Jude 1-4

Good morning, CFC. Go ahead and take your copy of God's Word and open up to the book of Jude.

It's the second to last letter in the book of the Bible.

We're going to be spending this week and the next four weeks walking through Jude together before Nathan gets back.

And I just have to say it does my heart good when our confession of faith, or excuse me, our catechism quotes the Sermon on the Mount.

I heard that there is a running bet as to how many times I will quote that in the next five weeks.

And I'll just tell you, bet high.

But I enjoy Matthew for those of you who are new and are known to go there.

So I'm very excited to be spending the next few weeks preaching through this book.

And like I said, I only have five weeks, so I want to get right to it.

So looking at Jude, verses 1 through 4, there are no chapters.

It's a short book.

So looking at Jude, verses 1 through 4, Jude writes,

Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

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

may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

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.

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.

So this author is Jude, and you may be surprised to learn that his name in Greek is no different from the name Judas or Judah.

This was an extremely popular name in the first century Israel.

So maybe your next son will be named Judas after all.

Just don't, actually don't do that.

That would be pretty bad.

But to be clear, this is not Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ,

but this is Jude or Judas the brother of James, which we see in verse 1.

So this Jude is the child of Mary and Joseph and the half-brother of Jesus Christ.

But more on that verse in a moment.

So Jude or Judas is referenced in the Gospel of Matthew.

We're already there.

When the crowds are doubting Jesus' authority and identity.

They ask in Matthew chapter 13, verse 55,

Matthew 13:55

Is this not the carpenter's son?

Is this not his mother called Mary?

And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

So I guess Mary had a thing for J's and didn't like Simon.

But the same comment can be found in Mark chapter 6, verse 3.

Mark 6:3

So Judas is well established throughout Scripture.

We know that this is the brother of Jesus,

as we know him as the name Jude in the book of Jude.

But it's the same guy.

And we learn in the Gospel of John, chapter 7, verse 5,

John 7:5

that Jesus' own brothers did not believe in him,

meaning Jude was not a believer during Christ's first advent.

But by the time Jesus is resurrected,

we read in Acts chapter 1, verse 14,

Acts 1:14

that all these believers, with one accord,

were devoting themselves to prayer,

together with the women and Mary,

the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

So Jude is among those who has placed faith in Christ

after his resurrection appearances.

At that point, he believed this is the Messiah,

the one true Son of God.

But who is Jude that he should write such a letter,

that he should have such authority to do this,

to be an author of one of our canonical books of the Bible?

And so looking back at verse 1, we see his authority.

Jude is a doulos, or a slave, or bondservant,

of Jesus Christ and the brother of James.

So on the one hand, this introduction gives you a sense of Jude's humility.

And he doesn't introduce himself as the half-brother of Christ,

but much like his brother James,

he introduces himself merely as a servant or a slave of Christ.

So the only relationship he expresses to Christ is that slave of servant.

And sometimes that word is translated as servant,

but really means slave.

He is saying,

I am no longer my own,

but I am owned by and exist for Jesus Christ.

So this captures Jude's humility in one sense.

Primarily, though, this title captures his authority.

So when we hear the word slave, right,

we often think of people being mistreated,

people being oppressed.

We think of the sinful atrocities that happened in our history,

in British history.

But this is not necessarily the connotation in the ancient world.

It was different.

In fact, a slave's power, his financial standing,

his stature in society often rose or fell with that of their masters.

So, for instance, in the Greco-Roman world,

if you were a slave, a personal slave to the Roman emperor,

you were actually probably more powerful,

more wealthy, and better off than most free men.

Right?

And men would fear you because you have the emperor's ear.

So slaves often had the ability to spend the money of their masters,

to speak on behalf of their masters,

to make and create businesses on behalf of their masters.

And so it is with Christians.

This is why Jude, James, and others would refer to themselves as slaves of Christ.

They're expressing that we serve him,

we're committed to him wholly,

but also we carry with us authority.

We speak on behalf of our master,

of our Lord, of Jesus Christ.

So on the one sense, again, it is his humility,

but primarily he's saying,

I'm writing to you with authority.

