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Wildfire podcast
Wildfire podcast is an extension of Wildfire, the youth branch of Hope2Families, a registered charity organisation. Wildfire has a focus of igniting men and women of God into a deeper discipleship with Christ; instilling them with a passion to radically and relentlessly pursue Christ where ever that leads. That Gods truth will spread like a wildfire.
Wildfire podcast
The book of Jude | Feat. Rebecca Starritt
What is the book of Jude all about? What are the major themes? The context? Who wrote it? Why was it written? What is the big ideas of the book? Find out all this in this podcast!
Time Codes:
0:00 - Intro
0:52 - If your belly was a sauce dispenser
1:36 - Context of Jude
4:39 - The themes of Jude
5:31 - The big idea | 1
6:09 - The big idea | 2
6:39 - Verse 1 + 2
7:21 - Verse 3
9:51 - Verse 4
14:30 - Verse 5
15:13 - Verse 6
16:21 - Verse 7
18:53 - Verse 8
19:31 - Verse 9
20:19 - Verse 10
20:56 - Verse 11
22:13 - Verse 12
22:48 - Verse 13
23:48 - Verse 14 + 15
24:41 - 2nd Temple Literature
27:32 - Verse 16
29:27 - Verse 17 + 18 + 19
29:31 - Verse 20
29:57 - Verse 21
31:11 - Verse 22 + 23
32:43 - Verse 24 + 25
33:10 - Conclusion
Music by
Over the limits
Vernacolmusic
https://linktr.ee/WildfireMinistries
https://linktr.ee/hope2families
Wildfire podcast is an extension of Wildfire, which has a focus of igniting men and women of God into a deeper discipleship with Christ, instilling people with a passion to radically and relentlessly pursue Christ wherever that leads.
That God's truth will spread like a wildfire.
Hi everyone, so welcome back to another podcast.
I joined with an extremely special guest in the forum.
I'm just setting you up, all right?
Are you ready?
I'm setting you up, it's like a volleyball spike.
An extremely special guest in the form of Rebecca Starritt.
Great, hello.
Hi Rebecca.
Hello.
So, yeah, tell us a bit about yourself or something.
If your belly button was a sauce dispenser, what sauce would it dispense?
What?
Where does that come from?
It doesn't matter where it came from, just answer the question.
If your belly button was a sauce dispenser, what sauce would your belly button dispense?
Sweet and sour.
That's absolutely disgusting.
just the thought of that.
Let's just move on, move on.
We'll move on, we'll move on.
So yeah, that's Rebecca Starritt, everyone.
That's all you need to know.
And the podcast that we're doing today, as you've read by the title, is Jude.
Yeah.
The Book of Jude.
Now, do you have any first thoughts on the Book of Jude?
Have you read it before?
What's your initial thoughts?
I have read it before.
It's the first, second last book before Revelation.
I hadn't actually properly studied it before this podcast.
But yeah, I knew very little about it, apart from the fact that it was written by Jude.
I think it was the second last book of the Bible.
Interesting fact, actually, that the book of Jude, written by Jude, as you said, his full name is Judah.
So I find that very interesting.
So if you hear us refer to Jude or Judah, it's referring to the same person who actually wrote this book.
Now, the question is, who is Jude, Judah?
And he is the half brother of jesus.
Now, why he's not the full brother of jesus is because he's not divine.
He's not the son of God.
So he is the half brother of jesus in the humanly sense, in that they came from the same earthly mother.
So, knowing that, we also know about Jude, that he's one of the four brothers of jesus, and that he, like the other brothers, came to know jesus, a saving relationship with jesus, and actually believed who jesus was post-resurrection.
So prior to jesus, during his ministry, they had not accepted it, but it was after the resurrection of jesus, that they accepted that jesus was the son of God, the son of man that was prophesied in the Old Testament.
And so, they all became contenders of the faith, to use a phrase from Jude, or Judah.
And they also, as we see, Jude wrote this book that we now have in our canon of scripture.
So also, who is Jude actually writing to in the first place?
We don't actually know the specific audience, or the church audience that he's writing to, but we assume that it is most likely messianic Jews, basically because of the amount of Hebrew Bible that is referred to within this text.
Like, Jude is only one chapter.
I mean, me and you know, after reading it, like, even in the space of a few verses, there's so, there's a bombardment of Old Testament references.
