Lets play a game. I’ll read a quote and then you tell me who said it.
- “The Bible is a library of books reflecting how human beings have understood the divine…What you’re reading is someone’s perspective that reflects the time and the place they lived in. It’s not God’s perspective…” Is that Isaiah, the Apostle John, or Rob Bell?
- “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place. I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this.” Is that Luke, the author of Hebrews, or the famous Anglican bishop, Desmund Tutu?
- “If they are attracted to someone of the same sex, or if they know in their soul that their gender identity is different than their birth gender, or if they just feel better dressed in clothes normally associated with a different gender, all of that is OK. Love is love. You are who God created you to be. And that is fabulous.” Was that Moses, the author of Psalm 119, or Jared Cramer?
Do you follow the teachings of such men? Who do you follow? Jesus said, “Follow me.” Paul said, “Follow me, because I follow Christ.” False teachers will have followers as well, as 2 Peter 2:2 says, “Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.” The first detour from following God and choosing to follow Satan happened in the Garden when our parents listened to Satan, looked differently at the fruit – and God – and decided to follow the words of Satan into disobedience.
Let us remember why Jude wrote his letter. It was not to “do battle” against bad people. Although he certainly is doing that. Fighting the good fight, contending for the faith as he says, serves a purpose beyond the battle. That purpose is stated in verse 24,…[READ]. What kind of day will that be for you when you stand before Jesus Christ. We WALK with Jesus now. We will STAND before Him then. How we walk affects how we will stand. Without fault, or with fault? Joyfully or in great shame? Brothers and sisters, Jude is jealous for us. Jealous to present us to Christ faultless and without blemish. Every true pastor will be jealous for his flock – jealous to protect them and promote righteousness in them. Who you follow matters towards all that.
Who do you follow? Jude’s message is simple: don’t follow the false teachers who are sent to you. Instead, follow the Lord Jesus Christ by following His Apostles and their teachings. It’s that simple.
Read v17-19
Those false teachers are scoffers. Scoffers are people who mock and insult, who put down and make a thing look stupid; who make fun of something to make it look foolish. When you have in a person the combination of arrogant doubt plus insults you have a scoffer. Turn to Matthew 27:27-31, and 39-44. As I read, pay attention to the combination of doubt and the mocking. READ
Lets look at four points from the text related to scoffers: last times, following their ungodly desires, divisive, and they are without the Spirit.
First, they will come in the last times. Jude quotes the Apostles and the warning: “In the last times scoffers will come….” In the last times. Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:1, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” In 2 Timothy 3:1 it says, “But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days.” First Peter 1:20 says, “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times…” Second Peter 3:3 says, “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come…” First John 2:18, “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.”
The last time seems to refer to the time beginning with the first appearing of Jesus all the way to the second appearing of Jesus. So we see the beginning of the last days associated with Christ’s first coming. First Peter 1:20 says, “He was chosen before the creation of the world but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” Christ was revealed in these last times – which refers to his first coming. He WAS revealed is past tense, and can only refer to his first coming. Also, Hebrews 1:5 says, “But in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son…”
But then we also see the anticipation of Christ appearing again at the end of the last times as 1 Peter 1:5 says, “Through faith we are shielded by God’s power UNTIL the coming of the salvation that is ready TO BE revealed in THESE LAST TIMES…”
The last times relates to the coming of Christ. The idea of the last times is that they are the last times before Christ finally comes. They are the last times in relation to previous times, or epochs. In the order of different eras of history, the era we are in right now is the last era, the last time in the whole sequence that leads up to the coming of Christ.
The thought here is this: these scoffers will come in the last times denying the coming of Christ. In the last times, the very time period that precedes Christ’s coming, the very time that the Bible says to expect the coming of Christ, Satan will send scoffers to cause people to doubt the coming of Christ.
APPLICATION: The last times are upon us. They have been upon us since the first coming of Christ. The time is shorter now than back then. We are another week closer to the coming of Jesus!
APPLICATION to the APPLICATION: Expect Christ to come! The reason we often say at the end of our services “Come Lord Jesus!” is because it is an expression of our faith that Christ is coming, and it is an expression of our longing for Him to come!
