One of the things that it's very
important to remember is that what Jude is teaching in this
book, as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this short
letter, is that what he is teaching is what he had been taught by
the Lord himself. And again, I'm going to mention
this in this message and in the message later on, When you read
the book of Jude, you're reading the words of Christ, because
this is the inspired word of God. I took the title from verse
17, when he says, but beloved, remember ye the words which were
spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's
a two-way application of that. And again, I'll be repeating
this in the next message, in the message from John's chapter
8, because it's so appropriate. And that is when we speak the
Word of God, the doctrine of Christ, we're speaking not only
words about Him, who He is, what He did, why He did it, where
He is now, the doctrine of Christ, but we're speaking words that
are from Him. This is His teaching. And so
when you read these passages and you see what men by nature
see as harsh and unkind, all right? For example, you know,
he talks about these false preachers. He said they're no better off
than Sodom and Gomorrah. He says they've gone the way
of Cain, the way of Baal, what was it he called it? The way
of Cain, the error of Baal, the gainsaying of Korah, Now, to
the natural man, that seems harsh and unkind. You just don't speak
like that, you know. That's just not things that's
going to win friends and influence people. But we have to understand
that those words come from He who is love incarnate, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you have to understand this,
that the best thing that we can do to show love to people is
to tell them the truth. Now, granted, we shouldn't be
mean and harsh and unkind in our presentation, but the gospel
is the gospel, and there's only one. And it reveals one way of
salvation in one person based on one righteousness, and there
is no other. And so we, it's like Paul wrote
in Romans 11, you know, he said, my desire for my brethren, according
to the flesh, the Israelites, the unbelieving Israelites, that
they be saved. I want to see them saved. But he said, I can't
say they're saved already because they are ignorant of God's righteousness.
and going about to establish their own. So keep that in mind
when you look at things like this. Look at verse 14. He goes
back to Enoch. Now we studied a little bit about
Enoch when we went through Hebrews 11. You know who Enoch was. He
says, and Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, seventh generation
from Adam, Enoch who was a man of God, A sinner saved by grace. There's
not a whole lot in the Bible said about him. It said that
he walked with God over in Genesis chapter 5. And then it said he
was translated. And we've talked about that.
I'm not going to go into all that this morning because we
don't have time. God moved him somewhere. And you can speculate
on that. Well, I hope you won't speculate
on it. I hope you just leave it alone unless you want to really
get into the Bible and study it. But this Enoch, we're told
in Hebrews chapter 11 that he pleased God. And then in the
next verse it says in Hebrews 11, without faith it's impossible
to please God. And that faith there is looking
to Christ. It's doing what Abel did before Enoch. Bringing the
blood of Christ, pleading his righteousness as the only ground
and basis of a right relationship with God, of salvation, of blessing,
of acceptance. So that's how we look at Enoch.
based upon other scripture. What are we doing there? We're
using the rules of interpretation, the main rule, interpreting scripture
with scripture. Don't interpret scripture by
William Shakespeare. Don't interpret scripture by
John Calvin or Jacob Arminius. Interpret scripture with scripture.
And that's the way we do it. Context means everything. Well,
he says that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied. Now, when
you see the word prophecy or prophesied, think of it as preaching,
okay? And it's not always for telling
the future, but sometimes it does involve telling the future.
In other words, it's a preacher of the gospel preaching what
God has revealed to him in his word. Now, in this case, Enoch
is talking about the future. Listen to it. He says, Enoch,
also the seventh from Adam, preached or prophesied of these, that
is, these false preachers. That's who he's talking about.
These that he called spots, you know, in your feast of charity.
