Turn with me once again to the
small letter of Jude. Just before the last book in
the Bible, the book of Revelation, we have this one page almost,
this one small letter of Jude, the apostle of our Lord. I ended my last message from
this letter in verse 11, in which God pronounced a woe on them,
woe unto them. Makes me think of the Lord Jesus
Christ when he pronounced all those woes in the temple at the
end of his ministry. Look back with me to Matthew
chapter 23. Beginning with verse 13. But
woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men. For you neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer you them that are entering to go in. Woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses,
and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore you shall receive
the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you can pass sea and land
to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold
more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, you blind guides,
which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing,
but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is
a debtor. You fools and blind. For whither
is greater the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? Then verse 23, Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and
anise, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,
mercy, and faith. These ought you to have done,
and not to leave the other undone. Verse 25, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you make clean the outside of
the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion
and excess. Verse 27, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like unto whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full
of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Verse 29, warn to
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of
the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous and
say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not
have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Wherefore, you be witnesses unto yourselves that you are the children
of them which killed the prophets. Our text last time, verse 11
here in Jude, woe unto them. Woe unto them. Who are they? Who are they upon which this
woe is pronounced here in our text? Well, they're men, many
of whom were teachers, preachers. prophets, so-called, anti-Christ. They were men who, according
to verse 4, had crept in unawares. They'd come in among the people
of God, the assemblies of the people of God. They were ungodly
men who, by their teaching, denied the only Lord God. Well, tonight, as we go on to
verse 12, I want us to see in verses 12 and 13, five descriptive
terms that Jude gives of these men. First, they are spots in
your feast of charity when they feast with you. Notice that in
verse 12, the first part of verse 12. These are spots in your feast
of charity when they feast with you. Now we know from the New
Testament and also from church history that these early churches
had what were called in the Greek language at least agapeia or
love feast. Remember that a very large proportion
of the members of these New Testament churches were slaves. A large
proportion were slaves. And slaves, for the most part,
are usually poor. And so many in the churches were
poor people. And for that reason, at least,
they had what they called these love feasts. This would assure
that these poor brothers and sisters in Christ at least would
have a good meal sometimes. And according to John Gill, these
love feasts would begin with prayer and with the singing of
hymns. And after the meal, they would
end again with prayers and singing of hymns. So it really was a
meal, but a worship service at the same time. Now Jude says
these men who have crept in unawares among you, they are like spots
in your feast of charity. And I cannot say with certainty
that the problems began with these men and these feasts that
we read about in the church at Corinth. But I want you to turn
there, if you will, to 1 Corinthians. Certainly what we see here in
Jude about these men, they turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness. And that's exactly what was taking
place here in the church at Corinth. If you look in 1 Corinthians
chapter 10, verse 20, but I say, that the things which the Gentiles
sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God, and what? And I would not have you should
have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the
Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the
Lord's table and the table of devils. These love feasts, were turned into times when they
would eat, the wealthy would eat what they believed and they
would separate the poor from themselves. And so you had two
groups. You had the poor in one group
and you had the wealthy in another group. And the wealthy, of course,
they had plenty to eat, even to excess. As we are told here
in this chapter, many of them abused the drinking of wine in
these love feasts. And that certainly was not what
the feast had been for. They turned the grace of God
into lasciviousness. In this way, they became respecter
of persons. That's a sin that is a very grievous
sin, to be a respecter of persons. God is not a respecter of persons. And James, in his letter, he
speaks about this, about a man coming in and he has a gold ring
on his finger or he's dressed in nice clothes and you say to
him, sit here. Sit here in this place of prominence,
this place of recognition, and then some poor person comes in
and you say to him, sit there at my feet, at my footstool.
That's an awful sin, and it's a sin that the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ must always guard against. We should always
remember, and I'm speaking to myself and I'm speaking to all
of us here tonight, we should always remember Every person
that we meet and every person that comes into this building,
we all have a soul that is going to live throughout eternity. We all have a soul and we all
need to hear and to believe the gospel, no matter how we're dressed
or what our situation is in life. The most basic need that every
one of us has have is to know Christ as our Lord and as our
Savior. God is not a respecter of persons. Peter made this declaration in
Acts chapter 10 when he went into the house of Cornelius.
Cornelius was a Gentile, and when the Holy Spirit came upon
them, They were all amazed, that is, the Jews who were with Peter. They were all amazed, and Peter
said, truly, God is not a respecter of persons. Be it Jew or Gentile,
he's not a respecter of persons. And Jude, now, back in our text,
he tells these, in the church to which he was writing, this
general official, that these people, these men who had crept
in unawares among them, They're like spots in your feast of charity. One of the writers mentioned
the fact, have you ever had a piece of clothing and you get some
kind of spot in it and you just can't get it out? I mean, everything
you try, it seems like that spot is going to remain in that garment
as long as you have it. And it just runs the garment
for you, doesn't it? And that is the way this one
writer pictured these people who had come in among the people
of God as spots in their feast of charity. A feast that should
have been to show forth love to one another had been turned
into a place where some were not respected and others were. That's the reason when we have
a have dinner on the ground, if we don't call it that, because
we don't eat outside anymore. That's what churches used to
have, dinner on the ground. I've been to a few of those.