I write behalf of Jesus Christ.

And the cherry on top,

who establishes Jude's authority,

is the fact that he's the brother of James,

the leader of the Jerusalem church.

So I just love Jude's opening statement,

because he makes his authority so clear and so plain,

yet does so cloaked in humility,

with only a few words.

I pray that we would all exercise our various authorities with such wisdom and humility.

So we know who Jude is,

but whom is he writing to?

Well, again, verse 1,

Jude is writing to those who, quote,

are called,

those who are beloved in God the Father,

and those who are kept for Jesus Christ.

In other words,

he's writing to true Christians,

and given the nature of the letter

and how much he references Jewish writings,

these are probably Jewish Christians.

Beyond that,

we're merely speculating as exactly to who they are,

but it is important to realize

that they are true Christians, nonetheless,

and his prayer for them,

in verse 2,

is for mercy, peace, and love to multiply.

Now, for various reasons not worth explaining,

we're going to circle back

to the first two verses at the end of our time together,

because I don't think they make full sense

without reading verses 3 through 4

to understand why Jude is setting the letter up as he does.

So looking at verses 3 through 4, then,

we're going to get into the body of Jude's letter.

Verse 3,

Jude transitions to the body,

indicated by his second address.

He says,

Beloved.

And a very peculiar thing happens.

He says he wanted to write about their,

quote,

common salvation.

Now, this is pretty typical in Greco-Roman letters,

to write about a general concern

related to the state of the city or the nation, right?

And they would use this phrase,

common salvation or common well-being.

You could also translate it.

So this is a very typical Greco-Roman letter,

in a sense.

And they would write these kind of letters during times of war,

during times of economic strife.

But Christians developed their own usage of this phrase.

And we see that right here in Jude's writing.

For them, it was about salvation and life.

This was inherently kingdom of God language.

You might think or say,

speak of this in terms of the welfare of the church,

so to speak.

But it is more than this as well.

Common salvation refers to all of redemptive history,

its past and its future.

This includes events like the Exodus,

the wilderness wanderings,

up to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection,

and to the future day when Christ will return to reign

and gather his elect.

In other words,

Jude was desiring with all haste

to write to them about the gospel in its fullness.

He could not wait to write to them about this gospel.

He seems to be expressing that

he did everything he could

to write about this gospel as quickly as possible.

And yet, at the end of the day,

he does not primarily write about the gospel in his letter.

He does reference it at points, to be clear.

He does reference it.

But it's not the primary subject matter

that he decides to write about at the end of the day.

So I want you to think about this.

What could be more important or more pressing

than writing about the gospel?

I think about that for a moment.

What happened to Bible language like Paul

in 1 Corinthians 9, 16?

He says,

For if I preach the gospel,

that gives me no ground for boasting,

for necessity is laid upon me.

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.

So what would make Jude decide to hold off

on such an important and central topic?

In the second half of verse 3,

we see his explanation.

He says,

I found it necessary.

You could translate it as,

I was compelled to write,

appealing to you to contend for the faith

that was once for all delivered to the saints.

What a powerful statement.

Clearly, Jude views the faith of the saints

as being under attack,

which becomes more explicit in verse 4.

So the answer to our question then is,

and listen to this carefully,

the only thing more important

than discussing the true gospel

with fellow believers in the church

is defending the true gospel

from false believers in the church.

Okay, and I'm going to repeat that.

The only thing more important

than discussing the true gospel

with fellow believers in the church

is defending the true gospel

from false believers in the church.

We cannot discuss our common salvation

in the church

when there are those in the church

who claim a different salvation.

And we'll see that false teachers

that Jude is addressing

are in fact teaching a different gospel.

And I want to be clear on this too.

This does not minimize the gospel,

what Jude is doing here,

by waiting to share

all these glorious truths.

It actually emphasizes or heightens

the importance and centrality

of the gospel by defending it,

to contend for it,

to protect the flock

from a false gospel.

This is why he finds it necessary.

So this verse contains

his main exhortation to the church

in his letter,

to contend for the faith.

