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Jude -3- Apostates
Why did Jude write to the churches about apostasy? What is apostasy and how do we recognize apostates?

As we learned previously in the study of Jude’s reason for exhortation, certain intruders have joined the churches to which he writes. Jude describes them as ungodly people who pervert God’s grace. He accuses these apostates of denying our Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude

5 [NASB] Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

Why a reminder from the Old Testament?

The approach of the church is different in Christ than that of the Jewish culture from which they have been redeemed by the Lord.

A first century view of the church

Donald Guthrie in The New Testament Approach to Social Responsibility writes:

The New Testament assumes the validity of the Old Testament view that man was made in the image of God.1 The whole conception of sin requires that there must have been a state from which man has deviated.

Guthrie continues with reminders of the social nature of the church of the first century to which Jude writes:

The New Testament doctrines of redemption and reconciliation are central to the whole Christian message and involve a disarming of man’s natural enmity against God and of his self-centredness.7 …

The consequence of this is that redeemed man finds himself with an entirely new set of values and yet remaining in his former alien environment. A tension must at once develop between his former way of looking at social responsibility and his new principles in Christ.

The New Testament concentrates on the privileges and responsibilities of the Christian life, because this was the aspect which was new. The Christian faith demands new attitudes and actions which are of prior importance for those who have just turned away from a pagan background. This will explain the relative paucity of specific exhortations towards social responsibility.

Examples from the Old Testament

Jesus, nevertheless, teaches the validity of the Old Testament from where Jude takes examples of exhortations as contemporary reminders for our faith.

“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Matthew 5:18 KJV – the words of Jesus about the Old Testament

Jesus told numerous stories from the Old Testament as well. For an excellent of His view of Scripture you can read this article by Don Stewart.

Apostasy

Before we continue with the examples of Hebrew history, let’s define what Jude does not specifically name. (You already know the challenges of Hebrew, Greek and Latin translations into today’s English.)

Apostasy – definition

from the OXFORD dictionary

The abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief or principle.

‘the execution of their leader for apostasy brought widespread criticism’

Origin

Middle English from ecclesiastical Latin apostasia, from a late Greek alteration of Greek apostasis ‘defection’.

ἀποστασία – apostasia

Definition from the Greek: defection from truth (properly, the state) (“apostasy”):—falling away, forsake.

מְשׁוּבָה

Definition from the Hebrew mĕshuwbah : turning away, turning back, apostasy, backsliding

The Bible warns of the apostasy of the Lord’s chosen people more times than the New Testament church specifically warns believers against it.

“Your own wickedness will correct you,
And your apostasies will reprove you;
Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter
For you to forsake the LORD your God,
And the dread of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
Jeremiah 2:19 NASB

Jude’s Old Testament Exhortations

Various Biblical headings for the verses to follow from Jude’s letter read:
- Apostates: Past and Present -CSB
- False Teachers – NTE
- Old and New Apostates & Apostates Depraved and Doomed – KJV
- Judgment on False Teachers – NSRV
- Past history warns us that the unfaithful have mingled with the faithful & Be on your guard against these wicked men – PHILLIPS
So as not to extend exposition of this twenty-five verse letter into another post, I will link the important cross-references for these Old Testament verses for your further study. I suspect the the first century readers of Jude’s exhortations warning against apostasy knew these examples much better than I can remember.
1. Jude 1:5 – Egypt
2. v. 6 – Angels – a multitude of examples throughout both Testaments
3. vs. 7-8 – Sodom and Gomorrah
4. v. 9 – Michael the Archangel, concerning Moses
5. v. 11 – Cain, Balaam & Korah
6. vs. 14-15 Enoch
Egypt

For I should like to remind you, my brothers, that our ancestors all had the experience of being guided by the cloud in the desert and of crossing the sea dry-shod. … many of them failed to please God, and left their bones in the desert. Now in these events our ancestors stand as examples to us, warning us not to crave after evil things as they did.
1 Corinthians 10 excerpt – J.B. PHILLIPS

Angels and Archangels

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12 NASB

Michael, from the vision of Daniel 10 [audio]

Sodom and Gomorrah

“I destroyed some of your cities,
as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Those of you who survived
were like charred sticks pulled from a fire.
But still you would not return to me,”
says the LORD.
Amos 4:11 NLT

Cain, Balaam & Korah

All apostates! And for the most part we know their sins. Yet do we recall their warnings from the Lord?