APPLICATION to the APPLICATION: Live today as though Christ is coming today. WHich leads into the next point:
Second, they will follow their own ungodly desires. One of the marks of a false teacher is that he or she follows their ungodly desires. Second Peter 2:10 says the same thing, that they “follow the corrupt desire of the flesh,” and then 2 Peter 3:3 says, “Above all you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.” Peter goes on to explain that their scoffing is a denial of the coming of Christ. “They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’” (2 Pet 3:4). There is a denial of the future coming of Christ. They follow their ungodly desires. Don’t miss the connection between those two things: those who doubt Christ’s coming judgment will follow their evil desires. They follow their evil desires because they don’t think there is any judgment for doing so.
But we don’t follow our ungodly desires. Titus 2 says, “The grace of God has appeared and teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for the appearing of our Savior!”
Instead we follow the words of God, like Jude is reminding us. We follow the example of godly people. Philippians 3:17-19 with me…[READ]
We follow the Holy Spirit, not our ungodly desires. That’s the idea in Galatians 5 the fruit of the Spirit. The whole context there is the inner war taking place inside each of us between our own sinful desires and the Spirit’s desires. In discipline we deny desires from our sinful nature and we fulfill the Spirit’s desires for righteousness.
Now I want to say that in Jude here we can see a causal relationship between scoffing and following ungodly desires. Doubting and mocking the coming judgment of Jesus Christ will lead you to living for your flesh. People mock the idea of people being scared of judgment so they don’t do wrong, but when judgment comes anyone who didn’t do wrong because they were scared are going to be awfully glad they were scared and didn’t do wrong! But scoffers doubt and mock the coming of Jesus and His judgment. They also get others do doubt and mock it. And just like they increase their own sin because they don’t expect any judgment, they get others to increase their sin by telling them there is no judgment. “You will certainly not die if you eat from the tree!” Who was the first scoffer? Satan was.
Third, they divide the Body of Christ. “These are the people that divide you” Jude says. These false teachers are divisive. Their advantage is in the midst of division. The work of Christ is to form unity in His Body whereas the work of Satan is to form division. The work of Christ’s ambassadors results in greater unity in the Body but the work of false shepherds results in greater division. Unity. Unity, unity, unity!
Fourth, they don’t have the Holy Spirit. “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ they do not belong to Christ” declares Romans 8:9. They do not belong to Christ, but they pretend with you that they do. They are often self-deceived.
The point Jude is making is that they are not part of us. They come to a local church and pretend they are part of the Body of Christ, but they aren’t. They are dead branches that in CHrist’s time will be cut off and thrown into the fire.
The Holy Spirit is the gift of the Father and these men have never received that gift. Acts 2:38 says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the Holy Spirit.” When a person puts their faith in Jesus Christ and they believe the Gospel message the Holy Spirit is given to them as a promised gift. “When you believed the gospel you were marked in Christ with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” First Corinthians 6:19 says we are temples of the Holy Spirit. These false teachers do not believe the first thing about Christianity: they do not believe the Gospel. That’s why they don’t have the Spirit. If they don’t believe the first thing they do not believe the rest of it.
Scoffers are not marked by God with the Holy Spirit. If a person does not have the Spirit they are dead, unforgiven, and under condemnation. They are not part of us. They come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are wolves. Inside of them is not the Holy Spirit, like with us. They are not temples of the Holy Spirit – the 3rd Person of the Trinity does not reside in them. Therefore, they do not belong to us. If they don’t belong to us then they won’t work with us, but against us; they won’t produce fruit of righteousness in us, but of unrighteousness; they won’t lead us to Christ, but away from Him. They won’t lead to a great day standing before Jesus, but a bad day.
TAKE AWAYS:
- Accept scoffing. Accept scoffers will scoff at you for being a Christian. Accept scoffing is a cost for being a Christian
- Embrace scoffing. Romans 8:17 and 1 Peter 4:12-19
- Believe what they don’t. Admire what they mock.
- Remember every scoffer is under judgment.
- Expect Christ’s coming. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!