The Greek word for contend

is an athletic term.

And so in the Greco-Roman world,

athletes and athletics

were typically associated

with wrestling or running,

these kind of sports.

You could translate this word as fight,

as this term was often used

in struggles of war.

And this verb is in the infinitive form,

which simply means this fight is ongoing.

Some have translated this phrase

to carry on the fight for the faith.

So it has that indefinite aspect.

We are constantly contending for the faith.

So it's not merely this particular occasion

of these false teachers infiltrating the church

that Jude is writing to contend,

but he's saying to contend indefinitely.

This is our struggle in this life,

to contend for the faith,

because false teachers will come.

And then you see him use this phrase,

the faith, in verse 3.

The faith that Jude refers to

is the faith of true Christian thought and living.

Jude is talking about the faith

that is rooted in pure biblical doctrine,

as opposed to false faith and heretical views.

Jude uses this phrase the way Paul often does

in his letters to Timothy.

2 Timothy 1, verse 13, Paul writes,

2 Timothy 1:13

Retain the standard of sound words,

which you have heard from me,

in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 4, verse 6,

1 Timothy 4:6

this connection is more explicit.

Paul writes,

In pointing out these things to the brethren,

you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus,

constantly nourished on the words of the faith.

And he's talking about facts, doctrines, teachings,

the words of the faith,

and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.

So this faith that is rooted in sound doctrine

is the faith that was once for all

delivered to the saints, in verse 3.

The saints being not necessarily the apostles,

but all the believers who received the word

by faith at the teaching and evangelism of the apostles.

This faith was delivered to them once and for all,

meaning it does not change.

It's final.

There are no additions or redactions,

no edits to be made of any kind.

Rather, the gospel has been and is presented in full.

So they need not go seeking new ideas or new doctrines

or new beliefs or new scriptures.

Simply put, don't go astray, but fight.

So you might be wondering,

well, how do we fight for the faith?

What does that actually look like?

And Jude's not going to answer that question for us

until we get to verses 20 through 23.

So we will not really address that in full today.

I will offer some closing thoughts towards the end on that.

But instead of explaining how to fight,

Jude next moves to explain in more detail

the people who are responsible

for this new purpose in writing.

He wanted to write about our common salvation.

Now he's compelled to write contend for the faith

because of these people that he references.

So let's look at verse four.

And verse four, by the way,

is going to be unpacked in more detail

in the next two weeks

because that's what Jude does

for the main part of his letter.

He unpacks this statement.

So what does he say?

He says in verse four,

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,

deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

So these people, Jude describes them

with the verb periseduson, okay?

And this verb, I will tell you,

is a verb that you would not want to be described with

in the Greco-Roman world.

This verb is always tainted with a negative connotation.

It could be translated as

these people who worm their way in.

It connotes something or someone

that is bad or evil,

that has entered with bad or evil motives.

And these people who wormed their way in

did so, in verse four, unnoticed.

So Jude implies that they had something going on

that these believers should have noticed,

that they should have caught or picked up on.

And notice too that these people

are not pagans outside the church

teaching whatever Greco-Roman religion.

They're claiming to be Christians.

They are in the church, right?

They've infiltrated or wormed their way in.

Not salvifically.

They're not truly saved,

not truly believers,

but they are wolves in sheep's clothing.

Now this is something that's going to be

a little hard to digest, but true.

These people, Jude says,

essentially they are reprobates.

Jude says in verse four,

long ago they were designated

for this condemnation.

Meaning, God has ordained

that they would not repent

and place faith in Christ,

thus leaving them in their own sin.

The Greek word for designated

is a participle that more woodenly translates

as those who were written down

or those who were marked out.

So Jude is referring to the doctrines

of divine election and reprobation,

which he assumes his readers

are very familiar with,

as they should be.

So if you're here today and wondering,

what is that?

Is that that spooky predestination thing?

I would say yes.

And Jude is assuming it is familiar.

So you should strive to understand

these rich gospel truths.

And I'd be happy to plan lunch sometime.

If you'd like that,

explain more fully.

I won't have time to do so today.