The Lord warns Cain

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious? And why do you look despondent? 7 If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
Genesis 4:6-7 CSB

The Lord & an Angel warn Balaam

And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”
And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me.
Numbers 22:12,32 NKJV

Moses warns Korah & The Lord warns Moses & Aaron

Moses also told Korah, “Now listen, Levites! Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to himself, to perform the work at the Lord’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them?
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Separate yourselves from this community so I may consume them instantly.”
Numbers 16:8-9, 20-21

Have we recognized the apostates opposed to the Lord and separated them from His church?

The Lord requires both our faith and our loyalty. He cautions us concerning those who would turn against the faithful, loyal congregation of believers.

Jude warns:

These people are dangerous. They share communion of Christ with you, but only care about themselves. These men (and presumably women) are a menace to good fellowship. They are shepherds (pastors and priests) who care not for their sheep. These opinionated apostates are clouds without water, trees without fruit, twice-dead, and uprooted. Do not listen to them.

Jude makes other comparisons of these apostates to raging waves splashing up their own shame and wandering stars ‘for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever,’ a clear reference to the eternal punishment of Satan’s apostate angels.

Enoch Predicted an Apostasy of Israel

The study of Jude’s source material [linked above] is complex. See Jude 1:14. Yet to simplify the apostasy of Israel which the Lord spoke to Moses at the time of his death, here is an excerpt from its scriptural background.

Deuteronomy 31 & Intro from the Song of Moses

The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them…
“They have acted corruptly toward Him,
They are not His children, because of their defect;
But are a perverse and crooked generation.
“Do you thus repay the Lord,
O foolish and unwise people?
Deuteronomy 31:16-17a,32:5:6a NASB

A Reminder of Scoffers

Jude reminds the church that the Apostles also warn of those who deny the power and judgment of Almighty God and turn from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.” It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions.
Jude 1:18b-19 NRSV

But you, beloved…

Jude addresses the church agapētos, beloved ones, just as James in his letter had cautioned: “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”

Jude and also James knew the familial love of Jesus. Both letter writers love those saints of the church faithful to Christ, their brother, the risen Lord.

But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.
Jude 1:21-22 CSB

How shall we view the apostate?

Have mercy on some who are doubting.

Is this unexpected as our attitude toward some who temporarily turn against Christ?

Jude shares the same teaching as Christ.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
The words of Christ, Matthew 5:7

By our mercy and Christ’s grace some may be built up in the true faith.

Save others

‘Snatching them out of the fire,’ Jude pleads, a clear reference to saving their souls from hell.

σῴζω – sōzō – Save – to rescue from danger or destruction

It is the same Greek word for save familiar to all from John 3:16. Jude urges the church to save those of the world who come to us.

Have mercy with fear

“And on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh,” Jude cautions.

But what fear?

φόβος – Most know the word phobos and its meaning: dread or that which strikes terror.

What strikes terror in your heart?

Your own death?

Judgement? Eternal damnation?

Or do you fear for the souls of others more than you fear them? For these are loved ones, friends and those who you know as a part of the church. Some apostate ‘christians’ have turned against the Lord Jesus Christ!

Do you fear man or the Lord God?

Luke tells us in the Acts of the Apostles,

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.
Acts 9:31 NASB

Jude’s reference to ‘hating even the garment polluted by the flesh’ clearly calls the church to hating the sin, yet not the sinner. Let us clearly identify the spotted speech of apostates among us, urging those with such worldly coverings to purify their sins in the blood of Christ.

And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.
James 3:6 NASB

Let us watch that we condemn the sins of the apostates among us, while not judging their souls which the Lord may choose to snatch from the fire.

Benediction

Jude wants to encourage the church, giving those saints faithful to the Lord praise. Yet he has chosen to exhort the church against apostates, warn us against the sins which defile us and turn our witness against Christ.

He briefly makes his strong warning and now closes with praise to the Lord. You may have heard such comforting benedictions from a pastor of your own church congregation.

Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.
Jude 1:24-25 CSB Benediction

Christ Jesus can keep you from stumbling so that you may stand in His holy presence. You will know His glory, because of His mercy and grace of covering our sins by His shed blood.

God IS our Savior, through the sacrificial love of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Anyone who does not believe in the only One who can save us is an apostate, turned against the Lord our God!

To Him be all glory, majesty, power and authority. As it was in the beginning, it will be now and forever. AMEN.
July 25, 2019
Hebrews 10- Come in, Fear not
Holy of Holies – The Inner Sanctuary

Dominus autem in templo sancto suo sileat a facie eius omnis terra!

