Open back up to Jude. Last week we discussed some introductory matters (vv 1-4). Jude is one of the most neglected books of the Bible because of its brevity, difficult subject matter (judgment of false teachers), and its reference to non-canonical books (we will address that today). Written by Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, the brother of James (author of the NT book James). Written to a unspecified church or network of churches who are probably mostly Jewish. He starts the letter reminding the believers that they are called, loved, and guarded by God. He sets an encouraging tone but the tone changes quickly. Jude wanted to write an encouraging book about salvation but felt compelled to write this letter in view of the emergence of dangerous false teachers that had slipped into the church. They were peddling a knock-off gospel that had some similarities to Christianity but simply was not the real thing. They’re ungodly, they misunderstand grace as permission to sin, and they reject the authority of God. He lets them know that there is a battle for truth and encourages them to contend (fight) for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Verses 1-4 is the easy part. We are about to get into some deep water as today we will be looking at verses 5-19. This is why we avoid Jude. Let me set this up. What is Jude trying to communicate here:
(1) The false teachers will be judged. He will remind them of several cases in the past where God judged false teachers.
(2) The character of these teachers will be revealed. They are immoral, prideful, reject authority, they are greedy. Their teaching may be appealing. Their techniques may be convincing. But they are essentially concerned only about themselves.
(3) They are leading your astray. They don’t deliver on their promises. They stir up problems. They are not leading you to life. They are leading you in darkness.
These people are bad news! This perversion of the gospel is leading nowhere but destruction.
Let me read this section to you. Try not to get lost in some of the references. Get a feel for the futility of these teachers.
Jude 5–19 (NIV) — 5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. 8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them. 11Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. 14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. 17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
Wow! Lots of stuff here. Jude is going to reach into his bag of tricks to cite several examples of false teaching. Some of these examples may sound familiar, others not so much. He mentions serval events from the Old Testament:
1. The rebellion in the exodus– after the exodus the people rebelled against God and refused to take the promised land so they wander for 40 years until all the adults die off before they are eventually lead into the promised land by Joshua.
2. Sodom and Gomorrah– a familiar story. These immoral cities suffer divine judgment. A catastrophic event where fire falls from the sky and reduces these cities to a pile of rubble.
3. Balaam– We normally think of Balaam and the talking donkey. A good story but there’s a story in the book of Numbers where Balaam at the urge of a godless nation leads the Jewish people into immorality and they experience a devastating plague.
4. Cain – We know him. He’s the son of Adam and Eve who kills his brother Abel. Seems like a case of sibling jealousy. The first murder in the Bible.
5. Korah– an event in Numbers 16. Korah leads a rebellion against Moses and Aaron and he and all those who conspired with him are swallowed up by the earth.
What do they all have in common? They all rebel against the authority of God. They do want they think is best for them rather than submitting to God. None of these stories end well! These teachers are just like all of these rebels.
Jude assumes the readers are familiar with these stories. We need to be familiar with these stories. The OT is so important to our understanding of the NT.
1 Corinthians 10:6 (NIV) — 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
Romans 15:4 (NIV) — 4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
Let me remind you of being serious students of the Bible and not to neglect the OT. It adds so much of our understanding of God and our understanding of the NT.
In addition to examples from the OT Jude mentions two other stories that you may not be familiar with. Jude assumes his readers are and they probably are because these two stories were well-known among Jews in the first century. This reminds us that an understand of the culture of the day is also helpful for us to understand the NT. Let’s look at these two references:
Jude 9 (NIV) — 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
The biblical story of the death and burial of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:1–12 is known, if not exactly familiar. Moses dies on Mount Nebo and God buries him in an undisclosed location. That’s all we know from the Bible. There is an ancient document called the Assumption of Moses or the Testament of Moses (could be two works or they may be different names for the same work). That book records this story of the dispute between Michael (who is mentioned in the Bible elsewhere) and the Devil over the body of Moses. The devil wants the body. After all, Moses was a murderer. That’s what the devil does, always accuses us of our sin! Michael knows the devil has no right to the body of Moses but, and here’s the reason Jude includes this story, Michael does not overstep his authority but rather appeals to the authority of the Lord – the Lord rebuke you. That humility and respect for the authority of God is a stark contrast to these false teachers who reject the authority of God. Even an archangel is submissive to God! Even an archangel knows his place!
Michael is an archangel, a warrior angel, the greatest angel, but he is still just an angel. He is a creature, not the Creator; a servant, not the sovereign Lord; a minister, not the Master. As great as he is, he knows his proper place in God’s plan—something false teachers have failed to grasp. He is not his own authority, master, or lord. He does not set policy and make up the rules as he wishes. No arrogance, haughtiness, rebellion, or pride runs through his angelic veins. If this is how Michael sees himself, we would do well to follow his example and accept our place in the Lord’s economy.
- Jim Shaddix and Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 2 Peter and Jude
Let’s look at the second puzzling reference.
Jude 14–15 (NIV) — 14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
Enoch is mentioned in the Bible. You may know him for his distinguished exit from this world.
Genesis 5:24 (NIV) — 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
But where is this quote from? There is a book called 1 Enoch which in the majority of Christian circles is not regarded as inspired. It was written 200-300 years before Jesus (centuries after the real Enoch Lived). It was however very well known to the Jews and used for instruction and encouragement even though it was not regarded on the level of the prophets in Scripture. We must be careful, however, to avoid saying that Jude necessarily agreed with everything found in 1 Enoch or everything found in the Assumption of Moses. He is using these works as reference material to bring home a point much like I and other preachers make references to movies, books, inspirational quotes. In using those we in no way consider them on the level of Scripture. I used a clip from Despicable Me a few months back. I do not believe that Despicable Me is inspired. I did see how there was a truth there that illustrated the point I was making.
