The Defense Of The Word Of God - Part One. Series

Intro:

1. Paul wrote to Timothy, "Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance," 2 Timothy 3:10 (NASB)

2. "In the Greek text, the definite article precedes each of the descriptive nouns in verses 10 and 11, grammatically connecting each to the possessive pronoun my and thereby giving it repeated emphasis. The idea is, But you followed my teaching, [my] conduct, [my] purpose, and so on.

Every church, Christian college, Bible school, seminary, and other Christian organization should be led by and, in turn, reproduce leaders who not only are orthodox in doctrine and moral in lifestyle but also are courageous and committed defenders of the faith.

They should be willing to follow the Lord and lead His church in dangerous times and circumstances and at any cost steadfastly hold up the banner of God's divine revelation in Scripture."

[MacArthur New Testament Commentary]

3. The Defense of the Word of God.

Trans:We have looked at the Descriptive Greeting, now we come to the Defense of the Word of God. Jude 3-4

I. FIRST, A DESCRIPTIVE GREETING. 1-2

II. NEXT, A DEFENSE OF GOD'S WORD. 3-4

A. For starters, this was not his Desired Intention.

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation - Jude wanted to write to them about salvation.

1. They were Divinely loved. "Divinely loved ones..." [Wuest]

Jude sees how important it is for us to realized we are loved - vv.1,2,3,12,17,20,21

ἀγαπητός agapētos ag-ap-ay-tos - "agapētos is an adjectival form occurring around 60 times with the meaning "(dearly) beloved," "well-loved."

God designates Christ as "my beloved Son" (cf. Matt. 3:17; 12:18; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 9:7; Luke 3:22; 9:35; 2 Pet. 1:17).

In 1 Cor. 4:17, Paul refers to Timothy as his "beloved son" since he was converted under the apostle's ministry.

In Luke 20:13, agapētos refers to a person in the parable, though in reality it is applied to Christ as the Son of God.

People are deemed "highly esteemed" or "beloved" in general contexts in Acts 15:25; Rom. 16:5 ff.; Eph. 5:1; 6:21; 1 Tim. 6:2. Rom. 1:7; 11:28 designates people as "beloved of God."

The term "beloved" is also a form of address or greeting in Rom. 12:19; 1 Cor. 10:14; 2 Cor. 7:1; Phil. 2:12; Phlm. 2; Heb. 6:9; 1 Pet. 2:11; 2 Pet. 3:14 ff.; 1 John 4:1 ff.; Jude 3, 17, 20." [Expository Dictionary of Bible Words]

The fact that God has left us His love letter, the Bible, giving us a special message from Him everyday, is in itself a great act of His love for us.

A few years ago, the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, MO made public 1,300 recently discovered letters that the late President wrote to his wife, Bess, over the course of a half-century. Mr. Truman had a lifelong rule of writing to his wife every day they were apart. He followed this rule whenever he was away on official business or whenever Bess left Washington to visit her beloved Independence. Scholars are examining the letters for any new light they may throw on political and diplomatic history. For our part, we were most impressed by the simple fact that every day he was away, the President of the United States took time out from his dealing with the world's most powerful leaders to sit down and write a letter to his wife.

2. The Desired intention.

I was making every effort - the authors of the Bible did not just sit down and decide what to write! 2 Tim. 3:16

σπουδή spoudē [spoo-day] noun It means, "Haste, speed, zeal, effort, earnestness, diligence." Probably the best word would be eager, Jude was eager to write to them about their common salvation.

"Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share..." Jude 1:3 (NIV)

Like Jude we do well to follow God's leading, just because we desire to say or do something does not mean it is what we should say or do.

While what we write is not under divine inspiration, we do have access to God's will and desires.

"12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Philippians 2:12-13 (NASB)

"[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight." Philippians 2:13 (AMP)

Do we follow God's desires - even when they are not ours? We must keep in mind that God know what is best and we don't.