וַֽיהוָ֖ה בְּהֵיכַ֣ל קָדְשֹׁ֑ו הַ֥ס מִפָּנָ֖יו כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ פ

The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

Habakkuk 2:20 VUL, WlC, NIV

Draw near to meet the LORD

Hebrews 10:

8 First he said, “You neither want nor are you pleased with sacrifices and offerings or with animals burned on the altar…

11 Day after day every priest stands and repeatedly offers the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.

The author of Hebrews brings the Law and well-known ritual of sacrifices of blood on the altar to compare the old and new covenants. He now asks us to approach the LORD in the sanctuary, the Holy Place.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:31 KJV

He invites us into the Holy of Holies, a place of the presence of the LORD, a place where the priest offers blood sacrifices to cover our sin, a place so holy that only one high priest will enter humbly just once a year.

Boldness in the Blood of Jesus

Therefore, be bold, have confidence – fear not.

Come into the sanctuary, the Holy Place of the Lord. For before you, Christ Jesus has entered with the Perfect Sacrifice as our High Priest – He IS our Perfect Sacrifice by His own Blood.

We have climbed the holy mountain, entered the courts of the Temple with thanksgiving and sacrifice. And as the Lord’s chosen we have come to this place to worship the Lord. Our High Priest is no longer a sinful man, but Christ; and He invites us to enter the Temple.

Walk toward the altar of sacrifice, that holiest of places just past the curtain. (For in fact, by the crucifixion of Christ on the Cross the curtain is torn.)

Hebrews 10:19-39

So let us come near to God

²²let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…

With sincere hearts sprinkled clean, our evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water, because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. By the Blood of Christ, hold firmly to our confession of faith.

Hold firmly, hold fast without wavering, since He who promised it is faithful.

To do a good deed

Here is our action and not our obligation or prescribed work for heaven.

Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good.
Hebrews 10:24 GNT

[CSB] 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other…

Others in the flock of faith, the congregation of believers, are important. Yet how can the saints encourage each other in Christ if they neglect time together?

A teacher of the Law asked the Messiah, Christ Jesus, “What is the greatest Commandment?” He responded, ‘love the LORD and love one another.’ Of course the faithful want to love the Lord God, yet the second (a golden rule) often challenges us.

The writer of Hebrews challenges Christians to incite each other to agape love AND good deeds. It is a personal love of others to do God’s good will. And he cautions of the Day when all will be judged.

Jesus had warned: “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.” – Matthew 24:12 NLT

Justified or Judged?

Even in the first century followers of The Way often detoured in their own way. The love of some in the beginning of these last days had already grown cold.

Sinners in Zion are terrified;
Trembling has seized the godless.
“Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with continual burning?”
33:14 פָּחֲדוּ בְצִיֹּון חַטָּאִים אָחֲזָה רְעָדָה חֲנֵפִים מִי יָגוּר לָנוּ אֵשׁ אֹוכֵלָה מִי־יָגוּר לָנוּ מֹוקְדֵי עֹולָֽם׃
Isaiah 33:14

Warning against Deliberate Sin

Heb. 10:26 [NKJV] For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

HELL! even for one who has accepted Christ, but turns away.

[CSB] 28 Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy…29 How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Scriptural support

Once again the writer of Hebrews quotes familiar Old Testament scripture to support his teaching of a new and better covenant he introduced in chapter 8.

30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”

Deuteronomy

32:35 לִ֤י נָקָם֙ וְשִׁלֵּ֔ם לְעֵ֖ת תָּמ֣וּט רַגְלָ֑ם כִּ֤י קָרֹוב֙ יֹ֣ום אֵידָ֔ם וְחָ֖שׁ עֲתִדֹ֥ת לָֽמֹו׃

Habakkuk

2:4 הִנֵּה עֻפְּלָה לֹא־יָשְׁרָה נַפְשֹׁו בֹּו וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתֹו יִחְיֶֽה׃

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. – KJV

Remember the early days

32 … you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.

35 So don’t lose your confidence, since it holds a great reward for you. 36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will you can receive what he has promised.

37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.. 38 My righteous people, however, will believe and live..

We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead, we have faith and are saved.
Hebrews 10:39 GNT
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To be continued...
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February 13, 2019
Judgment among the gods – Psalm 82

A Plea for Righteous Judgment

Where, O Lord, will we find righteous judgment, truth of testimony, a jury of understanding?

If not at the Throne of Heaven, give us gods among us with Your own heart for justice and mercy.

Have mercy upon us, heavenly Father, for all men are sinners. Yet let us know your love for righteousness by Your penalty of the guilty.

Vindictive man of dust, cunning woman of deceit:

Do you cry out for vengeance against those who have trespassed your rights, while you plea for mercy for your betrayal of good?

What jury will hear their guilt while overturning your own sin?

