Kept by God, Jude 17-25

Today we are going to finish our study of Jude.  This short letter was written by Jude who says he was the brother of James.  What he does not mention is that he is also the half brother of Jesus Christ.  They had the same mother -Mary, but different fathers, Joseph being the father of James and Jude, and the Holy Spirit being the father of Jesus. But what Jude does say about his relationship to Jesus is that he is a bond servant to his Master and Lord, Jesus the Messiah.

Jude wrote this letter to the churches of his day, having planned on writing about their common salvation, but he was urged by the Holy Spirit to write something else instead - a warning that certain ungodly persons had crept into the church unawares, and their false doctrine was a stumbling block to these true believers to whom he was writing.   He says in vs 1 that he writes then to “those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ.” 

In other words, the true believer is called by God with an effectual call to salvation, he is loved by God to the extent that God sacrificed His Son to pay the penalty that they were due, and they are kept for Christ in the sense that they have been brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.  That idea of being kept by God is an important concept in this letter. He restates it again at the conclusion of this letter in vs 24, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.”  What that speaks of is salvation is from God. Both the beginning, the present and the future aspects of our salvation are from God.  He is not only able to save you, but He’s able to keep you saved until He comes again.

As Paul says in Rom. 8:30 “and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”  In salvation, there are three stages, justification, sanctification, and glorification.  All three stages are necessary. And all three stages are brought about by God.

Now that second stage, sanctification, in particular is the concern of Jude’s letter. The opposite of sanctification is ungodliness. And he says ungodliness is the hallmark of these false teachers.  He says in vs 4, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Because of their false teaching, these certain persons were in danger of depriving the church of their prize by abusing the grace of God in saying that you could live ungodly lives and still be ok with God.  That you could disregard the essential aspect of our salvation which is sanctification, which is being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, to be holy, even as He is holy, to live righteous, godly lives.

Make no mistake, to live godly lives in the midst of an ungodly world is our mandate as Christians.  To confess Jesus as Lord, to live for Him, to do His will. Grace then isn’t a license to sin, but a mandate to live holy lives.  As Paul says in Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,  instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,  looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

Do you see in that passage how the three aspects of salvation are expressed? Salvation is by grace, our justification is by grace, but that very grace instructs us to live godly lives, which is sanctification, or purification.  And then looking for the blessed hope of the appearing of Jesus Christ is our glorification, when we are raised up to meet the Lord to live with Him forever in a new glorified body.

But Jude’s warning in this letter is that these certain ungodly persons were putting a stumbling block before the church, encouraging them to live ungodly lives, to deny the lordship of Jesus Christ, that you don’t have to live godly lives to be a Christian.  And what that meant was that the sanctification of the saints was in jeopardy, and even the salvation of those who were seeking to enter the kingdom of God was being hindered.  

Jesus Himself said of the false teachers of His day, in Matt. 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” They were a stumbling block which caused those who were entering to fall, and caused those who were seeking to enter to not find it.

So last week we saw that Jude gave several examples from biblical history of false teachers and pretenders whom God judged and brought condemnation upon because they were living ungodly lives and putting a stumbling block before others. We are not going to review all of them again, but I encourage you to review that section for yourself.  Because as Jude tells us here, it’s important to remember.  Those who do not learn from the past are destined to repeat it. If we are wise we will learn from these historical examples that Jude gives us in the middle section of this letter.

Now as we enter into this last section of the letter, Jude reminds us again to remember. He says in vs17 “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, "In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 

The apostles had echoed the warnings of Jesus Himself, warning that in the last days that  false teachers would arise from within the ranks of the church to lead people astray. Paul, for example, said in 2Tim. 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,  and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Peter warned about the same in 2Peter 2:1-2 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.  Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.” 

So Jude reminds us that the apostles had warned about these false teachers who mocked the imperatives of the gospel, and now he gives one last summary description of these certain persons so that the church might recognize them.  He says in vs 19 “These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.”  What does he mean by they cause divisions?  I think he might be referring to the same sort of people that Paul spoke of in “1Cor. 1:12 “Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ.” In other words, they cherry pick from the teachers of the gospel in order to serve their own agenda.  Even worse, they accumulate certain teachers that tickle their ears as Paul had said in 2 Timothy 4 which we read awhile a go.

