The Acts of The Apostates

In 1 Timothy 4:1, Paul is writing to his young protégé. Pastor Timothy said these words. He said, “Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times…,” I believe we’re in the latter times, “…that some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” Paul told Timothy that in the last days there would be a departure from the faith. Now, that is a description of apostasy. The word apostasy means a departing. So, we’re talking about those who have professed to be Christian. They come into the church. Many times they become leaders, pastors, bishops, elders and overseers, but they haven’t truly been born again. The profess only to know Him. In verse 19 of Jude it says they are sensual and they have not the Spirit, so what happens is they depart. They apostatize. They leave the faith, many times becoming enemies of the faith, denying the faith (verse 4) that was once and for all delivered to the saints. Jesus warned about false prophets, wolves who come to us in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Paul warned us here, writing to Timothy, he was meeting with the elders on the beach at Ephesus. He said, “I know that after I depart shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock and some would arise from your very own midst.” It was Paul’s concern. And Peter, writing in his second epistle, described the same apostasy. John warned us in his three epistles, and now Jude is warning us to earnestly contend for the faith which was once and for all delivered to the saints.

Now as I said today in verses 8-16, we are going to get a picture of the apostates. Since the apostates come in with subtlety, verse 4, Jude wants us to be able to identify them. Now, I am taking a larger section than I normally take on a Sunday morning, so I’m going to try my best to move along and not get bogged down. I don’t want to spend two more weeks on apostates. I want to kind of cover it and get it done so we can get into the positive building up yourself in your most holy faith. Well, there are three pictures or descriptions of the apostates. If you’re taking notes, write them down. First, they reject divine authority. That theme runs through this whole passage and that ultimate divine authority lies in God’s Word. They reject it. Go with me to the text beginning in verse 8. Jude says, “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion…,” there’s the idea of rejecting authority, and he said they, “… speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” Verse 10, “But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” Now, Jude shows us the daring nature of the apostate’s conduct, how it is related to the sin of Israel (verse 5), how it is related to the angels’ sin that fell (verse 6), and how it’s related to the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah (verse 7). When he uses (verse 8) the phrase “likewise” or some translations have “in the same manner,” so in the same way that Israel apostatized, the same way the angels fell, the same way that Sodom and Gomorrah receiving revelation from God turned away and they were destroyed, judgment, judgment, judgment. In the same way, he begins to describe their situation.

Now, there is a little key word I want to point out. It’s the word “these.” It’s used in verse 8, and I want you to notice it. “Likewise also these filthy dreamers…,” so “these” is a reference to the apostates or the false teachers. Notice it again in verse 10, “But these speak evil of those things which they know not…” Then notice it again in verse 12, “These are spots in your feasts of charity…” Then notice it in verse 14, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these…” Jump down to verse 16, “These are murmurers…” and notice in verse 19, “These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit…” These, these, these. These who? These what? These apostates. Have I made myself clear? Jude is describing those who depart from the faith, who have not the Spirit, who are sensual.

Now, notice why they depart from the faith or the cause of their apostasy in verse 8, “Likewise also these filthy dreamers…” My King James in italics has put in the word filthy. It doesn't really belong there. It’s not in the Greek, so it could be that they have filthy dreams. We are going to see that they defile the flesh; but the focus is on their dreaming, that they don't live in the real world, they aren’t living in reality. Sometimes we’ll say, “You’re dreaming!” or “In your dreams, buddy!” It’s kind of like, “You don’t know what you're talking about, you're living in a dream world.” So what he’s trying to convey is that they live in an unreal world. Their minds are numb to the truth of God’s Word. Some translations have rendered it, “They base their beliefs on dreams and visions.” I’m not sure that is what he’s trying to convey, but you don’t want to base your belief system on dreams and visions. They are subjective. You can eat chocolate cake and get visions from the Lord. When you’re over 60 and eat chocolate cake before you go to bed, God can give you visions all night long. But they’re really not from God, they’re from the chocolate cake! Isn’t that a bummer? You get old and everything you eat keeps you awake. Everything you eat you get dreams and visions from the Lord.