They didn't have air conditioning inside the church, so might as
well eat outside. But we have lunch together sometimes,
fifth Sunday lunch. And what do we do? We always
do the same thing. People bring what they wish to
bring. It's all put out there and people go through and take
what they want. And everybody is welcome. No
one is a second class eater or anything like that at the table.
The second descriptive term he gives here, they're like clouds
without water. Notice that again in verse 12.
after these are spots in your feast of charity when they feast
with you, feeding themselves without fear. They're like clouds
without water carried about of winds, clouds without water. Now this is a very interesting
description to me as I looked at it. There's several things
about clouds I wanted to mention. First of all, clouds can appear
almost out of nowhere. It seems like the sun is shining,
there's not a cloud in the sky, and then you look up and the
sky is filled with clouds. Now, the many, these are like
clouds without water. The point is that there were
many, not just a few, not just now and then, but there were
many of these false teachers. There were many of these false
prophets. Antichrist, they denied Christ. The Apostle John in his first
epistle, he said, Beloved, believe not every spirit, that is every
prophet, every man who comes and he's got a big Bible under
his arm and he claims to be a man of God. He claims that he's a
preacher called of God. Believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits, whether they are of God. Because why should
we do this? Why? Because many, not just a
few, many false prophets are gone out into the world. And
we like to think by illustration of Elijah on Mount Carmel. He
was one man. How many false prophets were
there worshiping a false god, Baal? There was one prophet of
God. They're like clouds without water
carried about of winds. Second, clouds produce darkness. When it's a cloudy day, it's
a dark day. And these men were like clouds
without water. They do not preach Christ, who
is the water of life. They only produce confusion and
doubt, that's it. They're like clouds without water.
They promise much. I know you and I, at this particular
time, we see clouds sometimes, and oh, it looks like that's
going to bring a good shower. It just looks like a rain cloud
before long it's gone. It promises much, but it gives
nothing. That's what these men were like,
clouds without water. And third, Their clouds are carried
about of winds, winds, every wind of doctrine or teaching,
everything that comes along. And as I was preparing these
notes, in the 45 years, October this year, the 45 years since
we had our first service, in Shotwell Middle School, the second
Sunday in October, 1977, be 45 years. And I could not help but
think of the many different winds of doctrine that I have seen
over these 45 years in so-called Christian, in the Christian world,
in the Christian experience. How many have predicted the Lord's
coming? There was a man out in California.
I met some of the people who were followers of him when I
used to go out there and preach. He was a very well-known man,
and I think a very sincere man. But he predicted the coming of
the Lord. He had the date. He had figured
it out. Like everyone else who has predicted the date, they've
got a reason. They can show you in the Bible
why it's going to happen on this particular date. Even though,
even though the Lord clearly said, no man knoweth the day
nor the hour, only his Father, only God the Father. I mean,
men like that are clouds. They're just carried about by
wind. There's no stability to them. I thought about the Y2K. Remember
that in 2000, right? Y2K. The world's going to come
to a stop. And all the religious quacks
in the world, they jumped on that like fleas on a dog. I mean, they had a bomb. They
had something they could preach, something they could use to interest
people, to scare people, everything and anything but the gospel. They're clouds without water.
