So turn with me once again to the tiny letter written by Jude. In just a minute, we'll be examining verses 14 through 16. But before we do that, as always, let me just kind of bring you up to speed with regard to the context here. Since verse four, Jude has been warning his readers about certain persons who had crept into the church unnoticed to spread doctrinal error and to attempt to promote gross immorality among the saints. These men did what they did, Jude explains, because they did not understand. And as I mentioned last week, Jude's not excusing their behavior by chalking it up to a simple lack of understanding. That's not at all what he's saying here. What he's saying here is that these individuals demonstrated the kind of misunderstanding that's characteristic of animals. In other words, he says that they were showing the level of misunderstanding that was more in line with how the flesh responds as opposed to how those of the spirit respond to truth. This is a willful type of ignorance that's actually more concerned with promoting error than with knowing truth. They were devoid of the Holy Spirit. and acted instead in the power of the flesh. And because of this, he says in verse 11, woe to them for they've gone the way of Cain and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam and perished in the rebellion of Korah. And again, what's the common denominator between Cain, Balaam and Korah? The point he's making here is that they were all devoid of the Holy Spirit, which would have helped them to act otherwise. In our last study we looked at this string of epithets that Jude hurls at these false teachers in an effort to convey to his readers just how dangerous they were and are still today. These very same things that Jude brings to bear here, describing these false teachers, can be used today to describe those who distort the gospel, those who promote false doctrine, those who seek division rather than unity, and so on and so forth. He likened them to a few things. First of all, you'll recall, he likened them to hidden reefs in their love fests. That is, they were just beneath the surface, ready to cause trouble at a moment's notice. As the people attempted to worship the Lord aright in spirit and in truth, enjoying the Lord's table and conducting themselves as Christian men and women should, these false teachers were always there ready to disrupt the whole thing. by taking the elements unworthily, by acting as hungry pigs when they would come to the Lord's Supper and so on and so forth. He also said that they were clouds without water, carried along by the wind. And this, you'll recall, was an allusion to the fact that they came into the church showing great promise of great things. They were just like the rain clouds that kind of hover over you. Of course, we don't see that many of them these days, right? But there are these things called rain clouds. And when they hover over, they show great promise of a downpour, you know, to replenish the earth and so on and so forth. And before you know it, they just kind of blow away. These false teachers were very much operating in the same way. He also said they were autumn trees without fruit. While during the autumn, normal trees were bent over with the produce. These were trees that had nothing on them, so they could not provide anything really that would be of any tangible benefit to the churches in which they found themselves. He said, they're doubly dead and uprooted. He also said they were like wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame-like foam. It's just another way of describing how the sea can churn up all of that which is found in the ocean and wash it ashore. A lot of the detritus, a lot of dead things, a lot of filth is washed ashore by the wild waves of the sea. And these false teachers were really no different. They tended to churn things up in the church and again caused great harm to those within. Well finally Jude writes, they were wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. In a way this describes how lonely they are. Not to be pitied, not in that sense, but they were renegades. They tended to operate either as individuals or as little small groups who would invade the church to do their dastardly deeds. But we know from the very outset of this that their fate has been sealed. They've been prepared for condemnation by the Lord. And they appeared to Jude, at least, as stars against this black, dark backdrop of their own condemnation. Well, in our study tonight, Jude continues with his lengthy condemnation of these false teachers. Read with me beginning at verse 14. He said, 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 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. These are the grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lust. They speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. Now, one of the most commonly asked questions about this particular portion of Jude's letter is the question of why Jude was referring to something Enoch said or wrote. I mean, after all, the only book that we're aware of that was allegedly written by Enoch is not included in our scriptures. It's not in the Apocrypha either. It's in a group of writings called the Pseudepigrapha. Pseudepigrapha contains all of those letters that were written and their authorship was given to someone who lived long before the letter itself was actually written. For example, many centuries after Enoch was no more, as we read there in Genesis chapter 5, This book or this series of letters was written and it was attributed to Enoch. The Jews had a lot of these. The Pseudepigrapha, if you go buy one off the shelf, it's a really thick work and it contains all of the writings that are not canonical according to our standards of canonicity. But the Jews thought that they were reliable