Jude
Warning Shots
The book of Jude is seldom read these days. Most Christians have
never studied it – which is a shame, for it is a warning which we
need most urgently today.
Jude 1:1-25 NASB
Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To
those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept
for Jesus Christ: (2)
May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
(3)
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our
common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing
that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all
handed down to the saints.
(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.
(5) Now I
desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all,
that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt,
subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.
(6) And
angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their
proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for
the judgment of the great day,
(7) just as
Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the
same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after
strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the
punishment of eternal fire.
(8) Yet in
the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and
reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.
(9) But
Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and
argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against
him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
(10) But
these men revile the things which they do not understand; and
the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning
animals, by these things they are destroyed.
(11) 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. (12)
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;
(13) wild
waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam;
wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved
forever. (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,
(15) 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." (16)
These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their
own
lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of
gaining an
advantage. (17)
But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken
beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
(18) that
they were saying to you, "In the last time there will be
mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts."
(19) These
are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the
Spirit. (20)
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
(21) keep
yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
(22) And
have mercy on some, who are doubting;
(23) save
others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy
with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
(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,
(25)
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.
About this book
It’s rather short – 25 verses in all, quite easy
to read in a few minutes. Scholars have noted a great similarity
(almost word for word in some instances) with 2
nd
Peter. It is generally thought that Peter wrote first, and Jude is
emphasizing the same message.
Who was Jude? We know that he is the brother of
James (this is the James who wrote the book by that name). From
that, we know that he is also the brother of Jesus. He is generally
identified as one of the Apostles; in some parts of the Gospel he is
identified as “Judas (not Iscariot).” Other than this we know very
little of the man.
The mystery continues if we ask to whom he was
writing. It’s clear that he’s writing to a Hebrew church – but which
one? We don’t know, as the salutation provides no clue. Because of
this mystery, the canonicity of this book has been questioned at
various times. This is particularly so since Jude quotes things
which come from very non-canonical sources. But with the exception
of the Protestant Reformation, when it was challenged for a while,
it has been accepted since the earliest days until now.
The real question today is this: why does your
teacher pick this book to produce a one week study? The answer is
simple: Jude and I have the same purpose in writing: to contend for
the faith. That faith, “once for all entrusted to the saints,” is
now being attacked by men who bear a remarkable resemblance to those
described here.
Recognition
During the Second World War, civilians who were
charged with spotting enemy air raids were furnished with a deck of
cards. The cards had the silhouettes of various enemy aircraft,
along with other information useful for identification. This way,
the spotters did not need to get a clear view of the aircraft to
know what it was – the clues were enough.
Jude starts by giving us the same help here:
· These are Godless men.
Isn’t that a little surprising, since they’re in the church?
Not really. If my ego is stroked enough by being a big shot
in the church, fraud is easy to commit.
· They change grace into
license. One key error that is a clue to such men is that
they presume upon the grace of God. They sin with the
attitude that God will forgive them; after all, it’s his
hobby.
· Most important:
they deny Jesus Christ as Sovereign and Lord. Sovereign
refers to Christ’s position; Lord to his power over their
lives. So we would be looking for those who do not honor
Christ as head of the church – nor obey his commands in
their daily lives.
What will God do about it
Jude stops with those three points and gives us
some examples of exactly what God has in store for such people. He
cites the history the Hebrews would know to show just how severely
God will deal with such people. This, therefore, is a reminder – but
what a reminder:
· Remember the people
coming out of Egypt by God’s might? They saw miracle after
miracle – and exactly two of them made it to the promised
land. The rest died in the desert. God has always been
willing to pare down his people to a remnant who are
faithful.
· Angels – Jude (quoting
non-canonical books) reminds them that even angels have been
imprisoned by God for their rebellion. No power in heaven or
on earth can stop God’s wrath.
· Finally – a very
relevant example today – he reminds us of Sodom and
Gomorrah. Let us be quite explicit: they were the homosexual
heavens of their day, as San Francisco is ours. They were
utterly destroyed.
Further identification
Now that Jude has thoroughly alarmed us (we’re
not used to hellfire and brimstone anymore, are we?) he continues to
define our opponents:
· They will be those who
will pollute their own bodies. Jude knows, as we should,
that sex is reserved for marriage. Anything else assaults
your own body. How? If you have a prostitute, she becomes
one flesh with you. In our own time we have seen the spread
of diseases like AIDS. Isn’t it interesting that no one
suggests that chastity would be of any assistance? Does the
church really stand up for Christian marriage? If you think
it does, tell me what it does about divorce?
