As we continue in Jude's letter, let's turn together to that chapter of Scripture. We'll look together at verses 11-13 this morning. To give us some context, we will read together from 8-13, but we will examine specifically Jude 11-13. Hear now God's Word. Yet in like manner, these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said the Lord rebuke you. But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feast as they feast with you without fear. Shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted. Wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their own shame, wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. So far, the reading from God's word, may he add his blessing to our hearts. Well, remember where we are in the letter to Jude, Judah. an apostle, a brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, writing to those who have been called, who have been kept and who have been beloved by Christ. He's writing to Christians. He's writing to the church and he has been warning them. warning them because there is a false sense of security that can so easily creep into people's hearts. A false sense of security that can creep in with catastrophic results. Perhaps you can think of examples in the lives of people that you've known, or in history, and perhaps in the history of battles, where armies were confident of their standing, and because they were so confident, they ended up being destroyed. It was a false sense of security. In Scripture, there is an example such as that one. In Daniel chapter 5, you have Belshazzar, who is the king of Babylon, feasting, getting drunk in his palace. with all his nobles, and that hand appears and writes on the wall. And that very night, Darius the Mede comes in, conquers his kingdom, and slays this idol-worshiping king. Jude is warning the church. Jude is warning the church of his day. And us, the church in our day, that we would not have this false sense of security, that we would be spared from catastrophe. That catastrophe being the judgment of God. And so today, as we walk through verses 11 through 13, we want to see two things. We first want to see where Jude helps us to see the truth. And then second of all, in verses 12 through 13, we want to see how Jude helps us keep it real. We're going to see the truth in verse 11. We're going to keep it real in verses 12 through 13. Now, when we come to verse 11, we're seeing something of a review, a rehashing. It's now the third week that we're rehashing the same topic because Jude rehashes it for us three times in a row. He starts in verses five through seven when he gives those three examples, Israel and the angels and Sodom and Gomorrah. In verse 8, he spoke of those who defile the flesh, those who reject authority, those who blaspheme the glorious ones. And now in verse 11, he again gives three examples. Three examples of how we as God's people are to be careful, how we are to contend for the faith. You remember, that's why he wrote back in verse three that we would contend for the faith. And so notice in verse 11, when he begins to write in this section, what does he start with? Whoa, he starts with a cry, a cry of recognition. a cry of recognition for something that is sure to come about for these false teachers. There is sorrow. There is distress. There is trouble, which is about to fall upon all those who would not contend for the faith. Jude sees what is about to happen. And here he cries out in woe at the beginning of the 11th verse. Maybe you've had this experience of woe yourself. Maybe you have seen your grandchildren or maybe you have seen your nephews or your nieces or maybe your own children. Maybe you've seen them from afar and you see them about to get into legal transgression. And all the consequences of the legal justice system that exists within the family is about to come on them. Maybe you're watching little Johnny. He has climbed up on the counter and he is about to reach his hand into the cookie jar. And as one not responsible for this little one, you look back and you smile to yourself a little bit because it's kind of cute. But you think, oh, no, it's not going to go well for little Johnny in just a little while. That's what Jude is saying at the beginning of verse 11. He is declaring woe on the people who are not contending for the faith, the people who are wandering away from the truth. Jude sees them headed into trouble. And now he warns the church yet again. He rehearses the same three points. But as a good teacher, he says it in a different way. He uses three different examples and he begins to talk to us about Cain. He pronounces woe on them because these false teachers have walked in the way of Cain. So we have to ask ourselves, in what way did Cain walk? Why is there woe based on walking in the way of Cain? And so we have to return to Genesis chapter 4 and the first seven verses. You remember the accounts. Cain's offering is rejected. Abel's offering is approved. Cain's offering is rejected. Why is Cain's offering refused? Is it because he offered grain rather than a meat sacrifice? Well, we saw when we studied that passage in Genesis that that cannot be the case. In Leviticus chapter 2, the Lord God of heaven makes allowance for grain sacrifices in the economy of Israel. But we do have an answer for why Cain's offering was rejected. It's found in Hebrews chapter 11 and in verse 4. It says there, by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. What was the difference between Abel's and Cain's offering? It was faith. Abel offered his in faith. Cain offered him apart from faith. It is what we saw to be lacking in verse five. And the Israelites, when they came out of the land of Egypt, when they were destroyed by God in the wilderness, it's because they lacked In verse 8 we saw how those who defiled the flesh operated from a position not believing the promises of God. So like Cain, whose faithless offering is rejected. So these false teachers also operate from a position apart from faith. And they will suffer the same fate as Cain. That's why woe is pronounced by Jude. They