resources in most areas. They did not revere them as scripture either, but they did see the great benefit in these works. And so this book of Enoch, which we only have fragmentary evidence of the book, it's the entire book itself, this book of Enoch was used by Jude in the same way that most of those Jews during that day would have viewed it as something that was acceptable to quote from. It was not infallible, it was not inerrant, but certain portions of it were. And you'll see What he quotes from Enoch is fairly innocuous. It's kind of a generalized prophetic warning that can be found really in several places in scripture. I tend to believe, as do many scholars, that Enoch's really not being quoted in terms of what he had written here. I think Enoch's being quoted on the basis of oral tradition. I think during Jude's day, there was still oral tradition being passed down from the Jewish hierarchy that attributed certain sayings, certain prophecies, and so on and so forth to men whose works did not end up in the canon. For many of the Jews, and this is really important to know too, Enoch was considered to be a greater prophet than either Elijah or Moses. And there's got to be a reason for that. And many, again, think that it's because of this passing down of oral tradition that he was given such a lofty stature. We don't really know because little is said about him in modern Christendom, apart from what the Bible itself teaches. But again, the Jews had reason to believe that he should be put right up there, if not higher than Moses and Elijah, at least on the same par. How much information do we actually have about Enoch from the scriptures though? What do we know about Enoch? Most of what we know actually comes from Genesis chapter 5. You can turn there, Genesis chapter 5. Read with me as I read verses 18 through 24. Here we read, Jared lived 162 years and became the father of Enoch. Then Jared lived 800 years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not. for God took him. That's a rather abrupt end, right, to an otherwise interesting story. What else do we read about him? Not a lot. Not a lot. He is mentioned in various genealogies. He is mentioned one other time in Hebrews chapter 11 as part of the great hall of faith. Precisely for that reason, he found favor with God, and as he walked with God, suddenly he was no more, for God took him. But if you look in this Genesis 5 genealogy, if you look at verses one through 18, if you count the names starting with Adam and ending with Enoch, you get seven generations. which is exactly what Jude says here in verse 14 of our text. Now there have been some who have speculated about Jude's mention of seven generations. They say, well, it's got to be significant because the number seven figures very prominently in Jewish numerology. It was a very often used number to describe various things in scripture. You know, I'm not even going to go there because all we're told is that Enoch was seven generations from Adam, and that's really all we can say about that. I think, I'm one of these simpletons who thinks that Jude probably just wanted us to know that he was seven generations removed from Adam. Why add mystery and intrigue, especially when the scriptures don't actually give us any reason to do that. Anyway, apart from a few other mentions, the only other meaningful appearance of Enoch, again, is that recounting in Hebrews 11, and that's all we know. Now, what was his prophecy? What kind of prophecy did he make? I want you first to notice that, as I said just a minute ago, it's really just a general description of the return of the Lord in judgment. What does he say? Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. You know, in short, as evidenced by his use of the word ungodly four separate times here, Enoch was prophesying that the day was coming on which God would judge the ungodly, which would have included these false teachers who had begun making inroads into the church. That's not a very earth-shattering prophecy, is it? I mean, that's like, I remember when I was trying to play the part of a charismatic. Some of you came up through the charismatic ranks as well. Chris and I were talking about this on Sunday. He was taught to speak in tongues just like I was. I remember one of the first eye-opening moments during that experience was when somebody stood up and they spoke in quote-unquote tongues and somebody immediately stood up and said they had a word of interpretation from the Lord. And the pastor's like, okay, go ahead. And I think, you know, the great earth shattering message that the Lord had for us all on that particular day at that particular time that had to be spoken in tongues was God hates sin and will judge accordingly. And it struck me, why do you need a special delivery for that message when it's all over scripture? And then gradually I learned that it was all phony to begin with. This is the same kind of thing. And Jude's not afraid to say that this is Enoch's prophecy simply because it's a prophecy that reflects many of the prophecies that are made in scripture concerning God's judgment of false teachers. As a matter of fact, if you look at Zechariah 14, you don't have to turn there, but in verse five, we're told that on that day, what day? The day of judgment. We're told the Lord, my God will come and all the holy ones with him. For what purpose? for the purpose of judgment. Now, who are these holy ones? We don't know. We don't really know. There are some people who believe that these holy ones are The saints, this would fall more in line with the dispensationalist way of thinking, which says that we'll all be raptured out from the earth. And then at some point we'll be fitted with white chargers, horses, and we'll all come back down with the Lord as his host to exact vengeance on all who are yet in