Kept From Falling Away
Taught by Anazao
This is the third and final Berean Session on the book of Jude. the teaching begins with two corrections from the previous day, explaining why the quotation from Enoch in verse 14 is not in the canon (it comes from the apocryphal Book of Enoch) and resetting the church's understanding of 'the last days' as the period from the first coming of Christ to His return, not just the most recent few years. Then he turns to verses 17–25 and lays out the believer's strategy for not falling away in a generation of false teachers, false teachings, and false believing. Build each other up, don't tear each other down. Defend the most holy faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, not just in the language of the Spirit, but under the influence of the Spirit. Spend the currency of mercy daily. Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering, and rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. The session ends on the doxology of verses 24–25: all glory to God who is able to keep us from falling and present us before Him without fault. the teaching walks the room through the imagery of the iron dome, the love of God as a real bunker that intercepts spiritual missiles aimed at the believer, and closes with the warning that every clock is now late in the latter part of the last days.
This is the Saturday Berean Session that closes the verse-by-verse walk through the book of Jude. the teaching begins by repairing two issues from the previous day, the apocryphal source of the Enoch quotation in verse 14, and the misunderstanding of 'the last days' as a recent timeframe. The session is unusually structural: it lays out, point by point, what verses 20–21 require of believers if they are not to fall away in a generation of false teachers and false teachings. The closing imagery of the love of God as an 'iron dome' that intercepts spiritual missiles is one of the most memorable in the series.
Summary
This is the third and final Berean Session on the book of Jude. the teaching begins with two corrections from the previous day, explaining why the quotation from Enoch in verse 14 is not in the canon (it comes from the apocryphal Book of Enoch) and resetting the church's understanding of 'the last days' as the period from the first coming of Christ to His return, not just the most recent few years. Then he turns to verses 17–25 and lays out the believer's strategy for not falling away in a generation of false teachers, false teachings, and false believing. Build each other up, don't tear each other down. Defend the most holy faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, not just in the language of the Spirit, but under the influence of the Spirit. Spend the currency of mercy daily. Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering, and rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. The session ends on the doxology of verses 24–25: all glory to God who is able to keep us from falling and present us before Him without fault. the teaching walks the room through the imagery of the iron dome, the love of God as a real bunker that intercepts spiritual missiles aimed at the believer, and closes with the warning that every clock is now late in the latter part of the last days.
Key Points
Jude's quotation in verse 14 comes from the apocryphal Book of Enoch, which is not part of the 66-book canon. the teaching uses this to teach the room how to handle quotations and apocryphal sources without losing scripture's authority.
The 'last days' do not begin with the 21st century or even with Christ's ascension. They begin with the birth of Christ. We are in the latter part of the last days, unsafe days, and the time for sleeping spiritually is over.
Verse 17–18: false teachers, scoffers, and ungodly desires were predicted long ago. Their existence does not invalidate the gospel; it confirms it. We are not kept in the dark about the days we are in.
Verse 19: false teachers create divisions because they follow their natural instincts and do not have God's Spirit in them. The root of much disunity in the body is bad teaching, not bad people.
Verse 20: build each other up in your most holy faith. Build, do not tear down. Yes, false teachers exist, but you are still called to build.
Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit (verse 20). the teaching unpacks 'power' as both the language of the Spirit (tongues) and the influence of the Spirit (control over the prayer). The Spirit influences both speech and action.
Verse 21: keep yourselves in God's love and await the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. The currency of mercy is one of the most important currencies the believer carries.
Verse 22–23: show mercy to those whose faith is wavering, rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment, and hate the sins that contaminate them, but love the sinner.
Verses 24–25: 'All glory to God who is able to keep you from falling and bring you with great joy into His glorious presence without a single fault.' This is the doxology of the doxology.
The love of God is an iron dome, a bunker, that intercepts spiritual missiles aimed at the believer. The instructions of verses 20–21 are how we get under the dome.
'Without fault' on the final day does not mean we never made a mistake. It means we owned up to the mistakes we did make and were presented through Christ.