That's who he's describing. These who are clouds without
water. These who are trees whose fruit
withereth and plucked twice dead, plucked up by the roots. See
that language? You know, if you see someone
who you can know is a false preacher today, because of their testimony
which is against the Word of Christ, the same thing can be
said of them. And he says, raging waves of
the sea foaming out their own shame, what they're preaching
is their own shame. Why would he say it's their own
shame? Well, now think about it. Any preacher who's gone the
way of Cain, the error of Balaam, the gainsaying of Korah, which
is preaching salvation at some stage, in some degree, in some
way by the works of men, When that preacher stands, if God
doesn't intervene and bring that preacher and his followers to
a saving knowledge of Christ and the grace of God, when that
person stands before God at judgment, what does the Bible say? They're
going to be what? Ashamed. It's kind of like this, you know,
it's kind of like the old beggar who showed up at the ball in
rags. Because that's what the Bible
says about our righteousness. Filthy rags, now it's not talking
about clothes there. But the thing about it is, if
we appear before God without Christ's righteousness charged
to our account, we will be ashamed because nothing else will pass
the test. God's gonna judge the world in
righteousness by that man who he has ordained and that he has
given assurance unto all men and that he has raised him from
the dead. So that's what he's talking about. Now, Enoch prophesied
of these. You know, the day that Enoch
lived in is just like every other day of the world. It was an evil
time. God had a remnant of grace even
out of that generation. Enoch was one of them. But he
prophesied of these. And here's what he said. Look
at verse 14. Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of
His saints. Now that's the second coming
of Christ. We know that from scriptural
testimony. When He came the first time,
He didn't come with ten thousands of His saints. He came as a babe
born in a manger. That was His incarnation. The
birth of Christ. Another reason we know that this
is the second coming of Christ is verse 15. Look at it. To execute
judgment upon all. He's gonna execute judgment upon
all. He's coming as the judge, the
conqueror. When he came the first time,
he didn't come for that reason. He came to save his people from
their sins. He came as the savior. Hebrews
9 speaks of that, how he came to put away sin, but the second
time he's coming without sin. In other words, the debt of sin
is already paid, righteousness is established. Now he's coming
to judge. So Enoch, back in Genesis chapter
5, and it's not recorded back then, but the Holy Spirit reveals
to Jude that this is what Enoch preached. And here's what we
know about Enoch. He preached the gospel. How do
you know that? He was a sinner saved by grace.
And look at this, it says that the Lord's coming 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. There's your theme that goes
through there. Ungodly, ungodly, ungodly. and
of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against
him." Now, what does ungodly mean? It's an unbeliever. It's one who has no interest,
one who has no part in the inheritance of God's grace, in the blessings
of eternal life. It's one who is reprobate. It's
one who does not know Christ and who stands before God without
a righteousness. Now whatever else you can say
about that individual is covered by ungodliness. Now here he's
talking about false preachers. And remember I told you, they
don't wear signs on their chest that say, I'm a false preacher.
They don't have horns and fangs and pointed tails and carry pitchforks. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11,
they can appear to be true preachers, but they transform. In other
words, even when they preach the truth, and they can say some
truth, you know, Satan quoted scripture on the Mount of Temptation. You know, somebody said truth
is truth whether it's spoken by Balaam's ass or Paul the Apostle. Isn't that right? So that's the
way it is. But a false preacher cannot stay
there, is what the scripture says, because his heart's not
there. So they transform, they change. It's kind of like years ago at
the church at 13th Street, we had a missionary come up from
the islands who was seeking to get support. And Brother Mayhem
was trying to get to know the gentleman, and I heard him preach
some pretty good messages. Well, we learned about him afterward
that he'd go anywhere, and whatever they wanted to hear, that's what
he'd preach, because whatever he could get money, get support.
That's what he's talking about. That's what they transformed.
If I'm in a church and they believe the doctrines of grace, I'll
preach them. But if I'm in a church and they believe free willism,
I'll preach that. when in Rome do as the Romans
do. And he justified it by that passage in 1 Corinthians. I didn't write this down. where
Paul said, you know, when I'm with the Jews, I become a Jew.
When I'm with the Gentiles, I become a Jew. That's not what Paul's
talking about. He's not talking about compromising
the gospel. He's talking about where those
people are and their customs. For example, I'll give you an
example of what Paul's talking about there. If Paul the apostle
went into a Gentile nation, It would have been, and to preach
the gospel, not to compromise it, it would have been useless
for Paul to talk about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because those
Gentiles, they didn't know who Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were.
