What on Earth Are We to Do about Unbelief? (Part 8 of 10)

Unbelief is rampant in our world.  Specifically, unbelief in the gospel.  What’s a Christian to do?  We have seen from the little epistle of Jude that first, we are to keep ourselves strong in the faith (vv. 1-4).  Second, we must be aware of attacks on the Christian faith (vv. 3-4).  Third, we must be prepared to do battle for Christianity’s truths (vv. 3-4).  Fourth, we must acknowledge the fact that the God who delivers is also a God who destroys (vv. 5-7).  We must, fifth, realize the dangers of false teaching (vv. 8-10).  Sixth, we must see that false teachers are simply repeating the errors of history (v. 11).  Seventh, we should realize that false teachers have nothing to offer (vv. 12-13).

Let’s look at an eighth part of our response to unbelief in our world and it is this —

Step #8-  We must recognize that false teachers inevitably lead to ungodly living! (vv. 14-16).

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.

These false teachers may have taken the believers to whom Jude is writing by surprise, but they did not surprise God.  We saw at the beginning of the epistle that these teachers are “certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago.”  We see in verse 14 that they were prophesied about by Enoch.  Who is this Enoch?  He is described as “the seventh from Adam,” so he can’t be Enoch, the son of Cain (Gen. 4:17) who was the third from Adam.

The saying of Enoch here quoted is found at the beginning of the Book of Enoch (Jude 1:9): “And behold He comes with myriads of saints to execute judgment on them, and He will destroy the ungodly and judge all flesh concerning all things which the sinners and ungodly have committed and done against Him.” These words are taken from a speech in which an angel interprets a vision which Enoch has seen, and in which he announces to him the future judgment of God.

Enoch was a important person mentioned in Genesis 5:24, the 7th from Adam, the son of Jared (Gen. 5:18) and the father of Methuselah (5:21; Luke 3:37). After the birth of Methuselah at 65, Enoch lived 300 more years (Gen 5:23-24). “So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”  Hebrews 11:5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”  Enoch was transported into heaven without dying. With Enoch was conveyed the teaching of both heaven and immortality.

The concept of ten thousand saints is not unique. In Deut. 33:2 And he said: “The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints; from His right hand came a fiery law for them.”  Revelation 5:11 says, “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. ” The Bible teaches that heaven has a vast population of both angels and people — saints. These are those (either one or both groups) who will come with him when he comes to earth to judge and set up his kingdom.

Jude was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21), so we know that what he quoted from Enoch was true. This is confirmed by the fact that the same idea about the Lord returning with His holy ones to render judgment is found elsewhere in the Bible (Zechariah 14:5, Isaiah 66:15, and Psalm 96:13, Deut. 33:2).

The true prophecy of Enoch, though unrecorded, could have been handed down by tradition, as the Jews had a meticulous way of keeping both written and oral tradition. Paul mentions Jannes and Jambres the Egyptian magicians, names known in Jewish tradition, but not from Scripture (2 Tim. 3:8). For him to do this and be accurate God would have had to confirm the tradition.

“Even if Jude cites a passage from this non-canonical book, it does not mean he accepted the whole book as true, only this particular statement. I think it is more likely Jude did not lift this statement from the non-Biblical book of Enoch,. It was either something passed on orally or he received it as a direct revelation from God.” (http://www.letusreason.org/Biblexp118.htm)

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At any rate, we have Jude predicting (from this non-biblical source) God’s judgment upon ungodly, false teachers.  His emphasis in on their ungodliness!  “. . . 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” (v. 15).

He then describes the present teachers as “grumblers and faultfinders.”  They follow their own desires, boast about themselves, and flatter others for their own advantage. (v. 16).  We must recognize and point out ungodliness, especially if we wish to guard God’s people!

 

“Sin is not judged by what we think about it — but by what GOD thinks about it!”

Questions:

1.  Would you say from the quote above that Rob Bell is advocating ungodliness?

2.  How difficult it is to stay biblically true, regardless of the blowing winds of culture.  What are other examples of ungodliness that you see today?

 

 

What on Earth Are We to Do about Unbelief? (Part 7 of 10)

We have been asking the question, how should we respond to the unbelief in the world?  We are not to wring our hands and become disillusioned, fall into despair, or give up.  Rather, we have seen from the little epistle of Jude that we are to, first, keep ourselves strong in the faith (vv. 1-4).  We must also be aware of attacks on the Christian faith (vv. 3-4) and be prepared to do battle for the truths of Christianity (vv. 3-4).  We must acknowledge the biblical truth that the God who saves is also a God who destroys (vv. 5-7).  We saw in our last post that we must realize the dangers of false teaching (vv. 8-10).
Let’s look at a seventh part of our response to unbelief in our world and it is this —

Step #7-  We must See that false teachers have Nothing to Offer! (vv. 12-13).

