Jesus is coming back! Let that sink in for a moment. Resist the urge to start asking questions, “When”, “How”, “For whom”? Just let it sink in, Jesus is coming back! What does that do to your heart? Does it excite you? Does it invoke fear? The other day as we were shopping for props and costumes for our next movie I noticed a T-shirt which said, “Jesus is coming!” Then down at the bottom it said, “Hide the porn”. Even though we would probably not be quite that brazen, I wonder how many of us would have the urge to hide stuff if we knew Jesus was coming back 2 minutes from now. And it is rather ironic that Scripture predicts that in the last days there will be people who ridicule the idea of Jesus coming back. () Jesus is coming back and much of Scripture, including Jude here, lets us know that it will not be a pretty picture for many. Jesus is coming, and He is coming back as Judge—and even if you “hide the porn” He is still going to find you guilty.

Notice how many times Jude (actually 1 Enoch) uses the word “ungodly” in one form or another. I count 4 in two verses. Jesus is coming back to judge the ungodly. Certainly, at the forefront of Jude’s mind are the false teachers, but even if we are not “false teachers” it still has application for us today. First of all notice the scope (extent) of this judgment, notice who Jude says will be judge by Jesus. Did you notice in verse 15 that it says, “to execute judgment on all”? We will all be judged by Jesus. And the ungodly will be “convicted”. Now notice the characteristics of those who will be judged. Deeds of ungodliness, people who have spoken against the Lord, grumblers, malcontents, loud-mouthed boasters, people who show favoritism to gain advantage. Do you find yourself in that list anywhere? I do.

If we look a little deeper at what Jude means by these things I think we will certainly see ourselves in that list. When Jude refers to these false teachers as “grumblers” more than likely he is referring to the Israelites in the wilderness who were grumbling against God. Have you ever grumbled against God? Complained because of how life was treating you? Angry because God is doing something you do not agree with? “Malcontents” means much the same thing, but this time Jude says they follow their own sinful desires. Instead of being content with the will of God (more than likely His holy law) they live their life how they want to. Sound familiar yet? And furthermore they boast about it. These men are arrogant in their sin. And finally we see that they show favoritism to gain advantage. More than likely Jude is referring to the fact that their preaching and life differs based upon their audience. Perhaps they are easy on the rich and try really hard to gain their favor and ostracize the poor. We may not be as guilty of this specific sin, but how often are we a different person based upon the crowd we are in. I have no difficulty finding myself in this passage. It saddens me to say that I sometimes grumble. I’m discontent. I might even be a loud-mouthed boaster (making it seem or sound like I have it all together and know exactly what I am talking about). I would like to think that I do not show favoritism to gain advantage, but I am certain that I either have or do occasionally still.

As far as application I think we can look at four quick things. The base point that Jude is making is this—“Don’t follow these ungodly people who are going to be judged—because then you will become ungodly and will be judged”. Secondly, I think we can look at this and see an exhortation from Jude not to be like these false teachers, we should reflect our holy Lord and not these ungodly sinners. Next, I see a redemptive purpose in this passage. I am ungodly. I am going to still fall short, and still be grumbling. What hope then do I have? Again, we find from this text our need for a Savior. So, let us be holy and be exhorted to not be like these false teachers but at the same time let us cling to the grace of Christ for power to overcome the sin and for cleansing because we do not. Lastly, I see another angle to this redemptive purpose. Knowing that we are ungodly and knowing that Jesus is coming back to judge the ungodly we must ask ourselves, “am I to be found righteous?” Does the blood of Jesus cover me?

In the words of John Newton ask yourself today:

At his call the dead awaken,
Rise to life from earth to sea;
All the powers of nature, shaken
By His looks, prepare to flee
Careless sinner,
What will become of thee?

If you open up a dictionary and turn to the B’s you will find the word banquet. The first definition of banquet is, “a lavish meal, a feast.” If you go down the freezer aisles in Wal-Mart you will find Banquet TV dinners. Sometimes I get duped into buying the Fried Chicken meal, they are only .99 cents but are certainly everything BUT a banquet. It advertises one thing on the outside and thoroughly disappointments on the inside. That is exactly what Jude says of these false teachers. Jude is going to employ four metaphors to prove his point as well as speak of their condemnation and give further weight to his exhortation in verse 12 that these men are “blemishes” on your love feasts.

Before we get practical with this verse we need to do a little exposition (explaining). First of all, it is possibly better that we view the word “blemishes” as the word “reefs”.[1] So, what Jude is saying is that there are men who are among your ranks who are shipwrecking your congregation, namely your love feasts. Which necessitates further explanation; what are the love feasts? More than likely it is a reference to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.[2] Apparently these men are feasting (banqueting) with the believers as their “leaders” and are only looking after themselves. This is more than likely a reference to Ezekiel 34:2 where he rebukes the leaders of his day for feeding themselves at the expense of his sheep.[3] Then Jude begins his rebuke.

Jude now employs 4 metaphors to describe these false teachers. First he begins with the waterless clouds, swept away by winds. I am certain that farmers in our area are familiar with this. You look up into the sky and storm clouds begin to roll in. You get excited at the prospect of a much needed rain, only to have your hopes dashed a few moments later as the storm passes by and you are left with only a few drops. The second image Jude employs teaches the same lesson. This time he speaks of a tree that should be bearing fruit but instead it is barren. So the person tending to the trees uproots it and throws it into the fire. Just like the tree these false teachers are boasting of great spiritual things (fruit) yet are producing nothing of spiritual value. But it is not as if they are producing nothing. Jude now changes his metaphor to let us know what they are producing; filth. Just like wild waves of the sea bring up to the shore all sorts of trash and nasty scum, so these false teachers are bringing to the body nothing but trash. And lastly Jude is going to help us to see their fate. He likens them to wandering stars (probably planets that cannot be relied upon for their movement, at least in Jude’s day). Then he switches directly to the false teachers and says, “for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever”. And Jude uses the passive voice, meaning it is God that is placing them in the outer darkness. (See the prior blog, “Would a loving God really do that”)

Now what does this have to do with us today? Ask yourself, “Am I a banquet Fried Chicken meal?” Are you falsely advertising? The truth is we all want to make ourselves out to be better than we are. The outside package is so often better than what is on the inside. The truth is, even if we tried to be transparent—that by itself would not be a virtue. If we are to be real and transparent then we would have to display how utterly wicked we are and how impure our motivations are. It would not be pretty. Truly, our only hope is in Jesus Christ who is not a waterless cloud (he always comes through), a fruitless tree (he is the source of fruit), wild waves (only purity and goodness comes from Him), nor wandering stars (he is Light and in Him is no darkness). Our only hope is that the righteousness of this great God might be given to us.

[1] The meaning of “blemishes” is often disputed. It can mean either “spot, blemish, blots” or it can also be translated “reefs”. Many commentators favor the translation “blemishes”, however some still believe it is better rendered “reefs”. Many prefer the translation “blemishes” because reefs often caused danger because they are hidden. Certainly these false teachers are making themselves known. However, it is not necessary to say that in order for a reef to be hazardous it must be hidden. For this reason and also because of the unlikelihood of a polished Greek writer like Jude to have made the mistake between spilas (rock) and spilos (blemish) I prefer the translation reefs. (It was actually through reading the commentary of Richard J. Bauckham from www.biblecentre.net that I have come to this conclusion). Either way Jude’s point is the same—get away from the false teachers.
[2] For a decent article on this check out http://www.ntrf.org/articles/article_detail.php?PRKey=9
[3] Bauckham, Richard. Taken from www.biblecentre.net