I think the conveying idea here is that they make things up. These are just concocted ideas. They are living in a dream world. So that’s the cause. They are not submitted to the authority of scripture, because notice in verse 8, the course of their apostasy described. First of all, they defile the flesh. Now, I talked a lot about this in verse 7. I don’t want to dwell upon it, but many times these false teachers (verse 4) turn the grace of God into lasciviousness or license to do whatever they want. God won’t judge you. God won’t punish you. It’s okay, it’s not sin. They take sin out of their vocabulary. There is nothing that is wrong. Everything is okay. Their doctrine leads them to destructive living. They go after strange flesh (verse 7), they practice immorality. In 2 Peter 2:10, “But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.” Nine times out of ten, when you read about the apostates, these false teachers, sexual immorality and perverted lifestyle go hand in hand. Be careful. God has called us to holiness. God has called us to a separated life. Not to earn, merit or deserve heaven, but so that we reflect His holiness and His glory. But these false teachers, they despise things that are holy. When a person despises God’s authority, he feels free to disobey God’s laws and to live however he pleases. Watch out for false prophets and false teachers who will lower God’s standards to accommodate their sinful flesh and sinful appetites.

Notice, secondly, they despise dominion (verse 8). They despise dominion. What that means is they reject authority. I think it falls in different categories. They reject civil authority. They reject spiritual authority. They reject Biblical authority. They despise authority, especially the authority of God’s Word. What we want is men and women, especially in leadership and in the church, we want people who are submitted to the authority of God’s Word. Amen? This book, the Bible, is the authoritative Word of God. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. And when the Bible speaks and God speaks, we basically obey, right? Thus saith the Lord—there is no debate. There is no discussion. God’s Word is the final court of appeal.

Notice thirdly, they speak evil of dignities (verses 8, 9 and 10). The word “dignities” could be translated, “glories” and it could be angels. He goes on to use Michael as an example, how he didn’t rail on Satan but said the Lord rebuke thee. It could be that he’s talking about dignities in the angelic realm, but it could also be leaders in the church or leaders in government. At the end of verse 8 to verse 9 it says, “…speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael…,” so Michael is given as a contrast to the false teachers, the apostates, who speak evil of dignities. “Yet, Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” Now, I have had a couple of people tell me they are waiting for me to preach on this verse. I don’t know why. “Oh, I can’t wait until they get there, I want to know about the argument over the body of Moses.” It’s funny how people are drawn to weird passages. My conclusion: They are weird people. This is a passage that is kind of weird. It’s different. It’s controversial. Let me say something right off the bat…Michael disputing with the devil over the body of Moses is not the point. So, if you get all enamored about that, you missed the point! You miss what God is trying to say here. What Jude is trying to point out at the end of verse 9 is that Michael did not bring a railing accusation against him but said the Lord rebuke thee. That’s in contrast to those in verse 8 who speak evil of dignities. Even Michael would not speak evil of the devil. He said the Lord rebuke thee.

Let’s go back for a minute about this argument over the body of Moses. The story is given in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy 34. When Moses died God buried his body. Think about that. It seems as though Michael, the archangel, by the way, he’s “the” archangel, not an archangel, so there’s only one archangel. The Bible names three basic angels; Michael, Gabriel and technically, Lucifer, who became Satan. Yet, I hear people tell me all these different names of angels. The Bible doesn’t give all these names of angels. Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer. Now, Michael is “the” archangel, and he is a powerful angel. Angels have great power. They are powerful spiritual beings. But, why was Michael debating with Satan or arguing with Satan. Evidently, Michael was trying to bury the body of Moses, and Satan wanted his body. And here’s the mystery. This is what everyone wanted to know. Why did Satan want his body? Here’s the answer. Are you ready for it? We don’t know. Hahahahahah. You’d been waiting weeks for this. We don't know! When the Bible is silent, we are silent.

