The Book of Jude, Part 3

The Book of Jude, Part 3
Friday, March 7, 2025 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today

False teachers teach what they teach to their own destruction.

Jude 1:10: “But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed” (NAU).

First, false teachers revile and reject the “faith once handed down.” We see that all too often today. From embracing and practicing sexual license, to denying that Jesus is both fully God and fully man, the only means of salvation, we see that going on in all too many churches. How often do they make fun of those who still insist that the Bible means what it says? All too often.

Second, false teachers weasel their way in to churches by appealing to one’s flesh, giving permission to live lives of unbridled sensuality. In other words, they prefer to live according to their natural fleshly instincts, in that sense living no different from unreasoning animals. As a song from long ago put it, they’re “doing what comes naturally.” Scripture states repeatedly that if one lives according to those fleshly instincts, one does not have a relationship with God; one will spend eternity in Hell.

Who are the false teachers compared to? How are their errors described?

Jude 1:11: “Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah” (NAU).

Cain, the first naturally born human, rejected God’s way, choosing instead to became the murderer of the righteous Abel, rather than repent of his sin.

Balaam, summoned by Balak, preferred wealth over holding to God’s truth. He did prophesy what God directed him to say. As a result, Balak refused to pay him his divination fee. In response, Balaam then told him how he could get Israel to sin. As God would then reject them, Balak could then be victorious over Israel, and avoid the prophesied defeat. Although an inference, it would seem that by doing so, Balaam didn’t lose his payment.

Korah was the leader of the greatest rebellion against Moses during Israel’s wandering in the desert. His rebellion took place after Israel had already recjected God’s direction by refusing to go into the Promised Land. As a result of that choice, Gpd had said they’d wander in the desert for another 40 years. That didn’t sit well with Korah and his followers.

Those aren’t examples to follow, are they? Those aren’t men worth emulating. All of them made choices that led them far away from God, and in the case of Balaam and Korah, soon thereafter to their physical deaths. Yet these are the ones the false teachers emulate through their teaching.

It didn’t go well for those who followed after Cain, Balaam, and Korah. Balak, Balaam, and much of Midian was wiped out after leading Israel into sin. The 250 leaders and others who followed after Korah perished immediately—though some members of Korah’s family rejected his rebellion and thereby survived. While Cain survived, his descendants emulated his rebellion, ultimately perishing.

False teachers speak what others want to hear, giving a supposed justification for their sins of choice. That has no effect at all on what God has said. God’s Word still stands. It hasn’t changed: it is the faith “once handed down.” Those who listen to and believe the false teachers, end up deceived, and ultimately eternally lost. Barring repentance, that will be the fate of all too many within much of the so-called Christian Church. One can’t embrace a lifestyle of flagrant sin, deny Jesus, and eternally survive. It is better to find a church that maintains, and adheres to the Scriptures; stop listening to false teachers.

In the next post, we’ll find even more detail about and indictments against, the false teachers.

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