back to indexJude Wednesday Bible Study v. 11-16
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For those of you guys who are over by the cafe, 00:05:06.760 |
please go ahead and make your way to your seats. 00:05:09.760 |
And in just one minute, we will pray to get started. 00:05:54.260 |
Everyone, let's join our hearts to go before the Lord 00:06:09.260 |
that we're busy with, things that occupy our time 00:06:13.260 |
And we are grateful that in the midst of all of that, 00:06:18.660 |
to the learning of your word, to fellowship in the spirit 00:06:25.760 |
And all of this, Lord, we realize is a true grace to us. 00:06:29.660 |
And it is our prayer that because this is routine 00:06:34.960 |
it's our prayer, God, that does not just simply pass by 00:06:37.960 |
without effect, without fruit, but that rather this 00:06:41.560 |
would be a spiritual activity that is inspiring, 00:06:45.360 |
is an encouragement and strengthening of our soul, 00:06:47.760 |
but also an opportunity to continue to build each other up 00:06:55.860 |
that as each time we, with a united voice, sing to you, 00:07:00.460 |
we know, Father God, that it's not just songs 00:07:08.260 |
And so we pray that it be pleasing in your sight. 00:07:11.660 |
We pray, Father God, that even as we lift our hearts 00:07:14.660 |
to something that is nourishing our own souls. 00:07:17.960 |
And so, God, we just truly want to thank you again and pray 00:07:21.060 |
that tonight we would have a blessed time of our worship 00:07:45.860 |
When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast. 00:07:54.660 |
When the tempter would prevail, he will hold me fast. 00:08:03.160 |
I could never keep my hope through life's fearful path. 00:08:11.860 |
For my love is often cold, he must hold me fast. 00:09:00.460 |
Precious in his holy sight, he will hold me fast. 00:09:17.860 |
Bought by him at such a cost, he will hold me fast. 00:11:54.360 |
My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace. 00:12:21.360 |
All is mine, yet not I, but the Christ in me. 00:13:15.360 |
Oh, the night has been won, and I shall overcome. 00:14:27.360 |
I am free, yet not I, but through Christ in me. 00:14:38.360 |
With every breath, with every breath, I long to follow Jesus. 00:15:00.360 |
Until I, until I stand with joy before the throne. 00:15:22.360 |
When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat. 00:15:35.360 |
To this I hold, to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus. 00:15:51.360 |
When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat. 00:16:06.360 |
When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat. 00:18:08.360 |
Well, I just have a few announcements for all of you before we break into our discussion. 00:18:14.360 |
First, this coming Sunday, I sent out an email about our Korea Summer Missions interest. 00:18:21.360 |
I do want to say two thoughts about that is one, there is a need to get the roster established pretty early for the sake of securing our flights, etc. 00:18:32.360 |
But also, I sent the email because of the short notice that this Sunday at 1pm in the Sprouts room is this interest meeting. 00:18:40.360 |
Please note though that obviously we can't take everybody, so there is going to be limited space on that trip. 00:18:46.360 |
Some of you guys, I apologize, I sent that email and it looks almost like a command like go. 00:18:52.360 |
And so some of you sent me an email saying, I'm so sorry, I can't get off work that late. 00:18:57.360 |
Just a generic announcement, my fault for sending it that way. 00:19:02.360 |
Number two, Saturday the 18th is our men's fellowship. 00:19:07.360 |
And so because we need our head count for the food, make sure that if you have not signed up for that to do that ASAP. 00:19:14.360 |
The last announcement is going to be that, you know, I know some of you guys are just rushing over from work. 00:19:22.360 |
And some of you drive far just to get here in midweek through traffic. 00:19:25.360 |
So we appreciate you guys making all that effort to fulfill that membership covenant to come. 00:19:31.360 |
But we want to just give the encouragement to come early. 00:19:35.360 |
Right now at around 7, we could see a lot of scattered chairs, etc, etc. 00:19:40.360 |
Please note that A, if you're trying to grab dinner, you can just bring it here because actually our cafe opens at 530. 00:19:47.360 |
And we're really thankful for the volunteers who are manning that the cafe thing. 00:19:53.360 |
And they're going to be actually serving drinks and stuff like that. 00:19:56.360 |
So if you're doing especially, let's say meetups, and I know a lot of you guys are, and you're finding that, oh, my gosh, like we kind of lose track of time and you're running over here kind of late. 00:20:07.360 |
OK, so I just want to give the encouragement that aside from these kind of circumstances, we can't avoid to try and make sure we're on time so that we worship together when we start at 7 and that we can get into discussion right away, too. 00:20:18.360 |
OK, all right, please go ahead into your discussion time and we'll come back here at 8. 01:07:03.360 |
>> At this time, let's gather together for the teaching hour. 01:07:08.360 |
And so those of you guys in the room, please go ahead and take a moment to come on out. 01:07:14.360 |
And apologies for cutting some of you guys' discussion. 01:07:20.360 |
It seems like you guys are having a lively discussion on this one. 01:07:25.360 |
Actually, I'm guessing a lot of you guys camped out on verse 11. 01:07:33.360 |
But again, for those of you in the room, we'll give you guys a minute to just go ahead and come on out. 01:07:37.360 |
And then we'll walk through the passage together. 01:07:54.360 |
So I think while people are getting situated, I can take a moment to read to us the passage. 01:07:59.360 |