And whenever you think about this, that Jude is writing to a Messianic Jew audience, it makes sense because that was really the identity of Jude, that he was someone who didn't believe in the ministry of jesus, even though he was the half-brother of jesus until the resurrection.
And it was through the resurrection, it was through that prophetic gaze that Jude understood who jesus was and the ramifications of that, and now is living his life in light of that, in obedience to that, by writing down this scripture or this letter.
And so he's writing to that same audience and is telling them he was in the same place where they were.
And he's just wanting to reaffirm, look at the fulfillment of scripture that came through jesus.
And he's going to go on to encourage and write about different things, which is actually what we're gonna talk about now in the podcast.
So that's a brief bit of context for the book of Jude, written by Jude or Judea.
So the themes, the central themes of this book is we can actually split it up in to two.
And it goes right up to verse 17, I'd say.
There's a key focus on this idea of false teachers.
Would you agree with that?
Yes.
Yeah.
And then the second half looks at Christians and how they combat false teachers.
Exactly.
So it's split up nicely.
That's maybe some would argue that it's a more simplistic way of breaking down the Book of Jude.
But the reality is that's sort of what we have seen is the first opening verses are to deal with false teaching.
And then the latter verses is to then in light of that false teaching, how do we as a church or believers or believers in that specific context deal with the heresies of that time and the false teachers of that time?
So, the real big idea of the text would be, I would say, and let's see what you think about this, is that God's holiness cannot tolerate ungodliness.
Okay.
Yeah.
Do you think that sort of encapsulates it?
Yeah.
God's holiness cannot tolerate ungodliness.
Ungodliness, yeah.
Yes.
because we read of a verse.
Yeah, false teaching is ungodly.
Yeah, and we read of a verse in there.
It says ungodly, like we'll get to it, but it literally repeats ungodliness so much.
And that can be the first half, verses one to 17, that's the major theme.
And then the big idea for the last section, which is the believers living in light of the false teaching, is how do we, with the godliness that has been imputed on us, contend for the faith?
So how does God's holiness motivate God's people to contend for the faith, is the big idea in that second half.
So there's our two big ideas for this text.
And they're the central themes and the context.
So, Rebecca, let's just jump straight into it.
Verse one says, Jude, a servant of jesus Christ and brother of James.
So we already know who Jude is, a servant of jesus Christ.
And he's the half brother of jesus, and the full brother of James, because James is human.
And to those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for jesus Christ, may mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.
So it's this term of endearment.
He's writing this letter for God's people, to those who are called, to those who are beloved by God the Father and kept for jesus Christ.
How we are kept and have been given by the Father to jesus in this kingdom.
What a beautiful expression, a beautiful gift.
So verse three, 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.
So I'll take verse three that says at the start, he was eager to talk about the common salvation, that is the salvation of jesus Christ, who jesus Christ is and what he has fulfilled and accomplished upon the cross.
That's what he wanted to talk about, but there seems to be a more pressing matter here.
He finds it necessary to write appealing to you, that is this audience, most likely Messianic Jews, to contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints.
So this faith that was delivered by Christ to the saints, that is God's people, and he wants us to contend for that.
So what is your initial thoughts on that?
Well, obviously, because of the fact that there are false teachers is the reason that people have to contend in the first place.
So obviously, that wasn't his initial purpose for writing the book, but because of the massive issue that false teachers were, that's more poignant.
Yeah, so I think you're right about that.
It is definitely a more poignant topic for the specific context and time.
And maybe just to add a disclaimer, because I am learning about being a preacher, et cetera, that for those who preach, that it is important that we again, utilize God's word, but also that we understand that just as these letters are written, they're written for a specific time to a specific context.
And there's times where your congregations are going through a specific time, a specific context.
And so it's important that you have the discernment like Jude here to know, what is it that I need to talk about?
What is the more pressing matter?
So it's not a matter of what I want to talk about, but what is it that the church congregation needs?
Or in any conversation, what is it that people need and not my own desires?
So perfect.
And contending for the faith, just beautiful.
It parallels to like in 1 Peter 3, I think.
Well, it talks about how we're called to defend the faith.
And the Greek word for defense is apologia, which is where we get apologetics.
So it's the same vein here.
