*Below is Pastor Andrew’s teaching outline from Sunday’s sermon, not a word for word manuscript. This is meant as aid in seeing the thought and direction of the sermon.
Illustration: SOPs
Sometimes you need to be reminded of the proper way of doing things.
-Jude is a book with that goal
Last week we saw that his mission was to warn the church of the false teacher that were creeping in, distorting the truth, and leading people a stray.
He calls us in the text to contend for the faith, and what a better way to begin contending today than by reading the whole book before us:
Read: Jude
Now today we get to dive into the meat of Jude’s argument as he identifies for us the nature and character of false teachers:
The first thing he does is give us a helpful reminder:
Because as Tolkien reminds us
“Some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth.”
I. A Helpful Reminder (5-10)
Jude 5–10 ESV
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. 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— 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. Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
He wants them to be reminded:
Jude reminds the church that contending for the faith is not a new role, but rather has been ongoing from the beginning.
It is easy to forget the past considering the current situation.
Also, he is encouraging them that these false teachers are not a new development.
Jude 4 ESV
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
God is not surprised by their Prescence, and neither should we:
False teachers have been around since the beginning:
The following series of reminders is meant to be not only a warning about false teachers but a check on their own hearts as well:
So, he begins with 3 biblical illustrations.
3 Biblical stories:
-Exodus 32/Numbers 14
The people of Israel are saved by God through the waters of Egypt, and yet soon afterwards they fall quickly into unbelief:
Now what is striking in the text is that the Lord/Jesus is stated as the true savior of Israel, He is the only who not only brings salvation to us but also to them. Drawing a straight line through history and highlighting the fact even more that these false teachers are not an aberration but have been around since the beginning.
-Genesis 6
The Angels reject the authority of God and pursue daughters of man. (Divine seeks mortal flesh)
We covered this last Fall when we opened our study in Genesis:
-The sons of God rejected their proper place and authority and abused it to take women for themselves, leading to corruption.
-Jude here is again showing that not only was this a reality among the people whom God saved out of Egypt, it was a reality among the angels themselves. who were led astray.
-Heightening the reality that seeing and experiencing God was not a guarantee of salvation and faithfulness.
-They rejected the authority of God for their own appetites (we see this even more because or final illustration is connected to it
-Gen 18-19
-Sodom & Gomorrah (Strange flesh: humanity seeking the divine)
Lastly, he dives into one of the most common narratives from the OT of those who pursue wickedness.
The whole valley is condemned for their immorality and interestingly enough it is the reverse of the Angels who pursued sexual relations with humanity the final judgment we see as they pursued violent sexual relations with the divine angels.
-Now not only was this the sins of sexual immorality, but Eze. will add another note that should heighten our own introspection of what Jude warns:
Ezekiel 16:49–50 ESV
Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So, I removed them when I saw it.
With peace and easy comes the tendency for great evil. A warning of eternal judgment comes from this text as we are reminded of our own proclivity towards sin.
They allowed their own “blessings” to lead them into viler sin. God seems to have given them much, which they used to feed themselves and destroy all around them.
From these three narrative Jude gives us some important things to look out for, not just in those we listened to but in our own hearts:
So, these False teachers are walking a similar path to those who have gone before:
First, we see there is the reliance on their own desires and “dreams.”
-this term was often used for one who would seek their own guidance (claiming to be led by God)
-If someone says they have received a vision from God or a dream, always be wary and then establish if it aligns with the truth of scripture. Not just does it sound “godly.”
-So, he lays before them 3 types of character traits that are found in these teachers/converts:
3 Character Types of False converts:
Not all these things are at first evident:
Jude 8 ESV
Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.
- Sexually Immoral
They are themselves or encourage the sexual immorality of others without fear of God.
They are not struggling they are celebrating.
Their knowledge and teaching may not be wrong.
Think Ravi - Rejection of Authority
They themselves are the only authority that matters. (Both in the civil and church realm)
We’ve seen this blow up in many evangelical churches over the last half century where we have created localized Popes, whose set themselves up as the sole voice of God in their congregation and everyone else is to be rejected.
-Rather than building themselves up together laboring besides a group of qualified elders who know the word and grow one another up in it, being willing and able to be voted down or challenged.