may seem to have been brought out of the land of slavery, of land of sin, but still they remain in the center of it. And the implication of that, of course, is his judgment. Christ has destroyed those who did not believe. That's what it said in in verse five. So here we come to the same place, Cain and his lack of faith, the walking in the way of Cain, walking in the way apart from faith. in the end, led to Cain's destruction. Cain destroyed his brother Abel, and Cain was judged and ultimately destroyed by God. And so Jude is warning us, woe to those who follow down that path, because judgment is surely waiting for them. But he doesn't only speak to us about Cain, he also mentions people who, for the sake of gain, go to Balaam's error. What was Balaam's error? How do we understand his error to be shaped in Scripture? Well, we have to go back to Numbers 22. Numbers 22, you remember the account of Balaam there. Balaam, that prophet, that sorcerer who was hired by Balak, the king of Moab, to come and curse Israel as they stood at the borders of Moab. And Balaam, receives word from the Lord that he can go. First he's not allowed to go, but then God says, you can go. But what's the stipulation that God says to him? You may go if you only speak my words. Balaam is to go under authority. Balaam is to go as one who submits himself to God. And so Balaam gets his donkey ready and he goes on his way. Do you remember, kids, what happened when Balaam was on his way? Do you remember what happened to that donkey? Three times the donkey went off the path and three times Balaam beat that donkey. And you remember when Balaam was at the height of his frustration, God opened the mouth of the donkey and the donkey spoke to Balaam. God used the donkey in Balaam's life. And at that moment when God stopped Balaam through his donkey, God reminded Balaam as to why he was about to kill him, because the donkey said to him, I stopped because there was an angel with a sword about to kill you. Well, God reminds him when you go to Balaam, you may only speak the words that I give to you. So what's the implication? that Balaam had long forgotten that promise, that instruction from God, and was on his way to speak his own words. But more than that, we see Balaam actually fulfilling the apostasy that God warned him about in Numbers chapter 31 and verse 16. It's speaking of the destruction of the people of Moab, and it's speaking specifically also of the destruction of Balaam. Moses is speaking to Israel. Have you let all the women live? Behold, these on Balaam's advice caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord. Balaam did not go. Balaam did not obey God. Balaam did not stay within his own realm of authority. Now, later on, we know that Balaam was destroyed for this. It's recorded in Joshua chapter 13 and 22. Balaam's death is recorded. He caused destruction for the people of Israel in their idolatry, in their sexual immorality. And he caused his own destruction at the hands of the Israelites by following outside of God's instruction. He was destroyed. Buy it. And so Jude reminds us, whoa, do not follow in the way of Balaam for profit. Why did Balaam speak for profit? He was being paid by Balak the king. But Jude is reminding us, do not follow for profit's sake into disobedience of the Lord. Stay faithful to him. Contend for the faith. The third example that he gives to us in verse 11 is the perishing of Korah and his rebellion. What was Korah's rebellion? We have to go back to number 16 for that. In Korah's rebellion, Korah was a Levite. He, with two Reubenites, rebelled against God's anointed priest and his anointed servant Moses. He opposes God's anointed ones. In fact, he calls others to join him in this rebellion. In chapter 16 and verse 19, Korah defies Moses and he fails to submit to him and leads others in this disobedience. It's like Sodom who blasphemes and those who blaspheme the glorious ones. Cora's failure of practice, his failure of submission leads to his destruction, but not only to his destruction, but to the destruction of those around him. Do you remember how Cora died? Do you remember? He was set apart. The people were told to move away from him. And then the ground opened up and swallowed him and his family alive. This is the destruction of the one who walks in disobedience to God, the one who defies God's instructions and leads others in it. This is Jude's warning for the false teachers. They are about to follow in Korah's rebellion. They are to perish and be destroyed because they follow in his way. And so Jude here patiently continues his warning. He says, woe to them. Jude knows what is coming. Christ has destroyed people who did these things. It's the third time that a warning of great severity is given in this little book, a book of 25 verses. And so far, what have we heard? Warning after warning after warning. Contend for your faith. Contend for your faith, because if you do not, the consequences are catastrophic. So Judas warning us, the church of his day, of our own day against lukewarmness, the lukewarmness of a church that is satisfied with where they are. This must be good enough. We must be honoring God well enough now. The rest doesn't really matter. He is speaking to us about failure of faith. which will become a failure of submission, which will become a failure of practice, with the only outcome possible being the judgment of God. Now, why does Jude, do you think, spend so much time speaking of the judgment of God in this little book? Why can't he just move on and talk about the blessed promises of God? That we're all going to be regenerated and that we all will come to Him by faith. Why can't he talk about that? Why talk about judgment so much in this little book? Well, we have to know our condition in order to seek salvation. Let me try to illustrate it for you. This past summer, we have as a family had an opportunity to spend a lot of time at the swimming pool and we have two little ones. And at the beginning of the summer, anyway, they didn't swim so well. And so they had these little we call them floaties, puddle