.................. the warnings of history to the ungodly
01 .. Jude .. a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James .. to those who are the called .. ...... beloved in God the father .. and kept for Jesus Christ 02 .. may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you 03 .. beloved .. while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation .. ...... I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints 04 .. for certain persons have crept in unnoticed .. those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation .. ...... ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord .. Jesus Christ 05 .. now I desire to remind you .. though you know all things once for all .. that the Lord .. after saving a people out of the land of Egypt .. ...... subsequently destroyed those who did not believe
06 .. and angels who did not keep their own domain .. but abandoned their proper abode .. ...... he has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day 07 .. just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them .. since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality ...... and went after strange flesh .. are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire 08 .. yet in the same way these men .. also by dreaming .. defile the flesh .. and reject authority .. and revile angelic majesties 09 .. but Michael the archangel .. when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses .. ...... did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment .. but said . . . the Lord rebuke you 10 .. but these men revile the things which they do not understand .. and the things which they know by instinct .. ...... like unreasoning animals .. by these things they are destroyed
11 .. woe to them .. for they have gone the way of Cain .. and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam .. ...... and perished in the rebellion of Korah 12 .. these are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear .. caring for themselves .. ...... clouds without water .. carried along by winds .. autumn trees without fruit .. doubly dead .. uprooted 13 .. wild waves of the sea .. casting up their own shame like foam .. wandering stars .. ...... for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever
14 .. It was also about these men that Enoch .. in the seventh generation from Adam .. prophesied .. saying . . . ...... behold .. the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones 15 .. to execute judgment upon all .. and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way .. ...... and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him 16 .. these are grumblers .. finding fault .. following after their own lusts .. they speak arrogantly .. ...... flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage
.................. keep yourselves in the love of God
17 .. but you .. beloved .. ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ 18 .. that they were saying to you .. In the last time there will be mockers .. following after their own ungodly lusts 19 .. these are the ones who cause divisions .. worldly-minded .. devoid of the Spirit 20 .. but you .. beloved .. building yourselves up on your most holy faith .. praying in the Holy Spirit 21 .. keep yourselves in the love of God .. waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life 22 .. and have mercy on some .. who are doubting 23 .. save others .. snatching them out of the fire .. and on some have mercy with fear .. hating even the garment polluted by the flesh
24 .. now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling .. and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy 25 .. 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
Believers must be on their guard lest they be robbed of any essential article of Christian faith by the cunning craftiness or plausible pretenses of ungodly men who pose as teachers and lie in wait to deceive .. Our duty in the presence of the apostasy is to earnestly contend for the faith .. trusting to be kept from stumbling by walking in the perpetual consciousness of God’s love through Christ .. looking toward the day when we shall be presented before Him with exceeding joy . . . (Jude 21) we can be kept in the perpetual consciousness of God’s love only as we depend upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus .. that is .. his mercy .. not our merit being our constant plea .. he has merited for us what we could never .. otherwise .. lay claim to .. the only way to stand before him flawless is to rest in his merits and walk in his love