said Thanos, like that dude on that one movie, that Marvel movie that people watch.

Theanosstaff. Okay. If all of Scripture is God-breathed, then that means all of Scripture. is good for me to read, to learn about God so that I could be righteous. You know what I'm saying? And Jude is a part of the canon. So therefore, Jude is God-breathed. I think also it's relevant because the verse that you mentioned when it talks about contending for the faith, that's what all Christians are trying to do.

A lot of the conferences I go to, a lot of the questions that I get asked, are people trying to figure out how do I defend the doctrines of Scripture, whether that relates to sexual ethics, whether that relates to gender equality, because gender equality is a justice ethical issue, right? Whether that relates to how do I, what you do, talk to Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses on the street who believe that Jesus is just a man or merely a prophet, but not also God. And so Jude is telling us, no, this is what God has actually called us to do, is to fight for. That's what it means to contend, to wrestle, to preserve and highlight and esteem and protect

what the apostles and the prophets have given us in the scriptures. That's good. So it's really relevant. Yeah, that's really good. It says in later scriptures, it says that some people have crept into the church unnoticed. Mm-hmm. Does that unnoticed part intrigue? Yeah, because it kind of gives a dope visual.

Yeah. It's like, why were they able to be unnoticed? And why did they creep in instead of walk? Yeah, yeah. Like, I just imagine somebody with a hood looking sideways, like, like the devil just walking in. Like a ninja. Like a ninja like creaked in unnoticed.

Who were these people? And what do they look like in our context? Yeah. I mean, I think there's, because Jude is, he gives us something, but seeing that we were not the people he was writing to, it's hard for us to know exactly who he's talking about. If he's talking about church leaders, if he's talking about just random members of the church. But basically, there are a group of. people who are presenting themselves as people who are faithful, but they're unfaithful.

And they're going unnoticed in the church, which tells us that the church is not discerning that there are people among them, probably leading their Bible study groups, probably leading their small group time, probably preaching on Sunday morning, who don't really love Jesus or submit to him. And the way he's going to go about this letter is the entire body of his letter is talking about the behavior of these teachers and the condemnation awaiting these teachers. But by him describing their behavior or their character is the way they're able to discern them, which is what Jesus told us, you will know a tree by its fruit, not how smart they are, not how long they went

to seminary, not how many Instagram followers they got, not how many times they made it on New York Times list, not how many deacons approve and affirm them, not how much they're not how much their wife loves them. How do they live? Do they live like Jesus is Lord or not? But it's not only that their lives are wicked, but their message is wicked. In verse three, I believe, he talks about contending for the faith for certain people have crept in a notice who long ago were designated for this condemnation for they are teaching. You better quote scripture without looking at the phone or the Bible. Come on now. That's my wife. These people were teaching that God's grace gives them license to sin, which is very similar, I think, to our cultural moment where people

say that God's love gives us license to sin, where we co-opt an attribute of God and use it as an excuse to still walk in disobedience. That's good. That's obviously been happening throughout history, and Jude is telling us to contend for it. So that's how you notice them. How do they live and what do they teach? That's dope. I want to go to verse 8. Okay. Because I think verse 8 is good. Super complicated verse. Right, because in verse 8 it talks about these people. And It kind of seems as if they're talking about these people in a different manner than creeping in the faith and being unnoticed. This kind of seems blatant, but I want you to explain it. But it says, yet in like matter, these people also relying on their dreams to file the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious one.

Don't be them Hebrew-Israeli. Read! Don't do that. Don't do that. What does that mean when it says, yet in like manner, these people relying on their dreams? deal with that? What does it mean to rely on your dreams? So dreamers throughout like Old Testament scripture were people who you would call a prophet or they saw visions. And so to rely on dreams is to say that these were people that trusted in their visions for their authority. You know, so they they would. Yeah, they was. So it's kind of like a lot of these false religions have come up from people who say they had an interaction with an angel or with God that told them.

this revelation that has nothing to do with the Bible. And so they were trusting in what they saw or what they say they saw. Like Joseph Smith in the 1800s who said that God came to him in a dream and said and told him that the word of God has fallen away and needed to be restored. And that's essentially how he wrote the book of Mormon or how. LNG White was Seven Day Adventist. Yeah. Muhammad. Yes, Muhammad.

He said he had a vision. Yeah, he had a vision and he traveled to Africa to. Israel to the moon on a donkey in one night. Right. Charles Taze Russell had the same dreams and visions. So that's good. He's talking about people like that. Wow.

