We move into Jude 1:17-19. In this lesson Jude is going to shift from his denunciation of the false teachers to exhortation of the saints.
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.
Jude comes back to the use of the words, “dear friends or beloved”. He has used this endearing word twice before. We have many people we would call friends, but only a few we would describe as “dear friends”.
Jude has spent most of his time in this epistle warning the church about the false teachers inside the church. He has given characteristics of them, compared them to past historical events and people and now he gives one more to draw attention to them as a problem in the church – he calls on them to remember what the Apostles said. The Apostles were those select 12 men chosen by Jesus Himself to carry on His ministry after He ascended. They lived and walked with Jesus for 3 years.
Jude calls on this church to remember. This is not remembering where you put the TV remote, or what appointments you have today – this is remembering the words of the Apostles. Words of warning! The different translations about these words:
• KJV words spoken
• ESV predictions
• NIV foretold
I think Jude is concerned many within the church are not going to take seriously his message of warning about the false teachers. Some who are hearing the reading of this epistle are even supporters of the false teachers and will defend them.
18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”
Turn to 2 Peter3:3 does this verse in Peter sound similar to the verse in Jude? I think so and so do most scholars. Peter wrote his epistle before Jude wrote his and therefore, he is most likely the Apostle Jude is referring to.
Jude says “in the last days” before the Second Coming of Christ. I started preaching in 1970 and every decade has felt they were in the last days. Look how far our culture has fallen morally in the past 40 years. Yet, I fear it will fall further before Christ comes again.
The scoffers Peter and Jude refer to are outside the church. KJV calls them “mockers”. The false teachers pretend to go along with teachings and beliefs.
How will these scoffers behave? Jude says they will follow their “ungodly passions, desires or lusts”. Paul understood their attitudes when he said in Romans 1:30 “They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents.”
We as Christians are trying to refrain from sinning and they have such an sold out to evil appetite for sin they invent new ways of doing it.
19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
The Greek word for divide in this verse is not your normal word for division. Jude uses a word which means “divide by making a distinction”. This is why KJV used “who separate themselves”. Jude is saying these scoffers believe they are superior to the average person. They believe they are more intelligent, wiser more discerning and this clearly causes division. They don’t hang out with the poor and uneducated, but with the movers and shakers of a community. They scoff at people who believe the Bible is the inspired word of God as being fools and ignorant.
Jude describes their behavior as following:
• NIV mere natural instincts
• KJV sensual
• ESV worldly people
In the 2nd World War, in December 1944, the German Army launched an ambitious counterattack that has become known as “The Battle of the Bulge”. One of the tactics the Germans used was putting German soldiers who could speak fluent English in American MP uniforms and their purpose was to create as much confusion as possible in giving bad directions to troops either leaving the war zone or headed to it.
Why do they behave this way? Jude says because they don’t have the Spirit, it is capitalized to indicate the Holy Spirit of God. ESV “they are devoid of the Spirit”.
Spiritual application:
1. Why is apostasy such a problem?
• People don’t like truth. Many had rather live a lie than be confronted by truth. God’s truth confronts sinful lifestyles such as homosexuality and abortion and says they are wrong, but many people want to defend their rights to live anyway they want even if contrary to God’s word.
• Ego gets into the message. Some teachers feel they have to make the message relevant and fresh to the point they will compromise the message. 2 Timothy 4 talks about preachers who will tickle the ears of their hearers and tell them what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear.
• Tolerance is the dangerous word in our culture. You can no longer condemn someone’s behavior or opinions, even if blatantly sinful – for fear of the tolerance police on social media. We might hurt someone’s self-esteem if we tell them what they are doing is sinful. The Episcopal and United Methodist denominations have joined the homosexual revolution using the phrase “open minds and open doors.”
2. We must remember our doctrines and watch for false teachers. Many scoffers love to debate and believe they can stump you.
3. If you find yourself around ungodly people, be extra careful because their attitude for sin can pull you down faster than you can pull them up.
Prayer