their sins. Okay, I'm not gonna say, whether that's plausible, why that's plausible. I'm not going to get into that argument, but there are some who say this is the saints who return with the Lord to play a part in his judgmental role on sin. Others say that this is just a reference to the angels, the host of heaven, who on that day, and this would be more in line with reformed thinking, on that day at the second coming, the entire host of heaven comes to bear in helping demonstrate the power and majesty of God and his judgment on sin. All we know here is that these holy ones will accompany the Lord for that reason, to reflect or to be there to display the Lord's glory and majesty. Whatever the case, when that happens, The important thing to understand here is there will be no mistaking what the fate of the false teacher will be at that time. I was reading, anybody here familiar with H.A. Ironside? I know Chris is. If you can ever get a copy of H.A. Ironside's commentaries on the New Testament, I would recommend them because they're highly readable. They do have a slightly Armenian tinge to them, He was a master exegete. He was very good at what he did and very adept at explaining things in simple terms. And I really enjoy just sitting and reading his commentary. Let me just read to you a portion of what he said with regard to this. He said, impious or impious, deceivers, profit by a profession of Christianity while secretly working to undermine the faith of God's elect and turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. To everyone will be rendered according to their works. The present period from the cross to the coming again of the Lord is denominated by the Holy Spirit as man's day. While it lasts, God endures with much long-suffering, vessels of wrath fitted by their pertinacity in gainsaying his word to destruction. But when man's day ends, the day of the Lord begins, when he who has been long silent, while blasphemous and damnable heresies have been widely promulgated to the ruin of untold myriads, will arise to act in judgment." God is going to judge the wicked. We're told vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. We know God to be right now during the days of man, long suffering. Everything is going on in this world is happening as a result of God's sovereign plan for mankind. I can't tell you how distressed it makes me to hear so many professing believers today complaining about what they're seeing in the news, about what happened in Virginia, and about racism, and about this-ism and that-ism, and all of these other things. Are those things important? Yes, they're important, but they need to be viewed in accordance with what we know God is doing. God is simply allowing sin to reach a fevered pitch To the point where when He does return in judgment, when Christ comes back in judgment, there won't be a doubt in anyone's mind why He's here. He is a long-suffering God. how much time do we spend worrying and wringing our hands about what's going on in other places and how unfair things are and so on and so forth, when we could exert that same energy in getting the gospel into the minds and hearts of those who so desperately need it. What we need is revival. What we're seeing demonstrated all over this country today is simply a lack of Christian values. We're witnessing the lost acting like the lost and we're surprised by that. I've seen more professing Christians this past week upset that some idol to some Confederate soldier has been dragged down more upset about that than hearing the Lord's name taken in vain. There's a problem with that. I mean, I come from a long line of Southerners. I'm a proud son of the Confederacy. My great, great, great grandfather fought for the 45th Virginia Regiment during the Civil War. He would be appalled by what he's seeing today. But I'm not. Because again, what we're witnessing is just fallen man acting like fallen men. Much better to preach the gospel. Much better to see this as the signs of the imminent return of Christ and hope in that than to be upset about what's going on in the secular arena. God's coming back in judgment, and we'd better be out there warning as many people as possible that that's going to happen. That's exactly what Jude wanted his readers to understand here. These false teachers were just a precursor of things to come. These difficulties that they were experiencing in the church as these certain men crept in unnoticed and began turning the grace of God into licentiousness and making a mockery of the things of God. These were only the beginning of things to come. And we've yet not seen what is to come. Well, moving on, you'll notice that Jude just can't contain his loathing for these false teachers because in verse 16 he goes on to level five more additional charges against them. If you're taking notes and you want to list these, Jude accuses these false teachers of being one, grumblers, two, fault finders, three, followers of their own lusts, four, arrogant, And five, flatterers for personal gain. Let's look at each one of these in a little more detail. First Jude says that they were grumblers. This is a word used to describe, some of your translations might actually use the word murmurers. It's a word used to describe the person who, whether privately or publicly, murmurs all the time, just grumbles, complains all the time about anything and everything. And if it's not done publicly, you can generally see this on people's faces. You can tell when somebody's discontent, can't you? You can certainly read it in their body language. This is one of the most frightening places to be because some of the things I say sometimes, and again, just as a disclaimer, I'm trying to get better, but I see the eyes rolling. I see my own wife with her head in her hands, you know? I'm picking up on all these