So it is possible for somebody, because a lot of people will say, I have God deals with me in dreams. You're saying that's not evil in itself, but when we make it authoritative. Yeah, when your dream or your vision contradicts scripture. then your dream is not to be trusted in or relied in. Scripture is the predominant way by which God reveals himself through the scriptures, through his son, and through nature, right? But that's general revelation. This is specific.

That's really good. That's really good, wife. When it says defile the flesh, reject authority and blasphing the glorious ones, what does that look like? So defile the flesh, basically, they fleshly, like when I was in, when I used to go to church, we used to call people like that carnal. Carnal. You carnal? You carnal? Like, they just don't walk by the spirit.

And they reject authority, meaning they reject the Lord's authority. They don't submit to him as king or as master. But they also don't submit to anybody that might be an authoritative position above them. And I think sometimes the way I've seen is played out in churches is that these people will usually put themselves in a position of authority. And they can if they talk good. And if they look like they live right. And if they went to certain Bible colleges, they'll be put in a position of authority where they don't have to submit to anybody.

But the heart is the same. That's a way of them not submitting to Jesus is by putting themselves in a position where they don't have to submit to anybody. Yeah. And they can survive in a church because their knowledge. Going on notice. Yeah, because their knowledge is exalted. And people ignore the fact that they haven't really submitted to God or anybody else. That's good.

And when it comes to the blasphemy of the glorious ones, this part of the passage, was one of the most difficult because it didn't make sense. Why was it difficult? Because you don't hear nobody doing an altar call for blaspheming and angels. All the people that blasphemymen angels come up here and repent. I'm just like, I don't know what this means. Like, why is this here? But I think verse 9 kind of helps us understand what he's getting at when he says.

But when the archangel Michael contending, here we go see that word again, fighting, quarreling with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses. did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said the Lord rebuke you. So part of these people not wanting to submit to authority is that they don't know how to stay in their place. The simple fact that we are created being automatically makes a subject to somebody, which is God. But these people don't want to be subject to anybody. They want to presume or they want to be, they want to be the king. They want to be the one in control. But he contrasts them with Michael the Archangel, who in having a discussion, Michael the Archangel, who in having a discussion, Michael the

Archangel is a created being, having a conversation with another created being, but he defaults to the authority of God for rebuking the devil. He does not put that on himself. He doesn't say, I rebuke you. He says the Lord rebuk you. Why? Because the Lord has the right to and the power to. And so he's saying these people are not like Michael. They don't submit to God, nor do they see God as the ultimate authority over all things, but they want to be that themselves. Wow. Dang. It's deep. I think we can end it right there. Actually. That was super deep. That's real good, wife. That's real good. Let's go to verse 20 real quick because it seems as if Jude is directing the attention on us. He says, but you, beloved, building yourselves up in the most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.

Pray in the Holy Ghosts. Why does it seem as if he's directing the attention on us and what is he communicating? Well, the letter wasn't written to these people or these false teachers. It was written to God's church, God's beloved. He even began by saying that he wrote it to those who are called beloved and God the Father. So when he began this letter, he began it by addressing them as people who are very loved by God. And so now he's resuming his conversation by no longer talking about these people, as they recall, but talking about God's church. And he wants to give them tools now that as they contend, this is one of the ways,

in which you can protect yourself from falling into the same traps. And I think even as they contend, this is one way to become discerning is to build yourself up in your holy faith, which is it goes with the whole idea of edification or building a building. So you read your word. You pray. You fellowship with the saints. That's how you build up your faith.

You pray in the Holy Spirit, which means to allow the Holy Spirit to control how you pray. Do you pray scripture? Do you pray for people, including your enemies? How do you pray? Is it lazy? Is it disconnected? Are you watching and praying? Are you attentive to the fact that you are talking to the king of kings and the Lord of hosts when you pray?

Then he says to awake God's mercy. This is speaking to hope. But before he even says, awake God's mercy, he says, keep yourselves in the love of God. How does one keep themselves in the love of God? So keep yourselves in the love of God in these two passages. is the only imperative. An imperative is a command. So if I tell Eden, go brush your teeth. That is an imperative. And if she says, how I say get your toothbrush input or not get your toothbrush, but you can put toothpaste on your toothbrush. That's how

she's able to obey the imperative. So when he says, build yourselves up in your most holy faith, pray in the spirit and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, all three of those are the how, of how to keep yourselves in the love of God. That's good. That's good. I think it's important, though, because I think one of the verses that encouraged me, not the most, but a lot, was verses 22 and 23, just because it gets really practical.

Because I'm in a space, you know, dealing with sexuality where I think contending for the faith is so much more personal. I feel like sometimes the way you contend, not the way, but the, the, the, the, the context in which you contend is much more intellectual. So, like, talking to... So you're dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Hebrew Israelites.

