Jude Chapter 1 Verses 12 – 13

 Sheesh, Jude, tell us how you really feel! HA! Verses like this fly in

the face of the worldly narrative, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” Yes,

Matthew 7:1 says, “Judge not, that you not be judged.” But that’s not

the end of THE BIBLE! It continues in verse 2, “For with what

judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use,

it will be measured back to you.”

 That verse isn’t about keeping all obvious observations and

conclusions regarding others always to yourself. That is preposterous

and just on the surface, absolutely ridiculous! Next time your wife

asks, “Does this outfit make me look fat,” respond to her, “Sorry babe,

the Bible tells me not to judge,” and see how that works out for you!

 Matthew 7 is a commandment to not be a hypocrite. That the standard

you hold others to, you must hold upon yourself! But we are most

definitely to judge the earth, including ourselves, by the righteous

requirements and requests/commandments of God! In fact, check this

out, John 7:24 says, “Do not judge according to appearance, but

judge with righteous judgment.”

 It’s all gaslighting anyway. By telling someone not to judge them, you

are judging that they are judging you. HA! Then the next thing you

hear is name calling. Hater, bigot, phobe…, all of that is judging!

Totally hypocritical and pure gaslighting!

 Anywhooo, Jude says here of these sorts of false prophets, folks that

creep in to serve themselves, they are spots in your love feast. The

love feast was a common meal shared by the early church. Something

like a pot luck today. Most of the early church was made up of folks

that were quite poor and so most brought very little and for many, this

was their only meal of the day.

 The “spots” would come in and serve themselves. Take and eat and

not really care to notice who was in need to allow them to eat more or

first. Let me ask you, do you come to church looking to pray with

someone who needs it? Are you sensitive to the countenance of others

such that you look to encourage them?

 We ought not to feast without fear and in that serve ourselves. Not fear

as in horror movie fear, fear as in reverence and care for the Lord and

for others. Do you have any concern, any fear, about folks coming to

church needing prayer and needing love and needing

encouragement, and leaving without getting it… Or are you only

concerned with yourself…? (How anti-Christ is that?)

 Clouds without water. They look good. Look like they’ve got a lot to

give, but give very little. Clouds that promise rain when you look at

them but leave you dry.

 Carried about by the wind. No true direction of purpose. Living only

for the feeling of the moment. That’s what’s meant by “carried about

by the winds.” Christians don’t always do what only feels good.

Christians, (people with depth of character), do what is right to serve

the Lord and to secure the future according to His will and plan. The

wind blows and we aren’t carried by it… We are affected by it, for

sure, but we are carried by our purpose, mission and our own will…

 And then Jude gets super aggressive. He calls out this sort of existence

as perhaps even being a form of fake faith. A faith like the devil’s.

Believing whole-heartedly in God, in Jesus, but belonging not to Him

but to self. So, he says, late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead,

pulled up by the roots.

 Twice dead. The Christians is born twice. These folks die twice. Once

on earth and then once at the White Throne which is called in the

Bible, “The Second Death.”

 Jude says this type of living leads to depression, regret, and a general

darkness of soul. There in verse 13, we read these three words,

“shame, wandering, darkness…”

Jude Chapter 1 Verses 14 – 15

 At the time of the end of The Great Tribulation, Jesus will return to

earth, this is known as the second coming of Christ, to take over all

power and authority and to rule for a thousand years. This is known as

the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ. We read about this in Revelation

19 verses 11-16.

 “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who

sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He

judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His

head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew

except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His

name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in

fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of

His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the

nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself

treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And

He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF

KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

 Fragments of ten Enoch manuscripts were found among the Dead Sea

Scrolls. We do have evidence of many church fathers including

Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen all approving of

and supporting the Enochian writings. The issue revolves around the

authenticity of the Book of Enoch that we have today compared to the

one available to folks like Jude as early as the first century.

 Enoch would have lived 3400 years before Jude. Had he written a

book, that’s how old it would be. The earliest that anyone dates the

Book of Enoch is a few hundred years before Christ, and some even

put the compiled Book of Enoch, remember, Jude seemingly quotes

Enoch here, not the Book of Enoch, so some even put the compiled

Book of Enoch as late as third century AD.

 The main issue with the book we have today is the numerous

theological contradictions with the Bible including making no mention

whatsoever to the issue of sin, the cross, the resurrection, in any direct

or metaphorical way and at one point even seems to identify Enoch as

the Savior, calling him the “Son of Man.”

 Some other issues include that it details the Nephilim but says they

were 4500 feet tall in the Ethiopic version and 450 feet tall in the

Greek version. Ok, if Nephilim were offspring born to human women,

WOW…, that would have been a painful childbirth! (That would

equate to a 500-pound baby!)

 Interestingly, the book speaks of Mt. Hermon and Mt. Sinai. The issue

with that is those mountains didn’t exist and were a result of the

cataclysmic flood which changed the entire topography of the planet.

The fact that it mentions these mountains places the book well after

Enoch.

 The Book of Enoch as we have it today also includes details of bizarre

methods for binding angels in desert holes and it maps out the cosmos,

like stars moving through portals, in ways that contradict both

scriptural descriptions and modern science.

 It also has several odd statements that contradict the Bible including a

mentioning of an angel named Phanuel who was set over, or was, the

angel of repentance for eternal life for men. We have one Mediator

between God and man and that is Christ Jesus. The Book of Enoch

says that man gained its wisdom from an angel named Penemue when

the Bible says that it is the fear of God that is the beginning of

wisdom.

 The message Jude is giving with this is clear because he repeats the

word, “ungodly.” And that message is that ungodliness and ungodly

men will be dealt with. He goes on to give further description

specifically of “ungodliness.”

Jude Chapter 1 Verse 16

 Words, man. So crazy powerful! With His word, God created

everything! And today, words…, SO incredibly powerful! You have to

watch out because it was the tongue of the serpent that brought all of

the sin into the world. Make sure you’re wise in what you do with

what people say to you. Some are out here to encourage and to build

up. To strengthen YOU with what they say and THANK GOD for

them! That is so needed!

 And yet there are others, described here by Jude as ungodly, that

speak words of honey today but will complain against you tomorrow.

They speak to strengthen THEMSELVES. Watch out, be wise and I

wish it wasn’t this way because we SO need, (especially children), we

SO need to be loved and appreciated and none of us are loved or

appreciated enough. This is why a real and primary relationship with

God through Jesus is THE way that each of us fill our hearts.

Jude Chapter 1 Verses 17 – 19

 The nail in the coffin and the sure mark of a wolf. They cause

divisions. If your goal is to bring people together in the body of

Christ, you will. No excuses, no whatever, no other possible outcome.

If your goal is to bring people together and bring unity, you will. If

you have any other reason beating in your heart, you will naturally

drive people apart. You don’t have to even be trying… If you’re not

goal-focused on building people up in the faith and building unity,

YOU WON’T.

 No one ever drifts into righteousness. No one ever drifts into love or

strength or courage or unity. You either set your compass for it or you

don’t get after it. The ungodly are not focused on the mission of

loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving

others as Christ loves them. It may happen if you like them, for a time.

Then the first time they don’t do what you want them to do, you

complain about them. This is ungodliness in the church.

 Not for you and not for me and not for anyone who says they serve

Jesus Christ. We are to KEEP ourselves in the love of God and BE

BUILDERS of the most holy faith. And that is how we will end this

short but super powerful book next week.