John 16:13
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
So far in this study we have looked at some very real and concerning attributes of false teachers. We pointed out that Jude did not take the time to call out these false teachers either because of not knowing who they are or simply because that is not the point he is trying to convey in this letter. What he wants to get across to his audience is that false teachings are very real but also very subtle. The false teacher may be fully engulfed into what they are teaching but they bring in these heretical teachings in a very behind the scenes and subtle fashion. We need to remember that Jude said in Jude vs 4a For certain persons have crept in unnoticed.
The danger is that these false doctrines will be taught without anyone noticing. Most people will have a hard time noticing some of the false doctrines that are in the church simply because they have not searched the Scriptures, they are not in the Bible daily and they are not looking into the Bible any more than a 5th grade Sunday school student will. So with this we have seen Jude expose the defiling and evil nature of these false teachers along with their rebellion against God.
In this study we will continue to see this type of behavior but now we will begin to see the motivation that drives these false teachers to teach these heresies. We have seen a little bit in this concerning doing this for pay but there is more to it than just that. This brings us to look now at our first point for this study.
1.The FEARLESS actions of false teachers.
Look with me at Jude vs.12a that says These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves.
We live in a society not much different than these first century Christians. The worldly viewpoint of being fearless would have been looked at as courageous and something to strive for. They had games much like the Olympics where they would compete for a prize. It wasn’t the weak that would compete in these games but the strong and the fearless. So for many people to think of being fearless this would bring some type of honor.
But the fearlessness we see in our text is not a good type of fearless action. In fact I believe this exposes the seared conscience of the false teacher. If someone robs a bank or kills someone then they live in fear of getting caught. Maybe someone that has seemed to got away with it for sometime might lose a little bit of that fear but the thing is that the fear is still there.
Jude says that these false teachers are those that do not have this type of fear. Look again with me at Jude 12a that says These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear.
To set up a better understanding of the significance of what Jude says we need to know what this love feasts he speaks of here. These were fellowship meals where the Christians would gather together simply for fellowship and socializing. This would be equivalent to a fellowship meal we may have in our time as well that is simply set up just for gathering together as a church to eat and socialize.
With that understanding we see that these false teachers did not hesitate to gather with these Christians. In fact these were people that could be easily liked by others and even a part of the hierarchy of the church. Jude says they are hidden reefs in your love feasts.
This again is not speaking of their physical absence but rather that their doctrine and the way they live is like a hidden reef. A hidden reef would be just under the surface of the water, unseen but setting up a ship to be damaged and destroyed. These false teachers are in the congregation, they are in the church ready and waiting for unsuspecting Christians to come along and be shipwrecked because of their teachings. They are dangerous but Jude also says that they do this without fear.
As I already mentioned this shows the true status of their conscience. 1 Timothy 4:1-3 says But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by the hypocrisy of liars, who have been seared in their own conscience, 3 who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God created to be shared in with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
These false teachers have seared their own conscience because their motivation is selfish. Jude continues to say that they do all of this caring for themselves. They do not hope to help others, they do not care if they harm you in some way because their motivation is selfish by nature. Their lack of fear shows to us that they have no fear of God.
This again shows to us that these false teacher are not just in error but they are not even Christians. Psalm 36:1 says Transgression declares to the ungodly within his heart; There is no dread of God before his eyes.
Romans 3:18 says There is no fear of God before their eyes.
These false teachers clearly have no fear of God and no fear of man. They will live to follow their own path and take others with them if they can. But we must be warned of their deception and we must recognize that what they have to offer is empty. This leads us to look at that very idea in our next point.
2.The FRUITLESSNESS actions of false teachers.
Look with me at Jude vs.12a with our focus on the second part of the verse. It says These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted.
Now we see clearly some analogies that points directly to the fact that the false teachers are empty and fruitless. In other words what they say may sound good to the ears but in reality it offers nothing good. Could you imagine being in a drought, needing rain and seeing a cloud. This would bring hope and promise of rain. But then that cloud comes and never produces anything. It was empty and deceptive. I know that there has been times when we were in drought in the summer and the forecast called for rain but we never saw any. The false teacher looks good, sounds good but their words are empty of anything good.