If you want to combatively argue about it,

I'd be happy to give you

Clay's phone number

or Nathan's phone number.

I'm sure that'd be restful

for Nathan on his break.

But just to quickly summarize

so that you have a frame of reference

for what Jude is assuming we know,

these doctrines go something like this.

All of mankind is guilty before God

for their sin as a result

of the fall in the garden

because our covenant head, Adam,

sinned with his wife Eve.

That's Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Mankind is incapable of doing

or desiring anything.

Rather, Genesis 5, verse 6,

Genesis 5:6

God speaks and it says,

The Lord saw that the wickedness

of mankind was great in the earth

and that every intention

of the thoughts of his heart

was only evil continually.

Nothing more, nothing less,

but evil continually.

Paul reiterates this

in Romans chapter 3.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

And I'll just read verses 10 through 12,

which says,

None is righteous, no, not one.

No one seeks for God.

All have turned aside.

Together they have become worthless.

No one does good, not even one.

So left to ourselves,

we cannot even seek God,

much less repent and believe in him.

But here's the good news.

The gospel, right?

Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 1,

Ephesians 1:4–5

verses 4 through 5,

that God chose us, right?

God chose the believers.

In Christ, he goes on,

He chose us in Christ

before the foundation of the world,

that we should be holy

and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined us

for adoption to himself

as sons through Jesus Christ,

according to the purpose of his will.

Paul goes on to say

in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8,

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you have been saved

through faith.

And this, this whole act,

salvation, grace, and faith,

it is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God,

not a result of works

so that no one may boast.

So Jesus himself combines this idea

of our inability to save ourselves

and God's ability and desire

to save those he has chosen.

Jesus says in John chapter 6, verse 44,

John 6:44

No one can come to me

unless the Father who sent me

drags him,

and I will raise him up

on the last day.

Jesus goes on to say

in verse 63,

It is the Spirit who gives life.

The flesh is no help at all.

And then he says in verse 65,

This is why,

he's talking to the disciples,

he says,

This is why I told you

that no one can come to me

unless it is granted him

by the Father.

Why?

Because the flesh

is no help at all.

And man is entirely

dependent on God

to save us,

which is very good news

because he is a Savior.

He is compassionate,

gentle, and lowly,

desiring to save

a people for himself.

So what about those

who are not elect?

What about those

who are not chosen?

And as the earlier references

made clear,

it is mankind

who has sinned

and earned eternal punishment

and condemnation.

God is not responsible

for their sin.

Reprobation is simply

understanding that God

has chosen

not to elect everybody

and that those

he has not elected

will be left to do

what they wish to do,

which is exclusively

the works of sin

and lawlessness.

Remember Genesis chapter 6,

Genesis 6:5

verse 5,

they sought evil

continually and only.

So God leaves them

in that state,

them desiring

what they desire.

They are responsible.

And Jesus taught

this idea of reprobation

in John chapter 12,

John 12:37–40

verses 37 through 40,

which explains

why some of the crowd

did not respond

to Christ

in faith and repentance.

John writes,

though Jesus had done

so many signs

before them,

referring to the crowds,

though Jesus had done

so many signs

before the crowds,

they still did not

believe in him.

And there's a purpose

to it.

He says,

so that the word

spoken by the prophet

Isaiah might be fulfilled.

Lord,

who has believed

what he heard from us?

And to whom

has the arm of the Lord

been revealed?

Therefore,

they could not believe.

For again,

Isaiah said,

God has blinded

their eyes

and hardened

their heart,

lest they see

with their eyes

and understand

with their hearts

and turn

and he would heal them.

God has decreed

that he will not

save these individuals.

And Paul picks up

this same idea

in Romans chapter 9

Romans 9:13–14

verses 13

through 14.

He writes,

as it is written,

Jacob have I loved,

but Esau I hated.

What shall we say then?

Is there injustice

on God's part?

By no means.

It's the most emphatic way

you can say no

in Greek.

By no means.

So looking back

at Jude 4,

we now understand

the weightiness

of Jude's comment.

It is a very packed

theological statement.

