Week 4 DAY 4
Week 4 Jude 1:17-23
Today
- LOOK at the instructions Jude gives to the beloved in order to continue on in the midst of the ungodly false persons within the church.
- LISTEN to God speak as you focus on the LEARN/LIVE Questions.
What are the 3 groups the beloved are to reach out to?
Will I be faithful to help protect the church and keep it pure?
Open GODcha to the Book of Jude
NOTE:
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Let’s Pray
And Continue With an Attitude of Prayer
Perhaps. . .
Lord, we come today, asking that You quiet our hearts and help us to concentrate. Help us to hear Your voice and be able to think and reason. Please give us clarity of mind so we will walk away today with more understanding. And may we walk away being obedient to what You command us to do. Thank you!
If you get STUCK at any point in your discovery, stop, and pray!
Context
Our focus is on the beloved and how they protect themselves from false teachings and contend for the faith.
Do you remember the instructions given to the beloved to remain in the love of God?
Take a LOOK 
Begin LOOKING By READING
Now READ These Verses With Purpose
Read verses 17-23 – asking the who, what, where, when, why and how questions.
Read verses 22-23 – asking the who, what, where, when, why and how questions.
What are the 3 groups the beloved are to reach out to?
What are the beloved to do with each group?
LOOK Closer
Key Words
GODcha gives some suggestions.
What the beloved are instructed to do is Key.
Let’s look at each one separately.
Focus On
Have Mercy on Some Who Are Doubting –> Key
Do you remember where we have looked and seen mercy?
Word Meanings
HAVE MERCY, eleéō; To show mercy, to show compassion, extend help for the consequence of sin, as opposed to be hardened. The general meaning is to have compassion or mercy on a person in unhappy circumstances. Implying not merely a feeling for the misfortunes of others involving sympathy, but also an active desire to remove those miseries.
The KJ reads: “And of some have compassion, making a difference:”
Grammar: Present imperative active. pim
Present meaning this is continuous.
Imperative means this is a command.
The beloved are to continually show mercy.
DOUBTING, diakrínō; to separate thoroughly, completely; to withdraw from, be partial, stagger, hesitate, waver. To be in strife with oneself. (I) “And on some [i.e., those not Christians] have compassion, making a difference [Jude 1:22]), exercise discernment.
Remember: take the meaning back to the text.
TIP: Mark this in your hardbound Bibles.
Understand: The false teachings confuse some. They are wavering, hesitating. Doubting the Truth. Weak in their faith.
SEE: The beloved’s responsibility is to have compassion on such ones. We are to help those who are struggling with false teaching and share Truth.
Do Some Cross Referencing, (aka CR)
Find GODcha’s picks. Do a Word Search.
Remember as you read – ask the 5W and H questions.
1. What does God say about showing mercy?
What happens to those who do not show mercy?
Jam 2:13
2. What do you learn about doubters?
Jam 1:6-8
3. What do you learn the doubter needs to do?
Joh 20:27
Understand: We. the beloved, are to compassionately reach out to the doubters, speak Truth so they may believe.
Read verse 23 – asking the who, what, where, when, why and how questions.
Where is the next group?
What are the beloved to do?
Now LOOK At
Save Others,
Snatching Them Out of the Fire –> Key
Word Meanings
SAVE, soâzō; deliver or protect:—heal, preserve, To save, deliver, make whole, preserve safe from danger, loss, destruction.
Grammar: Present imperative active. pim
Present meaning this is continuous.
Imperative means this is a command.
The beloved are to continually be saving those who are in the fire.
SNATCHING, harpázō; to seize, pluck, pull, take (by force). A verb meaning to seize upon, spoil, snatch away: (II) Spoken of what is snatched suddenly away (Mt 13:19; Jude 23).
FIRE, púr; (I) Literal fire; (II) Used symbolically: (A) Of God, as inflicting punishment. (B) Of disunion. (C) Of evils, calamities, trials which purify the faith in hearts of Christians, as fire tries and purifies the precious metals. Fire is used in a proverbial expression, “out of the fire,” implying “with difficulty,” “scarcely” (Jude 1:23). (D) Of the eternal fire, the place of punishment and abode of demons and the souls of wicked men in Hades, represented under various images, a fiery furnace. Fire signifies a horrible, painful and real judgment.
Note: Most scholars say the fire could refer to 1) the fire of judgment that unbelievers will receive, which is in keeping with the theme of judgment throughout this letter. And 2) the fire could refer to trials and difficulties.
Remember: take the meaning back to the text.
TIP: Mark this in your hardbound Bibles.
Do Some Cross Referencing, (aka CR)
Remember as you read – ask the 5W and H questions.
GODcha will help you see what God says.
1. What did James say that helps us understand what Jude is saying?
Jam 5:19
2. What do you learn about the fire?
Luk 16:23-25
Mar 9:43-50
Mat 25:41
Rev 21:8
Understand: We, the beloved, are to warn those who have believed the lies of the false instead of believing God’s Truth. Being unbelievers, sinners, they are under God’s wrath (Rom 1:18) headed for hell. We are to lead them into Truth so they may believe.
Read verse 23 again – asking the who, what, where, when, why and how questions.
What is the last group?
What is the last instruction to the beloved?
LOOK At
Some Have Mercy With Fear,
Hating Even the Garment Polluted by the Flesh –> Key
Word Meanings
Just a touch of your finger.
FEAR, phóbos; alarm or fright:—be afraid,exceedingly, fear, terror.
Grammar: Present imperative active. pim
Present meaning this is continuous.
Imperative means this is a command.
The beloved are to continually be showing mercy with fear.
