Jude pt 3 - Beware Of False Teachers

Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ... For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ... 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; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all..." (Jude 1, selected)

Wolves in sheep's clothing don't wear a badge—Jude teaches us to know false teachers by their fruit and to fear the judgment that awaits them.

Stand Up for What You Believe In

As I was thinking about this book of Jude—this man who lived 2,000 years ago exhorting us to stand for the faith, to contend earnestly for the faith—a song popped into my head and I couldn't get it out. So I did what many of us do: I went to the compendium of all human knowledge, Google, and typed in "stand up for what you believe in." In 47 seconds there were 14.7 million articles.

There were motivational quotes, five and six and seven-step processes. One five-step process started with "believe in yourself," then step three said "make sure you know what you believe in," and step four asked "do you really believe in this?" I was confused. There were inspirational stories—Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. And there was the song I was actually looking for: 1997, Veggie Tales, Junior Asparagus singing "Stand Up for What You Believe In."

Contending for the Faith from Within

Two thousand years ago, a follower of Jesus named Jude—who was actually the half-brother of Jesus—wrote this letter exhorting Christians in his day and ours to contend earnestly for the faith, to defend the faith.

When we hear "defend the faith," we usually picture going out to defend it against naysayers, against people who don't believe the Bible. Or we picture defending the faith from the onslaught of a culture pressing in against the church—a big talking point among 21st-century American Christians.

Yet when Jude uses these words, he's not talking about defending the faith from outsiders or from the culture. He's talking about defending it from that which comes from within. He speaks of ungodly individuals who have crept in unnoticed—into the ranks of the church, sometimes into its leadership—looking like everyone else. They reject God's authority, deny the lordship of Christ, and distort God's grace into a license to keep walking in unrepentant sin.

These are a cancer in the body of Christ. If left unaddressed, this cancer will destroy the body. As you survey church history, you'll find that the overwhelming majority of times churches have fallen into crisis or died, it came not from the onslaught outside but from the destruction within. That's why Jude, Paul, James, Peter, John—and Jesus Himself—all warn against this danger.

Spots in Your Love Feasts

In verse 12, Jude says, "These are spots in your love feasts." What is a love feast? In the first century it was simply a gathering of Christians for a meal—very similar to our connect groups, where believers gather during the week to share a meal, get to know one another, connect with God, and reach out to the world. The Greeks called it an agape feast.

The word translated "spots" is not a great translation. To me, "spot" pictures a stain—and I'll confess I'm a messy eater who knows about stains on shirts I rather like. But this Greek word is actually defined as a rock, a sea ledge, or a reef. The New Living Translation and ESV render it: these individuals are like dangerous, hidden reefs that can shipwreck you.

That translation is really helpful. We've already been told these destructive individuals crept in unnoticed. The idea of a rock submerged beneath the water, upon which a ship runs aground, ties right in. They are dangerous because they go unseen and cause devastation.

False Teachers Look Just Like True Teachers

Point one: false teachers look just like true teachers. They don't carry a badge saying "I'm a false teacher." They don't wear a black hat to distinguish them from the white-hat good guys. They look like everyone else. Often their teaching sounds very close to everything else you might hear in the church—dissimilar only in small, fractional ways, and those fractions can be incredibly devastating. Like a rock submerged under the path of a boat, it's unseen, and that's what makes it so dangerous.

How do we identify them? As we saw in our first study of Jude 1-4, they use the grace of God as a license for sin, they deny God's authority and rule, and they reject the lordship of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, they are identified by their pattern of life.

This is exactly what Jesus taught. In Matthew 7, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?... Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit... Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Matthew 7:15-20)

Twice Jesus says you will know them by their fruits. Their teaching can sound so close to Scripture that it's hard to distinguish unless you really grasp the Word. That's why these teachers present a counterfeit gospel. Counterfeits are made to look like the genuine article in order to fool the one taking it. So how do we know wolves from sheep when they look so much like sheep? By their fruits. You have to examine their way of life.