Paul had given instruction to Timothy as a pastor in 2Tim. 2:15  to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” But these false teachers spoken of by Jude do not rightly divide the word of truth, but they emphasize some scriptures while neglecting others for the sake of giving license to their ungodly desires.

Secondly, he says these false teachers are worldly minded.  The Greek word there means natural.  They are not interested in spiritual things, but are all consumed with worldly things. Instead of being focused on the spiritual things of God, they are fixated on the flesh, on the natural world, the things which appeal to the flesh. How to live your best life now.  How to get God to do whatever you want Him to do.  How to have health, wealth and prosperity in this life. Name it and claim it. These are people whose minds are set on the things of this world, worldly minded.

And lastly, he says they are devoid of the Spirit. What he is actually saying there is that they are not even saved. Rom 8:9 says “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”  Jude isn’t criticizing the fact that they work in the flesh and not by the Spirit.  Thats a possibility as a Christian, as Paul warned the Galatians.  But that’s not the case with these certain persons.  He says they are devoid of the Spirit. That means they are not really Christians.  They are pretenders who claim to be of the Spirit, but in fact are operating under the influence of evil spirits who have maligned the truth, and seek to destroy the faith.

So now we know who these certain people are who have crept into the church unnoticed.  We know how to recognize them.  But we were told by Jude that we are to contend for the faith.  How do we do that? How do we resist the damning influence that these certain people have on the church?  How do we avoid the stumbling blocks that they put in the way?

Jude answers those questions by giving us four injunctions starting in vs 20; “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,  keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.”  

The first thing we do when we contend for the faith in response to the false teaching of these certain persons, is we edify our own faith.  To edify means to build up, to instruct, to teach, to improve.  We edify our own faith.  Notice Jude describes it as your most holy faith.  So building up a holy faith.  Holiness is the process of sanctification.  It is being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  It is living according to the Spirit and not according to the desires of the flesh. 

You do that by keeping the commands of God, by keeping the ordinances of God. As Peter quoted God as saying, “you shall be holy for I am holy.” To be holy is to be the opposite of natural, as fleshly.  It’s patterning your life after Christ.  Peter spoke of that as walking in the footsteps of Christ. 1Peter 2:21-22 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,  WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH.” 

Jude says to contend for the faith by building up your faith first.  A good analogy of that principle is when you are traveling in an airplane, they give you these directions about how to put on an oxygen mask in the event that the plane loses oxygen.  And they always say, put your own mask on first before helping others to put on theirs.  The point being that if you are unconscious, you won’t be able to help others.  So in regards to contending for the faith, make sure to build up your own faith first, founded on sound doctrine and practice, and then you will be able to instruct others.

To build up your faith then requires you to exercise your faith. Learn the doctrines of your faith. And then out your faith to work.  Live by faith and not by sight. Walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh.  Secondly Jude says we are to pray in the Holy Spirit.  This is not talking about praying in tongues.  He simply means praying according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Praying in the Holy Spirit means  praying in the power of the Holy Spirit, in alignment with the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the will of God.  The Holy Spirit is the author of scripture, so we need to pray scripture, we need to pray God’s promises which He has given us in scripture.  We need to pray according to the will of God, not our will, and that is how we pray in the Holy Spirit. 

Romans 8:26-27 says, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for [us] with groanings too deep for words;  and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to [the will of] God.”  Notice something very important - the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God.  That’s the secret to successful prayer, praying in the will of God.  Not praying some magic formula which manipulates God to do our will, but when we pray according to the will of God and we can know that we have the things which we ask of.

One of the famous texts that we often turn to in regards to prayer is found in James 5:16.  It says, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”

Let me try to explain a couple of things about this passage that are often not fully appreciated.  First of all, Elijah did not decide on his own after it didn't rain for three years, and then he prayed that it would rain and God answered his prayer.  No, actually, in 1 Kings 18 we have record of God telling Elijah that He was going to send rain on the earth again.  Elijah then in the strength of that promise went back to Ahab and then prayed three times that it would rain.  And since it was God’s will that it would rain, and since God said it was going to rain, it did rain.  But Elijah prayed three times before God sent the rain He had already promised He would send.  That’s called praying in the will of God.