cues, right? And it's scary. But you can tell when someone's privately grumbling or complaining and before long, if that's not checked, that can be disastrous, can't it? Because that private mumbling and grumbling and complaining suddenly finds a voice. And where does it most likely find its voice? With the person murmured against? No, misery loves company. So what are we so prone to do when we start murmuring or complaining? We want to find company that agrees with us. And so we start sharing, right? with others, the complaints that we have. And before long, our complaints become their complaints. And now there's two murmurs. Yes, it takes off like a disease and can do considerable harm to the local church. I call these people spiritual Eeyores. You know what Eeyore is, right? Everybody remember from Winnie the Pooh fame? He's always, yeah, he's just sad. Maybe a more relevant analogy would be the whiners from the old Saturday Night Live. Yeah, Pam, you're laughing, you remember? Does anybody remember the whiners? Yeah, now we have the sanctimonious portion of our service tonight. But they're always whining. Sound like some of our kids. They're just, I don't want to go to work today. I don't really like what was said. Right? That's the modern equivalent of the Eeyore. Everything's just a downer, man. Boy, I'm showing my age there. But eventually this mumbling, this murmuring, this complaining morphs into the next accusation that Jude makes against them. This turns them into fault finders. You know, the difference between murmuring and finding fault is only a hair's breadth difference. It's easy to murmur and complain and then to start finding targets to attach that murmuring and complaining to. Every murmurer will always find a way of expressing his or her discontent. And normally that involves finding fault with others. The false teacher never sees himself as part of the problem but instead seeks to bring everyone around him down so that he can elevate himself. Does that make sense? It happens all the time in the world. Why should we not expect it to happen even in the local church from time to time? These false teachers would make their way into the church and in order to elevate themselves, they would start finding fault with the other people who were teaching so that they could prove themselves to be superior and elevate themselves above them. And the most common target of the false teacher is the church's leadership. If a false teacher can sow seeds of doubt about the man in the pulpit or his message, he'll have won a great victory. As we're told in Zechariah 13, seven, which was quoted also by Christ on the night of his betrayal, he said, strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. Satan knows that. Satan knows that. If Satan is ever effective at getting to me to the point where I am truly stricken, the sheep will scatter. How many churches have you known where the pastor has fallen? I'm talking about otherwise healthy churches. Pastor falls, the church disintegrates. Now it shouldn't be that way, but it often is, because again, it's living up to that very thing that Jesus himself acknowledged. Now just as an aside, let me say this, and I hope you know this, I think you do, because I've talked about it a couple of times now. But if you have even the slightest question about anything that's said from this pulpit, and I don't care whether it's me or anybody else who occupies this pulpit, if anything is ever said from this pulpit which unsettles you or causes you to have questions or causes you to have any doubt about my intent, about my love for you, about my desires for this body, you should come to me. When? Immediately. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. You owe it to me to come to me immediately. I don't care how difficult it is. I'll tell you right now, I am not difficult to talk to. Contrary to popular opinion, maybe not popular opinion, but contrary to some opinions, All you have to do is come up, it might have, like I said last Sunday, it might take you grabbing me by the ear and dragging me somewhere, or maybe even a smack on the forehead, but just look me in the eye and say, I need to talk to you. I'd be happy to talk to you. You know, it always goes better with something to eat. I need to talk to you, so come over for dinner. But in all seriousness, I mean, I would expect that of you guys as well. If anything's ever said among the brethren in this church, don't just entertain it and let it sit there and fester. If anything's said, go to that person and say, we need to work this out. That's called health in the body. And without that, churches don't seem to last too long. The false teacher. loves nothing more than to see that infighting and to see that disruption caused that does irreparable harm sometimes to the membership. Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying here. There's nothing wrong with finding fault, per se. As a matter of fact, we should be fault finders, shouldn't we? I mean, what does Matthew 18, 15 say? If you find your brother overtaken in a fault, go to him, right? And then you've got the process of church discipline that carries itself out from that point onward. But the key is, notice, if you notice any fault in your brother or sister, you owe it to them to go to them and say, I've found fault. I'm not saying make it your occupation, your preoccupation to go around looking under every, we're all faulty, are we not? I'll be the first to raise my hand. We're all faulty. We're all frail. We're all feeble. Your pastor is no different. But if we'll keep this line of communication open throughout the body, then the false teacher won't stand a chance because we will have taken away one of the false teacher's most successful tried and true methods. And that is to start finding fault and sowing those