“Jude: The Challenges to Faith” 
Rev. Blake Altman, Lead Pastor

God intends to change you by His Word. How is He at work in you to do that?  Read the following passages and consider these questions. 

READ

Jude 5-8 (ESV)

5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day-- 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

QUESTIONS (20 minutes)

Main point: Grace forgives disobedience, but never produces disobedience, nor does it give a free pass to disobey.

Challenge #1 (v. 5): We forget our history

1. Why is knowing our history (i.e., the Old and New Testaments) important for us to remain faithful?

2. How did not knowing their history lead the text's ungodly influencers astray?

Challenge #2 (v. 6): We follow new authorities

1. Why might we be tempted to follow an authority who is not Jesus? What are some examples of different authorities we might be tempted to follow other than Jesus?

2. In what way is submission to Jesus both freedom and rest?

Challenge #3 (v. 7): We neglect our responsibilities

1. Pastor Blake mentioned two types of people who neglect their responsibilities: grace offenders (antinomians) and grace pretenders (legalists). What do the lives of each look like? What is their singular common error? Which do you tend toward and why?

2. Practically, how do we help each other be neither grace offenders nor grace pretenders?

PRAYER (10-15 minutes) 

Personal Response: Consider getting each person to ask themselves, In what way do I either abuse or pretend grace? Leave silence for the Holy Spirit to work in each person’s heart. In light of what God may have shown them, people may share personal prayer requests. Close with prayer together.