-Every challenge is dismissed or ostracized
These succeeded because again the fruit is success (even if the end is death)
Lastly, he turns to blatant false doctrine. - False Doctrine (Blaspheme the holy ones)
Lastly there is the obvious false teachers who simply blaspheme the word of God:
-” Glorious ones” associated with the Angels who brought forth the Law to the people at Sinai
-The assumption int the text then arises that they reject thought their teaching the authority of God by rejecting the authority and governance of his word:
-They are led by their dreams, self-appointed authority and self-identified teachings, leading others away after their own destruction:
Their actions and words convey their lack of fear of the judgment to come:
Jude Ills for us:
Jude 9 ESV
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
-Michael story from the Assumption of Moses
Zechariah 3:2 ESV
And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?”
Shows that those who excise authority properly do so by appealing to the truth found in God. For it is the Lord who rebukes through Michael, not Michaels own power. It is for God to judge not mankind, and that judgment is based on his word, not our own thoughts.
Jude 10 ESV
But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
They instinctively know they are in error yet continue to their own destruction.
This illustration is then set up as the perfect transition for us to see the grave warning he has in store for these false teachers, and for those who may follow them:
Once he has identified the nature of these False teachers and given us the warning sign he now turns and gives them a grave warning:
II. A Grave Warning (11-16)
Jude 11–16 ESV
Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
Woe
-A serious term not to be taken lightly.
Hosea 7:13 ESV
Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me.
Matthew 23:29–31 ESV
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus, you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
We should stand back and feel the weight of what He is about to lay down:
Jude puts his rhetorical skills to work as he lays out the reality of end for those who travel down these false roads:
Three judgments that come upon those just as in the past:
Cain: Gen 4
-Sought to worship God on his own terms, and when rebuked and encouraged to change his ways. He took it upon himself to remove his competition. and was forced to walk for the rest of his life under the judgment of God.
Balaam: Numbers 22-31
-Was a prophet for Hire.
-Not an Israelite
-God wouldn’t allow him to issue a cure against the people of Israel, so to get paid he Told the king of Moab that they were easily influenced into sexual immorality.
Numbers 31:16 ESV
Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the LORD.
-Balaam would be killed in an issuing war with Midian.
Korah: Numbers 16
Finally, Korah, who revolted against the leadership of Moses, Arron and
Numbers 16:2–3 ESV
And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”
Challenged that God had given him authority.
God swallows the whole company of Korah,
(Here we see again the folly of False teachers for they do not realize that their doom is assured, any victor is temporary)
And so, to bring his rhetorical skills to full power he connects these 3 OT narratives to 6 powerfully illustrations:
6 Descriptions:
Jude 12–13 ESV
These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
- Hidden Reefs (-love feast/communion)
- Shepherds (they do not feed others only themselves) my shepherd will defend me (song)
- Waterless Clouds (They bring no lasting relief)
- Fruitless Trees (They bear no true fruit, but only destruction)
- Wild Waves (Simply bring destruction in their wake)
Isaiah 57:20 ESV
But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. - Wandering Stars (Falling stars) a bright flash before destruction into darkness
And so, from these vivid images he draws to a close with a final warning:
God is not silent, Judgment is assured.
-God is not mocked
Jude 14–16 ESV
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
Book of 1 Enoch 1:9
-Common Jewish writing of the time, much like the assumption of Moses
-Not scriptural
-He is using a commonly held belief to support the reality that the judgment of God is true, not only do the Scriptures teach it (he just gave a whole list) but so does modern writing and thought.
-The ungodly are real and they twist God’s word for their own ends (He continually repeats that the ungodly will face judgment)
-God will Judge them accordingly
These Ungodly who will see judgment are marked again but a new set of descriptions that tie into all that he has said in the previous examples:
Jude 16 ESV
These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
He brings everything home into a clear focus.
So then how do we apply these truths:
Application:
How then do we apply this squarely today:
- live considering the truth that Christ is none of these things
Examine your own heart considering scripture
- Examine the lives of those you allow to have authority over you
- Don’t blindly follow the popular trends in the “church”
- Don’t be anxious when false teachers appear to prosper
- Live in the Word & Prayer, applying it daily