Jude is telling us to contend for the faith that was given by Christ jesus, to strive and to fight and to give a defense for the faith that we hold so dear.
So if we move on, how about you?
Do you want to read verse 4?
because people hate my voice, basically.
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 here we've read that Jude or Jude, I wanted to talk about this topic, the topic of the common salvation of dead experience, but he can't because of the more pressing situation that is going on in this specific context of false teachers.
And it is here in verse 4 that we read of the type of false teaching that is taking place.
So we've got these ungodly people designated for this condemnation.
And that idea designated for this condemnation, it gets into the whole idea of God's sovereignty and his omniscience.
And he is not shocked by this, that God is in complete control and has designated and sovereignly appointed what is to then take place to those who are ungodly, to those who purposefully and intentionally, in ignorance, lead people astray, which is taking place here.
And so we read the type of false teaching that was taking place here was they're perverting the grace of God into sensuality.
That's one.
And the other form is that they're denying or only mastering Lord jesus Christ.
So I don't know whether the form of denying jesus is through their disobedience, or whether it's two separate things.
So I don't know whether it's because they're perverting the grace of God into sensuality, that they are then denying jesus, which is possible.
Or whether they are one, perverting the grace of God, and then two, denying our only master, Lord and jesus.
Either way, it's one, it could be one or the other, or it could be both.
Either way, they're being disobedient.
So they're perverting the grace of God.
And this was an issue of that time, and has always been an issue, this idea of sensuality and of sexual gratification and appeasing those sexual desires.
And we read it repeatedly throughout the Bible.
And we see repeatedly today that sex is something that is associated with so much brokenness and so much sin in the world today.
But these people were saying that the grace of God permitted a lifestyle of sensuality.
So there's God's grace.
We have it.
So we can sin because God is going to forgive us.
Now, what would you say?
because that's a topic and that's something that people just talk about all the time, that I've got God's grace so I can do what I want, basically.
Yeah.
We were talking about it just before we recorded, but I think we used the phrase, well, I used a different phrase than you did, but yeah, God's grace is in it.
Get out of jail free cars in the sense that you're permission to live however you want.
We're granted grace, but then our lives are a witness to our understanding of that grace.
So we obviously haven't fully grasped the gospel if our lives aren't aligning with what the gospel teaches us to live by.
I also think it's interesting to that first bit of verse four that had crept in unnoticed.
So obviously people didn't even have a deep grasp of the gospel in the first place, that they could even pick up on this, which is even more dangerous, because this is why it was so necessary for him to write about this, because they didn't understand the gospel and the fact that they had such a warped view of the gospel that they didn't even recognize this wasn't true is worrying.
Yeah.
So good.
And Paul wrote in Roman 6 that he addressed this.
Should we keep on sinning so that grace may abound?
So should I say so that God's grace can just be present?
No, he says, no, it is an imperative.
No, no, no.
That is not the mentality of a life transformed of a life that has gone from darkness to light.
As you say, there's a completely different direction and there's a completely different mentality.
And we speak more in this with Sarah Reed.
We did a kind of conversation about it.
So if you want to learn more about this specific topic, go and check that out.
But no, don't sin so the grace may abound.
And this is a type of false teaching that is taking place where people say, you can't sin, you have a license to sin, but grace does not give us a license to sin.
No, grace gives us the equipping not to sin.
It gives us the power not to sin.
That grace enables us not to sin.
It doesn't give us a license to sin.
It enables us not to sin.
That's the power.
And this is the type of aversion that is going on here.
So if we read verse five, now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that jesus, who saved the people out of the land of Egypt, number one, jesus saved the people out of Egypt.
So the idea of a Christophany, of jesus who is present in the old, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
So it's this idea that jesus and God, it's that the Trinity.
So whenever it talks about it in the Old Testament, how God delivered the people, and here Jude is saying that as jesus delivered the people, jesus, God, they're one.
They are one.
Three different persons, but they are one God.
And that is jesus who destroyed those who did not believe.
That is the Egyptians who pursued into the water and then were overcome by the waters.
And then it says in verse six, and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling, he has kept an eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.
Now, this is very interesting because the lake of fire, that is Gehenna, that is hell, the hell that we read about, was actually created and prepared for Satan and his angels.
And these are the angels that we read about.
And they're actually in a place called Sheol, or a place called Hades, so this bottomless pit, and that's where they're chained.