Now there are some theories. There is one that I think is a good one. Again, we don’t know. It’s just a theory. It’s just an idea. The children of Israel had a propensity to idolatry. They had a propensity to idol worship. It would have been so likely that they would have taken the body of Moses and worshiped it. They certainly would have set up a shrine, right? They would have put a fence around it, charged admission, and sold little booklets. This is where Moses is buried, you know. Put a little shrine with tour busses coming up there. They’d burn incense and chant prayers, you know. They would have worshiped. Satan would have loved for that to have happened. But, again, that’s not the point of the text. God, for some reason, wanted Moses buried where no one knew where his grave was. For some reason…Now, could it be that He didn’t want them to worship Moses. I think that’s very possible. Moses does appear on Mt. Transfiguration with Elijah in the holy land. He wasn’t allowed to go into the holy land, but he did appear on Mt. Transfiguration. So, he got to look around and say, “Wow! This is what I’m missing, right?” I believe we’ll see Moses in heaven.

The point of the passage is that he didn’t bring a railing accusation against the devil. He just said the Lord rebuke you. You always want to keep the Lord between you and the devil. You got that? You don’t want to roll up your sleeves and say, “Stand back, Jesus, I can take care of the devil. I can handle this one, Lord. I’m going to handle the devil just fine.” The Lord will just say, “I don’t want to watch.” You know there are a lot of Christians who for a lot of years had this idea that we could rebuke the devil. “I bind you, Satan! I rebuke you, devil!” And, they’re bossing the devil around. Nowhere in the Bible are we told that we can “bind” Satan. If you could bind Satan, go bind him permanently, would you? Bind him over the whole earth. At least bind him in Southern California for a while. Even Michael, the powerful archangel, didn’t say, “I bind you, Satan! I rebuke you, Satan!” He said, “The Lord rebuke you.” I always want to keep the Lord as a buffer between me and the devil. I shutter when I think back in the Jesus days years ago. We used to sing, “If the devil doesn’t like it, he can sit on a tack!” Not a good song, okay? If the devil doesn’t like it, he can sit on a tack? 1) We shouldn’t be singing about the devil, and 2) be careful what you say, he’s a powerful angelic being. You don’t want to mess with the devil. It’s always the Lord rebuke you. My theory is: When the devil knocks at the door, let Jesus answer it. Amen? And when he goes to the back door, let Jesus answer it. And if he tries to come in through the window? Let Jesus deal with it. I don’t have the authority to deal with the devil other than the fact that I am in Christ and Christ is my buffer zone. I say, “The Lord rebuke thee.”

So they despised dominion, they speak evil of dignities and then I want you to notice that also, thirdly, the characteristics of their apostasy as seen from the picture of three men in the Old Testament. These are some of my favorite verses in the book of Jude. Verse 11, “Woe unto them! for they have gone after the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” Just quickly, let’s look at these three Old Testament stories that illustrate the apostates. The way of Cain: This speaks of the fact that God’s authority of salvation, the blood sacrifice, and the way of faith is rejected by them. The way of Cain is the way of self effort, human works, self righteousness. The story is recorded in Genesis 4. Cain rebelled against God’s revealed Word and will regarding blood sacrifices. He brought the fruit of the ground. That’s a picture of thinking that I can do something to get to heaven. I can do some kind of good work to get to heaven. There’s nothing you can do to save your soul. Jesus died to save you. Jesus paid the penalty for your sins. All you need to do, or remains for you to do, is to put your trust in Him. Put your faith in Him. Receive His finished work on the cross on your behalf. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. We sing, naked come I to thee for dress. So we come poor, miserable, naked and blind. But not Cain, he brought a whole basket of the fruit of his own labor. His brother Abel slew a lamb and took the blood, and he brought that. That was the sacrifice God was looking for. The book of Hebrews tells us that he did not come in faith. Later on, they would have sacrifices of grain offerings and so forth, but it pictures the fact that he thought his righteousness could get him to heaven, and he didn’t come in faith.

There are so many today that teach you're saved by your good works. You don’t need the cross of Jesus Christ. If there was anything you could do to save yourself, Jesus Christ would never have died on the cross. If you could be baptized and go to heaven, we don’t need the cross. If you could live a good life and go to heaven, we don’t need the cross. If you could go to church on Sunday and get to heaven, we don’t need the cross. We need the cross! We have all sinned. We have all fallen short. If you want to get to heaven, there is only one way and that’s Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by Him.