So he brought them messages that would be appropriate to their
station, but it was the same gospel. Look at, for example,
Acts chapter 17, where he stood on Mars Hill and preached. But
now when he went into the Jewish people, He'd go back to Abraham. When he was talking to the Jews
at Rome, he went back to Abraham, Romans 4. So that's what he's
talking about. It's kind of like if I was ever
to appear and have the opportunity to preach before a group of people
who have never opened a Bible, never heard of the Bible, how
would I approach them? Now here in Albany, everybody's
got a Bible. And there's a church on every
corner and probably one starting up here in a few minutes. You
know how it is. This is the Bible Belt. So everybody's
familiar with Psalm 23, John 3, 16. So I can refer to those
things. But if somebody had never heard
of that, then I would approach them differently. That's what
Paul's talking about. He's not saying, when in Rome, do as the
Romans do. Enoch preached that Christ is
coming to execute judgment upon all. Now, he's talking about
unbelievers, the reprobate. How do you know that? Because
judgment has already been executed, performed, pronounced upon God's
elect. When was that? On the cross. When Christ died on that cross,
judgment was executed upon me. Not personally now, and I thank
God for that, but in the person of my substitute. The whole wrath
of God that I deserved and earned fell upon Christ, my substitute,
my surety, based upon my sin imputed, charged to him. And
therefore God cannot charge it to me. I'm righteous in God's
eye. Now that will be declared at
the judgment, at the great white throne judgment, because God's
people will be judged out of the book of life. But now here
he's talking about these who are ungodly, those who are without
Christ. No matter what their station,
their color, their nation, their religion, You see, they could
be like the ones in Matthew 7 who say, Lord, Lord, haven't we preached
in your name? Done many wonderful works. They're
still ungodly. You see, if you plead anything
but Christ's righteousness imputed, that's ungodly. That's what people
need to hear today. All their sincerity, all of their
morality, All of their dedication, all of their so-called charity
in God's sight. And I know it sounds harsh to
the natural man. It sounds so unreasonable to
the natural man. But we know who God is. We know that God is a God of
mercy and love and grace, but He is also a God of justice and
He cannot, according to His own nature, He cannot act against
His nature. Somebody asked, is there anything
God cannot do? Well, the Bible says he can't
lie. Why? Because it's his nature to be
truth. He cannot change because it's his nature to be immutable.
He cannot act in opposition to his nature. He cannot do that.
If he could, he would not be God. God cannot accept me on any other
basis. but the grace of God in Christ,
based on his righteousness in Putin. So, until you understand
that, you're not gonna understand the Bible. Until you understand
that the most dedicated, sincere, moral, charitable human being
misses the mark of righteousness, and that righteousness can only
be found in one person, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll
never understand the Bible. Am I right? Well, he says they're ungodly
deeds. You remember over in John 3,
look over there just a moment. This is why the natural man hates
the gospel, the gospel light. Now, understand this, that hatred
can manifest itself in different ways and to different degrees.
It doesn't always manifest itself like the ones who stoned Stephen. Now that's hatred, wasn't it?
They hated what Stephen preached. The light. And why'd they hate
it? Because it exposed them for what
they were. The hatred can manifest itself
in just turning a deaf ear to it. I don't believe that. I don't care what you say. Yeah. Calling it foolishness. And so
you turn away from it. You say, well, how can that be
hatred? Well, Christ said, he that is
not for me is what? Against me. There's no middle
ground. There's no fence straddling.
So look at John 3 verse 19. Christ said, this is the condemnation.
That light has come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light. Now what is it about darkness
that men love? The natural man. It's the darkness
of false religion. It's the darkness of pride and
self-righteousness. They love that. That's the darkness
that he's talking about. You don't love being in a dark
room, do you? I mean, unless you're asleep,
and then you're asleep. But I'm talking about if you
had to walk around, you don't love that. So what is it? He's
not talking about literal, being in a literal dark room. He's
talking about spiritual darkness. And so he says they love darkness
rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were
evil. The darkness of a person thinking
that his deeds can recommend him to God. The darkness of a
person who's thinking that his obedience can make him righteous,
can earn his way into God's favor. The light exposes that to be
evil Not because it's necessarily immoral in the eyes of men or
insincere, but because it denies the glory of God. You see, the
glory of God is in Christ. You understand that? His blood,
His righteousness. Now if I'm thinking that my deeds
can recommend me unto God, that denies God's glory. All right,
it denies the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul
wrote in Galatians chapter 221, if righteousness come by the
law, then Christ died in vain. In other words, if I'm thinking
that my deeds can recommend me unto God, then I'm saying that
what Christ did on the cross was for nothing. He died for nothing. And then
thirdly, it lifts up in pride the sinner. The Bible says that
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. They missed
the mark. If I believe that I can hit the
mark by my deeds, then that's pride, that's religious pride.