seeds. We're not to let those seeds grow. So in addition to grumbling and finding fault, what else does Jude say about these false teachers? Well, he says that they followed after their own lusts. And we discussed that already. These are the people who see the teaching ministry as a means of fulfilling their own dreams, their own desires. The false teacher sees no problem with using churches as mere rungs on the ladder to his own success. And as I pointed out in a previous message, the false teacher is really not a teacher or a shepherd. He's more of a hireling. The hireling was the one that Jesus said had no concern for the sheep. There was no real love for the sheep. He was there to do a job and to be paid accordingly and not really involve himself too much in the day-to-day loving and caring for the sheep. Like I said last time, if a wolf entered the sheepfold, where was the hireling? It was feet don't fail me now. He's out of there. The true shepherd though would do what? The true shepherd would protect the sheep, even at the cost of his own life. He would often stand and protect the sheep as best he could. The false teacher follows his own lusts. He'll not let anything stand in his way. Well, the fourth and fifth charges of being arrogant and flattering others for the sake of personal gain, you can actually combine those two into one because the latter, flattering others for the sake of personal gain, is actually well served by the former. which is being arrogant. Now, what do I mean by that? The false teacher is very good at doing two things that work together in order to deceive. First and foremost, the false teacher will over-inflate his credentials and talk arrogantly about himself. He wants everyone to know how smart he is and how dumb they are. He wants them to know first and foremost that he is the authority, he's unimpeachable, close to being inerrant and infallible. And when he establishes himself in that role, he knows instinctively that doing that is going to be a cause for concern. So how does he mitigate that? How does he soften that a little bit? He does so by flattering others, right? You can kind of see how that, that works in the mind of the false teacher. He's good at pumping himself up arrogantly, but at the same time, in order to deflect any charges that he's being unfair or unreasonable, he'll then resort to the tactic of flattering speech. And he flatters not out of a sense of admiration, but because he believes there's something to be gained by doing so. And there usually is. Even today we see various groups and associations that are full of men praising men. Men writing about the greatness of other men in hopes that having done so, great things will be written about them in return. I'll never forget, I've gone to some conferences where, you know, for example, the latest and greatest celebrity preachers there, someone has the unenviable task of standing up and introducing this person. And you would think you were back in the Middle Ages when they were announcing the knights that were fighting for the princess's hand, right? You know, the guy stands in the pulpit before the guy comes up and it was at this latest conference that, I'm not going to mention his name, but he stood up to introduce Alistair Begg and he went on and on and on. And Alistair Begg actually got up and stopped him in the middle of his, you know, listing all of Alistair's accolades. Yeah, he said, just go sit down. I'm here to preach, not to be exalted. But that happens a lot at these conferences. We have tonight, Steve, a man with a long history of gospel ministry. The man has ministered the gospel on eight continents. Thank you. Somebody picked up on that. Somebody's educated, right? You know, he's the defender of nobility. He's the whatever, whatever, whatever. And it goes on forever, right? This is one of those cases of men idolizing men. And this we're not to do. And this is where the false teacher gets his edge. He comes in and he finds the power players in the church. And he befriends them. He begins to flatter them. and butter them up to where everyone else sees this reaction going on in the leadership, and they're none the wiser. After all, if leadership likes him, then I have to like him too. You see how insidious that actually is. But the church at large is full of those who are more intent on securing the glory of their fellow man than that of God. What did Jesus say to the Jews in John 5.44? He said, How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? As John wrote in John 12.43, These are they who love the praise from men more than praise from God. That describes these false teachers. They were more concerned with being liked by their fellow men than they were in glorifying God. And as I thought about this, I remember something that Paul said to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2, 3 through 6. Go ahead and turn there. Paul would have been a man after Jude's own heart in this sense, because listen to what he says. 1 Thessalonians 2, beginning in verse 3. He says, our exhortation does not come from error or impurity, or by way of deceit. But just as we've been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, nor with a pretext for greed. God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others." This is the attitude of humility that's absent in the false teacher. And this is the attitude that Jude is asking his readers to look for in those who would teach them. All of these names, all of these labels, all of these aspersions, all of these epithets thrown at these false teachers are well-deserved. Now in our next time together, we're gonna talk about Jude's prescription for avoiding falling prey to these false teachers, and also our responsibility to rescue those who may have fallen for these false teachers. So, I'm gonna leave it there.