Remember the false teacher may not produce good but they are producing something that is not good. 2 Peter 2:17-19 says it like this, These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been kept. 18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by sensual lusts of the flesh, those who barely escape from the ones who conducted themselves in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
These false teachers not only are driven by their own desires but they are driving themselves and others into a life that is lived out in the flesh. They do not help spiritual growth but they hinder people from being able to live for God.
Jude continues by saying that they are like autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted. This description shows us that these false teachers are not connected to the life giving root. They are fruitless, useless and therefore uprooted. Jesus says in John 15:2a Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; then also Jesus says in John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned; these words from our Lord connect to our text showing the reality of these false teachers once again. They are not of God and they do not produce fruit that is of God.
Jude speaks of them as trees that are doubly dead. I think this is a clear connection to the judgement that will come on them. They not only will suffer physical death but they will suffer for eternity. This takes us back to what Jude said in Jude vs 7 where he says they are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
We continue to expose these false teachers by showing their evil and rebellious action and now we will look at one last negative attribute of these false teachers in our last point for this study.
3.The FIERCE actions of false teachers.
Look with me at Jude vs.13 it says (These are the men who are) wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
These analogies both go deep into the lack of morality that these false teachers really have. They may play the hypocrite and look good outwardly but in reality they have no moral compass. They will do anything to spread their agenda which shows the fierce nature of these false teachers. It isn’t that they are fierce in an act of rage but fierce in the sense of untamed in their morality. They do not want to play by the rules. There are entire movements in our time that has set out to deconstruct the church. They want the church to bow to social agendas, they want the church to go against everything the Bible says to meet their wants and they want to throw the Bible out completely so they can rewrite the rules.
With this in mind we must also remember that this will still be subtle. I think when we place the word fierce or untamed as someone’s actions then we look at these people as bold, brash and in your face type of people. But this untamed attitude is still done subtly. They bend the rules, they do things behind the scenes and they pull people into their immorality. Jude describes these people as wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam.
The Thayer Greek Lexicon records that the Greek word for casting up like foam is epaphrizó (ep-af-rid’-zo) that describes a person that is impelled by their restless passions, they unblushingly exhibit, in word and deed, their base and abandoned spirit.
The fact is they are not scared for people to know what they are doing because they are getting what they want. They want fame, they chase after it, they want money, they chase it, anything they want they chase it and it becomes visible to those that pay attention to it.
Jude also says they are wandering stars. This could be a reference to meteors which are sometimes called running stars. The analogy is that they are inconsistent, dim and constantly moving. The false teacher’s doctrines are ever changing to the culture and are built on inconsistencies. Remember what Jude said back in verse 3b, he said, I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
The faith we have in the true Gospel does not change. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. If we do not have a Savior then we will spend our eternity in eternal damnation but as we know from Galatians 4:4-7 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
These false teachers look to turn the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ as Jude says in verse 4b so we must be aware of their deceptive ways. The fact is that these false teachers and any false teacher will see the destruction of their own life for eternity. They may win popularity, they may seem to have a personality that is likeable and they may have all the worldly wealth but in reality Jude says in Jude vs.13b that they are those for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
Jesus says in the Parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22:13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The result of their disobedience, the result of their rebellion, the result of their pride and arrogance, the result of their blasphemy against God, the result of their selfish actions will be utter darkness. There will be no light of the glory of God in Hell. There will be no goodness, no good feelings or happiness. This darkness is associated with the feeling of despair. There is no hope for the sinner in Hell and these false teachers will not be seen as someone that just made a mistake in their theology but rather people that defied God and lived for self instead of the Savior. James 3:1 says Do not, many of you, become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment.
A person that places themselves as a teacher places themselves as a person that is able to teach because of the knowledge they have. If they see error then they correct it. Sadly many false teachers never do that. They remain in their error because of their inability to remove their pride to accept their error.