He's saying,

these people

who have crept in

unnoticed,

who long ago

were marked out

for this condemnation,

these are the people

he's talking about.

These are the people

we are up against

as true believers.

These false teachers

who would lead us astray.

Now,

Jude is pastoral.

He cares about

the flock of God

and he's telling

his true Christian audience

about these people

because he wants them

to consider

their way of life

and where it leads to,

to condemnation.

So verse 4

serves two purposes

for Jude.

Number one,

he's able to publicly

denounce these false teachers.

But number two,

and I think more primarily,

more central,

he works to protect

the flock,

the beloved.

So what are these people

teaching that is false?

Well, Jude hints at it

in the second half

of verse 4.

He says,

these ungodly people

who pervert the grace

of our God

into sensuality

and deny our only

Master and Lord,

Jesus Christ.

Christ.

So clearly,

these people

are what some would call

antinomians

of some kind.

Now,

antinomianism

is a compound word.

It comes from the Greek.

It's,

the Greek word for law

is nomos

and then we have anti,

so anti-law

is essentially

what this word means.

So these people

are anti-law.

And it's very important

that you note,

right,

these people do not

deny the grace of God.

They are clearly people

who would say

they are Christians,

people who claim

to be members

of the church

and they clearly believe

in some form

of the grace of God

but they do not teach

the biblical truths

concerning

the grace of God.

Rather,

what do they do?

Jude says,

they pervert

the grace of God.

So they make use of it,

they talk about it,

they claim it,

but they pervert it.

And how so?

They use the grace of God

as an excuse

to be sexually loose.

They are adulterers

of some kind.

And worse than being

guilty of that alone,

they are guilty

of using the grace of God

to teach

and promote adultery.

Right,

so they are saying

by doctrine,

by belief,

by faith,

we don't have to keep

the law.

They are antinomians.

They are anti-law.

And that sounds a lot

like an idea

floated around today

in some so-called churches.

The idea that I can live

how I want

and do what I want

because grace abounds.

False,

according to Jude.

And James,

if you recall,

our sermon series,

James chapter 2,

James 2:17

verse 17,

makes plain

that faith without works

or obedience

is dead.

So just three examples

of antinomian teaching

that you have probably heard

on the radio

or at some point

in your life.

They might say things like,

it's okay to get a divorce

if you're not feeling

happy anymore.

Grace abounds.

Or,

homosexuality was only forbidden

in the old covenant.

You can do what you want now.

Grace abounds.

You don't have to go to church,

read the Bible,

or pray

to be a Christian.

Grace abounds.

Now,

there are many more

I could have listed,

but these three

should serve as a guide

to the kinds of things

that antinomianism teaches.

So fundamentally,

it is a denial

of Christ's lordship,

and we see it in verse 4.

They deny our only

Master and Lord,

Jesus Christ.

There's no submission

to our Lord,

and not only that,

but they teach

that we shouldn't submit.

That's the great heresy

that they teach

that we shouldn't submit,

but live

how we want.

And contrast that

with Jude,

who introduces himself

as servant

or a slave

of Christ.

These are two different people,

two different groups,

two different faiths.

Now again,

I want to emphasize

that I know

some of the things

just said

are maybe hard

to swallow

or hard to fully

comprehend.

Whether you're new

to these ideas

or not.

But this is why

I said earlier

that I'd want

to circle back

to verses 1-2.

I think Jude,

being pastoral,

anticipated the thoughts

and concerns

his audience

might have had

after hearing

this heavy swinging

against false teachers.

And I suspect

some of you

would share

those anticipated thoughts.

Perhaps you've wondered,

how do I know

I'm not a false teacher?

Or,

how can I possibly

be safe

with all these

false teachings

and false teachers

in the churches?

How do I know

what's right or wrong?

How do I know

I'll remain faithful

and not be swept up

in these kinds of things?

How can I be confident

that I will not be led

astray?

And this is where

Jude's opening

is so assuring,

so comforting,

and so hopeful.

So let's turn back

to that.