Grace Without Transformation

These individuals live in a way that dishonors God, but they say it's okay because God is gracious. And God is gracious—that's why this teaching goes unnoticed. The Bible is very clear that our Lord is merciful, gracious, good, loving, and forgiving, and we are commanded to be the same. So when they say "God is gracious and forgiving," that's true—it flies under the radar.

Yet God has also called us to live in a way that brings glory and honor to Him, in line with His holy nature. Every one of us fails at this daily, which is why we need His grace—but the path of our lives should be to walk in a way that honors God, even when we trip up, with His enabling grace.

There are some who say, "No, it's okay, that's just the way God made you, so keep living that way." But 1 Corinthians 6 gives a long list of sinful lifestyles and says those who practice them will not inherit the kingdom of God—and then adds, "And such were some of you. But you were washed." That's what God's grace does: He forgives our sin and cleanses it. As 1 John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Christian faith is not only about forgiveness; it's also about transformation. Some take the good news of God's forgiving, transforming grace and say, "God will forgive you, but you don't have to change." That's not what the Bible says. But our flesh, our fallen sin nature, likes that teaching—because holiness is hard work. How many of you have discovered holiness is hard work? It's easier to say, "It's just the way I am," and keep living that way because God is gracious. He is gracious and forgiving, but He has called us to live in a way that honors His grace.

Self-Serving and Irreverent

Jude says these people are spots in your love feasts, "feasting with you without fear... serving only themselves." They have no fear, even though they aren't honoring God, because they know God is gracious and His people are gracious, so they have no fear to remain.

Point two: false teachers are self-serving and irreverent. They don't have a reverence for God's holiness or His law, and they live selfish lives. It's been said that character counts, that we should judge people by the content of their character. Those have become clichés, but they're still true. We need to take a careful look at a person's character—how they live, not just what they say. We can all talk a good game. False teachers are wolves masquerading as sheep, and they can blend in for a time, but ultimately by their fruits you will know them. They can't hide forever.

Clouds Without Water

Jude continues: these false teachers are "clouds without water, carried about by the winds." A little over ten years ago I lived for about a year in northwest Germany, in a town called Soest, which is a lot like the Pacific Northwest. They have a thing called "liquid sunshine"—it sounds amazing, but it's just gray, cloudy, gloomy, cold days. The sun wouldn't come up until almost 8:00 a.m. and would set at 3:30 p.m. By November I didn't like liquid sunshine.

But people in Seattle or Soest don't know what "clouds without water" means. Here in Southern California we do. This time of year, dry and hot, we see massive, beautiful, billowing pillars of cloud in the East. If you're like me, you stand in your front yard wishing they'd come down here and drop some water. But they don't—they just mock you all afternoon. When one finally makes its way down, one big drop hits the ground and that's it.

My kids and I watch a show called Oscar's Oasis—a little lizard in the desert whose whole quest is to get water. To my shame, I've seen every episode a dozen times, and even though Oscar never gets water, there's still hope in my heart every time. In one episode he chased a cloud he could never reach. These false teachers are like huge, awesome clouds without water.

Lacking What Is Essential

Point three: false teachers are lacking what is essential. What is it? Turn to Isaiah 55, written about 2,700 years ago, where God speaks through Isaiah in word pictures:

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud... so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

The rain is like God's Word. The rain waters the earth and brings forth food; in the same way, God's Word goes forth and will not return void but accomplishes what God pleases, bringing nourishment and growth. Then verse 12: "For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

In a drought-ridden land, if you could tune your ears just right when the rain comes, you might hear the trees clapping and the mountains rejoicing. We are the clouds in this equation. We are sent into a dry world with God's Word, which the parched land desperately needs. But these false teachers lack that essential ingredient. They may look impressive—massive cumulonimbus pillars—but they lack the very thing they're there to give: the water of the Word that brings life and growth.

Fruitless Trees and Raging Waves

Jude adds another image: these false teachers are "late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots." They have a barren, fruitless life, because fruitfulness comes from the water of God's Word, which they lack. And throughout the Gospels, Jesus tells us what becomes of the fruitless: they are pulled up by the roots, cut down, and cast into the fire, as we saw in Matthew 7.

Then in verse 13, Jude says they are "raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame"—violent, huge storms that look awesome but ultimately produce nothing but destruction. Point four: false teachers appear great but accomplish little. They appear great but accomplish little because they don't have the essential ingredient, the Word of God. They are self-serving, they don't fear the Lord, and because of what they lack, they are destructive.

Wandering Stars

The final metaphor in verse 13: these false teachers are "wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." What is a wandering star? The Greek word is planetes, from which we get "planet." Ancient astronomers could chart exactly where the stars would be night after night, and mariners navigated by them. But there were wandering stars that moved erratically—this direction, then back, then circling around. The ancients identified seven of these wandering bodies, and you couldn't navigate by them; they were useless for charting a course.

In the same way, false teachers offer no hope to people journeying through life, because they can't direct you anywhere. The Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path—it guides us. If you don't have that, you can give no direction, no matter how much wisdom you sound like you have. The world is filled with people whose great swelling words sound wise but have no steadfast bearing on Scripture. Point five: these false teachers will meet a dark and eternal end, like wandering stars reserved for blackness and darkness forever.

Enoch's Prophecy and the Coming Judgment

In verse 14, Jude changes gears: "Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also." Who is Enoch? Genesis traces the line from Adam through Cain, Abel, Seth, and down to the seventh from Adam—Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. Genesis 5:24 says, curiously, "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Every other man in that lineage lived and died, but Enoch walked with God and was simply taken. Hebrews 11 confirms he was a man of faith who pleased God.

Jude quotes a prophecy of Enoch—not found in our Bibles but in the Book of Enoch—saying, "Behold, the Lord comes." Church, there is coming a day when the Lord will return. On the day Jesus ascended (Acts 1), He rose from the Mount of Olives, the clouds received Him, and His eleven disciples stood gazing into heaven. Two angels appeared and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven? This same Jesus... will so come in like manner." Ever since, every orthodox Christian has believed this simple truth: Jesus will one day come again.

And when He comes, He comes "with ten thousands of His saints"—a multitude of His followers. If you're a follower of Jesus, you're coming with Him. What is He coming to do? "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."

Judged for Their Ungodliness

Here's the startling, scary thing: these individuals who look like Christians, talk like Christians, go to church, and sometimes even teach Bible studies are the ones described here as the ungodly upon whom God will bring judgment. Point six: false teachers will be judged for their ungodliness. They aren't numbered among the saints coming back with the Lord; they're counted among the ungodly of the world.

This is sobering. When Christians think about God's judgment, they often picture all the wicked people out in the world. But Jesus says there are some wicked among His church, not just in the world. That's why He said in Matthew 18:6 that whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for him to be drowned with a millstone around his neck. That's why James 3:1 says, "Let not many of you become teachers... knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment." And that's why Jesus gave the most startling passage in the Bible, Matthew 7: "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name... and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"

Every Believer Is a Teacher

You may say, "That's fine, I'm never going to be a teacher—'let not many of you become teachers,' that's my favorite verse!" But here's a disconcerting word: if you're a follower of Jesus, you already are a teacher, whether you want to be or not. You're a teacher to your kids, your neighbors, your coworkers. For many people in your life, the greatest Bible study they will ever hear is the one they see in your life and mine.

So we all stand in this sobering position, where we desperately need the grace and forgiveness of God—and just as desperately need His transforming power to make us more like Him.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we need You. Jesus, we pray that You would work in our lives by Your power, God, by Your Spirit. Touch and transform us to make us more like You. Lord, You inspired Paul to write that if anyone is in Christ they are a new creation; all the old things have passed away, and everything has become new. God, make us new. Refine us. Remove anything that is not glorifying or honoring to You. And Lord, help us not to walk in continued sin because we are banking on Your continued grace and forgiveness. Though You are gracious, though You are forgiving, God, help us by Your grace to turn away from and repent of those things that don't bring glory to You. Work in our lives this week. I ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said amen.