Message for WEDNESDAY NIGHT PRAISE AND WORSHIP, September 20, 2017 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister MESSAGE 3 in Contending For The Faith Sermon Series (The Book of Jude) How To Spot A False Teacher Jude vs. 12-19 NKJV As we continue with our series of messages from The Book of Jude on Contending For The Faith, let's open our Bibles to Jude verses 12-19. Jude 12-19 (NKJV) 12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. 16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
Introduction Would you know a poisonous snake if you saw one? Sometimes its not easy to tell the poisonous ones from the non-poisonous ones. The same thing is true when it comes to identifying false preachers from true preachers. In our text tonight, Jude is going to teach us How To Spot A False Teacher. First, we will look at THE PORTRAITS OF A FALSE TEACHER. Secondly, we will look at THE PUNISHMENT AWAITING FALSE TEACHERS And thirdly, we will look at THE PROPHETIC WARNINGS ABOUT FALSE TEACHERS ************************* First of all, let's look at... I. The PORTRAITS of A False Teacher (vs. 12, 13) 1. Let's read verses 12, 13 again... 12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 2. In these verses Jude gives us five portraits or five word pictures to help us identify a false teacher when we see one. Portrait # 1: False teachers are like SPOTS IN YOUR LOVE FEASTS. (v.12a) Now what does that mean? When we think of spots we think of stains or blemishes. And certainly false teachers would be a stain or blemish on any gathering of the Lord's Church. But the Greek word for spots that Jude uses in this 12 th verse actually refers to hidden reefs or treacherous rocks. The early New Testament Churches met on the first day of each week to celebrate the Lord's Supper and then following their corporate worship service they would share a common meal called the love feast.
The more affluent people in the early Churches would bring a lot of food, while the poor would bring what little they had to contribute to the meal. And yet everyone shared equally regardless if they brought a lot or a little. It was a mutual expression of love and equality among the believers. But when false teachers joined in these love feasts they would bring their gluttonous appetites and gorge themselves on the food, with no concern as to whether others went away full and satisfied. Notice Jude says, they feast with you without fear, serving ONLY themselves. You see, while everyone else feasted in a spirit of love and mutual concern for one another, the false teachers feasted in a spirit of selfishness and selfindulgence. They were spots in their love feasts...they were like hidden reefs or treacherous rocks beneath the surface. PORTRAIT #2: False teachers are like CLOUDS WITHOUT WATER. (v. 12b) Here Jude is drawing upon an image that would have been quite familiar to the ancient Jewish people.
In hot, dusty, Palestine, a cloud in the sky was a signal of much wanted rain. But quite often the clouds would come and go, casting only a fleeting shadow, but yielding no rain. Jude is reminding us that this is what false teachers are like. They fill your heads with all their promises and grandiose ideas and yet their promises yield nothing. Think of the false prophets of our day and time, primarily many of today's televangelist. They make all these promises to their viewers that if they will send money to help support their ministry that GOD is going to open the windows of heaven and pour out great riches upon their lives. Sadly, many of those who send money to these wolves in sheep's clothing are poor widows or elderly people on fixed incomes who get duped by the empty promises of their favorite TV preacher. False Teachers are clouds without water. They don't know Jesus Christ the Living Water so they can't give something to people that they themselves do not have.
PORTRAIT #3: False teachers are TREES WITHOUT FRUIT. (v.12c) In His Sermon On The Mount in Matthew 7 Jesus warned His followers that one way you can identify a false prophet from a true prophet is by their fruit. Jesus said, A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Matthew 7:18-20 NKJV) Jude echoes that teaching of Jesus when he says false teachers are late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots. A false teacher is NOT connected to Christ The True Vine, therefore he or she cannot bear life-giving spiritual fruit. Now what does Jude mean when he says they are twice dead? He means there are not true bornagain believers. Dwight L. Moody used to say, If a man is born once, he will die twice. But if a man is born twice, he will only die once. False teachers will die twice. They will experience physical death and eternal death.
FALSE TEACHERS ARE SPOTS IN THE LOVE FEAST...THEY ARE CLOUDS YIELDING NO RAIN...THEY ARE TREES PRODUCING NO FRUIT. PORTRAIT #4: False Teachers are RAGING WAVES OF THE SEA. (v. 13a) To the ancient Israelites raging waves symbolized a threat or grave danger. This isn't hard for us to relate to. Think of the recent devastation caused by the hurricanes that hit Texas and Florida. Much of the destruction left behind from those storms was caused by raging waves or what weather experts refer to as storm surge. That is what false teachers do. They promise life and peace and hope, but they leave death, and destruction, and devastation in their wake. They are like raging waves of the sea.
PORTRAIT #5: False Teachers are like WANDERING STARS. (v. 13b) Before the invention of the compass and the GPS, the only way for ancient travelers to know they were headed in the direction at night was to keep their eyes on the fixed stars in the sky. But we have all seen falling stars or shooting stars haven't we? If you follow the direction of a star that wanders you'll get lost for sure! False teachers are like wandering stars. Because their teachings are based upon lies and deception rather than upon the unchanging word of God, their teachings are constantly changing and shifting. And they promise their followers if they will just follow their light they will lead them to an eternal paradise. But instead they lead their followers to the pits of eternal darkness right along with them. Well now that Jude has given us several PORTRAITS OF FALSE TEACHERS, he now tells us about...