· These men reject
authority. If this is not familiar to you, please – open
your eyes. I live next to a high school. It is a “magnet
school” attracting the best and brightest from all of Orange
County. It’s also a school whose student have mastered the
art of giving obscene gestures to anyone who gets in their
way.
· Interestingly,
they “slander celestial beings.” The closest equivalent I
could make to that today would be those who think that Jesus
Christ is simply an obscenity.
Comparison to Old Testament characters
Jude knows that it’s difficult for us to remember
a laundry list of faults, so he sticks in a list of similar people,
familiar to us from the Old Testament. We need to do a bit of
digging to discover what he means.
· Cain, we remember,
murdered his brother Abel – and justified himself with the
question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Here’s something to
look out for. Cain’s problem was that his own evil was not
acceptable to God – while his brother’s offering was
accepted. Do you see envy and jealousy here? Look further
and you will see this: God warned Cain. He had but to turn
from his wickedness and he would have been accepted.
· Balaam – scattered
across Numbers – is a fine example. He is a prophet of God –
but he also dabbles in other gods and goddesses, and he
likes divination and sorcery. More to the point – he does
this for money. He led the Israelites to sexual orgies at
some temples. He was a “prophet for hire” – telling you what
you wanted to hear. Joshua eventually had him executed for
sorcery. But here you see the example of the “shepherds who
feed themselves” – church leaders serving themselves.
· Korah is another
example. Korah and his followers decided to help God out.
They knew they were as good as Aaron, so they went to offer
incense and prayer to God at the Tabernacle. They placed
their reason over God’s command. God had Moses separate them
out – and then had the earth swallow them. Do we know anyone
today who places human reason above God’s word?
Whose problem is this?
It comes to mind – after all, most of us are not
church leaders. So Jude makes it personal:
· These men are
“blemishes” on our potluck church dinners. As a teenage girl
works so hard to rid herself of pimples, so we should work
to rid ourselves of these men.
· The best test of such
men is still the same: much sound, much fury – but no fruit
for the Lord.
· They make a great
show of being righteous, but we still must look at their
fruits.
To make this urgent for us, Jude reminds us that
there is the 2nd Coming of our Lord. We seldom hear much of this
these days. We need to remember that our Lord is coming to judge the
living and the dead. For the sake of our own salvation, we need to
be watching out for these people. In the context of the 2nd Coming,
Jude gives us warning to watch out for these people:
·
Grumblers.
Every church seems to have them, but we should take
particular care that we don’t join them.
·
Faultfinders.
Of course, we only do that to point out someone else’s sin,
right?
·
Following their own evil desires.
Have you ever known a Christian who put their desires above
their love for Christ?
·
Boasting.
Some of us are so proud of just how humble we truly are.
·
Flattery.
This one interests me. It is as if they assume that all
others in the church are like they are, frauds. When fraud
meets fraud in public, flattery is the result.
Do such things affect us in our church? I would
think so.
What to do about it
This is all well and good as warning – but then
what? What’s the average Christian to do?
First, remember that you were warned that such
men would appear. It was prophesied. So you should expect it. This
is one reason you should stay in the church congregation where God
has placed you – all the other congregations have this problem too.
Don’t be surprised when you find it. What kind of people were
prophesied?
· Scoffers, particularly
those who doubt the return of the Lord.
· Those who follow only
their natural instinct. Have you ever heard, “Something so
wonderful and beautiful as sex just can’t be wrong, I know
God would approve?”
· Most importantly,
such people do not have the Holy Spirit. Remember the fruit
of the Spirit? If it’s not there, you know you’ve found one.
Next, we need to take that we do not slip into
the same things. We need to be building ourselves up. Jude gives us
these specifics:
· Faith – if we must stand
one against the world, this is essential.
· Prayer – those who are
self centered have no time for this. If you are a true
Christian, you make time for it.
· Keep in God’s love. Do
you see the love of God flowing out from your hands?
· Surprisingly, you
do all this while you wait – for his return.
Finally, having been forewarned, having built
ourselves up in the faith, we must exercise church discipline when
we can, in the love of God.
· First, we are to be
merciful to those who doubt. For those who are new in the
faith, nothing really helps like having wise counsel. This
is an act of mercy.
· Next, we are to
exercise church discipline. Remember what we are doing here:
we are to “snatch others from the fire and save them.” Does
this mean that we should consider those lost in sin as
headed for hell? Yes. Even in a church that never mentions
that word and uses the euphemism “Christ-less eternity.”
(The Bible mentions hell fire; we mention home sickness.)
Finally, we are to show mercy mixed with fear. We must always
remember that hell is real – so we should do everything we can to
keep ourselves and our brothers and sisters from it.