Another important aspect of prayer that is taught in that passage speaks to the earlier principle Jude gave about building up your own holy faith first.  And that is what James says, the effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.  When you pray in the will of God, and when you are right with God, built up in your holy faith, when you are living righteously, then that makes your prayer effective with God.

And the object of our prayer is to contend for the faith.  We pray for one another.  We pray for the pastor.  We pray for the church. We pray for our unsaved loved ones. If we are called to fight for the faith, we can be certain that a great part of the battle will be fought on our knees. (Jericho March)

Another injunction Jude gives us is to keep ourselves in the love of God.  That means we love the things that God loves, and we hate the things that God hates.  We need to have a holy hatred for sin.  I’m sorry to have to say this, but for a lot of Christians I’m afraid the opposite is true.  We love our sin, and hate to have to go without it. Sin is like a forbidden love affair that we keep giving in to. We may try to avoid it, but we still love it.  We miss it so much, and consequently we struggle with the same sins over and over.  The reason is that we have not learned to hate the sin. To have a holy horror of sin because we recognize that it’s an affront to God. We don’t really believe that sin brings death.  But if we love God, then we will hate sin because we hate that which God hates.  Sin insults God. Sin offends God.  And so if we love Him, we will hate sin.  I didn’t say we hate the sinner, but we hate sin.

The next thing Jude tells us we must do in our fight for the faith, is “waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” I think that means that we wait anxiously for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Having a heavenly perspective is the key to living a godly life here on earth.  The opposite of a heavenly hope is to live as if this life is all there is. It’s to live for what this world has to offer.  It’s living for the temporary, rather than for eternity.  It’s living for the immediate gratification of the flesh, rather than living by the Spirit in anticipation of our eternal reward. We need to live in expectation of Christ’s imminent return.

We need to get our perspective up above the horizon of this world.  Like the faithful of old who are spoken of in Hebrews 11, “they were looking for a city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

So those are things that Jude says we need to be concerned about in regards to our own selves.  But we don’t stop there.  We need to love our neighbor as ourselves.  So how do we do that? Especially those that may have stumbled over the stumbling blocks that these certain persons have put in their path?

Jude tells us how we are to help them in vs22 “And have mercy on some, who are doubting;  save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”

Have mercy on some who are doubting, that speaks of those who have listened to false teaching and now doubt the truth of the gospel.  So speaking the truth in love might be to rebuke them in their sin. To correct their false doctrine.  Jude says save others, snatching them out of the fire.  This would be to present the gospel to those who are not yet saved.  In effect, snatch them from the very gates of hell.  Do every thing you can to bring them out from captivity to darkness to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  

You know, I”m sure there are many people here today that would rush into a burning house to save your loved one.  We may not be trained firefighters, but if we saw our loved ones in a situation that could mean death, most of us would run and jump into the burning house, if we thought there was any possible chance we could save them.

And yet, many of us are guilty of watching our loved ones drift steadily towards certain destruction, knowing full well that the Bible says that those who die without Christ will be cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer torment eternally.  That’s a reality - though one that we have somehow convinced ourselves to not think too seriously about.  But if we really believe what the Bible says, then we would have mercy and snatch them out of the fire.  

I think that’s what he means when he says, “On some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”  If we hate sin, if we have a horror for sin, then we will show mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.  Sometimes the sin is something that we fear to come close to, because we recognize how dangerous it is.  And so we hate every vestige of it. We fear for their soul.

But the good news is that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  God is able to cleanse us from every stain of sin, so that we may live in righteousness.  Salvation offers us forgiveness from the penalty of sin, deliverance from the power of sin, and one day eradication of the presence of sin.  Right now, we should be living in the power over sin.  Sin no longer has dominion over us.

Our job, if we really love our neighbor as ourselves, is to go to those who need to hear the gospel and compel them to come into the kingdom of God. But thankfully, it’s not all up to us. Jude closes this message with what may be the best benediction in the entire Bible.  In this benediction he states what God will do.  And that is where we find the power to win the battle for the faith.  That’s where we find the victory. 

