WOE TO THE APOSTATES
Jude 11-13
It’s interesting to me that at the time the little book of Jude was written in the early history of the church, apostates were already on the scene. Here is Christianity literally in its infancy, and already Satan was at work to disrupt its spread and influence. There is an indication of that in verse 4 where he says, "For there are certain men." Not there are going to be. They are already present. They are present today.
Apostates exist today in organized Christianity (and in the unorganized an disorganized versions as well). Apostates are in churches. Some are occupying pulpits; others are teaching in various ministries of the church. Some are in Christian institutions of learning, occupying professorships and chairs of religion. Some are in denominations. The apostates were on the scene in the first century and they are on the scene in the 21st century.
The difficulty is that it is hard sometimes to detect the apostates. He says in verse 4, "For there are certain men crept in unawares." That is, they slip in. They are hard to detect. So, God has given us a book which helps us to detect them.
So what the Holy Spirit has given us in this little book is a series of pictures so that when we see these kinds of things we will be able to detect the apostates and be warned of their presence and work.
In verses 11-13 we are given some pictures from Scripture and some pictures from nature.
Jude begins in verse 11 by saying, "Woe unto them."
Notice the word “woe”. It's a word of judgment. It's a word of impending doom. There is sorrow and grief in this word. It is used frequently in the Old Testament, especially by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. They would use this word to introduce a wail of lamentation or a cry of judgment against the false religions of the Old Testament day.
It also occurs frequently in the Revelation. The Lord Jesus used this word. In Matthew 23, Jesus Christ gives 7 woes as He brings charges against the Pharisees and hypocrites of His day
There is a tendency to affiliate anger with the word. That’s not the case. It's a word of anger as much as a word of grief and sorrow.
So it is with a heavy heart that Jude delivers this message.
In verse 11, to describe the apostates, he gives us .
I. Some Pictures From Scripture
First, he says “they have gone in the way of Cain”.
Cain was the first apostate in history. The way of Cain is given to us in Genesis 4.
Now here we find a “woe” pronounced on those who have “gone (rushed or run riotously) in the way of (taken the road of) Cain."
Now you’ll remember that Cain was the first son born to Adam and Eve. In fact, when Cain was born Eve said, "I've gotten a man from the Lord." The Lord had promised there would be a Messiah and maybe Eve prematurely thought this would be the Messiah. That would certainly make sense, but how mistaken she was.
Rather than being the Messiah, Cain becomes the first picture in the Bible of the apostate-- the one who departs from the truth of God.
What is the way of Cain? The way of Cain is a departure from God's way of salvation. There is nothing more important and more crucial than the doctrine of salvation. The doctrine of salvation has to do with how you can be forgiven of your sins and have peace in your heart. It has to do with your destiny--where you are going when you die. And there is nothing more important than the matter of your salvation, knowing that you are saved and how to be saved. And the way of Cain is a departure from the truth of salvation.
The 4th chapter of Genesis tells us that Abel was the second son born and the Bible says that he was a shepherd. Cain, on the other hand, was a farmer. He tended the soil, tilled the soil.
There came time for them to bring their offering unto the Lord and Abel brought of the firstling and the finest of his flock. Cain, on the other hand, brought the fruit of his hands. I don't think there is any doubt that God had instructed Adam and Eve on how to approach Him and what He required and that they , in turn, had had taught their sons the right way to approach God.
You remember when they sinned and God forgave them and saved them, the Bible says that God clothed them with skins.
This means that there had to be the slaying of an animal. If there are skins of an animal, then an animal had to be slain. They were covered because of the slaying of a sacrifice.
In the garden of Eden, God made very clear the way of salvation. But when Cain and Abel bring their gifts the Bible says that Abel's offering was accepted of the Lord, he brought an animal. Cain's offering was rejected of the Lord.
Why? I think there are two basic reasons:
Number one, because Cain did not bring a blood sacrifice. There is an eternal principle given to us in the Word of God in Hebrews 9:22, where it says,
"Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin." God's way is the way of a blood sacrifice. God says that the wages of sin is death. There has to be a death. All through the Old Testament God gave this picture of the shedding of the blood.
It was a pre-picture and a prediction of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to shed His blood on the cross of Calvary. Not for His sins, but for you your sin, my sins and the sins of the whole world. But Cain was going to do it his way.
The second reason I think it was rejected is indicated to us in Hebrews 11:4. It discusses the difference between Cain's offering and Abel's offering.
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts."
The point being is that Abel came to God by faith in the shedding of the blood of the sacrifice. Cain wanted to come a different way -- his own way. He wanted to come the works way.
You can take all the religions of the world and when you distill them all, you come down to basic views about how a person goes to heaven when they die; how a person can be forgiven of their sins.
