Run Well to Finish Well

-Jude 1-25-

Scriptures to Consider:

[MATTHEW 7.15-23] -   15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

True Disciples

21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

[1 TIMOTHY 4.1] -   Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.

[2 PETER 3.3] - Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.

[1 TIMOTHY 6.12] -  Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses.

[2 TIMOTHY 4.6-7] - 6 As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.

Truths to Guide Us:

—-> Healthy churches (and believers) know who they are; they know their identity.

IDENTITY MEANS THAT:

1. Truth needs a MEMORY

TRUTH REMINDS US THAT:

2. Judgment has a HISTORY

JUDGMENT GIVES CERTAINTY THAT:

3. Corrupting God’s truth leads to APOSTASY (and destruction [shipwrecking our faith])

Words to Illuminate:

These shorter letters of the New Testament are often neglected, but the neglect of this important letter says more about us than it does about the Book of Jude. “Its neglect reflects more the superficiality of the generation that neglects it than the irrelevance of its burning message. -Donald Guthrie

Hypocrisy is to do the devil's work in God's uniform. Apostasy is where you just take the uniform off and let people see who you really are and have been all along. If hypocrisy is putting on a show, then apostasy is leaving the theater altogether.  -Matthew Henry

The Holy Spirit led him [Jude] to put down his harp and to sound the trumpet.  -Warren Wiersbe

A preacher[pastor/shepherd] must be both a soldier and a shepherd. He must nourish and teach and defend. He must have teeth in his mouth and be able to bite. -Martin Luther

New views are not the old truth in better dress, but deadly errors with which we can have no fellowship. 

-Charles Spurgeon

As for the root facts, the fundamental doctrines, the primary truths of Scripture, we must from day to day insist upon them. We must never say of them, ‘Everybody knows them’; for, alas! everybody forgets them. -Charles Spurgeon