Notice he says, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy…”  What a great blessing that is, to realize that though Jude told us that we are to keep building up our faith, that we are to keep ourselves in the love of God, yet we find that it’s the Lord who is keeping us, who is keeping us from stumbling, who is able to make you stand in His presence blameless, with great joy.  That’s a tremendous promise, it really is.  It’s not dependent on the man who who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

It’s like when my kids were little I always told them to hold daddy’s hand when crossing the road.  I wanted them to hold my hand tight.  I wanted them to walk right beside me.  But I was not depending on their strength to hold on to me.  I knew that I would never let them go.  I was going to hold onto them no matter what.  And so our God keeps us.  He tells us to walk with Him, to stay close to Him, to hold onto His hand. But yet our security is in His grip on us, His love for us.  He is our Father and we are His children, if we truly know the Lord as our Savior.

Jude concludes his benediction by saying, “to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, [be] glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”   We do not bestow glory, majesty, dominion and authority to God.  He already possesses those things.  We just acknowledge that they belong to Him. We bow to HIs authority, we bow to His dominion, we bow to His majesty, and we live for His glory.  And we bow in subjection to Him not just in eternity, but we bow now.  Before all time, now and forever.  Let us be sure that we recognize and bow before the sovereignty of God now, in this life.  Jesus is my Lord, now… and forever. Amen.

God’s judgment on false teachers, Jude 11-16

We begin this section of scripture with Jude uttering the phrase, “Woe to them!”  It is a phrase that cannot be understood without the context of what came before it.  And so if we have not been here in the last couple of weeks, we must find out who is “them”.  Who is Jude talking about. 

We find the  answer to that question back in vs 4, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”  

These certain, ungodly persons are the ones to whom Jude now exclaims, “Woe to them!” I believe Jude uses that phrase to remind us of when Jesus gave a scathing indictment on the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23.  Jesus there proclaims 8 woes upon the scribes and Pharisees, because He said they shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for they do not enter in themselves, nor do they allow those who are entering to go in.  He gave eight such woes about these false teachers, blind guides He calls them, who devour widow’s houses, who pretentiously make long prayers, who go to great lengths to make disciples for themselves, who clean the outside of the cup so people think they are so righteous, yet inwardly they are full of corruption and uncleanness.

It’s the same sort of people that Jude calls certain persons. But Jude then shows that God will punish these certain persons, just as certainly as He punished rebellious Israel, just as He cast into hell the rebellious angels, and just as He destroyed by fire and brimstone the immoral Sodom and Gomorrah, as he reminded us of last week in our study.

But Jude is not done condemning them. You know the scriptures give their most severe criticism of false prophets.  They are guilty of a greater sin than that of murderers and adulterers and sorcerers. To change the truth of God for a lie and in so doing put a stumbling block before others is the greatest crime, worthy of the most severe punishment. And so he proclaims “Woe to them!” “For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”

Jude gives us three illustrations of people like these certain person, that abandoned the word of God, rebelled against the word of God, and in due time received the judgement from God. And in this reminder of these people’s sin of rebellion, we get insight into the nature of these apostates in the church.  Jude said in vs 4, that these certain persons had crept into the church, and their teachings had perverted the grace of God into licentiousness, and they denied the lordship of Jesus Christ, so that they were condemned to judgement.

Let’s look at the first illustration, that of Cain.  We find the story of Cain in Genesis chapter 4.  I won’t take the time to read it all, but I will try to summarize it.  Gen 4:3-5 “So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering;  but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.”  

Well, I’m sure you remember the rest of the story.  Cain was angry at God for rejecting his offering, and he took out his anger on his brother and murdered him while they were working in the field. But what shouldn’t be overlooked in the story is this: Cain brought an unacceptable sacrifice. God did not accept his sacrifice, and God did accept the sacrifice of Abel. Now this presupposes that they knew what offering they were to bring. God required a blood sacrifice. But Cain didn’t think that was necessary.  He was a farmer, not a herdsman.  It would have been an extra expense to buy a lamb for the offering.  And so he rejected the word of God and offered what he thought should be acceptable. He would worship God according to his design.

And that provokes me to say something more about this idea of false worship.  The idea of worship as we understand it today in the modern church, is a relatively new phenomenon.  I grew up in the church, and had exposure to dozens and dozens of churches in my early life, and I can tell you that prior to the 90’s this idea of “worship” as it is expressed to today was not heard of.  We went to church, we sang songs, we had special music, we had preaching, all the components of what might be called worship, but we didn’t necessarily call it worship with the same understanding as it has today.  

