Dedicated To The Men of God
Who Preach the Word of God As It Is To Men As They Are
"Preach The Word"
God is Still in Charge
TEXT: Jude 14-16
INTRODUCTION:
When you study this little
Epistle of Jude, you might easily lose sight of the fact
that God is still on the throne. He elaborates so
strongly about all the sin and ungodliness in the world
being brought into the church by false teachers that you
have a tendency to
forget that God will win in the end. The pleasures and
powers of sin are but for a season.
Notice in these verses how Jude is careful to remind his
readers that justice will one day be served
and these apostate teachers will stand before God and
give an account of their ungodly; deeds.
I. NOTICE GOD'S PROPHET. V-14
"Enoch"
Everything we know about
Enoch from scripture is found in Genesis 5:18-24, Hebrews
11:5 and
here in Jude verses 14-15. He is identified here as the
"seventh from Adam" to separate him from
Enoch, the son of Cain (Gen. 4:17). To this, all Bible
scholars would agree.
There is a point here on
which many disagree. Some believe that Jude was quoting
here from the
apocryphal book of Enoch. Some feel the book of Enoch may
not have even been in existence at that
time since it was not found until about the time of the
Revolutionary War. I want to make just a
couple of statements concerning this argument.
(1) If indeed Jude was
quoting from the apocryphal book of Enoch, that does not
necessarily mean
the book of Enoch was inspired in the same way as
scripture.
(2) There is no real way to know whether Enoch was
written before Jude. The Book of Enoch
could have been written later. It is certainly possible
that the Holy Spirit simply gave Jude this
information just as he gave certain accounts of Old
Testament history to other inspired writers.
II. NOTICE GOD'S PLAN V-15
Jude makes it clear, God has a plan for all those who
have lived ungodly and rejected Him and His
plan for His church. He speaks here of a two-fold purpose
in his coming.
A. To execute judgment upon all. V-15
There will be a day when lost and saved alike, will stand
before a just God and give an account of their lives.
(1) There will be a judgment of the saints. (I Cor.
3:12-15)
Saints will be awarded according to works.
(2) There will be a judgment of the sinners. (Rev.
20:11-15)
Sinners will be rewarded
according
to works.
B. To convince the ungodly of their deeds
V-15 The wicked are blinded. One day they will be
convinced. They will have to bow before
a just God and declare Jesus is Lord!
III. NOTICE GOD'S PRONOUNCEMENT. V-16
Here, the Holy Spirit speaks through the pen of Jude once
again to describe certain traits that
possessed these apostate teachers.
A. They are always
negative. V-16
"murmurers, complainers" ... Never anything
right in God's work.. Can't rejoice over anything.
B. They are
wrapped up in selfishness. V-16) "walking
after their own lusts.."
This describes their lifestyle. No real concern for
others. This attitude is common today, and not
just among leaders.
C. They are all talk. V-16 "great
swelling words.." Always talking about doing
something but
never doing it. If we Baptist did half as much evangelism
as we talk about, we'd be getting the job
done!
D. They back-pat
people for their own advantage. V-16
"admiration
because of advantage."
Some people were bragging on people and patting them on
the back just to be able to use them
to their own advantage.
CONCLUSION:
When you look around at a world drowning in sin, just
remember God's still in charge. He'll step
in one day and it will all be over. Justice will be
served.
Sermon #5 - Jude Series by Cecil Lovelace
