The book of Jude parallels 2nd Peter chapter 2 for the most part but each contain some distinct passages that when studied together compliment the overall teaching the Holy Spirit desires the Christian to understand:
John 14:26 But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all(Genesis thru Revelation) that I said unto you.
Both Jude and Peter begin with a deep concern for false teachers that had already crept into the church, shortly after Jesus’ ascension, with heresies that deny Jesus the right to be the Master of the Christian’s temple:
Jude 1:1-4 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: (2) Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. (3) Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. (4) For there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old written of beforehand unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 2:1-3 But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (2) And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of. (3) And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.
Paul warned us that we are bought by our Master Jesus with the price of His blood and therefore we are no longer our own master of our body which is now His temple for we become His bondservants:
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own; (20) for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body.
1 Corinthians 7:22-23 For he that was called in the Lord being a bondservant, is the Lord’s freedman: likewise he that was called being free, is Christ’s bondservant. (23) Ye were bought with a price; become not bondservants of men.
Matthew 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even the Christ.
Acts 20:28 Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.
But just like Jude and Peter warned us, Paul also knew that men within the church would deny Jesus His right to be their Master and rise up to teach ungodly doctrines that pervert the truth thus causing their churches to be deceived:
Acts 20:27-30 For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God. (28) Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. (29) I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; (30) and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Jesus’ first disciples all taught the exact same thing but today there are thousands of denominations of Christianity with many varying doctrines which are more often the precepts of men rather than what the Word of God actually teaches:
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Mark 7:7 But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.
As Jude warned us, these men were written of in the Old Testament as a warning of the condemnation of those who chose to teach lascivious doctrines which allow the flesh to live as Peter and Paul also warned:
Jude 1:5-11 Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. (6) And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (7) Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. (8) Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities. (9) But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. (10) But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed. (11) Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.
2 Peter 2:4-13 For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; (5) and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; (6) and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly; (7) and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked (8) (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds): (9) the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment; (10) but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at dignities: (11) whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing judgment against them before the Lord. (12) But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be destroyed, (13) suffering wrong as the hire of wrong-doing; men that count it pleasure to revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, revelling in their deceivings while they feast with you;
1 Corinthians 10:1-11 For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; (2) and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; (3) and did all eat the same spiritual food; (4) and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ. (5) Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. (6) Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. (7) Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. (8) Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. (9) Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. (10) Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer. (11) Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. (12) Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
While there is much scripture from all over the bible that we could focus on while studying those three warning passages, let’s draw our attention to this passage in Jude and what it means to become “twice dead”:
Jude 1:12 These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts while they feast with you, that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Jesus was the Word made flesh which is the bread come down from heaven that we are commanded to feast on daily so our inward man, being our soul, can grow spiritually “day by day” learning obedience to our Master Jesus:
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.
John 6:53-58 Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves. (54) He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (55) For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. (56) He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him. (57) As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me. (58) This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he that eateth this bread shall live for ever.
Luke 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
2 Corinthians 4:16 Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.
As we feast on the promises of the Word, we learn what is displeasing to our Master and must actively participate in cleansing ourselves of all defilement of our temple thus causing the death and decay of our fleshly carnal outward man:
2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
1 Peter 4:1-2 Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (2) that ye no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
Those “hidden rocks in our love-feasts while they feast with us” are those Christians who teach leavened doctrines that allow the flesh to live which we must purge out as we feast on the Word:
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? (7) Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ: (8) wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
We are commanded to study the Word daily to show ourselves approved of God our Father as obedient sons to His firstborn Son Jesus who also learned obedience and taught only the unleavened truth:
Acts 17:11 Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.
Hebrews 5:7-9 Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear, (8) though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered; (9) and having been made perfect, he(Jesus) became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation;
Jesus spoke a parable of how the Old Testament children of God were bidden to feast on the Word in their day but most of them rejected this feasting for the cares of life choosing rather to kill many of the prophets sent to them up to and including Jesus:
Matthew 22:1-7 And Jesus answered and spake again in parables unto them, saying, (2) The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king(Father God Most High), who made a marriage feast for his son(Word who became Jesus), (3) and sent forth his servants(prophets from Abel to David) to call them(Abraham’s physical seed) that were bidden to the marriage feast: and they would not come. (4) Again he sent forth other servants(prophets from David to Jesus), saying, Tell them that are bidden, Behold, I have made ready my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage feast. (5) But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise; (6) and the rest laid hold on his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them(up to killing Jesus). (7) But the king(Jesus’ Father) was wroth; and he sent his armies(Roman army), and destroyed those murderers(children of God who rejected Jesus), and burned their city(Jerusalem in 70 AD).