Today, if you hear the word worship, you automatically think it is speaking of a prolonged time of music, usually conducted by a “worship team” or a praise and worship band.  The idea of worship today is virtually only concerned with music, and it’s usually contemporary music.  If you sing a classic hymn as a congregation such as we do on Sundays, that really isn’t what people think of as proper worship.  Worship has to be a time when you give yourself over to a emotional, repetitive, sentimental and moving musical score performed by more or less trained or professional musicians and singers in a concert style setting.  We somehow have come to believe that such is pleasing to God, that is worshipping God, and as such it satisfies our responsibility to God.

That, however, is not what the Bible calls worship. Jesus said in Matt 15:8 “THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.” A good principle of hermeneutics (Biblical interpretation) which I think is under utilized, is when you are considering a word or principle in the Bible, to find the first time it is mentioned, and in so doing you will gain a better understanding of the meaning of the word, or of the principle.  It’s called the principle of first mention.  

Now if you go to the first place that the word “worship”  is mentioned, you will find it in Genesis 22:5.  Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”  What Abraham was talking about when he said worship is really insightful as we consider what is commonly considered worship today.  He was talking about going up on the mountain to offer up his son as an offering to God.  He was going to sacrifice his son to God. And he called that worship.

I would love to spend the rest of our time talking about this.  But I don’t have the time this morning.  However, please be sure that you understand that worship, in the Biblical context, involves a sacrifice. Worship is an offering, a sacrifice to God.  Additionally, worship is obedience to God.  Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice in obedience to what God required of him.

And that reveals that though the word worship is not used in the account of Cain and Abel, yet that is what they were doing.  They were coming to worship God.  Genesis 4 tells us that they came to make an offering to God. And very importantly, notice that God did not accept Cain’s offering, but He accepted Abel’s.  That tells us something important; that God is not obligated to accept just any kind of worship we offer Him.

But as Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”  Obedience to the truth then is essential to worshipping God.  Romans 12 tells us that in chapter 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.” So part of worship is obedience to the will of God, the commandments of God, that our bodies may be in subjection to Him.  To be a living sacrifice is to die to the desires of the flesh, that we might live in the Spirit.

Cain showed that he did not believe God’s word. He offered his own offering to God as he thought was fitting.  And when God rejected his offering he became angry at God and killed his brother. His rebellion against God’s word killed his brother. He killed Able because he didn’t believe God’s word was true.  He didn’t fear judgment. But God did judge Cain.  He made him to be a fugitive and wanderer on earth.

These certain persons Jude is speaking of were like Cain in the sense that they did what they wanted with God’s word.  They turned it around and used it for their purposes, and for their advantage.  They thought it was acceptable to alter God’s word for their own benefit and in so doing, condemned not only themselves, but those who listened to them.

The next illustration Jude calls from Biblical history is that of Balaam.  This illustration answers the question as to why the false teachers do what they do. The story of Balaam illustrates is that they do it for money. He was a prophet for hire. And some of these false prophets we see on the Christian television networks are in effect prophets for hire, and they are getting very rich taking money from people who are duped by their charisma and their false promises.

The story of Balaam is found in Numbers chapters 22-25, and then again in ch.31. The story of Balaam is a story of how he turned against Israel, and tried to curse them for the sake of the reward from the king of Moab, a man named Balak. You might remember this story because there is the famous passage there which describes Balaam’s donkey speaking to Balaam because Balaam kept trying to force the donkey to go forward, when the angel of the Lord was blocking his way.  God put several blocks to stop Balaam from cursing Israel.  But in the end, Balaam found a way to work around God’s blockade.  

We find a summary of what he did in Revelation 2:14, in which the Lord says to the church at Pergamos,  “I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and commit acts of immorality.”  Balaam knew in getting the Israelites to commit fornication with the Moabites, and forsake God’s law concerning their diet, God would end up bringing judgment upon them, and accomplish what the king of Moab really wanted, which was the destruction of Israel. But what Balaam forgot to take into consideration, is that the same God who would judge Israel for their sin, would also judge him for his act of rebellion against the word of God. Numbers 31 tells us that Balaam was killed by the Lord’s army while he was living in the midst of a godless and sinful city in Moab.

