Be On The Lookout

As you turn to the book of Jude, I want to take just a minute and thank you guys for praying for
Matt and Cole and me as we went to Toronto this week. There were 800 plus pastors who were at the
conference that we were a part of. And two things you ought to know about our time there. First of
all, we came back more convinced than ever that... as a church,
as a part of the Great Commission Collective, is a good gospel investment. We are a part of a
collective that is focused on the gospel and advancing the work of the gospel through church
planting in the U.S. and around the world. So the two things,
GCC, planting churches and strengthening leaders, we're doing... both of those together in this
collective. We heard great reports from people all around the world, church planning networks that
are thriving and growing, was encouraging and exciting. The theme of the conference was unashamed,
being unashamed of the gospel. And I would say we came back refreshed and cared for and challenged
and equipped. So you may not know, but 3% of our annual...
goes to the Great Commission Collective to help advance the gospel in these places. We are helping
to support church planting outside of the work we're already doing in Myanmar and in Mozambique and
with Joe and Dana Neff in Teach Beyond and in East Africa. In addition to that,
GCC is helping us advance the gospel around the world. So we want you to know that that investment
is paying dividends, gospel dividends in that church planting work, and it was refreshing for us
personally as well. So again, thank you for praying. I do have to tell you what happened, though.
We were in Toronto, and how many of you know about the quest I'm on? Raise your hand if you know
about my quest. Yes. So for those of you who don't know, I'm on a quest to eat at every cheesecake
factory in America. And we were outside of America in Toronto, and there's a cheesecake factory
there. And so on Tuesday, between the afternoon session and the evening session, we had enough time
to get up to the Cheesecake Factory, have dinner, and get back. And so we drove. It was about a 40
-minute drive from our conference to get to the Cheesecake Factory. And we got there, and it was
closed. On a Tuesday night, I looked inside.
There was a manager inside, and I'm like, what? And he came to the door, and he said, yeah. He
didn't explain. He just said, we're closed. I got here and found out we're closed today. Well, I
texted my friend at headquarters.
I said, what gives? Well, she said, I'll find out. She texted me back and said there was a kitchen
fire. And I went, oh, wow, okay. So I'm counting it, even though we didn't eat there.
I touched it. So I'm counting it. That was location number 167.
The next night, it dawned on me, we're an hour away from Niagara Falls.
So put the picture back up. We went to Niagara Falls. Did you see? Yeah. So that's Matt and Cole
and me out in front of Niagara Falls. You saw it in the newsletter this week. When we got to
Niagara Falls, I realized we're 30 minutes from the Cheesecake Factory in Buffalo.
And I said to Matt and Cole, if it's closed... It's on you. You guys are the problem. I've been
doing this for 30 years. I've never had one closed on me. I bring Matt and Cole, and it's closed
down. It was not closed. We had a lovely dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, location number 168.
Okay, so just wanted you to bring that up. We had a great time there, and it was very refreshing.
Okay, now Jude. Let's get into Jude. Who knows what a bolo is? Bolo.
I'm not talking about a Thai, like... Lovett wears, or people in New Mexico or Arizona.
I'm talking about a police term, BOLO. What's it mean? What's it stand for? Yes. Be on the lookout.
BOLO. It's the same as an APB, which is an all-points bulletin. BOLO is be on the lookout.