Do they have heart problems? Yes. But a lot of it is fundamentally doctrinal things that y'all have to wrestle through. Versus with sexuality, I'm dealing with people and their identity, you know, and their feelings and their affections. It's just a different way I have to be sensitive in contending for the faith with people like that. Yeah, because I think it's a difference when somebody has a totally different framework about who the person of God is and how do we come to know God or opposed to how you're dealing with somebody who has certain ethical problems or, yeah. So I think because of it, it looks differently. So you have to kind of break down when somebody believes in another religion before you kind of get to that heart in a lot of ways. but in the spaces that you're in when it comes to, you know, sexuality, homosexuality,

how does contending for that faith look like? Well, I think in general, honestly, I think what Jude offers us is something crazy and dope because he says, one, have mercy on those who doubt. And he says, save others by snatching them out of the fire to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by flesh. That is such good advice, I think, as we contend, because, one, there are. some people who are struggling just because they're doubtful, you know? Yeah.

They ain't fell off the cliff yet. They just dealing with some things. They look into scriptures and what they see doesn't seem like it might be real. Yeah. God is good. You know how many things I've suffered through? My mom died. My dad has cancer.

Like there are some valid reasons why some people doubt, you know? And Jude is saying, have mercy on those people. To have mercy is to be compassionate. You don't beat them over the head with the Bible. You have mercy. Yeah. But there's also a number. another category of people that he says you save others though by snatching them out of the fire

notice you need some discernment to know that there are the way you deal with people in ministry cannot be the same for every person some people need mercy some people need to be snatched oh that's a word yeah what yeah what scripture is that um snatching them out of the fire meaning that there are some people they have gone beyond doubting now now their feet are close to the flames meaning they are they are drifting close to the same thing that will judge them what is that look like, though? What does it look like to snatch somebody out of fire? Firm. Slap them. Firm. What does it look like? Hases, what you are doing biblically is wrong, and what God says is that he will judge you.

Jesus died so you could be free. Jesus died so you wouldn't have to be a slave to that, but I have to be honest with you and let you know that if you continue to, if you keep continuing as you are and the sins that you are behaving in, though you make name the name of Christ, John says that those who say that they love God do not, cannot continue to walk in sin. And if you continue to walk and sin, it is proof that you don't know him. That's good.

It's a directness. It's a, this is where you are. You are headed towards darkness. There is no more pandering. There is no more rubbing up the back. It's, this is what it is. You still say it with grace. You're still gentle.

You're still careful. But I think it's a different urgency to the way that you deal with somebody who is being led towards. the flames than there is with someone who is doubting. Yeah, yeah. Because it seems as if what you're saying is contending for the faith doesn't look like a particular method.

No. That we have to be discerning. Because contending for the faith for some is a bearing with. It's like because they're doubting. I need to walk alongside you and love you to show you the love of Christ and deed and an action. And some people are just rejecting God. Yes.

And need to be. Yeah, that's good. Because I think sometimes when you hear, especially in apologetic spaces, content for the faith, we almost act, or a lot of apologists almost act like this is this method. It's just like, no, I have to defend the faith. In the same way. Yeah, in the same way every single time. Or we just approach it with this intellectual academic argument and we ignore the person. Yeah.

And we don't discern where the person is at. But that's good. It's like, yeah, it's more nuanced than that. Yeah, because verse 22 and 23, you need wisdom. wisdom to obey those. You know, you can't go into it like, oh, I read a book about how to love this teen group or how to love these at risk people. And you just think that every single, like, you generalize people, when people, individuals, you have to talk to them and learn where they are. So are they doubting or are they near the flames? These are the questions that you need to be asking

yourself. Yeah, that's really good, Jackie. But at the end of verse 23, it says, snatching them out of the fire to others to show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Hating intensity. So snatching them out of the fire is one thing, but it says, but also to show fear. To others. To others. Hating even the garment stained by flesh. What does that mean?

So I think this one is super relevant. I think many of us, as Christians, we have seen people who in their effort to love their neighbor, their neighbor who might be in particular sins, that the love turned into being complicit about it, where they started to love the person more than they love the God that they were trying to show to the person. And I think this is what Jude is actually trying to guard us against. To say to show mercy with fear,

what he means is to show mercy while fearing God. Yes. Because when your preamined goal is compassion apart from, God, apart from fearing God, your compassion will become complicity. It will, just because that's what the flesh does. It will move towards something that you never thought it would. And so I think what he's trying to counsel us is, no, you show mercy, you be compassionate, you walk in love, you, you invite them over for dinner, you welcome them to your church. You do all of that, but you make sure you fear God the whole time. Because if you don't, you run the risk of walking into or agreeing to the same

sins that you once thought that you needed to rescue them out of. Yeah, we'll begin to compromise just to appease the people who are in front of us instead of the Lord. Yeah, but it doesn't even become compromise. It just becomes a system of belief that you now ascribe to, which is what we see in the church. That's good and that's deep. That's a great warning for us all. Now let's go to 24 because this doxology. The doxology. This doxology is probably one of the most quoted doxologies. Yes. It's beautiful. It makes me want to cry.