Yes, Jesus was sent by His Father as both a servant and a prophet:
Acts 3:13-15 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God(Most High) of our fathers, hath glorified his Servant Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied before the face of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. (14) But ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you, (15) and killed the Prince of life; whom God raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
Matthew 13:55-58 Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? (56) And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? (57) And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house. (58) And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Jesus is the Word which is the Wisdom of His Father God Most High who sent prophets to His Old Testament children and apostles to His New Testament children warning them to feast on His Word:
Luke 11:49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God(Word ~ Jesus), I will send unto them prophets and apostles; and some of them they shall kill and persecute;
After Jesus was crucified, ascended to the right hand of His Father, and sent the Holy Spirit in 30 AD, His apostles then began inviting both Gentiles and Jews to feast on the Word of God:
Matthew 22:8-10 Then saith he to his servants(apostles), The wedding is ready, but they(most of the OT children of God) that were bidden were not worthy. (9) Go ye therefore unto the partings of the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage feast. (10) And those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad(Gentiles) and good(Jews): and the wedding was filled with guests.
But just like most of the Old Testament Jews rejected obedience to the Word for the cares of this life, so too the New Testament Christians are more concerned with the cares of life than studying the Word and putting on the wedding garment of righteousness that will distinguish the few “chosen” from the many Christians “called” to partake of the Lamb:
Matthew 22:11-14 But when the king came in to behold the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment: (12) and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless. (13) Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. (14) For many are called, but few chosen.
We are instructed to put on the Lord Jesus Christ as a wedding garment while putting off the old carnal man who lusts for fleshly activities of this life:
Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Ephesians 4:21-24 if so be that ye heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: (22) that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit; (23) and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (24) and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
The church is commanded to continue washing ourselves with the Word until there is no spot, wrinkle, or blemish in our garment by our flesh:
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; (26) that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, (27) that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Jude 1:17-23 But ye, beloved, remember ye the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; (18) that they said to you, In the last time there shall be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts. (19) These are they who make separations, sensual, having not the Spirit. (20) But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, (21) keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. (22) And on some have mercy, who are in doubt; (23) and some save, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
So those hidden rocks in our love feast are those who while feasting with us have no desire to walk in obedience:
Jude 1:12 These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts while they feast with you, that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
2 Peter 2:13 suffering wrong as the hire of wrong-doing; men that count it pleasure to revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, revelling in their deceivings while they feast with you;
Their love for the world and its lusts far out way their desire to please the Father by doing His will:
James 4:4 Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Paul warned us that in these last days men would take captive churches who are filled with the same lusts as their apostate teachers. They are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” and “holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power” of Jesus to be their Master so therefore we MUST turn away from them:
2 Timothy 3:1-7 But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. (2) For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, (3) without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, (4) traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; (5) holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof: from these also turn away. (6) For of these are they that creep into houses, and take captive silly women(churches) laden with sins, led away by divers lusts, (7) ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Many people walk into these churches and hear a “run down the aisle and accept Jesus” milk message that makes a baby Christian but that is only the first step in our salvation:
Hebrews 5:13 For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe.
But how many of the teachers are maturing their congregation with the whole counsel as Paul taught:
Acts 20:27 For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God.
Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for fullgrown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.
Babes in Christ are carnal Christians still given to their flesh:
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. (2) I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able; (3) for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men?
1 Corinthians 14:20 Brethren, be not children in mind: yet in malice be ye babes, but in mind be men.
We prove we desire to be Jesus’ disciples when we abide in the Word daily feasting on the many promises that bring spiritual maturity:
John 8:31-32 Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples; (32) and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Jesus didn’t die to make us “free to sin” as many pastors teach: “we will be nothing but a dirty rotten sinners saved by grace” whereas Jesus promises to free us from our sin nature if we allow His Word to have free course in us:
John 8:34-37 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin. (35) And the bondservant abideth not in the house for ever: the son abideth for ever. (36) If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (37) I know that ye are Abraham’s seed: yet ye seek to kill me, because my word hath not free course in you.
Paul makes it very clear that Christians chose who they will serve whether it is sin unto spiritual death or obedience from the heart as servants of righteousness:
Romans 6:16-19 Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (17) But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; (18) and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. (19) I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification.
When Jesus buys us with His blood, we become debtors to God to live the rest of our lives actively putting to death every fleshly desire proving we are sons of God led of His Holy Spirit:
Romans 8:12-14 So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh: (13) for if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For more understanding on putting to death our flesh please read this link:
Doubleminded Christians try to serve both their flesh and God but will find out they were actually mocking God and will reap hell:
James 4:7-8 Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (8) Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.