I first heard about Ebola, first heard the term from Dick Tracy. Anybody remember Dick Tracy? Dick
Tracy was in the comic strips back when I was a kid, and he had a wristwatch, and the wristwatch
would shout out, calling all cars, calling all cars, be on the lookout, calling Dick Tracy. I
remember all of that. So that's where I heard about Ebola. Now, if you've been with us in our study
in the book of Jude that we've been going through, the message of this letter is an all-points
bulletin. This is a bolo, be on the lookout. There are false teachers who have crept in to the
church, who are disrupting things in the church, and if we don't find them, if we don't sort them
out, if we don't weed them out, we're in trouble. They are polluting the gospel that was once for
all delivered to the saints, and they are steering people in the wrong direction. And Jude,
in this letter, is giving this, but when you sound a bolo or an APB,
you don't just say be on the lookout. You then have to give a description. Here's what you're
looking out for. Here's what he looks like. Here's where he was last seen. Here are known
accomplices. And that's what we're going to be looking at. That's our outline as we go through this
this morning. The verses we're going to look at are where Jude provides us with known associates of
the false teachers who we're on the lookout for. where they have been recently seen, and then what
to look for with these false teachers. And what Jude is suggesting here is that there are people
who have come into the church and they've said, we've got a new way, new insights, a new path to
follow that will lead you to God. And he wants his readers to hear that and go, That just doesn't
sound right. The only way you can know it doesn't sound right is you've got to be grounded in,
anchored in what's true. The only way you can know who the false teachers are is to know if they're
deviating from the faith. That's true in our day. So Jude is giving us a description of these false
teachers, but he's wanting to remind us of what's true as well. So we'll follow this outline.
Let me take you to the scriptures. Read through this passage and ask God for his help here.
Lord, we do ask for your help as we turn our attention now to your word. Your word is true and
right and holy and precious. We thank you for your word. Give us ears to hear.
Clear our minds from distractions. And give us hearts to obey your word. We pray these things in
Jesus' name.
Jude, beginning at verse 11, follow along as I read this. Jude writes, Woe to them.
The false teachers. For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of
gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.
These are hidden reefs at your love feasts as they feast with you without fear.
Shepherds feeding themselves. Waterless clouds swept along by winds.
Fruitless trees in late autumn. twice dead, uprooted. Wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of
their own shame. Wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
Amen. May God bless this reading of his word. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word
of God will stand forever. So in this section of the letter, what we're calling the known
associates, Jude is first pointing to the false teachers in his day. He's pointing them to three
men in the Old Testament who got off track spiritually, who rebelled against God spiritually. Back
in verses 5 through 7, Jude had pointed to three groups of people. who had gotten off base
spiritually. He talked about how the Israelites in the wilderness rebelled against God's authority.
They would not believe God. When God said, I will give you the land, they got afraid and they fell
to false teaching there. He talks about the angels who left their estate and came and intermarried
with the daughters of Eve, with the women, with human women, and how they rejected.
the assignment that God had given them. He talked about the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, the
sexual sin that they had fallen into. So he talked about groups of people. Here he talks about
three specific people in the Old Testament. He talks about Cain and Balaam and Korah and how they
are prototypes of false teachers. So he begins verse 11 with the phrase,
woe to them. That's a statement of grief or indignation. When you see that phrase in the
scriptures, woe to you, the speaker is giving a prophetic announcement of a coming judgment or
destruction on people if you stay on this path. When he says woe to you, he says if you stay going
where you're going, you are headed to hell. You are headed to destruction.
It means a great day of adversity and judgment is ahead for you if you stay on this path and
deservedly foe. And that's what he's saying about the false teachers. Let me just point that
getting off track spiritually, following people who lead you into error, has eternally disastrous
consequences. This is no light thing. To be led astray and to get off track can take you...
to a spiritually dangerous place. We're not talking about something that you ought to just,
it's okay to explore it, just don't go too far. We're talking about something you should avoid at
all costs. Following false teachers is deadly dangerous. Over the years, when I've read something
online or I've heard a message and I've thought, where's this coming from?
Who's this person? And I'll read their name and I've never heard of the person before. Whenever
that happens for me, if I read an article and I go, this sounds good. I wonder who this person is.
The next thing I do is I investigate who that person is. I'll Google their name. I want to find a
background. I want to go, where do they go to church? Who's taught them? Who endorses them?
I want to know more about who they are and about their character. And if I can't find that,
even if their message sounds good, I'm still going to... still going to be a yellow flag there.