II. The PUNISHMENT Awaiting False Teachers (vs.14,15) 14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. 1. In this brief letter, Jude quotes twice from non-canonical books. Non-canonical books are books that are not part of our Bible. His first quote in verse 9 was taken from the ancient apocryphal book The Assumption of Moses. And his second quotation from a non-canonical book is here in verses 14, 15. Jude got this quote from The Apocalypse of First Enoch......or simply,, The Book of Enoch. Now why would Jude quote from writings outside of the Bible? One reason, is because he inserted these quotes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And another reason is because Jude knew his readers were very familiar with both of the writings he quoted from.
David Jeremiah compares it to a preacher inserting a quote from a book written by a Christian author to illustrate a point. This is what Jude does here in verses 14, 15. Under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jude inserts a direct quote from the writings of Enoch, the man who walked with GOD and was no more because GOD took him away. (Genesis 5:24) 2. Now this is absolutely amazing when you stop and think about it. Enoch lived over 5,000 years ago, and yet Enoch wrote in great detail about the coming of the LORD with ten thousand of His angels, and about the Lord's judgment upon all godless men. How else could Enoch have known these things apart from God Himself? 3. Jude doesn't beat around the bush...he doesn't mince his words...there is nothing politically correct about what he says. 4. Quoting from The Book of Enoch, Jude tells us that ungodly men who do ungodly things and say ungodly things are going to stand convicted when they appear before GOD in the judgment.
Those who preached a false gospel...those who taught things that contradicted the word of God... those who practiced wickedness and taught others to do the same are going to forfeit their souls in the pits of hell. 5. This is the punishment that awaits every false teacher and every apostate who followed their teachings. Thirdly, Jude tells us about... III. The PROPHETIC WARNINGS About False Teachers (vs. 16-19) 16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
1. Remember back in vs. 12,13 Jude gave us five portraits of a false teacher. Now here in verse 16, Jude gives us five more identifying marks of a false teacher. Let me briefly go over these. False teachers are GRUMBLERS. To grumble means to mutter one's discontent under one's breath. This is often where apostasy begins. Remember Cain was a grumbler. The Israelites were grumblers. Korah and his band of rebels were grumblers. False teachers are grumblers. They grumble against God's word. They grumble against God's authority. False teachers are COMPLAINERS. Complainers blame everyone else for their lot in life. They blame their spouse. They blame their parents. They blame their boss. They blame their preacher. False teachers not only blame other people for their lot in life, they often blame God. False teaches have a victim mindset. False teachers WALK ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN LUSTS They are not guided by the Holy Spirit, they are driven by their own passions and desires; whether it be a lust for sensual pleasures...or a lust for power...or a lust for fame...or a lust for money and material things. If today's popular faith healing preachers have the God-given power to heal as they claim, why don't they go to hospitals and nursing homes to heal people for free?
Jude tells us why. Its because they are false prophets and false prophets walk according to their own lusts. They are driven by their passion and desire to make millions off of their so-called God-given gift. False teachers MOUTH GREAT SWELLING WORDS. They means they are smooth talkers... snake oil salesmen who seduce people with their eloquent words. False teachers FLATTER PEOPLE TO GAIN ADVANTAGE. That means they tell people what their itching ears want to hear rather than speaking the truth of God's word. Guys like Benny Hinn, and Joel Osteen, and Creflo Dollar, and Kenneth Copeland and Jessie Duplantis make millions of dollars a year peddling their health and wealth gospel, because they know they are telling people what they want to hear...and that is that God wants you well and God wants you to be rich. 2. Well after giving us these five additional identifying marks to help us spot false teachers, Jude now reminds us of the prophetic words of the apostles. He says in vs. 18,19... 18...they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
3. When you read through the New Testament you find one warning after another from the apostles to beware of false teachers. Paul warned about false teachers. Peter warned about false teachers. And even Jesus Christ Himself warned about false teachers. These men didn't warn us about hypothetical situations that we may or may not have to deal with. They warned us in bold, straightforward terms that there WILL BE false teachers arise, and as the time for Christ's return draws near false teachers will crawl out of the woodwork like a bunch of cock- roaches. 4. In fact, through the medium of television and radio, and the internet, there are more avenues for false teachers to spread their false gospel than ever before in history. That means we are now exposed to more false teachers and false teachings than any generation of Christians who lived before us!
C O N C L U S I O N In The Message Eugene Peterson says this about false teachers... They re a sorry bunch pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers posing as Christ s agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn t surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they re not getting by with anything. They ll pay for it in the end (II Corinthians 11:13-15 The Message) How can we protect ourselves from being led astray by false teachers? Our best protection is the word of GOD. Jesus tells us in John 8:31b,32 (NKJV) If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude, verse 3)