Jude – A Catalog of Evil Doers
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. (Jude 1:4-8)
THE WORLD WOULD LOVE TO HAVE AN ELEVATED BOOK OF POETRY that does not mention God’s disfavor with rebellious attitudes and degrading practices. But, alas, if we would like to know the whole truth about us and our Creator, we must have room for the sight of burning cities and water covering the tops of the mountains without the sound of a single bird.
JUDE TOLD US IN VERSE THREE THAT HE HAD PLANNED TO WRITE something about the common salvation; something that would be of value to all his readers who held the faith in common. But the Holy Spirit forbid him to write about that and he was directed to warn his readers about some men who were going to slip into their assemblies and corrupt their knowledge and faith. It is unpleasant to deal with people who smell bad, and even worse to deal with bad people who do not want to fit in to God’s order of things. But, that’s what Jude had to do.
YESTERDAY, McGEE MENTIONED: Apostasy was just a little cloud the size of a man's hand in Jude's day, but now it is a storm of hurricane force that fills the land. Is that not the case today? A lot of moral rot in America today would be short-lived if the pulpits of our country were filled with thunder and a trumpet of “Thus saith the Lord!”
BUT, ALAS, SO MANY OF OUR HOUSES OF WORSHIP HAVE NO MESSAGE from the Lord and instead, are houses of accommodation to whatever sin will drop money in the offering plate. We are bent on helping people feel good about anything that crosses their minds and we have no message from God. The Bible is a closed book and the crosses on the stained-glass windows and front doors of our churches mean whatever the paying people want them to mean.
JUDE PROCEEDED TO TELL HIS READERS THAT HE WOULD PUT THEM in remembrance of the people who came out of Egypt with God’s strong arm, but among those who were delivered were those who went along for the ride and were, unbelievers. That picture is not about eternal life but about the way things played out on their earthly journey. They were not “saved” in an eternal sense. They were saved out of the tyranny and slavery of Egypt. It was an earthly thing. God saved them out of the mud pits used for making bricks.
BUT, THEY WERE NOT ABOUT TO SUBMITE TO THE ETERNAL GOD any more than Pharaoh. Jude reminded his readers that God destroyed those unbelievers who went along for the ride. Jude was preaching no new thing. Everybody knew about it. He says he was just helping them to remember what they already knew.
THE ANGELS THAT JOINED UP WITH LUCIFER AND REBELLED AGAINST GOD were mentioned as an example of the high cost of turning against the Almighty God. Many of these angels are already bound with chains to keep them in prison until their day of judgment. Rebelling against God is a serious thing regardless of who does it, including angels.
JUDE BRINGS UP THE CITIES OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH and the neighboring cites that had given themselves over to sexual sin. He mentions that in their practice of sexual sins, they went after strange flesh. No need to go into detail here. Paul deals with this in Romans and it was male going after male and female going after female.
THEN JUDE TELLS HIS READERS THAT AMONG THE FALSE TEACHERS who are on their way to infiltrate their ranks, that they were filthy dreamers. The word filthy is in italics, meaning it is not in the original manuscript. It was added to give the opinion of the translators who felt that they were filthy. McGee makes a good observation about the false teachers. “They are dreamers—they live in an unreal world, a world that does not exist. My feeling is that the theological liberal has never dealt with reality. Liberalism is rather romantic. It sounds good on paper. It is nice to be able to solve all your problems by positive thinking, but there is a lot of power in negative thinking also. We need today to learn how to say no as well as to say yes. Liberals are dreamers in the sense that they will not face up to reality.”
BUT DON'T FORGET THAT THE TRANSLATORS INSERTED FILTHY INTO THE TEXT. I think they got it right. Years ago, I remember how the Baptists prided themselves in the idea that the Catholics were having all the unmentionable problems with their priests misbehaving, “but we don’t do stuff like that!” And then we got a little honest with ourselves and it turns out that Baptists have their own version of misbehavior among the leaders of our churches.
JUDE SAYS THAT THE DREAMERS WHO WOULD COME IN AMONG THEM would defile the flesh. They would defile the flesh by leading the church people off into their misbehavior. The context of this verse is emphasized by the word: likewise. That is, they would be like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
WE ARE NOW HEARING A LOT ABOUT THE INCLUSIVE CHURCHES WHO ACCEPT people who are engaged in sexual misbehavior and they are honored as regular members of the church. In the name of “love,” the churches no longer tell them that they are to repent of their sins and do not even tell them that their behavior is sinful.
WHEN WE DIG INTO THE MESSGE OF JUDGE AND THE MESSAGE OF 2PETER, we can understand how these two books are so infuriating to a lot of people who say that Christianity is a “hindrance to progress.” In all of this spin-doctoring by the false teachers in the churches, God is not threatened. He is going to have the last word and His word will prevail when they stand before Him to be judged. Jude is very strong in his message of judgment upon these false teachers.
WARREN WIERSBE SUMMARIZES THE FALSE TEACHERS WITH THREE STATEMENTS: 1. They reject Divine authority. 2. They resort to deliberate hypocrisy. 3. They will receive their due penalty.” Ω
Read Through the Bible in a Year
JUNE 19, 2018 – TUESDAY
A.M. Nehemiah 9-11 P.M. Acts 4:1-22
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.) If you are behind in reading, read the passage for today and then go back.
Good Memory Verse:
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:18) (Write verses on scraps of paper and put in your pocket to memorize like President Abraham Lincoln did. Or, write on a half 3x5 card. I like the bright green cards I got from Amazon. I cut them in half and use them for rewriting all my memory verses. I write them by hand or on my daddy’s Royal typewriter.)
Song for Today:
There’s A Great Day Coming (2:30) – (The Nashville Singers)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4X8EblMNUo
A little heavy on the rhythm, but the message is good and very clear. You may need to delete an ad or turn off the song when finished to avoid something else you do not want to hear.
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