Now I want you to notice the second image is out of Balaam. The story is recorded in Numbers 22-25. The story has it that the children of Israel had come into the land and Balaak, the king of Moab, wanted Balaam, the prophet, to curse them so that they would be destroyed. So King Balaak sent to Balaam the prophet and said, “I want you to curse these people.” Balaam says, “No, I can’t do that, King, they’re God’s people. They’re blessed. I can’t curse them.” Well, to make a long story short, the king eventually sent a lot of money, gold, silver and loot to Balaam to entice him. Will you do it for hire? Will you do it for money? Keep that in mind when you’re thinking of false teachers—what they will do, say and preach for money. So, Balaam sees all the loot and says, “Well, let me pray about this! How much money is on that little donkey? Ooo, that’s a lot of money! Ok, let me pray about this!”

First of all, you don’t need to pray about something that God already said no to. You ought to write that down, by the way. You don’t need to pray about something that God has already said no to. I am referring to clear teaching in the Bible where God says something is wrong. You don’t have to pray about it! “Let me just pray right now whether God wants me to commit adultery. I’m just going to pray right now.” “Lord, she’s so cute, I just pray that, if it’s Your will…” It’s not God’s will! Shut up! Stop praying. I have actually had people look me right in the face and they say, “Well, I prayed about it, and God told me to have this adulterous relationship.” You did not because He has already told you in HIs Word that it is wrong. “Ya, but there’s chemistry, so it’s gotta be God’s will!” You don’t pray about something that God says is wrong. It’s like praying, “Lord, we just pray that as we go to rob this bank that You’ll protect us, and that there’ll be lots of money, our face won’t be on the evening news, and Lord, we ask it in Jesus’ name, and we’ll give you ten percent.” Stupid. You don’t pray about what God has already said is not His will. There are a lot of things we don’t need to pray about. Why? Because God has already told us His will in His Word. We just have to obey Him. But, we don’t like that.

So these people, like Balaam, resist the will of God and, for greed, merchandise the things of God and proselytize the gift of God. God gives a spiritual leader a gift to use for the good of the church and the glory of God, not for their own advancement. Should they be taken care of? Yes. But you don’t use it, prostitute God’s gifts, for your own advantage. That’s all they think about. That’s the way of Balaam. But there’s the doctrine of Balaam as well, mentioned in Revelation 2:14. Where because Balaam couldn’t curse the people of Israel, you know what he told Balaak the king? He said, “I know how to bring a curse on them, and if you give me the loot, I’ll tell you how to do it.” So, he gave him the loot and Balaam told him. He said, “You send your women in the camp of Israel, your moabite women. Get them all fixed up real nice and entice the men of Israel. Get them to follow the women into their tents and get them involved sexually with these women. Have the women bring out their little gods and get them to worship their false gods. You will then bring a curse upon them.” So there are two things that marked Balaam; the way of Balaam, merchandising; and the doctrine of Balaam, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. God had given him a gift, and he used it to pervert God’s will.

There’s also the gainsaying of Core. I love it, verse 11. It says they, “perished in the gainsaying of Core.” The story is recorded in Numbers 16. Basically, the story is that a man by by the name of Korah, two hundred and fifty of them, a group followed him. They basically came to Moses and said, “Moses, we’re tired of your leadership. We’re tired of your direction. We don’t believe God has called only you to be the leader. We want to have authority too. We want to call the shots, and we want to do what we want.” They rebelled against God’s ordained leader, Moses. It is rebellion against authority and God’s ordained leadership in the church. And what happened was that Moses said, “Okay. Everybody on Korah’s side, you stand over here; and everybody on the Lord’s side, over here.” I love that he didn’t say on “my” side. “Now, let’s pray and ask God who the right authority is in this congregation.” You know the story, right? You’re supposed to shake your head even if you don’t. Just fake it. The moment Moses prayed that prayer, the earth began to shake under the feet of Korah and his group. The earth opened up and swallowed them right down into the ground! Can you dig it? It closed back up. This isn’t in the text but Moses went like this (slapping hands together),“Anybody else want to rebel?” That's radical! Everyone is like, “No, no, no! Moses we’re cool with you! We’re cool with you! Ya, everything’s fine! Whoa!” God judged Korah and their rebellion. So, he’s saying that they will resist God’s ordained authority. We know that to be Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. Someone said the apostates chased the way of Cain, and the error of Balaam they changed for the truth of Christ, and they perished in the gainsaying of Korah. I think it’s interesting in verse 11 that you have progressive here. First, the apostates enter the wrong path, then they run riotously down that path and then, thirdly, they perish at it’s end. They perish.