jumpers, the two arms and the chest protector. And our little guy, Harris, he loves his puddle jumper. He puts it on. He has no fear. He jumps in anywhere. But one time, he had his puddle jumper off. And this little boy had no idea what would happen to him when he jumped into the pool without it. So he gave it a whirl. He walked right into the deep end. Went straight down. That's what Jude is doing here. This is what will happen to you if you jump into the pool without your puddle jumper on. That is what he is saying to you and to me. He is saying, beware, if you go down this road, this is what will happen to you. He is helping his readers see that contending for the faith is not optional. He is helping his readers see that when you live this way, there will be judgment for you. Only when you recognize your desperate condition before the God of heaven and earth, only when God awakens your heart to see it, only then will you flee to Him for deliverance. Jude will speak to us. of the good news of the gospel that comes further near the end next week. Guess what? We're going to talk about some more. The judgment of God on people who live disobediently to him, but he does it with a specific purpose, with a specific purpose that in seeing the judgment of Christ, we would flee to him for mercy. And for Jude, this is more than just theory. For Jude, this is more than just an idea that we should understand. For Jude, this is more than just a nice thing to talk about, something that will happen to somebody else. And that's what he does in verses 12 and 13 when he speaks to us and he keeps it real for us. Jude goes from illustrating the truth to the actual reality of the practice in the congregation of his readers. And he does so with the use of pronouns. We we find it easy to fuss about Cain. We find it easy to fuss about Balaam. We find it easy to fuss about the other examples that he has given. Seems far away from us, distant. But now Jude takes his his aim strictly and focuses it on his readers. And he uses that dreaded pronoun in the scripture, you. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts as they feast with you without fear. He gives the picture and then he says, this is taking place among you. You are the ones who are failing in this regard. You are the ones who are allowing these men to feast among you without fear. Cain, Balaam, Korah, they're at your church. They are feasting among you without fear. And he calls these people hidden reefs. What on earth is a reef? A reef is a set of hidden rocks under the water. A great hazard for ships. The implication is that these these hidden reefs, the ship of the church comes along and and runs aground on on these hidden reefs to its own destruction. It's not the only time in the word of God that this illustration is used in in the book of First Timothy, also in the in the first chapter. The 18th verse, this charge, I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith. The warning of Paul and Timothy is the warning of Jude in this little letter also. He is urging, Paul in his letter is urging us to wage the good warfare. Jude uses the language of contending. Contend for your faith. Why? that you would not make a shipwreck of your faith, that you would not run aground on these hidden reefs who feast among you without fear. So the warning that is given is that man that leads to the man that leads in rejection of faith, a man that that rejects submission of the Lord, the man that leads in impiety, is not to be tolerated in the church of Christ. These people, Jude says, are feasting among you without fear. Does that sound like a compliment to you? Or does that sound like a reproof? To me, it sounds like a reproof. It sounds like Jude is saying, wake up! Don't be apathetic. Cain and Balaam What's the other guy? Korah. They're all feasting among you. They are present with you. They are among you and they are accepted. Wake up. Don't allow it. Don't allow them to make shipwreck of your faith. These men, these false teachers, they are leading Christ's church as if it's their own. But to whom does the church belong? Does it belong to the session? Does it belong to the congregation? Does it belong to the bishop? Belongs to Christ. It's Christ's church. And here, Jude is setting before the congregation. These people are leading as if it was Christ's or as if it was their own flock rather than Christ's flock. In first Peter, chapter five. The exhortation is given to the elders. I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you. Not under compulsion of skipping some words, but willingly as God would have you. And so here, Judas is calling these false teachers to account. He is saying, you must lead, you, church, must follow God, not the will of man. The elders of the church are called to shepherd God's flock. They're called to shepherd in humility. They're called to shepherd as under shepherds. But these people that are present in the congregation are doing the opposite. They are leading for themselves. And he shows that in the different descriptions that he gives of their behavior. In verse 12, he says that they are waterless clouds. Oh, sorry. First of all, he calls them shepherds who who feed themselves. This is, I think, a contrast that is being drawn in John chapter 10. There is a great description that Christ makes of himself and he calls himself what? I am the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. In contrast, here we have a picture of shepherds who are feeding themselves. This is not the first time that this picture has been drawn for us. In Ezekiel chapter 34, there is a picture of the leaders of Israel who are leading the people of Israel astray. Guess how they are described. They are shepherds feeding themselves. In the same way, these false teachers are like those shepherds. They do the opposite of the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life. The false shepherds feed themselves. He also describes them as waterless clouds that are being swept along by winds. Clouds contain, of course, water. In Jeremiah, chapter 31, water is shown