The Enemy Within
Text: Jude vs. 4-16
By: Ken McKinley
Well we began our study in the book of Jude last Sunday evening, and we read verses 1 through 4, so tonight we are going to pick up where we left off… well actually we are going to read verses 1 through 16 just so we get the context of the message this evening.
Now we are probably going to take tonight and next Sunday looking at verses 4-16, because I want to focus specifically on the type of people Jude is warning us about The title of this sermon is “The Enemy Within.” If you remember last week I told you all that the message of the Jude was for Christians to “Stay Alert!” Well this week we are going to be looking at why Jude was urging believers to be vigilant.
Now we touched on how Jude wanted to write to these believers and encourage them in the common salvation that belongs to all believers in Christ. But the Holy Spirit inspired Jude to write something else. Instead Jude was to write a letter of warning.
Now today it seems like we are told over and over again to, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” But if we take a close look at what Jude has written in this short little letter it seems almost like Jude is contradicting what Jesus said. Here Jude, the half-brother of the Lord is condemning those who are polluting the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he does it in a way that is pretty straight forward. So is it right or wrong for Christians to judge? In John 7:24 Jesus says that we are to, “…judge with righteous judgment.” He also taught that we are not to cast our pearls before the swine… that presupposes that in order to know swine, we have to make some sort of judgment. So when we look at just one passage and build an entire belief system off of it, we are most likely going to end up with a skewed belief system. We have to let Scripture interpret Scripture. When Jesus says, “Judge not lest ye be judged” we can know from other Scripture and from the context of that passage itself, that Jesus was not saying that Christians could not judge anything… in-fact just a few verses down in Matthew 7:15 He says that we will know false teachers by their fruit. Again this presupposes a judgment. So what does Jesus mean when He says, “Judge not lest ye be judged”? Well I think the context bears out as well as the teaching in other parts of Scripture that we are not to judge motives. We can judge actions and behavior, but not motives. If someone does something that you don’t think they should do, or maybe they didn’t do something that you thought they should, don’t presume to know why. Say for example, we see a man whose intoxicated; we know he has engaged in the sin of drunkenness, but we don’t know the motive that drove him to it. That’s why 1st Corinthians 10:12 says, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands, take heed, less he fall.”
The Lord goes on to say, “Judge righteous judgment.” Turn with me to Matthew 23:13 (read); Jesus calls the Pharisees a bunch of hypocrites. He says they aren’t saved, and that they don’t even preach the truth so that others can be saved. Jesus is pretty blunt in this passage, all the way to the end of the chapter. We can look in the OT and see that God’s opinion of false prophets and teachers is exactly the same. In the OT God commanded that they be stoned to death. Now granted we are not to be going around stoning people to death today, but the message is pretty clear. God doesn’t like false prophets or false teaching. Now let’s go back to Jude.
Jude was writing because “certain men crept in unnoticed,” they were ungodly men, who turned the grace of God into lewdness.
These were people who were in the church, they were “religious people,” and they were probably active, doing things, saying the right things, they might have even been members. But they didn’t sneak past God. Vs. four says that they were long ago marked out for condemnation. Now if you look at vs. 4 it says, “They turned the grace of God into lewdness, and denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now think about this, if they are in the church, then they probably weren’t denying God and the Lord Jesus Christ outright, they probably said they were believers, and servants of the Lord, but in context what Jude is saying is that their lives and lifestyles denied the Lord. In other words, they drew near with their mouths, but their hearts were far from Him. They were denying the Lord by their actions, and lifestyles.
I love history, especially religious history, church history, but I look through history and I see the reformers, men like Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Knox, and I look through history and I see the Puritans, or men like Jonathan Edwards or Charles Spurgeon and as I look through history at these men, and these people I see Christians whose lifestyles of holiness make modern day Christians look like Sodom and Gomorrah! I see men who took the words of 1st Peter 1:16, “Be you holy for I am holy!” seriously! And then I look at us today, and I wonder if we’ve missed something. I think what we have today is false teachers and false prophets who have crept in unnoticed, and they’ve taught only one side of the coin. They’ve taught a form of grace that isn’t biblical, while neglecting repentance. They like to talk about the love of God, but don’t like to mention that it was not only this love that drove Jesus to the Cross for our sins but the need to propitiate God’s wrath and justice as well.
