As we dig deeper into Jude, he is not referring to attacks from outside the walls of the church, but attacks from the inside.  This is most dangerous!  Why?  You would expect them from outside, but inside your hoping for unity.  The problem today is many are coming in with no biblical world view.  They’ve received the gospel intelligently, yet have rejected the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  They do so because of their sin.  You can know of Jesus and never be His disciple.  James tells us that the demons know him, yet do not follow Him. 

Examples Given to Warn Us vv.5-7

-v. 5 Egypt- Jesus destroyed those in Israel who escaped Egypt yet did not believe God.  Hebrews 3:16-19 “For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”

-v. 6 Angels Rebellion- this either refers to a rebellion of angels in Genesis 6 or the original rebellion of Satan when he fell from Heaven.  Isaiah 14:12-15.  If it is the rebellion in Genesis 6 than 1 Enoch 1:9 would clarify this.  The book of Enoch was a Jewish book, extra biblical, not put in our scripture. 

We’ll look at the book of Enoch briefly tonight and see what criteria was used to designate which books became the scripture we have today.

-v. 7 Sodom and Gomorrah- Genesis 19 shows God’s judgment upon disobedience. 

2 Peter 2:1-10 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,

Evidence of the Wayward vv.8-13

-v.8- “relying on their dreams”- They live to please their desires.

– “defile the flesh”- Titus 1:15 “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.”

-“reject authority”- Romans 13:1 “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” They reject those who seek Christ authority as well as Christ.  Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

-“blaspheme the glorious ones.”- they spoke against those serving Christ. 

v.10- they live with animal instincts, not through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

v.11- Motived by greed and self-glory

– Cain- Genesis 4:5-8

– Balaam- Numbers 22:5-7

– Korah- Numbers 16:1-3

-vv.12-13- he uses examples from God’s creation to show the evidence of wrong doing.  This also has the flavor of the book of Enoch in it.

Execution of the Wrong vv.14-16

v.14- Enoch is the seventh person listed after Adam in Genesis Chapter 5.  We know that Enoch walked with the Lord and God took him up without having to taste death.  He was also the great-grandfather of Noah.  Although the book of Enoch is not a canonized book in our Bible, it would have identified with a Jewish church.  In this book Enoch tells of the angels coming to bring the wrath of God on those who never turn to Him.  Sounds Revelation like and it is.  We’ll talk more about the book of Enoch tonight.

Application

A call for confidence that God can and will handle toxic people in His timing.

A call for the people of God to be obedient, this serves as a warning to continually building our ministry on God’s Word.