One of the ways is a "works" way that says you have to work and earn it and by your good deeds you have to merit the forgiveness and the favor of God. The other way is the way of faith which says there is nothing you and I can do to earn the favor of God but we simply come by faith and receive what God has already done for us in Jesus.
So the apostates depart from God's truth about salvation by going in the "way of Cain."
The apostates always deny the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ and there is an abundance of them in the world today.
We have churches all over the country who say we must not offend modern congregations. Modern congregations won't accept the doctrine that they are sinners and that they need the shedding of the blood of a Savior in order to be forgiven of their sins. They say we can't say that, though we may believe that, lest we offend them.
I've got news for you. If you don't preach about sin and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you can't preach the Bible. You just as well to close your Bible and walk out because you don't have church anymore.
Yet, there are thousands and thousands of church members who go into their churches Sunday after Sunday, week after week, month after month, year after year, and they never hear a sermon on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. They never hear that they cannot be saved by their own deeds. They never hear that the only way to heaven is through the Lord Jesus Christ. They are members of a Cain church. Apostates depart from the truth of salvation. "Woe unto them," Jude says.
Here’s the second picture: they "have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit."
The account of Balaam is given to us in the book of Numbers 22-24. Balaam was that prophet who the King of Moab went to when the Children of Israel were passing through their land. He wanted Balaam, the prophet, to curse the Israelites and he offers Balaam a good bit of money to do it. Balaam is enticed by the offer and was anxious to get the money
But God said to him, "No, you can't curse the Israelites. You can't curse those whom I have blessed." God has pronounced blessing upon the nation of Israel. God has said, "Blessed are those who bless them and cursed aret hose who curse them."
So, God wouldn't let him do it. But Balaam had his eyes on the money and he went back and asked the Lord again and the Lord wouldn't let him do it again.
When Balaam wasn’t allowed to curse the Children of Israel, he came up with a plan. Balaam said, "I'll tell you what we'll do that will mess up the Children of Israel. We'll get the Moabite women to seduce the Israelites and cause them to commit sexual sin."
And that’s exactly what happened. You read about it in Revelation 2:14. So what is the point of Jude using “the way of Balaam” to describe apostates?
While Cain would have us depart from the way of salvation, Balaam would have us to depart from the life of separation.
God expects His children to be separate. God expects His children to live a different life. Not a sinful life. You are called unto a higher standard. But the apostates always say that it's alright to sin. They are always weak when it comes to this matter of committing sin.
Even today there are those who say, "You are saved by grace, it doesn't matter how you live, just do any old way. Anything is alright." Everything is NOT alright. There are some things that are condemned in Scripture that God says, don't do. But the error of Balaam for reward is the departure from the doctrine of sanctification or separation.
Then look at the third doctrine in verse 11. "they perished in the rebellion of Korah. Korah's account is found in Numbers 16.
Korah was one of those Israelites who rebelled against the leadership of Moses. Korah decided that he was tired of Moses being the spiritual leader and he basically took the approach, "Well who does Moses think he is to speak for God? We have just as much right to speak for God as Moses does. All the people are holy. Why should we have to follow the leadership of Moses and his brother Aaron?"
Here’s why: Moses was God's prophet and Aaron was God's priest. They were called by God to those responsibilities and nobody else was. And Korah was an apostate because he was a rebel against the authority God had established in His people.
And apostates follow the way of Korah when they depart from the truth of submission.
Do you remember what happened to Korah? Moses said, "we are going to have a little contest and see who is on the Lord's side and who is not. Everybody who is on the Lord's side, you come over here. Those of you who are on Korah's side, you go over there."
The Scriptures said there stood Korah and his group of rebels. Moses said, "God is going to do a new thing. Something that's never happened before. If I'm God's appointed leader, if I'm God's source of authority among the Children of Israel then the Lord will open up the earth."
That's exactly what happened. God opened up the earth in an earthquake and Korah and all of those who sided with him were swallowed up, golf clubs, bass boats and all!. And to use Jude’s words, “They perished in the rebellion of Korah.”
And I like to imagine that Moses stepped up to the microphone and said, “Next item of business?”
By the way, the children of Korah never forgot the lesson of submission to authority and service unto the Lord. You will read Psalm 84 and right in the middle, which was written by one of the sons of Korah, in the 10th verse it says, "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness."
They had come to understand the importance of submission to God-given, God-appointed leadership.
I never cease to be amazed at those who think they know better how the church ought to be run and what ought to be preached and what the preacher ought to be doing and not doing.
If you think you know so much go get you one and see how you fare! But until God calls you to do that, be careful because you are drifting into the land of Korah.