Galatians 6:7-8 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (8) For he that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption(hell); but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.
These Christians hear the Word, but the cares, riches, and lusts of this world choke the Word so it does not produce the fruit of righteousness in them:
Luke 8:11 & 14 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God…(14) And that which fell among the thorns, these are they that have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
Obedient Christians are ashamed of all sin and serve God continuously seeking to produce fruit unto sanctification which yields eternal life:
Romans 6:20-22 For when ye were servants of sin, ye were free in regard of righteousness. (21) What fruit then had ye at that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. (22) But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life.
For more understanding on the need to bear fruit please read this link:
We must bear the fruit of the Spirit while crucifying our flesh:
Galatians 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. (24) And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.
Christians are commanded to die to this life so as to bear fruit:
John 12:23-25 And Jesus answereth them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. (24) Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit. (25) He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Peter begins his second book imploring us to partake of the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ for they that lack these things are blind, unfruitful, and will not enter the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Peter 1:1-11 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and the Saviour Jesus Christ: (2) Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; (3) seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue; (4) whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. (5) Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; (6) and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness; (7) and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love. (8) For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (9) For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. (10) Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble: (11) for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Fruit bearing Christians also participate in sowing and reaping the Word into our neighbors proving we truly love them as ourselves:
John 4:35-36 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. (36) He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
Galatians 5:13-14 For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another. (14) For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
We are likened to trees who will be known by our fruit:
Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.
When a Christian becomes “saved”, they become like a springtime budding branch on the Vine who is Jesus! That Christian must abide in the Vine who provides the spiritual sap of the Word which causes that branch to spiritually mature from spring thru summer as unripen fruit should begin to develop. By autumn the branch has matured, and the fruit is ripe unto harvest but the branch without fruit is considered a sucker and is cut off and thrown into the fire by the Father:
John 15:1-8 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit. (3) Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you. (4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. (5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing. (6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (8) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be my disciples.
The four seasons represent the four spiritual steps that all Christians must go through!
The “winter” represents our first state of being dead in our trespasses and sins:
Ephesians 2:1-3 And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, (2) wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; (3) among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest:–
The “spring” represents our born anew state where our Father as the Husbandman(gardner) calls us to His Son who is the Word as seed implanted into our mind and hearts:
Luke 8:11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
James 1:21-25 Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
From our “spring” thru our “summer” we must grow up in Christ:
Matthew 24:32 Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh;
Mark 4:26-29 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; (27) and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. (28) The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. (29) But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.
By our “autumn” we must be trees who have borne good fruit or we are declared “twice dead”:
Jude 1:12 These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Unfortunately, many false teachers promise their congregations liberty in Christ but prove by their own lives they are just as much in bondage to the lusts of the world as they were before being born again:
2 Peter 2:17-19 These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved. (18) For, uttering great swelling words of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error; (19) promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage.
Both the false teachers and their congregation are hearers of the Word but not doers:
James 1:22-25 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. (23) For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: (24) for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (25) But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing.
They know the way of righteousness but turn back to pleasing their flesh proving they are “twice dead” as their last state is become worse than their first state which was dead in their trespasses and sins:
2 Peter 2:20-22 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. (21) For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them. (22) It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.
Man in his first state is an unregenerate soul with an unclean spirit which is driven out when the Spirit of Jesus enters making that house “empty, swept, and garnished” as a newborn babes who should be longing for the milk of the Word daily:
1 Peter 2:1-2 Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, (2) as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation;
We then must fill that house with the Word activating its promises or that unclean spirit has a right to come back with 7 more wicked than himself and enter in making that man’s last state worse than his first unregenerate state:
Matthew 12:43-45 But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. (44) Then he saith, I will return into my house whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. (45) Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this evil generation.
One of the most misleading doctrines taught today in the church is “unconditional eternal security” or “once saved always saved” as it causes many Christians to not bother abiding in the Word and striving to bear the fruit of righteousness:
For those who desire even more scriptural evidence of the need to bear fruit unto eternal life please study the passages where these verses are found!:
John 15:16 Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Romans 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.
Philippians 1:8-11 For God is my witness, how I long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. (9) And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; (10) so that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ; (11) being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Colossians 1:9-10 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, (10) to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Titus 3:14 And let our people also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.
Hebrews 12:11 All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness.
Hebrews 13:15 Through him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name.
James 3:17-18 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy. (18) And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace.
Sum Of Thy Word 