Yeah, it's a beautiful doctorology. I think this and the whole continuing for the faith that we read earlier are the two known things in this passage and this book of Jew. What is this doxiology communicating? Some of the fours. Go ahead and teach us now. So if you were sitting under Jews, you have to read the entire epistle yourself. But if you were sitting under Jude's teaching, you're, you're sitting under Jude's teaching, You just learned that there are a group of people in your midst that have crept in that you are not even noticing, that are bringing in heresies that are living in ways that contradict the gospel and that these people will be judged by God.

Jude spends a whole lot of time talking about the judgment, the judgment of God on the ungodly. And then he ends with giving you some practical exercises on how to maintain while you contend, which is to keep yourselves on the law. love of God. But what could happen is that you could be discouraged. You can feel like, man, what's going to keep me from becoming like them? What's going to keep me from not falling? I think we all kind of feel that as we have Christians who fall away from the faith all around us. It can be a discouraging thing. So I think one of the temptations of discouragement when it comes to the Christian faith is to think either let me just go and do what my flesh is telling me to do or let me work harder and start to believe that my righteousness and my access to heaven will all be dependent upon my own works.

Wow. Those are the two extremes, right? And so I think when he ends in this doxology, he reminds them that, hey, now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you blameless before his glorious presence with great joy. The effort, do we give effort in our walks? Yes, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. But it is him who works in you to willing to work for his good pleasure. And so ultimately, it's placing and reminding them that God, even if all these people are falling around you, God by his grace is going to.

God and his grace is going to keep you standing. And so I think what Jude wants to remind them is that even if everybody around you doesn't want to stay in your place, even if everybody around you doesn't want to submit to authority, even if everybody around you wants to defile their flesh, even if everybody wants around you who used to believe in a certain biblical ethic and now wants to believe in something else that the Bible has never ordained. Even if that's happening, come on now. God is going to keep you in your place. Why?

Because he's good like that. He's good. Yeah. And so he ends it by saying 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. I don't know why that gives me chill bumps every time. Why does it? I don't know.

It's just so. I think when you hear repetitive words about the character and the nature of God, majesty, dominion, authority, for all time and forever now. I just think that it's beautiful. I don't know. But continue, I'm sorry. No, it is because he doesn't end it like some of these Christian books end where we learn more about ourselves than we do God. Wow.

He ends it on praise and on worship. He doesn't say, oh, you're going to be kept because you're amazing. Or you're going to be kept because you're strong. Or you're going to be kept because you went to seminary. Or you're going to be kept because you pray a lot. Or you're going to be kept because you worship long. He says, no, you're going to be kept because you're being kept by the only God. Wow.

You're being kept by Jesus Christ, our Savior. You're being kept by the one who has authority and dominion. And he's had all of this dominion and authority before all time. And he has all this authority and dominion now. And he's going to have it in the future. So you are being kept by someone who is infinitely stronger than every being in the entire universe. Woof. That?

Come on now. That should do something to your first. faith. I will pull one of your dreads out by your teaching like this. Please don't. That does some to your faith to be reminded of the sustaining power of God. And I think it encourages us as we're in this world

that so desperately wants us to find so many different alternatives than him. And so I think Jude's letter is so so, so relevant for 2019 and beyond. Yeah, that's encouraging wife. I just want to say that I have been encouraged seeing you

wrestle and dig through this text. I think that it has changed you and it has allowed you to experience God better. And because I'm your husband, I have experienced God better about you. Amen. You taught me a lot. You taught me a lot through this text. So yeah, that was a fake tongue. But you taught me a lot. So I thank God for this text. I thank God for you. And I thank God for his word. Thank you. You're beautiful. So if you I say you're beautiful. Oh, thank you. If you want to walk through. the book of Jude if you if you want to spend time in this text uh you can go to www lifeway dot com forward slash jude and i have a a woman study and a teen study uh it is seven weeks and i i tend to

be really particular and thorough in my study so you're going to spend time on the only god what does that mean our savior what does that mean our lord what does that mean our lord what is that you know what i'm saying like I want I want women and whoever honestly to walk away with a greater view and love for God and his scriptures. That's good. Thanks for joining us, guys. Thanks, guys. Peace.