I need to know more before I'm going to listen too much to what this person has to say. Because
it's not just the clarity of the message, but it's the messenger that has to be explored and
investigated as well. And so it's really important that as you hear messages and you hear something
and you go, you know, that sounded good. That was something. that made sense to me. You still need
to know who is this person and what's their background because a false teacher will start off by
telling you things that sound good and things you nod your head and can agree with and go, oh, this
makes sense. But if you don't know where he's taking you, if you don't know what his background is,
if you don't know where he's leading you, what starts off good can quickly turn in the wrong
direction.
So one of the things you'll find out about a person as you look at their life is how much how much
do they want the spotlight put on them? Is the person you're listening to somebody who thinks that
they deserve God's favored attention, that they have some truth that other people don't have?
In fact, the first character that Jude points to in the Old Testament in verse 11, the first guy he
references is Cain. Now he assumes his readers know the story of Cain from Genesis chapter 4.
I'm going to assume you know some of it. If you don't, you have an assignment this afternoon. Go
home and read Genesis 4 and read about who Cain is. But here's a recap.
He was the firstborn son of Adam and Eve. Abel was his younger brother.
Both of them in Genesis 4 brought a sacrifice to God. Cain,
who worked with his dad, tending the fields, brought a grain offering as a sacrifice to God.
Abel, who was the shepherd keeping watch of the flock of animals, brought an animal sacrifice.
And God favored Abel's sacrifice. He didn't say Cain's sacrifice was wrong.
This is not a case in the Old Testament that one sacrifice was right and the other one was wrong.
It's just that when the sacrifices came, God favored Abel's sacrifice.
The text doesn't tell us. It may have been because Abel's sacrifice required blood. Cain's didn't.
And God was pointing to the fact that blood is necessary for sacrifice to be made. He may have been
pointing ahead to the gospel. We don't know. You shouldn't read too much into that. So Cain goes to
God and says, what gives? By the way, Cain's the firstborn. He's used to being the favored child.
So to have your younger brother's sacrifice be more acceptable, provoked in him envy and jealousy,
and he goes to God and he says, what gives? And God says, look, you keep doing right, it'll be
okay. He doesn't rebuke him. He doesn't say you brought the wrong thing. He says, why are you,
just keep doing the right thing and it'll be okay.
That's not good enough for Cain, who the next day or whenever it was, sees his brother out in the
field and says, I can't stand this and goes and kills him. Murders his brother. So that no one will
get in the way of him having the favored position with God. That's the basic story.
You get more we could explore, but you can do that on your own. Jude is saying the false teachers
in our day walk in the way of Cain. They will get rid of anybody who puts them out of the favored
position. They want the spotlight on them. They want you paying attention to them. Somebody gets in
their way, they're going to get rid of them. whatever they need to do. Now, I don't know that they
went to murder. Maybe they did. But that's the way that they're walking in.
And their heart is murderous intent. But what's driving them is we want the focus on us.
We want people to see us as the conduit between people and God.
Let me just say here, if you see a leader who is uncomfortable with the spotlight being on anybody
other than them, you need to watch out. If they think that they have a highly favored position with
God that is inviolable, you need to be careful.
There's a story I heard about a pastor. Well, the pastor was Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church.
And Mark was starting to get a lot more notoriety and prominence. People were paying attention.
He tells the story, or the story is told, about going to England. for a series of meetings over in
England, and he had his team with him, and they pulled up to a church in England where there was a
crowd starting to form, more people than they had expected and anticipated. They said it was a
little like coming up to a rock concert, and the crowd was there cheering for Mark. And his
associates were looking around, and they were going, what is going on here? Like, we've never seen
anything like this. And Mark made the statement. he looked around and he said to his associates,
he said, you know, I'm kind of a big deal.
You hear somebody say that? Now, maybe he was being tongue-in-cheek. I'll give him, well,
maybe I won't.
But the point is, when that's a pastor's approach, you know,
the spotlight ought to be on me. I'm the one who, I'm the only one who could do this.
That pride ought to be a warning signal to go,
don't go too far with this guy. No matter how clear or gifted that person is,
don't go too far with this guy. He's a glory seeker. That's what Cain was.
He wanted God's favor for him and him alone and didn't want anybody else getting in the spotlight.