Now let me give you my second main point. Not only do they resist divine authority, but these apostates, these false teachers, resort to deliberate hypocrisy. They resist divine authority and they resort to deliberate hypocrisy. Two verses, 12 and 13. “These are spots…,” again these being the apostates, “… spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear…,” Now notice that these false teachers feed themselves rather than feeding God’s people. “…clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” Now Jude uses five word pictures from nature to uncover these apostates. First, they are hidden rocks. The King James has spots are they on your feasts of charity, but most modern translations, and I think more accurately so render this, “They are hidden rocks” or some have hidden reefs. The New Living Translation has, “…they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you.”

Years ago, I was in Fiji speaking at a Pastor’s Conference. And yes, I confess I took a day to go surfing, or was it a couple of days, before and after. We went to this outer Fijian island. Every morning we would get up and would take a boat another hour out into the ocean. So, first we’re on an outer island, you can barely see the main island. Then we would get in a boat and go out into the ocean. There’s this reef out there, Frigate’s Reef, and we would surf off this reef. It was amazing because when you were out there, you were in the middle of the ocean and you would lose sight of all land. All you had was a boat and the waves, no land anywhere. You don't know what direction is what. You’re out in the middle of the ocean. I was always amazed when we were out there because the tide would begin to drop and out in the middle of the open ocean, hours off the land, the dry reef would be exposed. I think this is amazing. If you were an ancient mariner coming in a boat at night, or even during the day, how would you ever know that lying perhaps one foot or two underneath the water in the middle of the ocean, there’s a reef. Scary. And in those days they didn’t have the ability that modern technology has to determine where the reefs were. What he is doing is showing us that these false teachers, these apostates, are hidden below the surface. They look like Christians. They talk like Christians. They act like Christians. They even smell like Christians. Same vocabulary, different dictionary. They’re like reefs hidden under the water that if a ship were to hit, it would destroy them. They are unseen dangers. Remember in verse 4, they creep into the church unawares.

Secondly, they are clouds without water, I like that picture. We are blessed today with rain, Lord willing again tomorrow, maybe more today. But do you know how often in this valley clouds come but never deliver rain? We have a drought going on and in the last few months, sometimes clouds would come and you think it’s going to rain, but then they go by and it doesn’t rain. Don’t you hate that? Clouds come, we desperately need rain, they promise but they don’t deliver. That’s exactly what these false teachers were like. “They’re gonna bring blessing! Awww, I thought they were gonna bring blessing.” There they went, they just blew over. They promise, but they do not deliver. Clouds they are without water. And then they are likened unto trees, autumn trees. They have no fruit. They have no life. They have no root. They are twice dead, plucked up by the roots. They produce no fruit. How do you know if a tree is dead? Well, the leaves will tell you. The fruit will tell you, it won’t produce fruit. So there’s no fruit in their ministry. Only the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God can bring forth spiritual and lasting fruit to the glory of God. All the rest is wood, hay, and stubble. These false teachers are like trees that are dead. There’s no fruit. There’s no life. There’s no root system. It barren profession. You should look for ministries that are producing fruit. You should look for ministries that are submitted to the authority of God’s Word. Only the spirit of God, working through the Word of God can produce lasting fruit.