And Y2K came, the year came, and what happened? Nothing. Things
just went along as they always had, I assume. And then here's
something many of you probably, I hope at least, were not familiar
with this. Some of you were, I know. But
there came along this teaching a few years ago called the Baptism
of the Spirit, when people would actually get down on their knees
and bark like a dog. I've seen services like that
on television. People would be crawling on the
floor, and they'd be barking like a dog. I've seen others
that they were baptized with the Holy Spirit and they were
laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing. And people were deceived
and people fell. But all of these, seems like
the more bizarre something is, the more it attracts. They're
like clouds without water, carried about by every wind of darkness. They haven't disappeared. These men, these many false prophets,
they haven't disappeared. And then this thought of this
prosperity gospel. That certainly has taken its
toll on people, hasn't it? The prosperity gospel. Even though the Lord Jesus Christ
said the birds have their nest and Foxes have their holes, but
the son of man hath not where to lay his head. And yet they
will argue with you that he was a rich man in this world, even
though the scriptures certainly depict him as being poor, not
only in spirit, but physically poor. Some of God's saints have
been poor in this world. Many have, in fact. James said,
hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith? The third characteristic are
about these men. They're like trees without fruit,
twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Notice again that in verse
12. These are spots in your feast
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. Our Lord, if
you turn back to Matthew chapter 7, our Lord in the Sermon on
the Mount spoke about true believers being like trees. There are other scriptures that
speak of believers as trees of the Lord's planting, but these
are trees that are dead, like a tree that's been plucked up
by the roots, twice dead. Here in Matthew chapter seven
and verse 15. Beware of false prophets. That's
what we're talking about here, these men who've crept in unawares,
false prophets. Our Lord said, beware of false
prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt
tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore,
by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith
to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name
done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you, depart from me, you that work iniquity. They're like trees without fruit,
twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Do you see the connection
here in Matthew chapter seven between false prophets and corrupt
trees? Men who've crept in, and do you
see their fruit? It's corrupt fruit. It's not
good fruit, for the tree itself is not good. The tree must be
made good first. And that, of course, has to do
with a new birth, doesn't it? Has to do with a new nature being
given to those who are born of the Spirit of God. The fourth descriptive term is, they are
like raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. Verse 13, raging waves of the
sea foaming out their own shame. The thought here is that like
waves swell, you know, you see a wave beginning and it gets
larger, doesn't it, as it goes across the water. As you watch
it being formed in the water, it starts And then it gets larger
as it goes on. And the thought here is that
like waves that swell, so they swell. These men who've crept
in, these false prophets, they swell up in pride, with pride
and vanity. There's one certain truth about
the gospel of the grace of God, and that is it humbles. It humbles,
man. Any so-called gospel that causes
a person to swell up in pride is not the true gospel. The gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, it humbles a person. Blessed are
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. The
gospel of the grace of God humbles a man. Think about this. What could those of us who owe
everything that we are, everything that we are to the grace of God,
what could we have in which to glory? Everything we have, we
have received. Everything. The only thing, and
I've said this many times, I'll say it once again, but the only
thing any man can really call his own is his sin. Nothing to be proud about when
we think about our sin, is there? The apostle Paul, a man that
was greatly used of God He said, God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom the world
is crucified unto me and I unto the world. But these men that
Jude is writing about, they swell up with pride, their degrees,
first one thing and another, it causes them to swell up. They're learning. I'm not speaking
against learning, but I do know this, that love edifies, knowledge
puffeth up. That's what Paul wrote. Look
with me in 1 Corinthians 1. They're like raging waves of
the sea, foaming out their own shame. Proud, boasters. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26, Paul
said, For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught
things that are. And here's the reason that no
flesh should glory in his presence. Here's the last thing, the fifth
thing. They're like falling stars. Verse
13b, wandering star to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
forever. Now, when we say they're like
falling stars, they're not falling from grace because they've never
known the grace of God in salvation. They're not falling out of the
hand of the shepherd because they were never in his hand.
He's very clear that his sheep are in his hand, and nothing
shall pluck one of his sheep out of his hand. The stars and
the planets are fixed, but these men that Jude is describing,
they are continually moving, continually shifting in their
belief, in their doctrine. Their feet are not fixed upon
the rock of ages. You know, many false prophets,
they appear and they blaze brightly for a little time. Charles Spurgeon,
that's what the newspapers accused him of being. A man who came
into London as a young man, 18 years of age, and he would be
like a star, a comet that just blazes for a little while, and
soon it'll be gone. Well, that certainly was not
the case, was it? He stayed there until his death. He went there at 18, left at
52, I believe it was, left in death. And you read his messages,
and you see that this man consistently, you read his morning and evening.
A man wrote a book a few years back about ways of
trying to refute Calvinism, and In his book, he said that Charles
Spurgeon did not believe in a limited atonement. And I thought, blind? Blind? Has he ever read Charles
Spurgeon? You read his morning and evening
devotions. Almost every one, he brings out
the sovereign grace of God, doesn't he? In almost every one. Why? Because as he said one time,
he said, what is typically today called Calvinism, that is the
gospel. That is the gospel, the gospel
of grace, the gospel of substitution. These are like falling stars. When I was a young teenager,
I spent several summers working for my uncle in Central Texas
on his farm. And it was hot. It was hot. We didn't have air conditioning.
And my cousin, he was a little older than I am. But we slept
outside several nights, hoping to get a little breeze. It was
so hot in the house. We slept outside. And we would
try to watch for falling stars. And this was before there was
comets, or not comets, but what are the things that? Satellites. This was before satellites.
Now when you look up into the sky, you can always see something
moving, can't you? I mean, just about any time at
night you can see that, if you can see the stars. We watch for
falling stars. And every once in a while, not
often, but every once in a while, you'd see one. And that's the
way Jude describes these men, these false prophets. They're
like falling stars. Their feet are not settled upon
the rock of ages. They're in sinking sand, so to
speak, and constantly moving. Their doctrine is constantly
changing. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
these words to all of us here tonight. We're going to partake
of