Sadly many people have fallen into the trap of following false teachers or believing unbiblical principles because a preacher taught them that way. I hope that these studies are helping us to understand that we need to look carefully at who we are listening to or sitting under weekly. It isn’t that we are looking for interpretation differences or difference in how people do ministry but we need to look at the people that we are following and see if they are committed to the Bible no matter if they are slandered, persecuted or canceled by the culture. Beware of false teachers and look to lead people to God and not those that turn away for Biblical principles.
1 Peter 4:10-11
As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God— 11 whoever speaks, as one speaking the oracles of God; whoever serves, as one serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever. Amen.
Titus 2:11-15
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good works. 15 These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.
As we come into this study we are following the fact that our Lord Jesus had just told the seventy disciples that He sent out that they should not rejoice in the fact that Jesus gave to them some temporary power but rather rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven (Luke 10:20). With this thought in mind we will dive into this next section of Scripture that we will see as a praise towards God the Father from our Lord Jesus. In this praise towards the Father we will notice that these serve as truths about those that are recipients of eternal life.
We will also recognize that the time of Jesus’ ministry until today is a time in God’s redemption like others before had not seen. What I mean by this is that the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus began a time of redemption that was different than before. It was not because of the miraculous or some supernatural working of miracles but it was because of the revealing of the Holy Spirit that was to be revealed through the New Covenant which the disciples of Jesus were experiencing in some form and would be initiating at Pentecost. We see the benefits of this powerful work of God as the Holy Spirit works in us like never before since that day of Pentecost.
With this in mind we will now move into our first point for this study.
1.Jesus’ rejoicing PRAISE to the Father.
Look with me at Luke 10:21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
As we start looking at this praise towards the Father from our Lord Jesus, we must keep in mind that these are truths that He is speaking concerning those that have been born again. The rejoicing of our Lord is an expression of praise for the fact that our God has set in motion and completed what was needed for redemption. Also we see that Jesus speaks these words as if they had already took place. Those before the cross that were given eternal life did not miss out on the benefits of salvation but they too are recipients of salvation through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God looks forward to what will happen and graciously applies the sacrifice of His Messiah to those that were alive and died before Jesus completed the work on the cross. Also we must note that our Scripture says that Jesus rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit. This Scripture is another Scripture that we can easily see the Triune God. Jesus the Son is praising the Father in the Holy Spirit. There is no way to deny that the Triune Godhead is 3 Persons in One. To do so would be damaging to the text of Scripture and serves as a heresy that is trying to make sense of a God that somehow manifests Himself in 3 different ways.
We then see here that Jesus starts off by saying I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. The word in the Greek used for praise is a word that expresses agreement and confession of that agreement. Jesus is not only in a time of verbal adoration to the Father’s work of redemption but is in complete agreement with what He has done.
Also we see that Jesus is not rejoicing because God is a God of love and has set out to redeem all of humanity but rather as He states in Luke 10:21b that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
Well this will bust many peoples idea of what they believe salvation is about and how God initiates salvation. We must remember that no one can understand the Gospel on their own. We are blinded, dead in our trespasses and sins, we are living for self and are without hope in this world without Christ. No single person can crawl out of our self righteous, sin loving hole without God revealing Himself to us.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 really explains this truth very well, it states: For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent. 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. 22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
The fact is that God has chosen to reveal these truth about salvation He says to infants. Now this is not a call to baptize babies or say that a baby can repent and be saved, this is a reference to the way a person accepts Christ. We can not come on our own just like an infant does not choose when he or she is born. We can not come on the wisdom we have from religious experience just like a baby does not have wisdom to come and go as they wish. We can not come to God in arrogance but we must come to God as an infant or child that clearly humbles themselves in submission to their parents.
In a discussion about this we need to see what Jesus says concerning this in Matthew 18:1-4 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever therefore will humble himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
The Christian will only come to God humbly and because this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. We can not arrogantly think that we are smart enough or good enough to come to God when and where we want. God has decreed this and it is the fact of God’s sovereign will that will carry over to our next point.
We go from Jesus’ Praise to….
2.Jesus’ sovereign PURPOSE for believers.