Balaam then represents two things: the covetousness of the false teacher who loves money and the apostate who influences others to sin. The third illustration of apostate false teachers in the church is from the story of the rebellion of Korah. Korah was a Levite who led the rebellion against Moses.  He was a teacher.  But his error was his disdain for the authority which God had prescribed.  He wanted to be a priest, and to have authority over the people of God, but he could not.  

In Numbers chapter 16 we find the story of his rebellion. He gathered together other certain men, and went before Moses and assembled together before him. And he said, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”

Korah took the word of God about the priesthood of all believers, and reinterpreted them in such a way as to remove any authority of the leadership that God had set over Israel. He was disputing the idea that they even needed a leader, that they even needed someone who was a  responsible shepherd, someone who spoke for God. He was disputing the idea that they even needed a teacher who gave them God’s truth. 

What he was advocating was that everyone was capable of determining God’s truth for themselves. That God could speak to them directly, and they didn’t need someone who would be in authority as their teacher/leader.  That is still a popular belief today.  Some people think they don’t need to go to church, they don’t need to listen to a preacher, they can worship God by themselves, and they can hear from God themselves, and they can interpret His word to suit themselves. Well, do you remember how the judgement of God fell upon Korah?  Numbers tells us that the ground opened up and swallowed him and his company whole into hell.

At this point in the text, Jude shifts gears.  He has shown from God’s word three separate incidents which illustrate how God’s judgment will fall upon any false teacher that rebells against God’s word, that loves money, or that is immoral, of desires authority that God hasn’t given him. A horrifying judgment awaits anyone who undermines the authority and truth of God’s word for personal gain and puts a stumbling block before others.

And so Jude shifts at this point in his sermon from historical illustrations of that fact, to five analogies from nature which describe these apostate teachers.  He describes them in lyrical form in vs 12 and 13.  “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;  wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”

Let’s look at them briefly.  The first analogy is they are like hidden reefs in your love feasts.  Love feasts were not the Lord’s supper, but they were a meal that the church body would take together during their services at certain times.  Sort of like a potluck dinner, maybe.  There is something about eating a meal together that brings about a deeper fellowship with one another. And the early church used to practice it often.

Hidden reefs is a reference to a very dangerous situation when sailing.  It refers to unseen rock formations just under the surface which can rip open the hull of the boat and sink it. These certain men were like hidden reefs, unseen on the surface of the church gathering, but very dangerous because their false theology can sink a church.  It can cause people to shipwreck in their faith.

Notice Jude says they feast with you without fear, they have no fear of God, they are brazen in their sin, even flaunting it before the church, all while claiming to be covered by grace.  And it says also, “- caring for themselves.” That’s the exact opposite of loving one another.  It’s self love, a selfish love.  Immorality is selfish love.  It’s taking for yourself without really caring about the other person.

Secondly, he calls them clouds without water. Verse 12, they are “Clouds without water, carried along by winds.” Clouds bring the promise of rain to a thirsty land.  But a cloud that doesn’t rain is a picture of empty promises.  Our faith is founded on the promises of God. But if you are given a false promise, that means that it may sound good to you, it may sound enticing, but it’s not a promise that God will honor because it doesn’t come from him - it comes from these imposters. To give false promises is dishonoring to God, and causes men who believe them to lose faith in God. That’s one of the worst things about the name it and claim it doctrine which is so prevalent today.  It’s giving people hope in false promises, which when they fail, cause their faith to falter.

And thirdly he says these apostates are “like autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, and uprooted.” Autumn is season when you harvest the fruit.  But Jude says these trees have no fruit. I find it interesting that so many false teachers want to emphasize the gifts of the Spirit, but they show little of the fruits of the Spirit.  Jude says they are doubly dead, uprooted.  Dead in the sense that they are without fruit and dead in that they are not rooted in the truth.  Our faith is rooted in the word of God.  When you take that away, you are spiritually dead.

And then, fourthly, he calls them “wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam.”  I can’t help but think of Eph 4:14 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.”  

