The book of Jude has began with a very clear message and as we begin our study for this time we will see some things that might not be so clear at first. The point though that Jude is continuing to make is that the false teachers that have infiltrated the church are in the same category of those that have exhibited unbelief, disobedience and a lifestyle built on internal sinful passions. Jude will expand this thought in this study with a look at the blasphemous and rebellious ways they do things.
Many people even in our time may have good intentions when they begin ministry. They may want to help others, they may want to teach a class, they may want to reach the lost but with that many people have a desire for power and prestige. Beginning a ministry to do some of the good things does not prove that those people are Christian. There are many non-Christian organizations that help people, there are many non-Christian people that give to charity or help others in some way. In reality I believe that many people do these types of things because it makes them feel good when really their motivation should be to glorify God not themselves.
It will be these types of actions that we will see that shows these false teachers continual rebellion against God and brings upon them judgement and wrath from God. With this in mind let’s look at our first point for this study.
1.The DISPARAGEMENT of false teachers.
Look with me at Jude vs. 9-10 But Michael the archangel, when he, disputing with the devil, was arguing about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these men blaspheme the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
The first thing we notice in this section of Scripture is something that we have never seen in Scripture. You can not go to an Old Testament passage and see the contents of what Jude speaks on here concerning the body of Moses. This is new information that is not recorded in any passage other than here in the entirety of the Bible. But what we know is that this is recorded for us here by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to make a point in this letter.
The information spoken of here takes us back to the death of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 34:5-6 says So Moses the servant of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, according to the command of Yahweh. 6 And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.
Here we know that God buried Moses. Some commentators suggest that Michael the archangel was the means of how God buried Moses. These commentators also suggest that the reason for this secret burial was so that the Israelites would not set up some type of idolatrous altar for Moses. They were known for rebellion and disobedience and this may have been the case. I mention this only because I think we look for some explanation of why this is mentioned but the point is not focused on this burial but on the action taken by Michael the archangel.
We must remember that an archangel is considered a ruler or highest ranking angel in the order of angels. This places Michael as one of the most powerful angels that God created. He is mentioned often as contending against, fighting with or standing against evil spirits and principalities. His power is beyond our human thought and yet we do not see Michael standing against Satan on his own strength. Instead we see here in Jude vs. 9b that he did not dare pronounce against him a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
2 Peter 2:11 says whereas angels who are greater in strength and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.
Michael the archangel has no power to call down judgement on anyone and that means that we as humans have no power to do that as well. But the false teachers that Jude is speaking of have somehow come up with a way that they think they have this type of power. Jude vs 10 says But these men blaspheme the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
I titled this point the disparagement of false teachers because the focus is the blasphemy that these false teachers exhibit in how they live and speak. We notice that some of the things that these false teachers blaspheme are things which they do not understand.
The original language gives to us a better view of what this means here. We look at this and think that they are just ignorant to some of these things but in reality the terminology points to the fact that they blaspheme things that they know intellectually but do not understand spiritually. So in other words they understand what is being spoken of but do not understand the spiritual application. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
These false teachers are speaking against things that they do not spiritually understand because they are not true Christians. To blaspheme is to speak evil of or use abusive language about God or men. These men speak about things that they do not spiritually understand but they also blaspheme the things which they know by instinct, Jude says.
Romans 1:18-23 says For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
The fact is the very things that these false teachers know to be true about God and the Gospel are nothing but a target for blasphemy against true Christianity. We still have this problem today and we must recognize this in our time as well. It is these actions that Jude says shows that they are like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. This again shows to us the fact that these false teachers will be recipients of God’s wrath for eternity.
Let’s move on to the next point for this study.
2.The DEMONIC actions of false teachers.
Look with me at Jude vs. 11a Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain.
Jude uses the phrase Woe to them, as a realization of judgement that will happen against these false teachers. He then goes into short but direct points that we will briefly look at here. The first one in that these false teachers are compared to having gone the way of Cain.
