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You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Jude 1:3 3 Beloved [agapetos], when I gave [poieo] all [pas] diligence [spoude] to write [grapho] unto you [humin] of [peri] the common [koinos] salvation [soteria], it was [echo] needful [anagke] for me [echo] to write [grapho] unto you [humin], and exhort [parakaleo] you that ye should earnestly contend [epagonizomai] for the faith [pistis] which was once [hapax] delivered [paradidomi] unto the saints [hagios]. KJV-Interlinear 3 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 delivered to the saints. NASB Jude wanted to write a letter regarding the salvation which is common to all who believe in Christ. However, he was redirected in his letter to write about those who would invade the faith of Christ and try to distract and redirect people in general, or believers, away from salvation or their spiritual life. That was not an uncommon fact of life back in Jude's day, nor is it an uncommon thing in our current day. There are many beliefs in the world, many faiths of varying sorts, many religions, and of course the technology of today which is traveling faster than a rocket, what with new discoveries and inventions nearly everyday, tend to distract people away from their spiritual side of life. Today you will find those who believe in self denial, those who believe in suicide murdering, those who believe in so many things that it would be impossible to make a complete list. But as for Christianity, salvation has never changed. In order to be saved, all one need do is believe in Christ. Period. To add something else to salvation would be tantamount to adding mans works to the work of Christ and that would be the most arrogant of concepts. John 1:12 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, NASB John 3:16 16 'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. NASB John 3:36 36 'He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.' NASB The Son of God is the second person of the Trinity. In the Old Testament, people saw Him as the promised Savior, the Messiah. They also knew Him as a member of the Godhead and that He would one day become a human being by means of a miracle birth to a virgin. We know Him as Jesus Christ, for now He has become a historical figure and we no longer await His first arrival. Having gone to the Cross and having paid the price for the sins of all of mankind, then all one need do is believe in Him in order to be saved from eternal condemnation. Eternal condemnation? That is what awaits any and all who reject God. God holds the universe together. He is the glue that keeps all in order and continuing. To reject Christ is the same as rejecting the glue that holds everything together. Without that bonding agent, then all things would disintegrate into chaos. Yourself included. You cannot hold yourself together. God does that for you. At the end of history, God will grant all unbelievers their one and only granted request, to live their lives without God. He will withdraw from their lives completely and they will immediately discover that they will be living in total chaos, totally alone, in the fires of the Lake of Fire as it is often called, with no way out of it all. They will be in eternal terror and relentless misery and torment. Not a good thing for anyone. To believe in Christ takes but a second. 'Father, I believe in Jesus Christ.' All prayer is directed to God the Father, and this prayer is the only prayer that God hears from any unbeliever. You have to be saved before any of your other prayers have a chance of being heard. But there are forces in this world that will try to prevent people from believing in Christ, and if people have believed, then there are those same forces that will try to prevent believers from advancing in their spiritual life. Isa. 8:19 19 And when they say to you, 'Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,' should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? NASB Jer. 5:13 13 'And the prophets are as wind, And the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them!' NASB 2 Thess. 2:7-8 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; NASB 2 Peter 2:3 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. NASB And so it is in Jude's letter. He wanted to write about the salvation which offers so much to people, as well as the spiritual life that should follow ones salvation, but in his day, there were those who tried to destroy the Christian faith. And that is the subject of the remainder of his book.
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End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |