Book of Jude
Part 4
June 2, 2013
“These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever (Jude 1:12, 13).
The word “spots” here doesn’t refer to a stain or blemish. It means a hidden rock that people will become shipwrecked on. That’s what a false teacher is; a person with an apostate message that causes people to stumble and even fall away from the faith. Oftentimes when a church makes a public supper, the public comes, if it’s free. They may be from many denominations and beliefs and they might even try to convince you of their truths as you eat together.
In the early church, Christian often met together over a pot luck meal. These were called “feasts of charity” or love feasts. It was a time when Christians who were well off brought much to the feast and those less fortunate brought little. Those who were in the bondage of slavery, most likely brought nothing. The meal with the Christians was probably the best meal the poor and the slaves had all week. They would have looked forward to it. But the wealthy and those in authority and the false teachers would push them aside and feed themselves first leaving only scraps for them. They would drink much of the wine, and become drunk. Problem was, when they were drunk and sated, they could not hear the message or participate in the conversation about Jesus.
It was these same feasts that Paul spoke against in I Corinthians when he said, “When you meet together as a group, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. For as you eat, you each go ahead with your own meal, so that some are hungry while others get drunk. Don't you have your own homes in which to eat and drink? Or would you rather despise the church of God and put to shame the people who are in need? What do you expect me to say to you about this? Shall I praise you? Of course I don't!” (I Corinthians 11:20-22)
”Clouds without water” is a metaphor meaning that the false teachers are empty, devoid of any benefit to those they pass over. They don’t rain and water the gardens; they bring darkness to hide their lies in. John Gill says that these clouds of false teachers are, “destitute of the true grace of God.” Instead of raining the truth of the Gospel which refreshes the soul, they hide the Son. They blasphemed His name and spoke other than the truth. They were “carried about” on the winds of false doctrine. Some false teachers knew the truth at the beginning, but, either by the message of satan from other false teachers, or by satan directly, they moved away from God and began to pervert all that was holy.
They became trees “whose fruit withered.” These trees might have had strong trunks and branches to lure in the unsuspecting, but they bore no fruit for the Lord. People think that if someone is in the pulpit to preach, or a podium to teach they were called by God. That’s true, they were. But by which one were they called, the God of heaven or the god of the earth?
False teachers are “twice dead, plucked up by the roots.” That is, they were dead in trespass and sin and they would die physically and spiritually when their time on earth was over.
False teachers are, “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame.” In other words, they were puffed up in pride and vanity. These were men and women who were tossed by every wind of doctrine and tried to assimilate every one into their own beliefs. They then spewed out false information as they tried leading God’s children astray. John Gill put it directly. False teachers used “wrathful words, frothy and obscene language, and filthy doctrines; and which expresses the issue of their noisy and blustering ministry, which ends in uncleanness, shame, emptiness, and ruin.”
Isaiah said it well. “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isaiah 57:20).
False teachers are like “wandering stars.” They shine brightly for a while and suddenly their light dims and fades. I can think of two such comets that arose in this 21st century. One is Todd Bentley who “healed” people by kicking them, punching them, and in other ways abusing them. People who are terminally ill will try anything, even mistreatment by a false prophet/teacher like Bentley. His star shone in Florida for several weeks, then suddenly, like a meteorite, exploded and became a non-entity.
The second one is Rob bell of Love Wins fame. He pastored a mega church and was honored and kept in style by them, until… When his book love Wins came out, his congregation was appalled and began to leave the church in droves. The leadership of the church had to step in and get rid of Bell before he totally destroyed the church. He was like a match when you strike it on flint. His flame ignited and burned brightly till the truth of his deceptions became known. Then his flame was snuffed out.
These two men are still around and trying to make a comeback, but they won’t. Their truth has been revealed and people are wary of them now. Unless they repent, turn to the Christ for salvation and live a right godly lifestyle, they will live in their place of darkness reserved for them in hell.
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (verses 14, 15). Enoch means one who is "instructed", or "trained up" in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Enoch was one of the few who left this world in an unusual way. “And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:23, 24). God just called him up to heaven. This is a wonderful demonstration of what will happen when Jesus calls for His bride. We will be lifted up to meet Jesus in the air. Praise God! “Even so, Lord Jesus, come!”
David Guzik writes, “Here Jude quoted from Enoch, who is described in Genesis 5 and mentioned in Hebrews 11. The ancient book of Enoch was not received as Scripture, but it was highly respected among both the Jews and early Christians.” This is why Jude would be comfortable using Enoch in his message to the Christians. The Christians already knew what Enoch prophesied about Jesus. Jude was simply reminding them.
This verse is prophetic yet, and speaks to the Second coming of Jesus. “Ten thousands of His saints” suggest millions, or even billions. It is ten thousands upon ten thousands. “Tertullian tells us that the book of Enoch’s prophecies were preserved by Noah in the ark, and that they continued and were read until the times of the apostles. But because they contained many famous testimonies concerning Jesus Christ, the Jews out of malice suppressed and abolished the whole book.” (Trapp) “Testimonies” here would be prophecies. Enoch knew about the coming of Jesus and he wrote about it so others could know. The pharisaical leadership of the Jews did not want them knowing about Jesus, so they hid Enoch’s writing.
“To execute judgment upon all” means that Enoch prophesied that Jesus is coming back and He will judge and He will separate the sheep from the goats. The false teachers and all their fabrications and blasphemies will be judged by the Righteous One. They will be convicted of their crimes against God and sentenced to everlasting death in the Lake of Fire.
This judgment is not something we should disregard because we once said a simple prayer. We need to ask ourselves, “Am I really saved and walking with the Lord?” If you‘re not, you, too, will face this coming judgment. Even your language and deeds will be judged when Jesus comes back. Be sure you have made a total commitment to the Lord.
“These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage” (verse 16). A murmurer is one who grumbles and moans about everything. They are never happy. No matter what’s going on, they complain. They used their words to deceive people. They bring them down and make them feel useless. They use their words to teach people to leave the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. They complain, as Rob Bell does, that no one should be sent to hell. He believes and teaches things that are not in the Bible and swears to their truth.
Another apostate I just heard of is Jay Bakker the son of Jim and Tammy Bakker. He’s now teaching that God changed His mind about homosexuals, or that the translators got His intent wrong and that gays can now go to heaven without changing their lifestyle. One article I read said “He believes gay marriage should be legalized and is very active within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The Bible, he says, has been misconstrued by many Christians and needs to be re-examined to include these important civil rights.” He also said that Jesus is just a Good Person! Many are going to listen to him and go straight to hell because of it. They cannot live in the abomination (God’s word) and be saved.
Todd Bentley, Rob Bell, and Jay Bakker call themselves pastors. If that’s the case, they need to read, study and meditate upon Ezekiel 34:1-10 to see how false shepherds treat their flocks and Ezekiel 34 11-31 to see how the Good Shepherd does it. Pastors will never be anyone’s god, but they sure can learn to emulate Jesus.