Look with me at Luke 10:22 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
Many people will look at this point and say that they want to know what purpose God has for their life but that is not really the idea of this point. Truthfully our purpose is found in the work of making disciples that can come in many different ways depending on the giftedness that God has given to each of us. This point is set up to look at God’s purpose or sovereign will concerning believers. We have already established that we can not come to Jesus without God the Father first revealing to us the reality of our sinfulness and the facts of the death and resurrection of our Lord that has been given to us for salvation.
Now we see that Jesus has been given this authority of revealing to people about the Father. There are so many people that will stand in opposition of what the Bible clearly says here. People will think that they have somehow received some revelation about salvation because of their own ability or because God knows that their heart is really good. But that is not the message of the Gospel. The Gospel tells us that none are good, none seeks for God and that we can not come to Christ unless the Father draws that person.(Romans 3:10-11; John 6:44)
Here in our Luke text there is no hidden interpretation but we see clearly that God the Son has been given the authority from the Father to reveal the Father to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Why do people think they can go to God when and how they want? Why would we think we can go to God when we are ready? I believe it is because we live in a culture where we decide what we want to do more than ever. But we must understand that God does not change His ways because of our cultural views. Jesus’ sovereign purpose for the believer is the fact that He has revealed to you what you know. Yes God uses the means of preaching, yes God changes you as you engage in Bible reading and study but it is only when God wills that you will come to Christ.
This does not give to us some arrogant attitude because of thinking that God chose me over another but it humbles us to realize that we are undeserving just like the rest of the human race and yet He gave to me His mercy and grace anyway.
The first truth in the praise of our Lord showed to us that we come to Christ like a child or infant in humbleness and dependence on the Father. In this point we have seen the truth that Jesus has given to us something we do not deserve but was provided in His sovereign will. This leads us to look now at our last point.
We went from Jesus’ Praise to Jesus’ sovereign Purpose and now we will see….
3.Jesus speaks PRIVATELY to His disciples.
Look with me at Luke 10:23-24 And turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, 24 for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.”
We must make no mistake here but rather recognize that Jesus was showing the disciples that they were the one’s that have been given this revealing of the Father. They may have had the power to heal, they may have seen the miraculous that Jesus gave them power to do for this moment but the real miracle is the grace of God given to these 70 men. When the text says the disciples I do believe that this would include the 12 disciples along with the 70 that had just returned from their mission. As always there was probably a big crowd around Jesus when these men returned and He speaks directly to them.
Either way you think of it whether you believe He turns just to the 12 or whether you believe He turns to speak to the 70, the importance comes with what Jesus says. He starts by saying Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, 24 for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them.
All through Jewish history there were prophecies of the Messiah. There would be the prophecies from the Bible and also other traditions that many had hoped to see in their lifetime. The fact is these men that were truly following Jesus had seen far many more things than all of the other prophets and kings before them. This is the very thing the Old Testament prophets and kings of Israel had so longed to see and here these were seeing this first-hand.
Jesus then says along with that they wished to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them. Never before had they heard the message of the Kingdom proclaimed as they did from Jesus. Never had they heard the sound of joy from those that had been healed and never had they heard the Messiah speak to crowds. Jesus spoke with authority and power. They may have had the prophets, they may have had the priests and kings but they did not have the very Messiah, the Son of God as this generation had. For that reason Jesus speaks of their blessedness.
But also it wasn’t just the physical sound that was pleasing but it was what was said. The very things they saw and heard were the evidence of salvation. It was the evidence of God’s grace and mercy that gave to them more than just some earthly victory but eternal life that would be the ultimate victory.
This is something that most professed Christians do not understand. They do not understand that eternal life is the reward that brings to us joy. Material health and wealth are a blessing if God so graciously gives that to us but it is the message of the Gospel that gives to us the blessing that is beyond anything we can comprehend, that is eternal life.
Are you blessed because you have seen the working of God in your life spiritually? Do you see the Holy Spirit working in you?
Are you blessed because of the words of the Gospel and because those words bring to lost sinners eternal life?
Acts 5:29-32
But Peter and the apostles answered and said, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you put to death by hanging Him on a tree. 31 This One God exalted to His right hand as a Leader and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God gave to those who obey Him.”
1 Corinthians 2:10-13
But to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the depths of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, 13 of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.
John 16:12-13
I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
Disciple's Direction 