JUDE 10

Speaking of false teachers, the Bible says in Jude verse 10, “But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.” This verse continues on the subject of just exactly the problems that the false teachers have. Of course, they teach religious ideas that are against that which is true. In so doing they are very much opposed to the truth. They speak against the truth. This verse says that they “speak evil.” This translation comes from the word that means to blaspheme. They speak against the truth, but they do not even know what they are speaking against. It is as though they are against the truth just for the principle of things.

It is a spiritual problem. The spirit of error opposes the spirit of truth. False teachers cannot teach the truth because the false teachers cannot understand spiritual things. The same principle is given in First Corinthians 2:14 that says, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The reason that false teachers do not teach truth is because they cannot understand truth. They can only understand the natural mind. The key phrase in my view in Jude verse 10 is: “what they know naturally.” The unregenerate human mind cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. They can only use human reason. Human reason would never come up with the concept of the trinity. Jesus being both God and man is not logical to human reason. Both the trinity and the divinity of Christ are truths from the Word of God that are only understood by those who have the Spirit.

One of the consequences of the false teachers to their errors is given in Jude 10. It says, “in those things they corrupt themselves.” The word “corrupt” here means corrupt in the sense of “destroy.” When a person opposes spiritual truth, that person is destroying himself. The purpose for every human being is to be complete in body and spirit. When a person makes conscious decisions to go away from the good Spirit and to go towards spiritual darkness, that person is destroying himself. This idea also gives understanding to how God can put people in hell. Looking at it from this viewpoint, we can say that God does not put anyone in hell. They put themselves there. As this verse says, “they destroy themselves.”

Jude verse 11 says, “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” The false teachers have made serious spiritual mistakes. The mistakes that they make are compared to three different individuals from the Old Testament. The first error referred to here is called “the way of Cain.” The book of Genesis presents clearly the way of Cain. Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Able. Notice that the two sons became very different people. One of the sons, Able, conducted his religious life based upon the revealed will of God: animal sacrifice as a symbol of a substitute for the remission of sin. We know that the Father instituted this because one day Jesus would come to die for the sins of the world. The other son of Adam and Eve, Cain, wanted to perform his own kind of religious observance in opposition to the revealed will of God. The “way of Cain” was human self will opposed to the will of God. Every human being goes in the pattern of Cain or in the pattern of Able. Of course, the false teachers are going in the way of Cain.

The false teachers are also going after the error of Balaam. Balaam did what he did from a religious standpoint in order to receive money. There is a lot of money that some people can make in the name of religion and the false teachers know that. False teachers are often primarily motivated by the money factor. If a religious leader is motivated by money, he is motivated in the same way as false teachers. That is why First Timothy 3:3 says that a pastor must be someone who is “not greedy of filthy lucre.” In other words a pastor must not have money and riches as his goal. That is why the Apostle Paul worked as a tentmaker on more than one occasion. He did not want to even give the impression that he was after money. What a shameful thing it would be if someone visited a church and they were treated differently based upon how much money they made. Surely such a terrible thing only happens where false teachers are in charge. Remember it is the false teachers who run “greedily after the error of Balaam for reward.”

The false teachers are also similar to those who “perished in the gainsaying of Core.” The word that is translated “gainsaying” means to speak against. What these false teachers say sounds very holy and righteous. Listen to what was said against Moses from the book of Numbers chapter 16, “And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?” They sounded very holy. Anyone who did not know what was really going on just might believe them. But the problem was that they were speaking against Moses. Moses was God’s chosen one. Today the chosen ones are God’s children, all of God’s children. Each one of God’s children has a job to do and has been gifted by God to do that job for the glory of Christ. Those who are of the same spirit as the false teachers will oppose God’s children. They speak against God’s people and God’s teachers just like Core spoke against Moses.