And it talks about Ephesians, how captivity is held captive.
So these angels who have overstepped their authority, who have joined the devil, they are held captive.
They are captivity held captive, when it talks about that, when jesus descended.
And that's the type of chains that we're talking about here.
The type of angels that are in these chains are in the gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day, in which they will be cast into the lake of fire, which was prepared for them.
Pretty heavy stuff.
Yeah.
But pretty cool as well.
So it then goes on to say in verse 7, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulge in sexual morality and proceed on natural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
That's like that historical example that you talked about.
We can learn from other people's past experiences.
You know, they're written down there for a reason so that we can take lessons from them.
And it's happened time and time again and it's just Jude's spelling like that.
They still haven't got it.
And it's still applicable for us today.
There's people that still live by these false teachings.
And can you speak, for those who don't know about Sodom and Gomorrah, can you speak into that situation a little bit more as to what actually took place?
Yes, basically, it was two cities that didn't turn away from their sin and God ultimately destroyed them because of it.
Which I think can sometimes be a stumbling block for people because they don't understand that harsh side of God, that violent side.
But God has to be violent if he hates sin as much as, you know, if he loves justice and he hates sin.
And he can be a good God if he doesn't hate bad.
Yeah, and it talks about sexual morality, the idea that they all want to take the angels that had visited a lot and gang rape the angels.
The idea of sexual morality, that's what deviates away from what God has called us when it comes to the sexual ethic.
And they pursued unnatural desire, which most conclude that that is a reference to homosexuality.
So again, another thing that deviates away from God's sexual standard.
And they serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
So you see these false teachers that are saying this whole nonsense about grace and that you can pursue essential lifestyle.
Look at the Old Testament, look at history to see how God tolerates those who engage in these sort of lifestyles in Sodom and Gomorrah and how they are an example, an example for us to learn on how we live in a state where there's a time for grace, mercy and love and compassion through jesus.
But that that new way eradicates the justice and the wrath of God.
It's also not an Old Testament teaching that's been abolished.
It's written again in the New Testament to reiterate that's still what God believes.
Yeah, that these things matter.
So in verse 8, it says, Yeah, in like manner, these people also relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority and blaspheme the glorious ones.
So yeah, in like manner, these people, so these false teachers rely on themselves, their own dreams, their own flesh, the man made self, me, the self.
And in doing so, they defile the flesh, one, they reject authority, two, and they blaspheme the glorious ones.
Now, as it refers to the glorious ones, that is definitely talking about angelic beings.
It's talking about God and the heavenly hosts.
So in verse nine, it says, but when Archangel Michael contending, oh, similarity to I were called to contend, the angels are contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses.
He did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said the Lord rebuke you.
Now, we can't go into the details about what that all means, about the body of Moses, but it's referencing, you know, second temple literature, which we're going to talk about in a few moments.
But the whole principle remains the same.
Of this idea how we're called to contend for the faith against the darkness in our world and our realm.
We see that even the angels are contending in the spiritual realm and they are winning.
And we too can and are winning because of jesus.
So verse 10 then says, but these people blaspheme all that they do not understand and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
So there's a metaphor that these false teachers are compared to unreasoning animals.
It reflects a hard posture.
They're unreasonable.
You can't bring them around to the word of truth.
That's the mentality there.
because there's those who just don't really understand something.
And then whenever you tell them, listen, that wasn't really right, then they turn, where these people are there, unreasonable animals.
And they will be destroyed because of it, because they're blaspheming the Lord.
And in verse 11, it says, Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain, and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain, to Balam's error, and perished in Cora's rebellion.
So again, we're just getting an absolute machine gun here with Old Testament references.
So we read of three Old Testament figures, Cain, Balam, Cora.
You can go read about those, but all principally exhibit one thing, disobedience and the punishment for that disobedience.
Yeah.
I was going to say something.
Yeah, unreasonable animals.
I just thought that was quite significant to highlight the fact that God has made us in His image.
He made us different from animals.
The difference is that we have a soul and we can have salvation.
So the fact that they're compared on raising an animal means they're almost soulless, like they're not able to access a salvation anymore.
It's like they're rejecting the Amegu Dei, the image of God that has been put on them by engaging in such things.
Oh, I love that.