Turn with me to Philippians 3:1, “Finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord! For me to write the same things to you…” Not something new and exciting, not some weird unheard of doctrine that has never been heard before, “the same things to you, is not tedious, but for you it is safe!” It’s better to hear the truth than something new. I pray that we never get tired of hearing sound doctrine.
Look at Jude, verses 5-8 (read).
Jude was reminding his readers of things they already knew, things they had already heard before, and in vss. 8-11 he goes into more detail about these men, he says they defile the flesh – that means they were immoral. They reject authority, God’s authority to set up their own authority, they reject the clear teaching of the Word of God, they reject the men of God, and they speak evil of things they don’t know about. That word “dignitaries” in vs. 8 is the word “doxas” in the Greek and it literally means “The glorious ones,” so Jude isn’t talking about speaking out against a state leader here, he’s talking about angels and even fallen angels. That’s why he mentions the encounter between Michael the Archangel and Satan. If you look for that encounter in the Bible you won’t find it, this is something the Holy Spirit has revealed to Jude. Deuteronomy tells us that when Moses died, no one knew where he was buried, and so something was happening in the heavenly realm and it had to do with the body of Moses. I don’t know exactly what, where Scripture is silent, I want to try and remain silent as well. But the point that Jude is getting across is that if you don’t know what you’re talking about, especially when it comes to other-worldly principalities and powers then its best if you remain silent, don’t be like these false teachers who make all sorts of claims and boasts. Jude then compares them to “brute beasts.” Their natural urges and instincts drive them, rather than God’s word. They go by ‘feelings’ and emotion rather than Scriptural truths and facts. He says they have gone in the way of Cain… what did Cain do? He held back from God, and then murdered his brother. Jude says they have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit. That’s P.R.O.F.I.T. not P.R.O.P.H.E.T, in other words they use the pulpit and their ministry as a means for financial gain. Then Jude says they were like those who “perished in the rebellion of Korah.” You can read about that in Numbers chapter 16, Korah led a rebellion against Moses, and challenged God’s authority. You should read it sometime because it gives you a good sense of the seriousness of the sin of these men.
In vs. 12 Jude says that these men are spots in their love feasts and clouds without water. The Greek says they are “hidden reefs,” or “hidden rocks.” I go on a float trip every year with my family, we float down the Illinois River and let me tell you what a hidden reef or hidden rock can do. It can upset the canoe causing everyone on board to fall into the water. That’s what Jude is saying, these people can wreck the church. They can cause people to fall overboard. They are clouds without water, in other words they offer empty promises. They are all talk. He says they are like trees that look like they are ready for harvest, but they have no fruit. Remember Jesus said, “By their fruit you shall know them.”
Now look at verse 16 (read). They grumble, they complain, they do as they like, and they flatter so that they can gain advantage. That last part, “they flatter so that they can gain advantage,” could have to do with their preaching. They aren’t preaching the truth; they aren’t telling their listeners that they are sinners in need of a Savior. They aren’t preaching the one, true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
These people don’t tell their listeners that it was their own sins that sent Jesus Christ to the Cross of Calvary. That He died for the ungodly, and that it is only faith in Him that can save a person from eternity in hell. No, they instead preach what the Bible calls doctrines of demons, sermons that tickle itching ears.
I told you Jude didn’t pull any punches.
That’s why he was inspired to write, to exhort Christians, then and now, to earnestly contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints.
Paul told Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith.” Jude tells his readers to, “Contend earnestly for the faith.” And I’ll tell ya’ll tonight, nothing has changed in 2000 years. There may not be people right here in our little church that are like these men Jude warns us about, but they are in the Body of Christ! They are on so-called Christian TV and Christian radio programs. They are in various churches. And we have to stay alert, even here, less they creep in unnoticed.
Prayer and Closing