It's unbelief, all right? So he says in verse 20 of John
3, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
the light, lest his deed should be reproved, verse 21. But he
that doeth truth, now what is it to do truth? It's to believe
the gospel. cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God." They're the work of God. So it's
all about God's work. Go back to Jude now. He says,
they're ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed,
verse 15. In other words, they committed these things in an
ungodly way. It's not on the basis of Christ's
righteousness, it's not motivated by grace and gratitude, but it's
motivated by either legal threats of punishment or mercenary promises
of earned reward. See, a person who's expecting
reward based upon their efforts, they're not a willing, loving
bond slave of Christ, they're a mercenary. Play for pay, that's
what that is. And he says, and all of their
hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against them. So
what he's talking about is their ungodly sinners have spoken against
him, rather, against Christ. Hard speeches. Well, look at
verse 16. He says, these are murmurers,
complainers, walking after their own lust, and their mouths speak
of great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because
of advantage. murmurs and complainers. You
set these people under the preaching of the true gospel, they'll always
have an objection. They'll always have a but. But what about this? What about
that? And it's always in opposition
to the gospel now. We all have questions and there's
nothing wrong with having questions, believe me. But a complaint and
a murmuring has to do with grumbling over the fact that you've taken
away their hope, their ground, and their motivation in their
religion. You know, for example, let me
give you an example of that. Paul communicated by the power of
the Holy Spirit the clear gospel message in the first five chapters
of Romans, about as clear as you can find it. It's in a lot
of other places clearly, but Paul did that. It's like a systematic,
isn't it? And at the end of Romans 5, he
came to this conclusion, verse 21, as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now what he did, he excluded
the works of sinners as forming any part of attaining or maintaining
a sinner's right relationship with God, justification, being
not guilty, being declared righteous. What was the first objection
that he anticipated? If salvation is totally by grace
based upon a righteousness that I have no part in producing,
then shall I sin that grace may abound? Doesn't matter what I
do. That's the murmuring and complaining
he's talking about. And you'll see that argument,
it's been going on since Cain and Abel. Yeah, the recent debate over
2 Corinthians 5.21, you know, God, Christ made sin and us made
the righteousness of God in him. You know, somebody said, well,
I wish we could stop debating about that. And I wrote back,
I said, well, let me tell you something, that debate's been
going on since Cain and Abel. And I don't think you're going
to stop it until Christ comes again. He'll put a stop to it.
That's what Enoch is talking about. Christ will put an end
to it. That's what he's talking about, those objections raised
against the gospel, and that means they're walking after their
own lust. Now remember, a lust is an unlawful, evil desire here
in the context. We think of lust as being an
unlawful, immoral, sexual desire, and that's included. But here's
what he's talking about is a desire for salvation in a wrong way. A desire to be saved, a desire
to please God that is against God. That's a lust of the flesh.
You remember Christ told the Pharisees in John 8, 44, you're
of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will
do. He's talking to the Pharisees
there. And so they lusted after salvation and righteousness by
their own works. And so he says, their mouths
speak of great swelling words. When I heard that, I read that,
it did remind me of this debate over 2 Corinthians 5.21 because
the ones who want to say, well, Christ made sin is more than
imputation. They use these great swelling
words that just impress people. Oh, mysterious, you know, all
that stuff. And he says, having men's person
in admiration because of advantage. They want to please men. That's
what that means. They're not trying to please God. They're
trying to please men. They're trying to gain a following. Look
at verse 17. He says, But beloved, remember
you the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our
Lord Jesus Christ, verse 18, how that they told you There
should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their
own ungodly lust. These be they who separate themselves,
sensual, having not the spirit. This is all foretold. This is
what Christ taught. This is what the apostles taught.
This is coming. It shouldn't surprise us. We're
sad about it. We don't like it. But it shouldn't
surprise us. Christ himself said in the last
days, you know, the biggest sign of the last of the last days
is false Christianity. And yet a lot of times we stand
like we're amazed at that. Now, I don't want to become complacent,
I don't want to become calloused about this thing, but it should
not surprise we who know Christ that this is the way it is. Somebody
said, well there's so many people. Christ said that that would be
the way it is. You know, I hear these false
preachers talking about the end times. And they speak, all they
talk about is the immorality of the day. Well, that's gone
on since the beginning. And we don't like that, and we're
to stand against that. But you never hear them talk
about false Christianity. We're all Christians, they say.
Well, read the book. Read the Bible. And here he says,
here he says, they are those who separate themselves. You
remember I've got listed back in, quoted back in Isaiah 65,
talking about those described which say, stand by thyself,
come not near to me, for I am holier than thou. And the Lord
says, there is smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
He says they're sensual. The word sensual means worldly
minded. Fleshly. They judge according
to the flesh. I'm going to be dealing with
that in John chapter 8. Not today, but in the message
next week, Lord willing. About this thing about judging
according to the flesh. And then he says, having not
the Spirit. They have not the Spirit of God.
You don't judge the presence or the power of the Holy Spirit
by feeling. By numbers, you judge it by the
truth, the truth priest, the truth that glorifies God, that
exalts Christ, that puts sinners in the dust where we belong,
and leaves us with no hope but God's grace in Christ. Okay.