If I were looking for a church today, the number one thing I would want to know is: What is there view of the Bible. In just a week or so we’re going to have a new doctrinal statement on the Revival website. We’re going to pass it out to you as a handout, what we believe at Revival Christian Fellowship. What we believe at Revival Christian Fellowship is that the Bible, all of the Bible, is the inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God. That’s what we believe. That it is given by inspiration. That it is clear. That it is authoritative. That it is trustworthy. That it is reliable. And what the Bible says is God speaking. That is what we believe, and without that, we are like a tree that’s dead, plucked up by the root. We are like waves of the sea.

Fourthly, notice verse 13, “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame;” I love this imagery. Again, I love waves. I just love waves. I love to see them. I love to ride them. I love to swim in them. I love just to watch and listen to them. Waves are just liquid energy. They fascinate me. But these are waves that are driven with the wind and tossed. They are storm waves that bring nothing up on the beach but foam and shame. Have you ever been down at the beach after a storm? When the rivers rush out into the water, and the water turns brown and mucky, and the waves come in. The waves create a foam on the beach that’s dirty, a foamy dirty muck on the beach. That’s what these false teachers are like. Waves of the sea foaming out their shame. In Isaiah 57 the prophet said, “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” They are like the troubled sea. Their efforts are all a waste. They produce nothing of any value.

Fifthly, and lastly, in verse 13, they are “…like wandering stars,” we call them shooting stars. They are meteors. Now a wandering star has an uncontrolled moment of brilliance and then fades away into nothing. The apostates promised enduring spiritual direction, but they delivered only a brief, aimless worthless flash. You got that? Now, I love to see a shooting star, it’s actually a meteorite. We have times of meteorite showers, every few minutes stars are flashing across the sky, but how long do they last? Swoosh…they’re gone. That is what these apostates are like. They are here—Flash— a lot of show, a lot of flare, a lot of flash, swoosh and then they are gone. I think also the idea of the navigation in the ancient world is apropos. Do you know in the ancient world, when you navigate in the open ocean, you had to navigate by using the stars. You didn’t have modern technology to navigate by. So, two things could happen. If it got cloudy where you couldn’t see the stars, you’re in trouble, right? The best you could do was a compass and to try to keep going in that direction. The Bible is our compass in the storms of life. But these are like stars, and you can guide yourself with the stars, but when the clouds come in they do you no good. The one star that you do not want to navigate by is a shooting star. You got that? This is what people do. Swoosh….”Oh let’s go there, ooo look at that!” Swoosh….”Oh, let’s go that way! That looks pretty good! That’s very exciting!” The Bible says in Ephesians that they are “…tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;” So don’t follow the shooting stars. So many foolish people follow shooting stars. Swoosh…”Wow! Look at that! Isn’t it amazing!” Instead of following the fixed star, Jesus Christ in God’s Word, which is the only compass that can direct us in the storms of life. Be careful that you are not a tumble weed, cast to and fro with every wind of doctrine, but that you are an oak tree, rooted and grounded in God’s Word. You are not blown away by the storms of this life. They are no help in navigation. And notice in verse 13, “…to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” That is a chilling description of eternal damnation. Yes, it’s in the Bible. These apostates will spend eternity in hell. God will punish them.

There’s a third and last point, I won’t tarry long on it, in verses 14-16. That is, not only do they reject divine authority and resort to open hypocrisy, but thirdly, they receive their due penalty. So, verse 13 ushers us into these closing remarks. This is where I’m glad we’re getting through the book of Jude, because these things are not pleasant to think about. They receive their due penalty, verses 14-16. “And, Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these…” that is, these apostates. He said, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints…” now, that’s not the point that Jude is trying to make in quoting Enoch. The point he is trying to make is in verse 15. Why is he coming with his saints? “To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” You know how you can describe these false apostles? These false teachers? These apostates? Ungodly. The true are godly, the untrue are ungodly. There is no fear of God before their eyes. They don’t submit to God’s authority. They don’t believe God’s Word. They don’t live to please God. They don’t live to serve God. It’s all self serving. It’s a prophesy that was made before the flood. Now, a lot of people wonder about this prophecy of Enoch. It seems to be possibly a quotation from an apocryphal book, Enoch 1:9. They say, “Does that give credence to all the apocryphal books?” No. What we do know is authoritative is what Jude quotes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that this is God’s Word.