When I was a child, I was told that calling people names (other than their given names) was not nice.  Here in verses 12-13 Jude resorts to name-calling.  But name-calling is appropriate when it is accurate — and these false teachers need to be carefully described by Jude.

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.

He uses six metaphors to explain why these false teachers have nothing to offer the believers to whom Jude is writing.
(1) “They are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm”! (v. 13).  The Greek term Jude uses for “blemishes” is spilades, a term meaning “rocks.” Barnes suggests it may refer to a rock by the sea against which vessels may be wrecked or a hidden rock in the sea on which they may be stranded; these false teachers cause others to make shipwreck of their faith.  These eat with the believers without any fear of what their eating represents.  If this is a reference to the Lord’s Supper, then they are certainly eating in an “unworthy manner” (I Cor. 11:27).
(2) They are shepherds who feed only themselves.  One commentator said they pamper themselves, instead of pastoring God’ people.
(3) They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind.  2 Peter 2:17 uses a slightly different metaphor.  He says they are “wells without water.”  These teachers promise what they cannot deliver.
(4) They are autumn trees, without root and uprooted — twice dead.  Jude “compares them to trees, which having leaves and blossoms, make a show of fruit, but cast it, or never bring it to maturity, or it rots instead of ripening; so these here make a show of truth and holiness, but all comes to nothing.”  These are not trees that are “mostly dead” (to borrow an expression from “The Princess Bride”), but doubly dead.  One is reminded of Matthew 21:18-19 and Jesus’ cursing of the barren fig tree which had leaves (evidence of some early, immature fruit), but no fruit.
(5) They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame.  Isaiah 57:20 says, “The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”  One commentator says, “They seem to produce nothing but foam, and to proclaim their own shame, that after all their wild roaring and agitation they should effect no more.”
(6)  They are wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.  The Greek word literally means “planets,” which shine for a time, but have no light in themselves. The Jews called their teachers stars, and Christian teachers are represented under the emblem of stars.  But these stars have no fixed position, but just roam about.  Shooting stars which seem to rush from their sphere into darkness.  to whom is reserved utter darkness, a phrase which not only expresses the dreadful nature of their punishment, but also the certainty of it. It is “reserved” for them among the treasures of divine wrath and vengeance, by the righteous appointment of God, according to the just demerit of their sins.  Note also that it will be for ever; there will never be any light or comfort, but a continual everlasting black despair, a worm that dieth not, a fire that will not be quenched, the smoke and blackness of which will ascend for ever and ever.  Hell is meant by it, which the Jews represent as a place of darkness: the Egyptian darkness, they say, came from the darkness of hell, and in hell the wicked will be covered with darkness.

Goodness!  Jude minces no words in describing these false teachers!  Ideas have consequences and these false teachers not only have nothing to offer, they have much to take away!

Questions:

1.  Who are some of the contemporary false teachers in our culture, do you think? What are their ideas that are unbiblical?

2.  What Christian truths are they taking away?

 

 

 

What on Earth Are We to Do about Unbelief? (Part 6c of 10)

Should Christians simply ignore the unbelief they see in the world around them?  Should we become discouraged, lose hope, think that the gospel isn’t “the power of God unto salvation to all who believe”?  We’ve seen from this little letter of Jude that we must first, keep ourselves strong in the faith (vv. 1-4).  We then noticed that we must be aware of attacks on the Christian faith (vv. 3-4).  And we must be prepared to do battle for the truths of Christianity (vv. 3-4).  We also saw that the God who saves is also a God who destroys (vv. 5-7).  We saw from verses 8-10 that we must realize the dangers of false teaching.

Let’s finish up the third part of our sixth point of our response to unbelief in our world and it is this —

Step #6c-  We must See that false teachers are simply repeating the errors of history (v. 11).

Jude continues by saying that these false teachers have “. . . been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion” (v. 11)

11 Woe 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.

The Korah story is one of rebellion and is told us in Numbers 16.  Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On “became insolent” and rose up against Moses.  250 Israelite leaders joined them in opposing Moses and Aaron.  Their accusation was that Moses and Aaron had gone too far and had set themselves above the Lord’s assembly (vv. 1-3).

Moses stands up against these men and tells Korah that the Lord will show who belongs to Him.  Korah and his followers are to burn incense before the Lord.  Moses reminds Korah of the privileged place he and the Levites have in serving Israel — “but now you are trying to get the priesthood too.  Moses says, “You Levites have gone too far!” (vv. 4-7).  “It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together.  Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?” (vv. 8-11).

Moses summons Dathan and Abiram, but they refuse to come to Moses.  They accuse Moses of not only bringing the people into the wilderness to kill them (out of a land flowing with milk and honey! Egypt???), but now of wanting to lord it over us!  “You haven’t brought us into a land of mild and honey,” they say to Moses, “or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards.” (vv. 12-14).