as it's in its healthy use. Water for the people of God. In verse 12, he gives the picture that God cares for his people, waters them like a garden. It is the beautiful picture of water. But then there is the water of storm. There is the water of tsunamis. There is the water that breaks through dikes and floods regions and destroys cities. These raging waves of storms. That is what the false teachers are like. The true leader of the church waters his church. The false teachers rage like wild waves of the sea, destructive in their nature. I've skipped illustrations. I was talking about waterless clouds. I've totally lost my place. Let me regather my position. Jeremiah is a watering garden, but here we are. The clouds are clouds that don't ever produce their rain. They are waterless clouds. That's that's where I was going. There are waterless clouds. We're all paying attention again now. That's good. Waterless clouds that that blow in in a in a thunderstorm, we've seen it in the last couple of days, a threatening sky and in our grass and our plants are brown. And these waterless clouds blow right by. And when they blow by, the grass is still brown and the plants are still brown there. We have in in in in Christ a true watering of the garden. But in the waterless clouds, there is only the promise of water. But the plants look as thirsty as they did before he came. They are fruitless trees in in late autumn. We have, of course, in Galatians chapter five, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the fruit produces or the Holy Spirit produces fruit in the lives of of the believers. But these false teachers, they are fruitless trees in late autumn, in the in the time when fruit ought to be produced. They are uprooted. They are dead. There is no life to be found in them. We have discussed the wild waves of the seas already, so we can skip over that one. Speak of the wandering stars in Jeremiah 31. It says that the good shepherd, that God makes the sun to give light. But these wandering stars are in gloomy darkness. They appear for a moment and then are gone. with no light to be from them. Have you ever tried to read by starlight? It's a challenging prospect. So Jude keeps it real. He says, this is who you are allowing to minister in quotation marks in your congregation. These are the people that you are allowing to lead the people of God. Opposite to the work of the Good Shepherd, they provide no life. They provide no food. They provide no relief. They only bring destruction and death. So for us as God's people, there are several things that we can learn from these three verses. First, we must know our condition. Jude makes that continual call for his readers. He makes that continual call for you and for me as well. And his call is do not presume on the grace of God in your life. Contend for the faith. Romans chapter six. Should we continue in sin that grace may abound by no means. Do not be presumptive in how you live as a child of God. Guard against the failures of faith, against the failures of submission, against the failures of practice. Will we do that perfectly? No. But when we sin, cry out to God, don't presume that he will forgive you. When you sin, cry out to him, but never deny him. Then in the second place, we can know that this this warning is for us. It's not for it's not for other congregations. It's not for other denominations. That's, of course, our tendency as as proud people. We are proud in heart, aren't we? And our inclination is to say, well, look at those people over there. They're doing things very badly. Fortunately, we have it all together. Judah's saying this warning is for you. This warning is for the session and the members of Cliffwood Presbyterian Church here at 2525 Lumpkin Road in Augusta. That is who is being warned with this letter. The warning is for you and for me. And so it is healthy for us to ask ourselves, am I contending for the faith? Privately. Are we contending for the faith in how we come together and worship as a body? Are we contending for the faith in the way that we speak to our children, in our families? Are we contending for the faith when we see our little grandchildren come to us? Are we speaking to them of the truth of God's Word? Are we striving to live by faith? Are we striving to submit to God? Are we seeking to live for His glory? Not asking if other people are doing that. asking if we are doing that. And finally, I think we can see the goodness of the chief shepherd in the gloom of his absence. I think it's important as we go through these dark warnings in the book of Jude that we don't lose sight of the joy that sits on the other side of that darkness. The warning from Jude points us back to the only place where deliverance may be found. It points us back to Christ. Jude is warning us. what life apart from him looks like. This warning ought to cause us to cling to the precious promise of salvation that has been issued to us in God's word. It ought to cause us to long for fullness, to cause us to long for sanctification. being made perfect, that process that we walk through which won't be accomplished until we're in glory, but that process that we are called to work through, the working out of our salvation in fear and trembling as God gives us the strength. That is what we are called to learn in these three verses. Jude's warning here, it's not acute teaching aid, it's not It's not what we're to base our classroom instruction on. Well, Jude gives three examples, so we should give three examples. Jude's warning is one of true warning of the judgments of God. In this little tiny book, there is a big warning. He is saying, watch out for the false teachers. The false teachers would have you follow in whose way? The false teachers would have you follow in their way. But Jude is saying, contend for the faith. In essence, you could summarize what we're experiencing by going through the book of Jude as 25 verses of Proverbs chapter 3 and verses 5 and 6. It says there, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him. And He will make straight your paths. Let's pray.