He preached about coming judgement – Jude 1:14,15
Jude 1:14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly
We live in a society where tolerance is lauded above almost all other virtues. All religious roads lead to God, as indeed does taking no road at all! Strangely the only place that this tolerance does not extend to is historic Christianity. The problem is that the claims of the Bible are exclusive – one way is right and other ways are wrong. We are classed with extreme Muslims and labelled fundamentalists. Indeed to many we are worse! President Bush is an evangelical Christian. The war with Iraq is the result of his evangelical beliefs and his blind support of Israel. We take our beliefs too seriously, we say that others are wrong and in line for God’s judgement.
Strangely, at the same time, our society has become more accepting of other extreme views, militant environmentalists, those who oppose all medical experiments on animals, not to mention fur clothes. You can be a militant football supporter or a fan of some movie or pop star and no one thinks twice about it. But if you take the Bible seriously you are a fundamentalist nutter and should be exiled to Cuba with Al Kaeda!
A little while a go a Church of England church nearby was to be demolished as part of redevelopment. The council planned to build a multi faith centre to replace it and could not understand why that was unacceptable to the Curate.
Enoch would have had no truck with views like that. He warned the people among whom he lived of God’s coming judgement. If all religions, and indeed none, are equally valid then there can be no judgement, but Enoch warned the people that judgement was coming because the people were ungodly. God had told them how to live and they chose to go in their own direction.
Attitudes and behaviour in Enoch’s time
What does scripture tell us of attitudes and behaviour in Enoch’s time? The only glimpse that we get is in the run up to the flood, but there is no reason to believe that it was very different a few hundred years earlier. Outwardly everything was perfectly normal: Mt.24:37 “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage
But underneath God saw things very differently: Gen.6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
The people’s wickedness was in stark contrast with the description of Noah: Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9 … Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. God was clearly contrasting Noah with the other people of his day, so they lacked these qualities.
Putting these two passages together we can see that God found men wanting in 3 particular areas. Firstly in their behaviour ¾ the wickedness of man was great. We don’t know the detail of this wickedness, but it is contrasted with the fact that Noah was a just man. There are two sides to this justice. He was just in his dealings with his fellow men; he did not lie to or cheat them. He did not abuse them verbally or physically. We know from other scriptures that God hates human injustice.
What about us today; how do we compare? Do we treat others justly?
· We exploit those who are least able to object. People in the third world are paid peanuts to produce food, clothes, etc. for us. They are often left with insufficient food and clothing for their families. We charge them excessively for drugs and dump dangerous pesticides etc that we have banned onto them. Our pollution, our CO2 damages their environment and causes global warming with vastly increased risk of flooding for them. Businesses still fight and lie to make and sell cigarettes although they know they kill and destroy lives. Might is right. Profit is king!
· Dishonesty and self-serving is the norm for public figures and businesses. Individuals are not far behind; fraudulent insurance claims are common. Murder, mugging, burglary and drug dealing are commonplace. God hates such exploitation and deceit. Jer 22: 13 "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness And his chambers by injustice, Who uses his neighbour’s service without wages And gives him nothing for his work…17 "your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness, For shedding innocent blood, And practicing oppression and violence."
But God is not only concerned about our actions; He is also interested in our thoughts and motives. He saw that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Why do we behave badly to one another? Is it not because of our inner motivations. If profit is king it is because greed and power motivate us. That is generally true of business leaders and, less we let ourselves off too easily, it is what drives us to buy products as cheaply a possible without thought to their real cost. It is what makes us dance to the advertisers tune ever wanting, needing more possessions.
These selfish attitudes also drive people to steal and even to kill. They drive parents to have an abortion because their right to enjoy their lives is more important than the life of their unborn baby. We could go on to think of the evil of politicians who have little regard for the suffering they bring on their own people or terrorists who kill and maim to create fear or in revenge for supposed injustices. There are also the open evils resulting from changing attitudes to sex. It seems that wrong is right and right is wrong! There are no standards against which behaviour can be judged.
Many nonreligious peoples would agree that much of this is evil, but the passages that we are considering take the definition of wickedness further. Jude calls it ungodliness. Enoch and Noah stood apart from their contemporaries not only in that they did were just in their dealings with their neighbours, but also in that they walked with God. Godliness involves aligning our standards with God’s and to do this we need to spend time with Him in prayer and in the study of His word. If we go our own way they we also are ungodly, even if we don’t harm our fellow men and women.
Why should we turn away from wickedness
There are many good reasons why we should live upright lives; anarchy and selfishness damage our family and wider society. The looting in Iraq is a classic example. Scripture gives us another powerful reason. If we break God’s laws then we shall face His judgement. Jude tells us that Enoch told his contemporaries that if they continued as they were then they would face God’s judgement. He believed this so strongly that he named his son Methuselah, probably as a warning that God would destroy the world by flood. The flood came the very year that Methuselah died.
We know from Jude that Enoch warned his contemporaries that God would execute judgment upon all, … to convince all that are ungodly. I am sure that this made people think that Enoch was weird, an eccentric, the most peculiar man of his day. He was out of step with his contemporaries. He set his affections on things above. He did not go with the flow or the crowd. He took that stance, though the whole world was against him. Enoch dared to do right and to stand against an ungodly generation. And he was not ashamed to stand alone. He spoke out against the sins of a generation which filled the earth with violence and clearly deserved God’s judgment. While his fellow men were hurrying toward death and judgment, he calmly walked with God.
What effect would this have had on his relationships with his contemporaries? One thing is certain, when he pleased God, he did not please men. It is impossible to do both. Mt 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
This world is at war with God and will be as long as man is on the earth. We cannot please God and man. Jn 15:18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Preaching about judgement is not popular now, but it never has been. Ac 24:25 Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you."
We want to be like the people around us, but it is dangerous to walk along the middle of the road! Jas 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. We want to be accepted, but Scripture tells us that we must dare to be different: Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. [Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-make you so that your whole attitude of mind is changed. JB Phillips]
How can a God of love punish men and women?
We present the gospel as though God is saying: “If you don’t mind awfully old chap, I’d quite like you to come and have a cup of tea.” If you reply to the effect that you are a bit too busy at present you don’t expect to be punished for that, do you? In fact the Gospel is nothing like that! As Paul put it in Acts 17:30 God now commands all men every where to repent.
If we ignore God’s command to repent then it is hardly surprising that we shall face His judgement. This judgement is certain and we must warn people of their danger.
Rev 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Are we ready to stand before Jesus Christ when He will judge the whole earth? Is your name written in the Book of Life? If not you can make your peace now with the one who later will be your judge.
Rom 10:9 if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