I think the winds of false doctrine cause these people to be driven this way and that way, to be thrown about by the devil’s deceit which instead of growing spiritually, causes them to indulge in shameful acts.  They are being driven by evil spirits to live unruly, ungodly lives.  As a surfer, I have learned that the wind is what causes waves.  But it takes consistent winds blowing over a long fetch to produce clean waves that we can actually surf.  Those waves travel hundreds of miles to reach the shore in long, clean, orderly lines.  But a northeast wind produces a short, choppy wave that doesn’t break consistently, it produces a washing machine affect that is almost impossible to surf, and it churns up  a lot of sea foam that washes up on the beach, which is usually pretty nasty stuff. I can imagine that this northeaster effect is what Jude is referring to, waves that have no pattern, that aren’t consistent, that aren’t orderly, and are unproductive.  That’s an picture of false teaching that is all over the place theologically, does not have any depth to it, and doesn’t produce sound doctrine, but instead lustful, shameful living.

And then a final picture of apostate teachers is in verse 13. They are like “wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”  Most commentators think that this reference to wandering stars is speaking of falling stars, or shooting stars.  They are not part of any constellation, and actually, are not stars at all, but asteroids that blaze across the sky and then fizzle out. And that may be what Jude is talking about. 

But I happen to think that this may be a reference to fallen angels.  Angels are often related to stars in the Bible. In Job we read that God asked Satan where he had come from.  And Satan answered, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”  To me, that sounds a lot like wandering around.  The fallen angels lost their place in heaven, they lost the position that they were designed for, and they lost their relationship with God.  And as a result of their disobedience, they are destined for the Lake of Fire.  It’s interesting that hell is described in the Bible as a place of fire, and yet a place of thick darkness at the same time.

So I think that as John said, we must test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  These false prophets are going to suffer the same fate as the evil spirits who drive them, who inform them, and who empower them.  Even now they are out of their proper place, they have lost their relationship with God, they have rebelled against the authority of God, and they work against the kingdom of God.

Jude gives one final illustration, and with this we will conclude our sermon today. He says in vs 14,” [It was] also about these men [that] Enoch, [in] the seventh [generation] from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 

Some commentators tell us that the quotation here is not a biblical quotation, but from a text called 1 Enoch.  Jude was possibly referring to a book that was known to the church, but was not a part of the biblical canon, in order to provide an illustration.  The character is Enoch, whom we know from the scripture which reads.  “Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him.” That’s about all we know of Enoch.  But I’m not so sure that Jude quotes from this other book or not, but I am sure that the Holy Spirit inspired him to write this quote from Enoch.  So I lean towards the Holy Spirit being the source of this quote, and not this pseudo historical book of Enoch which contains some truth and some fanciful information, and which was not accepted as a part of our Bible.  

But using this quote of Enoch, Jude wants us to see that God executes judgement against the ungodly.  No less than four times Enoch says “ungodly.”  The people are ungodly, their behavior is ungodly, and their ungodliness is carried out in ungodly ways. Most importantly, the ungodly have spoken against God.  They counter God’s word.  They defy God’s word. And as such the Lord will execute judgement against them.  But in bringing up Enoch, we are also given a positive example of a godly man living in an ungodly world.  It is possible to live a godly life in an ungodly world. And as we see in the case of the life of Enoch,  God will reward that behavior as certainly as He will judge ungodly behavior. 

Jude concludes this section with a short summary which tells us how to recognize the difference between the true teachers like Enoch, and the false teachers who are destined for destruction. He says, “These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their [own] lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of [gaining an] advantage.”  That’s a pretty succinct description of false teachers.  They find fault with God’s word, they find fault with God’s appointed shepherds, they are obsessed with the lusts of the flesh, sexual and otherwise, and the speak arrogantly, claiming to know the truth, claiming to have special insight from God that counters what God has already spoken, and finally they flatter people for the sake of gaining advantage, whether that be by money or popularity, or fame. They are prophets for hire, tickling the ears of their listeners to draw people after them.

Well, this is not a pleasant subject to have to consider this morning.  But it is the urgent message of the Holy Spirit, that we need to contend for the faith which is under attack from these apostate, false prophets who have crept into the church unawares.  By the examples given here, we ought to be able to expose those false prophets, and help ourselves and others to be more discerning, that we might be able to be sure we are of the truth, and that we worship God in truth. We must contend for the truth, so that the gospel is not watered down as to be ineffective, or that it is twisted to render it unable to save,  and people are not saved, and end up being deceived.  We can be sure that God will bring those false prophets to judgment in the last day.  But in this present hour, let us be discerning, able to distinguish between truth and error, and contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.

Jude 1:24-25 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,  to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, [be] glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.