So yeah, Cain sinned, murdered, and then we see of Balam's error and just all the false teaching in Cors, rebellion, how they all opposed God.
So this ungodliness cannot be tolerated by the holiness of God.
That was the main central theme of these verses.
And we read in verse 12, these are hidden reefs, reefs being blemishes at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds, swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead and uprooted.
That's powerful.
Yes.
So basically a pile of metaphors comparing what these false teachers actually are and how they're not bearing fruit.
And those who bear fruit are those who abide in Christ, those who are saved.
So these are clearly those who are not saved and are not bearing fruit.
Even compares them to like wild waves of the sea, foam of their own shame in verse 13, wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
Jude's a savage.
Twice dead, pretty harsh.
Yeah.
But then obviously through salvation, we have access to eternal life.
Twice dead, you have no chance of having any kind of life after death.
That's the second death, first death, and then the second death, which is casting the lake fire, and it ties into all these other verses about the angels in captivity and how they're going to be led into the fire.
There's some real definitive judgment here, and the holiness of God is being illustrated.
And it removes that dichotomy that people create of like, the God of the Old is wrathful and the God of the New Testament is, this is all the old and new reflect one God, and you need the entirety of the Canon of Scripture to reflect what is the characteristics and traits of God.
So yeah, verses 12 and 13 are just a list of metaphors to describe these people in really ruthless manner.
Verse 14, it was also about these, that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied saying, behold, the Lord comes with 10,000 of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against them.
So we read it like one, two, three, four, four times ungodliness is mentioned.
So it's really, really, it's a major theme here in this text.
And we read that this is from Enoch.
So we're going to talk about that for a little bit.
But the context of what is being said here, or the principles or what is being taught is that the Lord is coming.
The Lord is coming back with holy ones and he will execute judgment.
It is the Lord that will reign and is the Lord's holiness.
It is God's holiness which cannot tolerate ungodliness and it will be dealt with.
So, the book of Enoch, what's that all about really?
We've talked about how there is such things as second temple literature, which basically have the Old Testament and these recognized documents.
And then you have this middle gap between the old and the new, that that is the coming of jesus.
And here we have the creation of second temple literature.
These extra-biblical texts that were just created during this time period.
And they're not the Bible.
They're not divine documents.
But they were held in high regard.
So much so that we see even Jude is quoting, is quoting from this second temple literature, which is actually quoting the Bible.
So I think that's why Jude's using it.
because he's not just quoting the second temple literature for the sake of it.
No, the second temple literature was quoting the Bible.
So it all comes back to the Bible.
But it's this idea that there are such things as the Hippogriffa, and then the pseudo Hippogriffa, which all refers to the second temple literature.
And Jude was writing this again, a bit of context.
He was writing this in a time where the people of his time were bombarded with a lot of religious documents.
And they would have been exposed to these things, and they would have been held in high regard.
And it's important to highlight that they can be used to give us understanding into the context of that time, the climate of that time, as long as we're not saying that they're not equal with scripture.
But they can give us a useful insight into different commentaries or outlooks or perspectives of the canon of scripture.
And so that's why it's important that epigraphy, pseudopigraphy are not divine documents, but are rather other historical documents and different vantage points that can be utilized as long as we don't equate them with divine documents.
That's touching briefly on a topic that's big.
Do you want to add anything to that?
Any scholarly thoughts on that huge topic?
I can't say I have any scholarly thoughts.
I suppose just the fact that, you know, these obviously, when we read them and don't have that prayer knowledge, don't really jump out at us and to be honest can maybe confuse a passage more for us.
But it's important to know that that was significant for them.
And I think when we're sharing the gospel and teaching other people, we can use similar techniques in terms of using things that people can understand, which maybe are outside of the Bible, don't contradict the Bible, but work alongside the Bible.
because if we are sharing the gospel, only talking about the Bible isn't going to relate to someone that hasn't read it or doesn't understand it.
Yeah, so good.
And then verse 16 just closes this whole section of false teachers and on godliness and how god's holiness can't tolerate it.
These are grumblers, with malcontent following their own simple desires, they are loudmouth boosters showing favoritism to gain advantage.
Basically these false teachers really suck, and Jude is really going for them because there's major ramifications for those who oppose God and his holiness and reject the gospel message.
And we just cannot forget that and create this gospel of grace.