That's the way of Cain. Then, false teachers are also... money-driven.
They're greedy like Balaam. Balaam's the second person in here. And again, you know the story of
Balaam. You can find it in Numbers 22, 23, 24. Most people know about Balaam because his donkey
spoke. That's the big thing we know. Balaam was trying to get his donkey to move. The donkey
wouldn't move. He got out and tried to pull him. Donkey wouldn't move. Finally, the donkey spoke to
him, and that took Balaam back here. Balaam was a prophet for hire.
He was a diviner, a sorcerer. And somehow he had gotten the reputation that he could go and
pronounce a curse on somebody and that curse would come to pass. And so one of the kings who hated
Israel came to Balaam and said, I'll pay you a lot of money to go put a curse on Israel. And as the
story goes, Balaam... but he couldn't. Every time he opened his mouth, all he could do is bless
Israel, and the king got mad at him. They went three different places, and Balaam just kept
blessing Israel. And the link that Jude is making here between Balaam and the false teachers in his
day is Balaam was a prophet for hire. His motive was greed. He was doing this for money.
There was no integrity to it. He was utilizing whatever gift he thought he had for self
-improvement. He liked being rich.
Made me think of the pastor in Atlanta, suburban Atlanta, who came to his people and said,
I really need you to give to the ministry. We're trying to buy a $65 million jet so I can get
places more expediently.
Made me think about Kenneth Copeland, who's got three private jets.
in his ministry. Or the pastor in North Carolina who built a $1.7 million, 16,000 square foot
home won't disclose what his salary is, and his congregation and his elders don't determine his
salary. He's put together a board of other megachurch pastors who are the ones who decide what his
salary should be, and nobody knows what it is. Or the pastor I knew in San Antonio whose house was
in the same gated prestige community where George Strait and David Robinson and Stone Cold Steve
Austin live.
Now, the fact that somebody in ministry is wealthy does not mean that person's a false teacher.
But how the wealth was acquired, if a ministry is the vehicle through which profit is coming,
that should be a red flag for you about a false teacher. The love of money is the root of what?
All kinds of evil. Watch out for that person. That person might be following Balaam's error for the
sake of gain. So Cain wants glory. Balaam wants gain. The third person here is Korah.
You can read about the rebellion of Korah in Exodus chapter 16. Korah rallied disgruntled
Israelites to rebel against Moses and Aaron, came to Moses and Aaron and said, who put you in
charge? I think I should be in charge.
Moses said, okay, let's ask God. So they went and had a confrontation and asked God, and God judged
Korah and the rebellion. The earth opened up. 250 people were swallowed up by the earth.
Again, you can read about that in Exodus chapter 16.
Jude has already told us in this letter that false teachers are headed for destruction, and he says
about Korah, they received the destruction. Destruction came on them. And he puts it in the past.
He says about the false teachers in his day that they are headed for destruction as well.
In fact, he says destruction has already come for them. He puts it in the past tense, which is
something that New Testament writers would often do if they were talking about a future event, but
they wanted to make it a definite certainty. You'd use past tense about a future event as a way of
saying, you can count on this happening.
It's like somebody saying,
Is it the Rangers? Are they still in the playoffs? Yeah. The Rangers have already won the World
Series. It's like somebody saying that. It's a confidence saying, take it to the bank. It's already
done, even though the games haven't been played out.
So let me just point out the verbs, by the way. As you look at verse 11, look at the verbs here.
They walk in the way of Cain. They abandon themselves to the error of Balaam.
Finally, they are destroyed in their rebellion like Korah. Walk, abandon, destroyed.
You see the progression? What we see in these Old Testament examples is that progression away from
the faith once for all delivered. First you walk in it, then you abandon to it,
and then you're destroyed by it. That's the progression that false teaching will lead you to.
And as one commentator has said, these are the disastrous effects of jealousy,
greed, and pride. It's present in these false teachers. Alistair Begg says about the men in verse
11, they walk, they rush, and finally they perish. No wonder he begins with woe.