You can read of Cain’s actions in Genesis 4. Most people know that Cain killed his brother Abel. 1 John 3:12 says We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
The fact is that Cain killed his brother and that murder was terrible in itself but the problem existed before the murder took place. Genesis 4:3-7 says So it happened in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 Then Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
We see that Cain was corrupt, evil and despised his brother for no other reason than his righteous acts. The false teachers that look to slander, despise and corrupt the Church have this same motivation. It comes back to selfish passions and desires that must be fulfilled internally. False teachers by nature are selfish, hateful and murderous spiritually to those who follow them. They look to do whatever it takes to be the best or to be accepted.
This moves us to look at another negative attribute of false teachers in our next point.
3.The DECEPTION of false teachers.
*Look with me at Jude vs. 11b Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have poured themselves into the error of Balaam.*
This small section in this verse shows us even more wickedness that is associated with false teachers. Let me make clear not every false teacher will have every one of these negative attributes but they will have the majority of them. What we notice here is the word pay or you may see it as wages or rewards in your version of the Bible. The Greek word is misthos (mis-thos’) which means reward or compensation for a reward. This does not indicate that there is money exchanged only. These rewards can be in any form but there is also the indication that money being the source for these false teachers motivation here.
*What we notice is that they do not earn this wage because of their integrity to teach the Gospel or that they earn their wage because of their ability to minister to the people. Jude says they earn this wage or seek to earn this wage because they have poured themselves into the error of Balaam.
The Greek word Jude uses here for the word poured is very interesting because it indicates an overflow of liquid. This shows us that these false teachers may have subtly brought in these heresies but they are fully engulfed into them. They are not passive in what they teach, they are not just standing in opposition for the sake of division, no they have poured themselves into this error that Jude associates as the error of Balaam.*
To understand the point we must briefly recount this story. King Balak who was king of Moab had sent for Balaam to curse Israel. Balaam wanted to have the approval of God so he went to God about this situation. God told Balaam in Numbers 22:12 Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.
Balaam told King Balak that God refused to allow him to go curse Israel. So then King Balak makes him an offer. We see this in Numbers 22:16-17 that says Let nothing, I beg you, withhold you from coming to me; 17 for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me.
Once again Balaam spoke as someone that wanted to keep God’s commands as he says in Numbers 22:18 that says Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, to trespass the command of Yahweh my God.
Through this entire encounter with Balak, Balaam did not go against the commands of God. But we know from Numbers 31:16 that Balaam found a way to allow Israel to fall prey to idolatry and sexual immorality, it says there Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the word of Balaam, to act unfaithfully against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh.
Revelation 2:14b says that Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.
Even though we see that Balaam did not seek a reward from Balak, these false teachers are looking for rewards or wages in the same error. They are placing stumbling blocks before people to hinder true conversion, to hinder spiritual growth and to attempt to destroy the true Gospel. Their motivation is pay and their error is hindering the true message to reach people for their salvation and spiritual maturity.
4.The DEFIANCE of false teachers.
Look with me at Jude vs. 11c Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have poured themselves into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
I spent way to much time on several of these points so we will just briefly look at this one. The rebellion of Korah can be found in Numbers 16. There you will find that the family of Korah, these Levites that were set apart for the work of God turn against Moses and Aaron. The defied the authority of Moses and Aaron and this caused them to be swallowed up into the ground as God split the ground where the people of Korah were.
Time after time they were given the opportunity to turn from their wickedness but they continued in their rebellion because in their pride they thought they knew what God wanted. They acted from selfish desires, arrogance and pride and this led them to be recipients of God wrath on them.
False teachers do the same thing. Many well known false teachers have been confronted with their error and sin. They have been called out, they have had people plea with them to repent but instead they continue to teach the way they want by twisting the Scripture and by coming up with ideas from dreams and supposed visions.
This study in these verses has shown to us what we need to be looking for in people we follow spiritually. If they are constantly going against Scripture then it will be obvious because people will not be growing spiritually. They may have a form of religiosity but they are nothing but rebellious, sinful and evil people looking to slander God and His people. In our next study we will continue to look at these negative attributes of these false teachers.
Disciple's Direction 