He says in the second

half of verse 1,

to those who are called,

those who are beloved

in God the Father

and kept

for Jesus Christ,

may mercy,

peace,

and love

be multiplied

to you.

Now those three verbs,

called,

beloved,

and kept,

are what you would call

divine passives,

meaning

that we are

called by God,

right?

Divine election,

we are loved

by God,

and we are kept

by God.

God is the implied

subject.

Nothing

can sweep you

away from salvation

in Christ.

Philippians chapter 1,

Philippians 1:6

verse 6,

Paul says,

and I am sure

of this,

that God

who began

a good work

in you

will bring it

to completion

at the day

of Jesus Christ.

The psalmist

writes in Psalm 16,

Psalms 16:8

verse 8,

I have set the Lord

always before me

because he is

at my right hand.

I shall not

be shaken.

And Jesus says

in John chapter 10,

John 10:28–30

verses 28 through 30,

I give them

eternal life

and they will

never perish

and no one

will snatch them

out of my hand.

No false teachers,

no nobody.

No one

will snatch them

out of my hand.

And he goes on,

my Father

who has given

them to me

is greater

than all

and no one

is able to snatch

them out of

the Father's hand.

I and the Father

are one.

So if you have

repented

and placed faith

in Jesus Christ,

then know that

this God

has truly

called you,

has truly

loved you,

and is truly

keeping you

for that final

day.

Nothing can

change this,

nothing will

change this.

God himself

will not

change this.

He is

faithful

and steadfast.

And we see

in verse 2,

he wishes

for mercy,

peace,

and love

to multiply

all of our

days.

Praise

God.

So as advertised,

I'd like to offer

some application

and closing

related to

Jude's charge

to contend

for the faith

in verse 3.

our fight.

Our fight as

Christians is

fought on the

battlefields of

the heart

and the mind.

We are

constantly to

be seeking

to conform

our thoughts

so as to

both understand

true doctrine,

right?

There's the

mind,

to build our

intellect and

the faith,

and to grow

in obedient

living.

There's the

heart,

to love the

things of God

and to obey

God.

So understand

that the

heart and

the mind

are our

battlefields,

which means

our strategies,

our weapons,

our comrades,

and so forth

must be proper

for such

battlefields.

So with that

in mind,

I have three

applications,

and they're

very simple.

Application

number one,

be vigilant.

Recognizing

from Jude

that false

teachers exist

and they come

to true

churches,

right?

We need

to be on

guard.

Now this

does not

mean you

need to

assume the

worst about

anything anyone

says in

church,

right?

It does not

mean your

default about

people should

be skepticism

concerning their

faith or

practice.

On the

contrary,

the Bible

repeatedly

makes it

plain that

we are to

be unified

in Christ,

believing the

best in

one another

until proven

otherwise.

That's 1

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

Corinthians

chapter 13.

It does

mean,

however,

that there

are things

to look

for that

we should

be guarded

against,

namely false

doctrine and

false living,

right?

There's that

head and

heart again.

Jesus tells

us we will

know our

true brothers

and sisters

of the

faith,

quote,

by their

fruit.

And for

those of you

betting,

that's

Matthew 7

Matthew 7:20

verse 20.

So what

they practice,

we will know

them by their

fruit.

In this

application we've

brought up

every week

in some

form or

another because

it's the

charge throughout

the letter,

it's the thing

Jude is

concerned about.

So I won't

say any more

for now.

But the

second application,

work on

your heart.

So the

antinomians that

Jude addressed

sought to

promote ungodly

living in the

church.

And I hear

that if we

are not

constantly

working on

our hearts

to be

conformed to

the law

of Christ,

then the

inevitable

day when

a false

teacher comes

along and

spiritualizes

sin so as

to make it

acceptable,

we will

cave in.

So a

great defense

and a great

offense against

this is to

be working

on personal

holiness,

personal

godliness,

now,

daily,

denying

yourselves.

So if you

truly love

the things

of God

and obey

him as

you ought,

the temptation

to condone

such sin

will be

abhorrent

to you,

much less

practice it.