Woe, it's a mixture of condemnation, consternation, regret, and sadness. And now taken together,
these three examples highlight greed, rebellion, immorality, jealousy, and selfish ambition.
Jude is saying, these men who have crept in unaware, These are the motivations that are lurking
behind the ministry that they're doing. And let me just also point out here,
there's a pitfall that any of us can fall into when we elevate giftedness over character.
This is something you need to be aware of as you listen to gifted men preach and teach the Bible.
When giftedness is elevated over character, it's a disastrous thing because Ultimately,
God does not look the other way when it comes to character. When we see gifted people who, because
of their giftedness, can draw a crowd or attract attention or notoriety, we have a tendency to want
to look the other way and kind of cover up their flaws because look how gifted they are. God does
not do that. No one who would stand here in this pulpit,
me included, isn't flawed. We all are. But God calls us to be people who are above reproach.
And when our character issues surface, they're to be acknowledged and addressed rather than covered
up.
The standard is above reproach, not perfection, but above reproach.
We have three words that we have used since the beginning of the church. For those in leadership,
we say, as leaders, we must have humility, accountability, and teachability. If we lose those three
things, we're headed in the wrong direction. Humility, accountability, and teachability.
We keep calling one another to those things. Those things are absent in the lives of the false
teachers that Jude is talking about. So the known associates of the false teachers are these three
people, Cain and Korah and Balaam. And then Jude,
in verse 12, points to where they have been regularly showing up. Here's where you can look for
them. He says, these are hidden reefs at your love feast. They feast without fear.
They are shepherds feeding themselves. What's he talking about here? Well, a love feast was how the
church used to get together and celebrate the Lord's table. They would have a... A potluck,
a community meal. Everybody would come together. They would eat a big meal. They would have a feast
together. And as a part of that, they would take the bread and the wine, and they would reenact
what Jesus had done at the Lord's Supper. And in the New Testament, we see other writers pointing
out the fact that some of these love feasts were not going well. James says about the love feasts
that people were coming in for them, and the influencers were starting to go, oh. That guy has a
lot of money. Let him have a seat up here. And the people who don't have as much money will put
them at the end of the table. 1 Corinthians says the same thing, that certain people were getting
fed, other people were going hungry. The people of influence and wealth were getting fed,
the poor people were going hungry. Some people were getting drunk at the love feasts. There was
immorality as a part of the love feasts. And Jude says, These false teachers are showing up at the
love feasts, and they are corrupting things. But he says the danger here is under the surface.
There's a beach in Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean where it's known in that part of the world for its
surfing. At certain times when the waves swell, it's where everybody wants to go. The beach is
about a football field wide. And when the waves come up,
there are as many as 150 surfers that get out there and compete for those waves because they're the
best waves in the area. What makes this area tricky, this particular beach,
is that under the water, there is a mixture of rocks and sand.
There are reefs there and there's sand there. So if you're out surfing and you catch the wave and
you do fine, no problem. You wipe out. It could be dangerous because of the hidden reefs that could
tear you up. That's what these false teachers are. They are hidden reefs.
You don't see when you're with them the danger, but they're showing up for the love feast.
It's not obvious, but they're feasting without fear. There is no fear of God in them. They're
coming to the Lord's table. They're taking the bread and the wine, the body and the blood of Christ
and celebrating that while there is sin in their heart. while they're unscrupulous.
There's no fear of God there. They claim to be shepherds, but they're not doing what shepherds do.
Shepherds care for the flock. They protect and feed the flock. These are men who are focused on
what they can get out of things rather than caring for other people. Shepherds feeding themselves,
they would go, we've heard that before. They would know immediately to go to Ezekiel.