So Jude says “Woe to them because like Cain, they depart from the way of salvation, like Balaam they depart from the life of separation and like Korah they depart from the truth of submission.”
Then, in verses 12-13, he gives us
II. Some Pictures From Nature
The world of nature is an illustration book. God has given us this wonderful world of nature for many purposes, but one is to provide illustrations of spiritual truth.
All around you in the world of nature God has pictures of spiritual truth. That's why Jesus talked so much in pictures. That's why Jesus explained so many spiritual things with pictures. Jesus would take a seed and say, "Do you see that seed going into the soil and a plant springing up? That seed is like the Word of God, planted in the human heart."
Then Jesus would point to the birds and say, "not one of those birds falls to the ground without the heavenly Father's eyes being upon it." He says that is exactly the way it is with you and me. God's eyes are on you and me all the time. Jesus talked about pictures in nature.
So, Jude gives us five very vivid pictures from nature to describe and identify the apostates for us. The
point of these five pictures is that apostates can't help you. Apostates can't do you any good.
1. Spots in your love feasts
verse 12
In the New Testament one of the things the early church had in its inception is what they call love feasts. It was a time of fellowship when they would gather together and enjoy one another, much like our fellowship today.
Over time these love feasts degenerated into times of drunkenness and immorality. One of the reasons they did was because of the influence of these apostates.
And he says about these apostates that these are spots. The word, spots, would be better translated, hidden rocks. He's talking about the danger of the apostates. An apostate can destroy the fellowship of a church. An apostate can cause great division among God's people. He says they are like hidden rocks in your love feasts.
2. Clouds without water
We know about those don’t we? A cloud gives promise of rain. Farmers know what it is to go through times of drought and their crops are in the field and they are dry and parching and they are going to lose the crops because they desperately need water.
They see a cloud arise and they get their hopes up because the think there will be some rain. All of a sudden that cloud just floats on by and there's no rain there. What a disappointment!
He says that is exactly the way apostate doctrine is.
Apostates promise a lot, but they don't produce anything. They look good; they're fluffy. They get
in the pulpit and what they say sounds so very good. They promise so very much. But they don't produce. They preach a prosperity gospel, but it doesn't work, except for them. They preach a name
it and claim it, but it doesn't work. Others who claim it don't get it. They tell people they are healed, then they die. Apostate doctrine is like a cloud without water. Apostate doctrine promises much, but produces nothing. That’s the disappointment of apostate doctrine.
3. Trees without fruit
There we find the destitution of apostate doctrine. He says they are just like an old dead tree and the fruit on it is withered up. There's not any fruit there. Here's a tree that was expected to bear fruit, but it didn't. The test of a tree is the fruit of that tree.
It's interesting to me when you listen to a lot of apostate doctrine and apostate teachers. Theynever, ever give any clear cut presentation of salvation. They'll talk about all kinds of other things but the simple Gospel of how a lost sinner can be saved and go to heaven when they die, is always
missing from their message. They never give it. Check it out; you'll find I'm right.
He says they are like trees twice dead, plucked up by the roots. They are fruitless because they are rootless. They have no vital connection with the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. Raging waves of the sea
Let me give you a paraphrase of that. Like the dirty foam left along the beach by the wild waves.
Ever been to the ocean and seen those waves as they brought up all of the filth and the slime and the
foam and deposited it on the bank. He's talking about the absolute dissipation of the apostates.
How that they belch up from their inner life all of the filth and scum and shame of a wicked, immoral life.
5. Wandering stars
I like this paraphrase of that. "Lost stars in outer space, on their way to the black hole."
I think it's a picture of shooting stars. You can look out and see all of the stars. The Bible say the stars all have names. God has names for all those innumerable stars. They all have their orbits. They
all have their projectories. But occasionally you will see, all of a sudden, a shooting star. It's there
brilliant for a moment, then it's gone.
He says apostates are like shooting stars. Now he's talking about the destiny of apostates.
Apostates never want to be in orbit. They never want to be in any kind of system. Never be restricted by Bible truth. They just want to kind of go their own way. They may look good for awhile but they are here and they're gone and Jude says "they are reserved for the blackness of darkness forever."
I think that's one of the most frightening statements about hell in all of the Bible. You won't see anybody in hell. The Bible presents hell as a bottomless pit. Have you ever thought about falling and falling and falling and never landing. Just forever falling. Like a star out of orbit headed for the black hole. Don't hitch your wagon to a falling star.
Jesus, in the Bible, is called the Bright and the Morning Star. What security! The good news is you don't have to fall for the falling stars of the apostates, you can hook your life to the Bright and Morning Star, the Lord Jesus.
The good news is that He'll make a star out of you. The Bible says, "They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever." You can be a star for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you know Jesus as your Savior.