We have to

work towards

that through

prayer and

Bible reading

and spiritual

disciplines and

the church,

asking God

to conform you

to his

standards,

not yours,

asking God

to make you

love what he

loves and

hate what

he hates.

And again,

he who loves

you has

called you

and keeps

you,

and he will

answer those

prayers,

no question

about it.

And then

finally,

our third

application,

work on

your mind.

Know well

the common

salvation

that we

share as

believers,

in which

Jude refers

to.

Know well

the faith

for which

we are

contending.

As Paul

says in

Romans 12,

Romans 12:2

verse 2,

do not be

conformed to

this world,

but be

transformed by

the renewal

of your

mind,

that by

testing you

may discern

what is

the will

of God,

what is

good and

acceptable

and perfect.

There is

and has

been a

growing movement

in the

church,

broadly

speaking,

I don't

necessarily

mean Christ

family,

I just

mean the

church

broadly,

that some

have labeled

the anti-intellectual

movement.

And just to be

clear,

I don't

consider myself

an intellectual

or most

people,

but that's

not necessarily

what they're

talking about.

They're not

necessarily

talking about

the ivory

tower,

you know,

professor

guy.

No,

but within

that movement

you will

hear things

like this.

When they

talk to

pastors and

so forth,

they'll say,

seminary is a

waste of time

for everybody

no matter

what.

Or they

might say,

why would

you study

Greek and

Hebrew when

we have

English

translations?

Or maybe

something that

they will say

to everybody

in the church,

right?

They'll say

things like,

God does

not care

about how

much you

know,

he cares

about your

relationship

with him.

And to

be clear,

I'm not

saying every

Christian needs

a seminary

education.

I'm not even

saying every

pastor needs

a seminary

education.

After all,

Nathan does

not have

one,

and yet I

sit under

him as my

pastor.

Why?

Because I

have so much

to learn from

him and have

learned so much

from him,

and he works

diligently to

study and

to know and

to sharpen his

mind and

heart,

and he is

such a

wonderful,

godly role

model for

me and all

of us,

and for

which I am

so thankful.

Just lost

my spot,

there we

go.

But the

anti-intellectual

movement,

they just

don't want

to study,

simply put.

They want

things to be

simple.

They don't

want to

question any

things,

which means

they will

never have

answers.

They do

not want

to be

challenged

to think

deeply

about the

scriptures

and the

truths

therein.

And this

means they

will never

develop a

biblical

worldview

to address

the issues

of our

day,

beyond

Jesus

loves me,

this I

know.

But make

sure you

don't ask

them how

they know

because they

don't like

asking

questions.

And don't

get me wrong,

there are

simple things

to know.

There is a

simplicity to

the gospel

that is

beautiful.

But understand

one danger

of this

movement,

and you've

probably never

heard the

title,

but I

guarantee

you've met

people in

this movement.

They want

everything to

be simple.

And honestly,

that is just

not good for

biblical doctrine.

That is not

good for

Christian living,

for life

and godliness.

C.S.

Lewis once

said,

God is no

fonder of

intellectual

slackers than

of any other

slackers.

God is no

So I

would implore

you all

to study,

study,

and study

so that your

blade is sharp

and effective

as you contend

for the faith

once for all

delivered to

the saints.

To know that,

to know its

lines,

to know when

those lines

have been

crossed,

and to

articulate why

and how

so you can

be effective

in evangelism

and discipleship.

I pray

that the

prayer

in Psalm 27

Psalms 27:4

verse 4

is the

prayer

of all

of our

hearts.

And I

plead with

you,

let this

verse

saturate

your mind

and your

heart.

The psalmist

writes,

One thing,

one thing

have I asked

of the Lord,

one thing

that I will

seek after,

that I may

dwell in the

house of the

Lord all

the days of

my life.

And notice

this,

to gaze

upon the

beauty of

the Lord,

there's the

heart,

and to

inquire or

to learn

in his

temple,

there's the

mind.

To love

God and

to learn

about him,

our mind

and our

heart,

to love

the Lord

our God

with all

our heart,

mind,

and soul.

This is

Jesus'

commandment

to his

church.

So to

that end,

let's pray.