34. That would be ringing in their ears. And in fact, I want to read to you these first 10 verses
from Ezekiel 34. You can turn there. Ezekiel's back in the middle of your Old Testament, back after
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. You'll find it in that area. Ezekiel 34,
beginning at verse 10, or verse 1. The word of the Lord came to me, Ezekiel says,
son of man. Prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them,
even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God, ah, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding
yourselves. Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the
wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak have not been
strengthened, or you have not strengthened. The sick you have not healed, the injured you have not
bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and
harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they
became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered. They wandered all over the mountains
and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered all over the face of the earth with none to search
or seek for them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live, declares the Lord
God, surely because my sheep have become a prey and my sheep have become food for the wild beasts,
since there was no shepherd, Because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds
have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep, therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord God, behold, I'm against the shepherds. I will require my sheep at their hand to
put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue
my sheep from their mouths that they may not be food for them. I mean, that's a sober...
passage of judgment on the shepherds of Israel, but you hear the refrain of these are shepherds who
feed themselves, who feed themselves, who feed themselves. Jude says that's what's happening today
with the false teachers in my day. They are the fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy. They don't care
about the sheep. They just care about themselves. When you find a teacher or a spiritual leader,
somebody who is more concerned about how he will benefit from being a shepherd than he is about
compassionately caring for those under his watch. Be on guard against that person.
So Jude says, here are their known accomplices. They've been hiding out at the love feasts. And
then the final thing in this bolo is four metaphors from nature that give us a clearer description
of what is ultimately true about these false teachers. In the middle of verse 12, he refers to them
as waterless clouds. Now, if you live out in the desert in the Middle East and you see a cloud on
the horizon, what's your hope? You hope there's going to be rain in that cloud because the land
needs rain. You can't grow crops without rain. Your food, your life, your relief,
your comfort, you need water. And there's a cloud. Maybe that'll bring rain.
But when the cloud passes and there's no rain, there's disappointment.
You saw the promise, but it was empty. He says that's true with these false teachers.
They promise that what they can bring you is peace and joy and satisfaction for your soul and
meaning and life and purpose. It's empty. There's no water there. They're dry.
So he says they're waterless clouds. Then the next thing he says is they are fruitless trees in
late autumn.
The trees are known by their fruits, the Bible says. When Jesus saw a barren fig tree,
he cursed it. In John 15, Jesus says, I'm the vine, you're the branches.
Any branch that does not abide in me, I will cut it off and throw it into the fire. I'm going to
uproot it and toss it aside.
True disciples are fruitful people. They bear spiritual fruit.
They lead others to Christ. They bring forth the fruit of repentance when they sin. They show the
fruit of righteousness, the peaceful fruit of righteousness, the Bible calls it. They evidence the
fruit of the Spirit. Your life should show fruit. Spiritual leaders' lives should be fruitful as
well. These false teachers are showing none of this. They're not bringing anybody to faith. They're
not showing righteousness. They're not showing repentance. They're not manifesting the fruit of the
Spirit. They are fruitless trees. And it's late autumn. What this means is that we've been watching
these trees all year. Maybe these are late bloomers. No. It's late autumn. There's still no buds on
these trees. There's no fruit showing up. The growing season's almost over.
It comes at the end of the age when Jesus brings judgment. They're dead because they have no fruit,
and they're dead because they will be uprooted and cast into eternal darkness,
the final judgment. So they're fruitless trees. The next thing he says is that they're wild waves
of the sea casting up foam of their own. You have no doubt been at a seashore or a lakeside on a
lovely spring or summer day, autumn day, 80 degrees. There's a gentle breeze blowing.
It's calm. It's peaceful. When we, it's pretty perfect. This summer when we went up to,
on our epic road trip, we went to Grand Teton National Park. And before we were going up there,
I remember Scott Riggin telling me, you've got to go to Jenny Lake. I'd never heard of Jenny Lake,
but we wound up at Jenny Lake. And this is a picture. There's Marianne sitting out looking at Jenny
Lake. And you can see it's magnificent, beautiful. You just give me an Adirondack chair and a book
and... shade, and I'm there all day, right? Just sitting there, and you just feel peaceful.
Now, you contrast that with this picture. This is Tybee Island, Georgia,
after a storm has come through, and it has stirred up the waters,
and it's washed this foam ashore, and the foam just piles up on the beach.