After having presented very clearly the dark spiritual nature of false teachers and after having shown how much they oppose the work of Christ and after having declared their terrible eternal destiny, Jude points out in verse 12 that because of these things the believers should not be allowing such false teachers to be welcomed into their groups. Jude writes in verse 12, “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.” After reading what Jude had written earlier, it is difficult to image that a group of Christian people could actually welcome a false teacher into their midst. It happened then, and it still happens. As a matter of fact it probably happens more now than it ever did. We live in strange times, in difficult times. On the one hand you have people that get terribly upset over differences that should be considered minor points such as certain details about prophecy. But on the other hand you have false teachers who have been invited to be a part of Christian groups just because of their academic degrees or their human associations. Some will be terribly ashamed at the judgment for their divisions and separations from other believers that they have been involved with. Others will be terribly ashamed at the judgment because of their unholy associations and unions. “Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.”

In verse 12 and verse 13 Jude continues exposing the false teachers for what they are, and Jude uses examples from nature. In a certain sense almost everything in life is symbolic of something spiritual. Jesus used symbolism from nature in many, many things in His teachings. Birds feeding in a field are symbolic of the fact that God is also going to give us what we need. Flowers growing in a garden are symbolic of the fact that God is going to clothe us. The chaff being separated from the grain at harvest time is symbolic of the fact that God will divide up the souls of mankind at the judgment: His children will go into his kingdom, but the unbelievers will not. The false teachers are compared to clouds in verse 12, certain kinds of clouds “without water.” In an agrarian society clouds without water are of no value. Water is needed for life. Water is needed for things to grow. There will be no spiritual growth and no spiritual sustenance from a false teacher. Another thing about clouds is their wandering nature. They are pushed about by the wind here and there. The false teachers are always wandering away from the truth. The goal of life is to walk the straight and narrow path. The teachings of false teachers cause people to wander off the right path because false teachers are like clouds “carried about of winds.”

False teachers are also like some trees. They are like trees “whose fruit withereth.” One way that every person’s life will eventually be measured is by what “fruit” their life produced: what was accomplished of truly lasting value. Of course, the false teachers will have no fruit, because they are like a tree “whose fruit withereth.” They are like a tree that has no fruit. The reason that they have no fruit is also given: they are “twice dead, plucked up by the roots.” A tree that is dead will not produce fruit. The false teachers are dead. They are dead spiritually speaking. Yes, they have learned some words by rote memorization that make them sound like Christians sometimes, and yes, they are smooth talkers. But they are dead spiritually speaking. A true believe is alive: alive to Christ, alive to faith, and alive to the truth.

In verse 13 Jude has more comparisons to make between certain things in nature and the false teachers. It says, “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” “Raging waves” are very dangerous and very destructive. A wandering star would be a star with no certain course or direction. It speaks of instability and uncertainty. Sometimes a star is known for its light, and the fact that a person can see a beautiful shining star in the night sky. There will be no light where the false teachers are going. They are going to the “blackness of darkness forever.”

Whenever we talk about evil like we have been doing here in Jude, it is always good to be reminded of the final outcome of evil. No matter how strong or wide-spread evil becomes, this one thing is certain, evil will lose in the end. Goodness and the love of God will triumph in the end because God will have the final say in all matters and for every creature. Jude writes in verse 14, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.” Enoch prophesied. The word “to prophesy” means to speak forth the Word of God. When God has a message for the human race, then God chooses a prophet to speak forth that message. The message is, “The Lord is coming with ten thousands of his saints.”

The Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. He came once to die for the sins of the world. He will come again in a much different fashion. When Jesus comes the second time He will come at the head of a great army. The first time that Jesus came, He came with mercy; but mercy is not offered forever. It has its limit. Mercy is offered so that people can avoid the judgment, but the whole idea is that the judgment is coming and Jesus is the Judge. Among those who will be judged in that great judgment are the false teachers.

The false teachers will certainly deserve their judgment that awaits them, but they are not the only ones who will be judged. The whole earth will be judged. Jude verse 15 says that Jesus will come “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.” We notice easily how often the word “ungodly” is used in this verse. It is used four times and it refers to those who are anti-god or anti-Christ. They are against spirituality, they are against righteousness, and they are against godly devotion to anything. Notice that they have both ungodly deeds and ungodly words. They live in a complete environment of ungodliness. To think that a mere man would speak against God, but they do. God has a tremendous amount of patience, but there is a limit to how long He will allow ungodly words and ungodly deeds to continue without judgment. Repent while you have time and turn to Christ for forgiveness. “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.”

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