You know what I mean?
That no matter what happens and no matter, you can just keep on sinning, live the life that you want.
That is not.
That's the very opposite of the gospel.
And it's what these false teachers and on godly people were promoting.
And anyone who does that, then you have Jude to deal with and all these things that he's talked about.
That's who these on godly people are whenever they engage in such conversations.
So that leads us to the close, which is verse 17 onwards.
And this section highlights, so how does the bride of Christ contend for the faith in light of God's holiness is the major and big idea of this text.
So yes, verse 17.
Do you want to read that?
Yeah.
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord jesus Christ.
They said to you, in the last time, there will be scoffers following their ungodly passions.
It is these who cause divisions and worldly people devoid of the spirit.
just write it on there.
Yeah.
You go for it.
So they said to you, in the last time, there will be scoffers following their own godly...
This is just the fulfillment of prophecy.
On godly people are going to be there, who just reject the gospel message.
And Jude then goes on to say in verse 20, it is these people who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the spirit.
They do not have the spirit of God within them.
So it's talking about unbelievers, it's talking about these false teachers, these on godly people who do not bear fruit.
And in verse 20, but you, this is now directed to the saints, to the body of Christ, but you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.
So we want to build ourselves up and encourage and speak words that will bring life.
And we want to pray in the Holy Spirit.
That is the person of the Trinity in the Holy Spirit that enables us to do such amazing things that God is enabling us.
And in verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
So we want to maintain ourselves, we want to keep ourselves in God's love.
That's our foundation.
jesus is the cornerstone in his love in our lives, is the main motivation.
And we also want to have this upward expectation that our Lord jesus Christ is going to come back.
And I think that's a beautiful, it allows followers jesus to live with joy and peace.
Joy in the sense that we have been saved, redeemed, restored, and this is definitive.
And also a hope that we're gonna be with Christ again and he's coming back.
And that's what the unglory people can't, they don't have.
Yeah.
I think that's a crux of the whole passage to be honest.
To keep yourself in the love of God, because that's something that doesn't change.
I know that's permanent.
And even though we can assume that it changes, or we can feel God's love more in certain times and less in other times, that's us changing or that's us running away from that love or not acting in that love.
Whereas the love itself is the same.
Yeah, that's, yeah, great.
You're great.
I agree with that.
All of that.
So good.
And so we then come to close verse 22, 23, and have mercy on those who doubt.
Save others by snatching them out of the fire, to others show mercy with fear, hiding in the garment stained by flesh.
So we're called to save others by snatching them out of the fire.
However, we clearly have a responsibility, and we can talk about the degree of that responsibility, but there's no real point.
It's just a matter of we have been enabled by Christ through the Spirit to help one another, those followers of jesus, to ensure that we don't succumb to such false teaching and ungodliness, and that we also try and save people, be witnesses for jesus Christ.
What a privilege and what a responsibility.
Yeah, and I think you recognize even more of, I mean, Jude doesn't mince his words in the sense of snatching the word of the fire like that, essentially is what we're doing, even though when we're evangelizing, we're not necessarily thinking of, well, if they're not reached, where are they going?
But that's where they're going.
They're going to an eternal fire.
So us bringing them to an awareness of the gospel is essentially removing that possibility.
If they become saved.
Yeah, and it's not even hyperbolic language.
It's literally like if you have someone who is going to the eternal fire and you preach the gospel to them, you're snatching them away from that reality of their life.
And that does not mean to say that we are the people who save.
It is God alone.
It is God alone who saves, but it's about the means.
God saves people through us.
What a privilege.
So read just the last few verses there, if you would.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only God, our saviour, through jesus Christ our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever.
Amen.
just a beautiful declaration for us to hold fast, to keep our eyes fixed on jesus, to maintain in his love, and to know that again, the opening section, we've talked about the context, we've talked about the themes, and we've talked about the big idea, is that God's holiness cannot tolerate ungodliness, but also that you've got this idea that from verses 18 onwards, or was it verse 17?
From verse 17 onwards, we read of how God's holiness equips the saints to contend for the faith, emits this ungodliness.
And it's just, it's truly beautiful.
And I think actually just to finish the podcast, you speak into the mic and actually just read that last verse again.
And we want people to just hear it and just it speaks for itself really.
Okay.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our saviour, through jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever.