In fact, here's another picture. Isn't there a second picture of the foam? Show the next one. Yeah.
I mean, do you see all that foam? So if I said to you, let's go down to the beach, and this is what
you see down there, it's like, yuck, let's go back to the house and play Uno, right?
Which of these two beaches do you want to spend time at? You want to be at Jenny Lake,
or do you want to be at Tybee Island after the foam has come in? Again,
Jude... is saying to his readers, these false teachers stir up the water and leave behind the foam.
And his readers would have recognized Isaiah 57, where Isaiah says,
the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. The point is, these false teachers don't bring
peace and calm. They stir things up and leave a foamy residue, the residue of their own shame,
when they're gone. Finally, he says, they are like wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter
darkness has been reserved forever. What did the ancients depend on stars for? Navigation.
You want to know where to go? You looked at the stars because the stars were fixed in the heavens
and you could follow them and they would lead you to the right place.
But if you have a wandering star, A star that's not fixed in the heaven and you try to follow it,
you're going to zigzag, go in the wrong direction. You're going to be led astray. A wandering star
will take you off course. Again, Jude is pointing out these stars that are shining right now.
They are wandering stars who will lead you off course. And look what these stars are reserved for
the gloom of darkness. These stars will not live in light.
They're going to be in darkness.
So put it together. Here's what you've got. Four illustrations from nature. From the sky, you have
waterless clouds that promise life and relief and refreshment and deliver nothing. From the earth,
you have trees that are fruitless trees. They promise food, but they bear nothing.
From the sea, again, the promise of peace and tranquility is replaced with waters stirred up,
churning up foamy residue of shame. And from the heavens above, you have stars that you're supposed
to be able to depend on for direction. that will take you off course. Be on the lookout for these
men. Be diligent. Keep your eyes open. That's what these teachers should look like.
That's what you should be on the lookout for. But remember we've said if you're going to spot a
counterfeit, it's better not to study the counterfeit. It's better to know what the genuine article
looks like. And while we were in Toronto this week, one of the messages we heard was taken from 1
Thessalonians chapter 2. And as we were listening to the message, I was meditating on this passage
in Jude I was going to be teaching on. And I thought, that's the contrast. You want to do a
contrast between the false teachers and the good shepherds? Read what Paul says about good
shepherds in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. In fact, read this with me and listen to the difference
between Paul's description of good shepherds and false teachers that Jude is talking about. Paul
says, you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you is not in vain, but though we had
already suffered and had been shamefully treated at Philippi, let me just stop, not that they got
glory for themselves or that people were looking at them, because we had already suffered and been
shamefully treated, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in
the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error. or impurity,
or any attempt to deceive, compared to the false teachers. But just as we have been approved by God
to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please men, but to please God who tests our
hearts. False teachers are man-pleasers, not God-pleasers. We never came with words of flattery,
like the false teachers do, as you know, nor with any pretext for greed.
God is witness, nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or others,
though we could have made demands on you as apostles of Christ. We were gentle among you, like a
nursing mother taking care of her own children. So being affectionately desirous of you,
not like the shepherds who are feeding themselves, being affectionately desirous of you,
we were ready to share with you not only the gospel, but our own selves, because you'd become very
dear to us. You remember, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day that we might not
be a burden to any of you while we proclaim to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God
also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you as believers compared to the
false teachers who were immoral and unrighteous. For you know, like a father with his children,
we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God
who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. That picture of what a good shepherd looks like
contrasts with what Jude is talking about in terms of false teachers. And it's critical for us as
followers of Jesus to look for and follow spiritual mentors and leaders and teachers who conduct
themselves in the way Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 2, not people who conduct themselves in the
way Jude is describing. Here's the key to all of this. Our ultimate allegiance.
is to the one we refer to as the chief shepherd.
In fact, think about this for a second. Jude says, false teachers, we'll go through this contrast
here. Jude says, false teachers are shepherds who feed themselves.