HATING, miséō; to detest.
GARMENT, chitoân; A close–fitting inner vest, an inner garment (Matt. 5:40; John 19:23; Acts 9:39; Jude 1:23).
POLLUTED, spilóō; to stain or soil:—defile, spot. (Jas 3:6; Jude 23).
This is likened to filthy underwear stained by bodily function.
“And just as filth comes out of your body to stain your undergarment, spiritual filth comes out of your fallen flesh to pollute your life, and it can get transmitted.” John MacArthur
“This group is “so polluted that they can be dealt with only in cautious compassion to avoid contamination by their sins. This is clearly the most degraded of the three classes. They are teetering on the brink of ruin, with meager probability of their being turned back.” Despite the depth of their decline from truth, Jude says even they are to shown mercy. The attractiveness of sin should never be underestimated! Even the most faithful saint is not immune to temptations of the flesh.” D. Edmond Hiebert
“The words that follow “with fear” suggest….that believers are to fear the subtle influence of the false teachers. As they “show mercy” to them, they must at the same time be cautious in their contact with them, fearing that they too might catch the contagion of false teaching.” Doug Moo
“This last group dangerous explaining that “The phrase with fear means “with caution.” In trying to help those who have erred, we must be careful not to be trapped ourselves! Many a would-be rescuer has been drowned himself.” Warren Wiersbe
Remember: take the meaning back to the text.
TIP: Mark this in your hardbound Bibles.
Do Some Cross Referencing, (aka CR)
Find GODcha’s picks.
Remember as you read – ask the 5W and H questions.
1. How did Isaiah say it?
Isa 64:6
This was the Hebrew word for menstrual cloth.
2. Why must we have fear?
Rom 16:17
3. To help us understand the failure to confront, and the caution that is necessary, consider the churches in Revelation.
a. What happened to the church of Pergamum?
Rev 2:14-16
b. What happened to the church of Thyatira?
Rev 2:20-22
c. What happened to the church of Sardis?
Rev 3:1-4
What Did You LEARN
THINK and REASON
GODcha’s #17 LEARN Question.
17. What are the 3 groups the beloved are to reach out to?
Sum It Up!
The Beloved Must:
1. Have Mercy on Some Who are Doubting.
The Doubting are:
Like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
Double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Wavering, confused by false teachers and their teaching.
The beloved are to continually show mercy and give Truth, praying they will believe.
Judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
2. Save Others, Snatching Them Out of the Fire.
There are Others Who:
Have believed the lies of the false;
Live in error, sinners, whose souls need to be saved from death;
Are headed for the fiery judgment of hell.
The beloved are to give Truth to turn a sinner from the error of their ways, saving them from death, hell.
3. On Some Have Mercy With Fear, Hating Even the Garment Polluted by the Flesh.
There are Others Who:
Are very dangerous, they believe and teach falsely, which is seen as being filthy and polluted.
They can contaminate and infect the beloved.
The beloved must show mercy, but with fear, being very cautious, not to be infected and soil their garments by the false belief and teaching. We, the beloved, can become polluted and defiled if we are not careful.
LISTEN to God Speak
God Talks – We LISTEN!
We Talk – He LISTENS!
Oh, This is The Most Amazing Part of Your Journey!
GODcha’s #17 LEARN Question.
17. Will I be faithful to help protect the church and keep it pure? Will I show mercy with fear so I won’t become polluted by these men’s error? Who do I know that is:
a. Doubting?
b. In the fire?
c. Polluted by the flesh?
Will I reach out to them?
Respond to Him. . .LIVE it out!
We Are Done For the Day!
Mull over what God, through His Spirit, just taught us.
Let me leave you with this:
“What do these schools have in common? Harvard, Yale, Columbia, William and Mary, Dartmouth, Princeton. “Well,” you say, “They’re all colleges.” You’re right—all universities. Right, but what do they have in common? You say, “Well, they’re Ivy League schools.” Most of them, but what do they have in common? They were all founded and built for the propagation of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Every one of them had a Bible foundation; every one of them was founded for the preaching of the gospel, the training of ministers, and godly Christian laymen, to spread the gospel across America. What a tragedy! The same thing that has happened to these schools has happened to many once-great denominations. And, the same thing that has happened to many once-great denominations has happened—God help us—to many churches. There has been an apostasy. The word apostasy means “a falling away from the faith,” or, “a turning from the faith.”” Adrian Rogers
Chat with God!
Note Your Discovery
Put your discovery in your 
Notes.
Record the personal things God has touched you with.
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Let’s Bow Before the Father
GRACIOUS FATHER IN HEAVEN, how precious is Your Word that You have preserved for us. Oh, to see what can happen to a single church, when the false is not confronted is scary. We want to be faithful to You and Your holy Word. We want to contend for the faith, so we ask that You help us. May we continually show mercy reaching out to those who are confused by false teaching; extend an outstretched hand to those who have bought the lies and are living in error, in the fire; and to be very cautious and careful to speak Truth to those who are ever so polluted and defiled by the false. Oh may we not be contaminated by their error and become tolerant of their sins. And Father, may we remember that Your Word does not go forth void, but that it will accomplish what You so desire. May we know Your Truth to speak it to those who are deceived. And may You do a work in their hearts to bring them to a repentance, to a turning from their error. Please we pray You would turn them from darkness to light, from Satan to You, to receive forgiveness for their sins and an inheritance among the saints (Act 26:15-19). We ask these things in Your beloved Son’s name. Amen!
I want to commend you for your faithfulness and diligence to show yourselves approved to God.
Next: We will come to the end of Jude’s exhortation to us, and now see what God will do.
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