82:1 מִזְמֹור לְאָסָף אֱֽלֹהִים נִצָּב בַּעֲדַת־אֵל בְּקֶרֶב אֱלֹהִים יִשְׁפֹּֽט׃

Psalm 82: A psalm of Asaph.

God stands in the divine assembly;

he pronounces judgment among the gods:

“How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?

The LORD God Most High! Among other gods?

What can it mean to speak of a divine assembly? Who can judge? Who are these judges of men and women?

We cannot know or face Almighty God in this life. Man knows not the judgment of the Most High, justice which makes right all that is wrong. The plea of this Psalm cries out to the Judge of all, to his appointed rulers.

God takes His stand in His own congregation;
He judges in the midst of the rulers.
Psalm 82:1 NASB

The NASB translation of Psalm 82 may help clarify, referring to the other gods as the congregation of God, rulers over the judged who He also judges.

Almighty God has all Authority! He sits among other gods, rulers of that which the Lord delegates.

Justice required of other gods

3 Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
4 Rescue the poor and needy;
save them from the power of the wicked.”

5 They do not know or understand;
they wander in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Our earthly judges, rulers seated in the thrones of justice, must judge rightly, helping their own subjects. These other gods in our earthly congregations owe obedience to the God above all gods.

6 I said, “You are gods;
you are all sons of the Most High.
7 However, you will die like humans
and fall like any other ruler.”

I say: to the President, the Premier, the Prime Minister; to the King and Prince, the Queen and Empress: You are gods – rulers over men and women under your dominion. Yet know your Authority comes down from the Most High God of Creation.

Though you eat bread by the sweat of your subjects, you will return to dust and you will fall like any prince, your ashes returned to dust.

Our plea to God

He IS God! above all men, above all spirits, above all rulers of heaven and earth! Our Father God rules over the congregation of the other gods. We can ask for justice and we may ask for mercy. Yet in true humility and obedience all will bow down.

8 Rise up, God, judge the earth,
for all the nations belong to you.

The Lord will judge the earth and nations.

Until that Day, He appoints judges, gods among us, men and women subservient to Almighty God.

David also says:

86:8 אֵין־כָּמֹוךָ בָאֱלֹהִים אֲדֹנָי וְאֵין כְּֽמַעֲשֶֽׂיךָ׃
Psalm 86:8 KJV

elohiym ‘Adonay ma`aseh

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.

David also declares:

For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
Psalm 96:4-5 KJV

Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
Psalm 96:10 KJV

The LORD יְהֹוָה Yĕhovah shall judge righteously.

He IS a God among the gods of the earth, even in the council of the rulers of the heavens and the earth.

The gods and idols of the heathen, other nations who do not judge righteously must bow down to the LORD God, for He will give the rulers of the lands true and just council.

God among other gods

Many men and women of many nations worship gods of many names. God appoints other gods, rulers and judges, over the heathen and over the faithful. These will bow down to the Lord God, as will all men of dust and angels worship at His Throne.

We are His created. Let us worship the Lord.

One Flock, One Shepherd

6:4 שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃
6:5 וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃
Deuteronomy – KJV

: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל‬; “Hear, [O] Israel”

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Jesus, Shepherd of Israel, Son of God

Controversy erupts in Jerusalem among religious and political leaders – controversy even to this day. The Messiah Jesus comes before us as Redeemer and Sacrifice for our sins.

He was and IS and will be God, Judge of all souls.

Yet in this incident Jesus stands accused as a Son of Man, a god among other gods appointed to rule over the Jews.

John 10:

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus then refers to the rulers of the Jews, as “hired hands,” judges who do not care for the lives of their flock. It’s no small insult to the leading religious authorities, who later will convict Jesus wrongly before their own court. This God will become the Perfect Sacrifice for the sin of the world.

Solomon’s Porch overlooking the Temple courtyard

God among the appointed gods

23 Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works that I do in my Father’s name testify about me. 26 But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep…

“I and the Father are one.”
John 10:30 CSB – words of the Messiah Jesus

The religious officials answer:

33 “We aren’t stoning you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because you—being a man—make yourself God.”

34 Jesus answered them,
“Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods?
If he called those whom the word of God came to ‘gods’—and the Scripture cannot be broken— do you say,
‘You are blaspheming’
to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world,
because I said: I am the Son of God?
John 10:34-36 CSB

Jesus escapes their stoning during the Festival of Lights to become the Sacrifice of Most Holiness during the Passover.

He IS the body and blood, shed for our sin.

Let us worship and bow down only to Christ, our Lord and Savior. He IS a God among other gods and He will judge their righteousness and ours.

Amen.

November 7, 2018