Jesus is described in the scriptures as the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
Jude says the false teachers are waterless clouds. Jesus says, I am the living water.
Anybody who drinks this water will never get thirsty again. Jude says false teachers are fruitless
trees. Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches,
in me you bear much fruit. Jude says false teachers are twice dead and uprooted.
Jesus says, in him is life, and the life is the light of all men. He is the resurrection and the
life.
Jude says, false teachers are wild waves of the sea casting up foam and shame. Jesus says,
I will give you peace. I will take away your shame.
Jude says, false teachers are wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been
reserved. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,
but in the light of life.
Who are you following? What path are you on? Who do you listen to? Who is directing your steps?
What's your source? Everybody is being influenced by the voices around us.
We all are. Who you listen to and what you find yourself aligning with will mark the path of your
life. The Bible says unless you are actively, aggressively working to avoid the sound of the
culture, it will shape you. I have a pastor friend who likes to say, don't let the culture
catechize you.
Be catechized by the word of God. That's what the culture does every day. It tries to tell you,
here's how you should think. Here's what you should believe. Here's how you should act. And most of
the voices you're listening to every day are false teachers. They're not giving you a gospel
perspective.
maybe not false teachers who have crept into the church unaware like Jude's talking about, but
false teachers who are pointing you away from God and away from his word and his ways. Are you
listening to those voices? Are you following those voices? Or are you tuning your heart to hear the
word of God spoken through good shepherds? It's a choice you make, and it's something you have to
be diligent to attend to every day because it's so easy just to tune out and start listening to all
the noise.
Who are you listening to? False teachers or good shepherds?
I'll close with a wildlife illustration because I used one last week and I got positive reviews for
it. When we were in the Grand Tetons, we saw a bear.
We were on the path. When you go to the Grand Tetons or Yellowstone, there are signs up.
Everybody's hoping to see a bear. And there are signs up, do not feed the bears. Don't go near the
bears. If you see the bears, stay away from the bears over and over again. The bears are not
friendly. Don't think, don't try to feed them. Bears will attack you. They will maul you. You don't
want to do that. Every gift store you go into in Grand Teton National Park has bear spray that you
can buy. These canisters of bear spray. Or you can rent them for the day if you want to. Because
most of the time you don't wind up using bear spray. But we were on the path around Jenny Lake.
We saw a bear off, probably 10 yards away, maybe.
It was not far, right? And it was like, there's a bear. We heard the people in the lineup ahead of
it. There's a bear. And so we all stop and we're looking. And then what they tell you to do is
bang, clap, make noise, and say, go away, bear, you know, that kind of thing. And so I started
clapping. The bear was not at all interested in us. He was like, oh,
it's tourists again. They are invading my spot.
But we got to see the bear. I got out my camera. I can show you the brown spot hidden in the leaves
where you can kind of see that there's a bear there if you want to see it. But there's a reason why
they tell you don't go near the bears. Don't try to make friends with the bears. Don't try to feed
the bears. The bears don't know any better. It is their instinct to destroy you, to maul you.
That's just how they're made. Jude is telling us false teachers are like bears. They are out to
destroy you. They want to drag you away from God. They want to leave you spiritually mauled.
Don't feed them. Don't pet them. Don't approach them. Make noise and move along. Slowly.
They're not tame.
They're out for you.
Beware of the false teachers. Pray with me. Father, we
thank you for the warning of your word. We thank you that you provide us with clear direction.
for how to walk and what to avoid.
Lord, I want to pray this morning for all of us that we would tune our hearts and ears to the
gospel and that we would have wisdom and discernment to know who to listen to and who to avoid.
And Lord, I also want to pray for those here who
have been listening to the culture and been shaped by the culture and influenced by the culture,
who have been listening to the false teachers and have been led into error. specifically those who
don't know you and aren't following you. Lord, would you open their hearts and their minds today to
see that you have called all of us to follow you,
to follow your truth, that you are trustworthy and dependable, that you are the source of light and
life and peace, living water.
Lord, stir in the hearts of those who need to surrender to you today.
We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.