When Jesus comes back, and by the way, He is coming back, notice this, He’s coming, “…Behold, the Lord cometh…,” verse 14. He’s coming back with saints, some have angels, I believe both will happen, saints and angels, verse 14. And, why is He coming back? He’s coming back to judge these who are apostates. His judgment will be universal (all ungodly, no one will escape), and His judgment will be just (verse 15) to convince all of their ungodly deeds. So, Jude gives us one last look at the apostates, and then in verse 16, “These…,” apostates, “…are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words…” and the reason being is because they, “…having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” Now, we have seen for several weeks now the chilling, shocking and tragic picture of these apostates. Their discontent, verse 16. They murmur and complain. They are self centered, walking after their own lusts. They are egotistical, they have mouths that speak great swelling words. One translation has, “They speak arrogantly.” They like people, when they speak, to think that they have authority. They like people to think that they have authority when they teach and preach. They like people to think that they speak with authority. The only authority that any preacher ever has when he’s in the pulpit, is the Bible. You got that? That’s the only authority. If the man of God, preaching the Word of God is doing it faithfully, the authority lies in the Bible, not in the preacher. Don’t ever get that mistaken. The authority is not in the pastor or the preacher or the bishop or the elder or the papacy or the pope or anyone. The authority lies in the Scripture. The thing that divides, by the way, the Protestant church from the Roman Catholic church, I’m not talking individuals I’m talking doctrine, is where the authority lies. Protestant’s view the Bible alone as being the sole authority. Roman Catholicism views the pope, the church, dogma and tradition as authority. We as Protestants believe that the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the authority. That is what caused the Protestant reformation. It was this view of scripture being the final authority and that no man had authority over the Word of God.

Notice in closing, they are deceptively flattering. Please don’t miss this, verse 16. “Having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” Do you know what that means? Let me put it in simple language for you. It means that they play to people, favored. They tell people what they want to hear so that they can get something from them. They basically are respecters of persons, but they play to the crowd. They give them what they want to hear so that they will reap the benefits and the advantages. They tell people what they want to hear for their own profit. These are preachers (and this is the last that you’ll hear this from me for a long time, okay, because we’re going to get to the good stuff beginning in verse 20) that do not faithfully preach what God says, they preach what the people want to hear because their ears need to be tickled, 2 Timothy 4. Paul says to Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” Why? “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” the itching ears are the people’s not the preacher’s, “…And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

I believe the greatest need in the church and in the world today is for faithful, Bible expository preaching of the uncompromising Word of God. That is the greatest need. The reason this is the greatest need is because we have this whole movement going on today where people find a preacher that tells them what they want to hear. “Make it palatable, make it nice. I want you to take out sin. I want you to take out the word hell. I want you to take out the word judgment. I want you to take out there’s only one way to heaven. Tickle my ear for me, would you?” And the preacher says, “I’ll be glad to preach whatever you want to hear as long as you keep coming to church and tithe.” That is not the true, that is not the real. What motivates me to preach is not what you want to hear. I don’t preach sermons based on what you want to hear. I preach sermons based on what the Bible says. My design, my goal, my purpose, my intention (and may God by His grace help me to be faithful to this calling to the very end) is to be a faithful steward of God’s Word. Basically, I just tell you what God has already said in His Word from the Bible, interpreting the Bible in its context. You can do what you want with it, but once I deliver it you can accept it, reject it, not believe it, whatever. I’m just the delivery boy. I don’t poll the congregation, “What would you like to hear? We like to have happy services. Every week happy sermons.” Now you can go find that. You can go find a preacher that will tickle your ears. You can go find a church that will tickle your ears, and this is what people do today. Or, you can say, “I want to know what God says in His Word.” Why? “Because I love God. I want to honor God. I want to obey God. I believe the Bible is the Word of God; and I want to learn it, I want to obey it, and I want to live by it.” Now, there are three characteristics of the apostates; they reject divine authority, they resort to deliberate hypocrisy, and they will receive their due penalty.