These are vexing questions, but we should not draw the conclusion that the citation from a book means that the entire book is inspired. Paul cited Greek poets and sayings without suggesting that the entire work was authoritative Scripture (Acts 17:28; 1 Cor 15:33; Titus 1:12). Jude did not intend to put a canonical stamp on Assumption of Moses simply because he cited it. He viewed this story as true or helpful, or he believed it was an illustration of the truth he desired to teach.
- Thomas Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude
So why does Jude use 1 Enoch? Can’t say for sure but it does assure the readers that false teachers will be judged. He is reminding the readers that their end is destruction, so don’t follow them into that destruction. Also notice how often Enoch uses the word “ungodly.” That is one of the ways Jude describes these teachers – they have no regard for God! Enoch brings that point home perfectly.
Let’s bring this home to us.
(1) God is the authority.
We must be willing to submit ourselves to him. These false teachers have become a law unto themselves. We don’t make the rules.
Years ago I delivered newspapers. I got up early in the morning. Drove down to Sherman. Picked up my papers and delivered them to homes. I didn’t write the news. I didn’t edit the newspaper. I delivered the news. I knew my place.
We don’t make the rules and we need to know our place. Like Jude we are servants of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Look how Jude describes these infiltrators:
Jude 8 (NIV) — 8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.
They are dreamers. Dreams were a common way people received revelations from God. But dreams were always subject to careful scrutiny. If they didn’t agree with the will of God they were considered untrustworthy.
Rather than accept God’s spiritual authority over their lives, they prefer to live out of touch with reality, asserting their personal autonomy and living as a law unto themselves. This is a mind-set and a lifestyle Jude condemns and warns us to avoid.
- Jim Shaddix and Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 2 Peter and Jude
Cain wanted to give God want he wanted to give. Balaam wanted to do what would make him some money. Korah wanted to do what would give him more prestige. They didn’t recognize God’s authority. They dreamed up ways to improve on what God said.
(2) Desires cannot rule us.
God created us with desires. And he has created life-giving and beautiful ways to meet those desires. But it is so easy for those desires to drive us to destructive behavior. We can’t let desires rule us as they did these false teachers.
Jude 16 (NIV) — 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
Jude 17–19 (NIV) — 17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
So often as we experience our desires we use those desires to interpret the Bible. We say, “This is how I feel so the Bible must agree with that.” And we can manipulate the Bible to agree with our desires. And that is why we hear statements like, “That is my truth. You have your truth and I have my truth.” We are tempted to define truth by our desires and experiences.
Instead, we should rather experience the Bible and interpret our desires in view of what the Bible teaches. We should say, “I have this desire but what does the Bible say about how I am fulfilling that desire?” “Is my behavior life-giving, believing that the Bible will always lead us to life!”
We don’t determine truth. We discover truth.
God has created these desires but they our desires have been distorted. We cannot trust our desires. Desires are not the source of truth. We must submit our desires to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
A term that us sometimes used to describe this attitude we have that there is no truth is “antinomianism.” Which is simple a fancy way of saying there is no law or no restraints. I can do whatever I desire to do.
Hear this convicting commentary:
I believe there is a revival of antinomianism (“antilaw attitude”) in the church in our day; people don’t want to observe the disciplines of the Christian faith. Our language too often parrots the language of the world. Our dress apes the dress of the world. Our morals copycat the morals of the world. Determined to fit in with the culture and to be relevant, we have lost and neglected God’s call to be a holy and special people (1 Pet 1:16; 2:9).
Today we claim to be spiritual, but we are not godly. We are sporadic in church attendance and stingy in our giving. We are frequent participants in alcohol abuse, tobacco, and profanity. We dress offensively and seductively. We surf the Internet for pornography and mutilate or desecrate our bodies, which we claim are the temple of the Holy Spirit. All the while we say, “It’s no big deal. I am free in Christ.”
We claim to be missional but are not doing missions. We claim to be engaging the culture but are not doing evangelism. We claim to be salt and light while actually being dirt and darkness. Theology is left behind, expository preaching is lampooned, and moral integrity is laughed out of court as old-fashioned and outdated legalism.
- Jim Shaddix and Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 2 Peter and Jude
This startled me. But I really believe Jude is writing this letter to do the same. To startle us! We must submit to God.
(3) False teaching leads nowhere.
Jude 12–13 (NIV) — 12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
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This false teaching sounds so good, doesn’t it? You don’t have to answer to anyone. Just live out your desires. That’s when you will find fulfillment. That is the path to joy. That’s where life is at.
Don’t believe it. Life – true life, eternal life - is found in submitting ourselves to the holy and loving God. Remember how Jude started this letter. Remember what he told you about who you are:
You are called – called to experience a glorious and fulfilling life in Christ.
You are loved - God wants so much to bathe you in his life-giving love.
You are kept/guarded – God is watching over you as you face trials and temptations.
And remember what Jude told us is ours in abundance as we live as servants of Jesus Christ:
In Him there is mercy, peace, and love. These are ours in Him, not in this world.
There is no one more holy, more powerful, more loving. Why wouldn’t we submit to Him?
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