Warning Signs of a Faith Gone Bad

As you journey through the book of Hebrews, we encourage you to invite the Lord into your studies through prayer, reading of the word, and reflection.

• Pray: Before you start each devotion, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• Read: Invite God to open your eyes and deepen your understanding of His Word through each daily passage.
• Reflect: Ask the Spirit to help you take to heart what He wants to show you.

The short epistle of Jude is like a burglar alarm. Apostates have broken into the church through the side door when no one was watching. Now they’re teaching against grace and against Jesus Christ. The church is heading into dangerous waters, a fitting introduction to the next book of Revelation.

Jude writes this epistle and introduces himself as “a bondservant of Jesus Christ.” Really, he was Jesus’ half-brother, but it took Jesus rising from the dead to convince him Jesus was the Messiah. The Resurrection changed everything for him.

He begins his letter to the saints by referring to them as the permanent objects of God’s love, whom Jesus Christ guards and watches over. The word “preserved” is the key to the book of Jude. As he writes about the apostasy that invades the church, Jude doesn’t just warn or inform us, but he assures us of God’s love and protection. We are kept in Jesus Christ (used four times). He is the one who keeps us from falling. God still says He is able to keep His own. We have no power to overcome the evil one; the only way we can overcome is by the blood of the Lamb. Our sure salvation rests in Him. It is up to each of us whether or not we believe Him.

If you knew how much God loves you, it would break your heart and make you cry. You can keep from experiencing God’s love, but you cannot keep Him from loving you. You can’t keep the sun from shining, but you can put up an umbrella to keep the sun from shining on you. And there are certain umbrellas you can put up to keep from experiencing the love of God: The umbrella of resistance to His will, the umbrella of sin in your life, etc.

The grace of God, not the love of God, connects with the sins of men. God provided a Savior who paid the penalty for sins. On the basis of grace, God saves sinners.

Now that we have the confidence of God’s peace, grace, and mercy, Jude sets before us the reason he is sounding the alarm and calling us to fight for the faith.

Certain people are out to destroy this peace, grace, and mercy, he points out. But Jude isn’t telling them something new. Certain preachers came into the church by pretending to believe the truth about God. (See also 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Acts 20:29-31; 2 Timothy 3:5-6.)

The acid test of any movement is what they believe about the person of Jesus Christ. If they deny He is God, you can rule them out immediately. But be careful. Some give the impression they are godly, but they leave God out of their lives.

Jude warns us to be on our guard against those who don’t understand grace and pervert it from the rich life God intended for His followers to live.

1. How can the knowledge that we have been preserved by God, and nothing will ever change that, change the way we think about ourselves?

2. If God loves us so much, why couldn’t He just let us into heaven? And what does your answer tell us about who God is?

3. If false teachers attempt to slip in unnoticed, part of what we should do as a community is keep our eyes open for one another. Who helps you watch for false teaching, and who do you help watch out for?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGees complete teachings on Jude Intro, Jude 1—3 and Jude 3, 4.