The showdown with Korah and his followers takes place the next day at the entrance to the tent of meeting.  The families of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram are swallowed up by the earth opening up under them (vv. 31-33).  Fire comes from the Lord and consumes the 250 men who were offering the incense (v. 35).  The censers “of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives” were hammered to overlay the altar (v. 38).  Israel was reminded that no one but a descendent of Aaron could burn incense before the Lord.

The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have killed the Lord’s people.” (v. 41).  God sends a plague among the people.  Aaron offers the incense and makes atonement for the people, and the plague stops.  But 14,700 people died from the plague. (v. 49).

Questions:

1.  Numbers 27:3 tells us that Korah and his followers “banded together against the Lord . . .” How do we know when we are in danger of banding together against the Lord?

2.  What does Jude mean when he says these false teachers of his day “have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion” (v. 11)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What on Earth Are We to Do about Unbelief? (Part 6a of 10)

We have been asking the question, how should we respond to the unbelief in the world?  We are not to wring our hands and become disillusioned, fall into despair, or give up.  Rather, we have seen from the little epistle of Jude that we are to, first, keep ourselves strong in the faith (vv. 1-4).  We must also be aware of attacks on the Christian faith (vv. 3-4) and be prepared to do battle for the truths of Christianity (vv. 3-4).  We must acknowledge the biblical truth that the God who saves is also a God who destroys (vv. 5-7).  We saw in our last post that we must realize the dangers of false teaching (vv. 8-10).

Let’s look at a sixth part of our response to unbelief in our world and it is this (it’s in three parts) —

Step #6a-  We must see that false teachers are simply repeating the errors of history (v. 11).

11 Woe 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.

Jude says that these false teachers have “taken the way of Cain . . . rushed for profit into Balaam’s error . . . [and] have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.” (v. 11)

Let’s notice first of all:  (1) They have “taken the way of Cain”:  Cain’s “way” is described in Genesis 4.  Adam and Eve’s two sons, Cain and Abel, had different professions.  Abel kept flocks; Cain worked the soil.  Both bring offerings to the Lord — Cain brought vegetables; Abel brought the firstborn from his flock.  We read, “The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.” (vv. 4b-5).  Instead of asking the Lord how he could improve his offering, Cain became very angry.  He did not resist the sin that was crouching at his door (v. 7).  With premeditation Cain takes his brother Abel out to the field and kills him there (v. 9).  Cain is then put under a curse by the Lord and goes out from the Lord’s presence (v. 16).

Perhaps Jude’s point is that these false teachers are motivated by jealousy towards God’s people, want to set their own terms as to what should be acceptable offerings to the Lord, and are headed on a metaphorical pathway to murder!

Questions:
1.  We read in Hebrews 11:4-  “By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.”  How would Abel had known that his was a “better offering”?

2.  How does Abel still “speak,” do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What on Earth Are We to Do about Unbelief? (Part 5 of 10)

When we look around us at an  unbelieving world, what is the Christian to do?  Wring his hands in despair?  Keep focused only on his own walk with God and ignore the world?  No, we have seen in this one-chapter letter of Jude that we are to, first of all, keep ourselves strong in the faith (vv. 1-4).  We must, however, be aware of attacks on the Christian faith (vv. 3-4).  Third, we saw that we must be prepared to do battle for the truths of Christianity (vv. 3-4).  In our last post we realized that we must acknowledge that the Lord who delivers is a God who also destroys (vv. 5-7).

Let’s look at our fifth response to an unbelieving world and it is this —

Step #5-  We must Realize the Dangers of False Teaching (vv. 8-10)
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.

False teaching is not innocent.  Contradicting the truths of God’s Word must not be viewed as simply alternative viewpoints or different perspectives or another set of religious opinions.  Jude tells us these false teachers, who give way too much authority to their own dreams, “pollute their own bodies” (v. 8).  Self-pollution comes from false teaching.  An air of unteachableness marks them, for they “reject authority,” not wanting to be corrected.  They also “heap abuse on celestial beings.”  I’m not sure what Jude means by this expression, but we know that we are to have a healthy respect for, but not undue attention on, the members of the angelic world God created.

To illustrate his point, Jude gives us a view into the angelic world, citing the archangel Michael as one who turned to the Lord in his dispute with the devil about the body of Moses (v. 9).  Apparently Jude is alluding to the Jewish Testament of Moses (approximately the first century A.D.).  His point is that Michael “knew his place” and deferred to the Lord in dealing with the devil.  Jude stresses that these contemporary false teachers slander what they don’t understand — and what they do understand will destroy them. (to be continued)

“The sin both of men and of angels was rendered possible by the fact that God gave us free will.”
― C.S. Lewis

Questions:
1.  We often think of false teachers and their teaching as negatively impacting others.  What are some effects of false teaching on the teachers themselves?

2.  How do we achieve a biblical balance between not thinking too much about angels and giving them too much attention?