TEXT: Jude 4-16
READING: 2 Peter 3:1-18
SUBJ: The warnings concerning apostates culminating in the prophesy of Enoch being cited with the attendant Gospel expectation being set forth.
AIM: That we should be aware of the operations of the enemies of the Gospel, the enemies of our Lord but that we might likewise rejoice at that which is to come.
INTR: Jude is quite obviously zealous for the defense of the faith once delivered to the saints and is not hesitant to identify those who would seek to pollute the Gospel and who endeavor to lead others in the ways of their errors.
1. We previously looked at the first three verses with the emphasis on who was addressed (v. 1), his desire for multiplied graces to them (v. 2), the common salvation, and their need to contend for the faith (v. 3).
2. The need is pointed out because there are those who seek to counter the truth and are actively warring against it. The first book I ever read by John MacArthur was The Truth War.
3. We would endeavor to identify them as the scripture suggests by their fruits as Jude does in this passage.
THESIS: As a thesis for this message, I offer a quote from MacArthur. “Truth is that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory, and being of God. Even more to the point: Truth is the self-expression of God.”
I. Of those crept in unawares (vv. 4-7)
1. Deceptive in their approach requiring in us that we must be fortified through the Word.
2. They turn the grace of God into something (anything) that in effect denies the Lord – ungodly to be sure. Before of old ordained to this condemnation – consider the long history of such in O. T. history and even now in efforts to accommodate cultural issues.
3. There is necessity that we declare the Lord’s hatred of sin and past reactions to it. We are shown three examples of divine intolerance:
1) Those who fell in the wilderness because of unbelief – one long funeral march – Psalm 90.
2) The angels who “kept not their first estate.” A question here as to how they are reserved. In hell now or kept unescapably under the certainty of judgement – they are not to be redeemed.
3) And we are quite familiar with the multiple references to Sodom, their sins, and the consequence of sin – they are set forth for an example! Note the declarations of Romans 1.
II. The example of Michael (vv. 8-13)
1. Who is Michael? The messenger to Daniel (10:13, 10:21) referred to him as a prince over angels. John Gill thought that he was Christ Himself. Others had held this thought.
2. What is at issue here is that these interlopers speak evil of dignities (whether of divinely appointed leaders or perhaps here failing to recognize that Lucifer was the creation of God).
3. The lesson for us is that we cannot, in our own strength, face anything successfully. These would have contended on their own or claim to have done so.
4. They rely on what they know naturally. The reference to brute beasts is to call attention to animals who instinctively do what their instincts dictate (McGee and migrating birds). And so they reveal their nature having:
1) Gone in the way of Cain – openly defying God in the matter of a proper sacrifice.
2) Greedily after the error of Balaam – looking for reward and counseling the Israelites to idolatry and to immorality supposing thereby to force the Lord’s judgment upon them.
3) The gainsaying of Core – rejected the God-appointed leadership of Moses and Aaron to impose his own will upon God and the people.
5. Their participation in the religious activities of the churches were as spots – corrupting those things that should be kept pure. They are reserved to the blackness of darkness forever.
III. The prophesy of Enoch (vv. 14-16)
1. A quote from the Apocrypha.
2. What are the implications to us:
1) Despite all that we read here of these apostates we know that the Lord is coming. This is our blessed Hope, the culmination of redemption and that which we await and expect with all confidence.
2) Furthermore, we know that He will be accompanied by an untold number of His saints. Out of every kindred and nation and tongue, them that fear God, work righteousness, and are accepted of Him.
3) That they will be in attendance as He executes judgment and will convince (convict) the ungodly of their ungodly deeds (the works themselves), ungodly committed (the motives that drove them), their ungodly speeches spoken against Him.
4) These are they with the aim of obtaining the admiration of men.
3. It is evident throughout that Jude is quite outspoken and unsparing in identifying the wickedness of these. It is for us to take courage as we face the things of this present world. We are to be encouraged by the example of Michael and the Blessed Hope that existed as far back as Enoch. In the last part of the book Jude does this effectively.