Just so that we do multiple renditions and reading of that text. 01:08:07.360 |
"Woe to them, for they have gone the way of Cain. 01:08:10.360 |
And for pay they have rushed headlong into the air of Balaam, 01:08:16.360 |
These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts, 01:08:22.360 |
caring for themselves, clouds without water, carried along by winds, 01:08:26.360 |
autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead and uprooted, 01:08:30.360 |
wild waves of the sea casting up their own shame like foam, 01:08:35.360 |
wandering stars from whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. 01:08:39.360 |
It was also about these men that Enoch in the seventh generation, 01:08:47.360 |
'Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones, 01:08:52.360 |
and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, 01:08:58.360 |
and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 01:09:02.360 |
These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts. 01:09:07.360 |
They speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.'" 01:09:13.360 |
So, as we look at this passage as a quick way of review, 01:09:20.360 |
but there is this core section all the way from verse 4 to 16, 01:09:30.360 |
And the message to us is that we have to contend, 01:09:33.360 |
it says "content," my bad, contend earnestly for the faith. 01:09:40.360 |
If you can find the grammatical error or a typo, you win prizes. 01:09:44.360 |
And then here, starting all the way actually from verse 4, 01:09:53.360 |
highlights of this is their character, this is their message. 01:10:00.360 |
and he says these men, these people, they creep in unnoticed, 01:10:07.360 |
and essentially deny our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 01:10:11.360 |
We saw that in verse 5 through 7 by way of review, 01:10:14.360 |
that the pattern of them, I guess you could even say the spirit of them, 01:10:19.360 |
was from long ago because we have our flesh that is completely corrupt, 01:10:22.360 |
we have our enemy who has the same old schemes that he turns into multiple different ways. 01:10:28.360 |
But we have the Exodus generation who did not believe, 01:10:31.360 |
we have angels who were arrogant and did not have any restraint 01:10:37.360 |
we have Sodom and Gomorrah where they indulge in gross immoralities 01:10:40.360 |
and they were constantly given over to their lusts. 01:10:43.360 |
This is a quick review of the descriptions of these people, 01:10:47.360 |
and for us, they should be categories by which we think like, 01:10:50.360 |
"Oh yeah, this is a pattern of the flesh and of the enemy." 01:10:58.360 |
And sometimes we see patterns of it even in ourselves, right? 01:11:02.360 |
And then, from this passage, I'm just going to summarize, 01:11:06.360 |
verses 8 through 10, we noticed that it was highlighting this idea 01:11:21.360 |
making perverse the things that we're trying to do 01:11:27.360 |
we find that actually these individuals are highly arrogant. 01:11:30.360 |
That we saw that they had no restraint, they had no respect for authority, 01:11:35.360 |
but rather they revile in ignorance and pride. 01:11:38.360 |
They just speak stuff they don't even understand, 01:11:43.360 |
And so those are some of the things that we wanted to make sure like, 01:11:45.360 |
"Oh man, if we see this kind of stuff, then we can know, right, 01:11:49.360 |
that there's a danger here, there's a threat to our community, 01:11:52.360 |
and we have to be on the alert and on the guard." 01:11:55.360 |
So for us, I apologize for those of you in the back, 01:11:58.360 |
this is just an overview of the passage today. 01:12:03.360 |
I broke it down because after then highlighting for a segment there, 01:12:09.360 |
right, this is what they say, this is what they do, 01:12:12.360 |
it's almost kind of like, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh," 01:12:15.360 |
and then boom, woe to them as a word of condemnation and judgment. 01:12:20.360 |
And so I wrote on the left that verse 11 I would see as their judgment, 01:12:25.360 |
and it says, "For," and if you notice, like I highlighted here, 01:12:33.360 |
and clearly these are examples of the pattern, right? 01:12:37.360 |
The kind of spirit that exists in those who are of the devil. 01:12:42.360 |
Verse 12, we see that he's describing, I highlighted here in the orange, 01:12:48.360 |
oops, here in the orange, that it's descriptions of their character 01:12:53.360 |
by highlighting in very elaborative, almost poetic way. 01:12:58.360 |
You have to think about this is who they are, okay? 01:13:01.360 |
Verse 14 highlights their judgment, and then verse 16 goes back to 01:13:06.360 |
what they do in their character, their grumblers and fault finders, 01:13:18.360 |
You don't have to break it exactly like this. 01:13:20.360 |
It's helpful so that I can take the bite-sized pieces and meditate about it, 01:13:24.360 |
of which the first one is going to be, "The woe to them, 01:13:27.360 |
for they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong 01:13:31.360 |
into the heir of Balaam and perished in the rebellion of Korah," okay? 01:13:36.360 |
Now when we think about verse 11 and we think about this idea of 01:13:41.360 |
the woe to them, you know, actually this idea of woe, 01:13:46.360 |
obviously we just don't talk like this anymore, you know? 01:13:49.360 |
And as a matter of fact, I mean, we should be very careful to ever say to somebody, 01:13:52.360 |
"Woe to you, man," because what it would mean is, 01:13:59.360 |
It's like the ultimate spiritual condemnation, kind of saying, 01:14:03.360 |
"You are anathema," would be the synonymous term. 01:14:06.360 |
But the thing about it is, where else in the Scriptures is that most familiar to us? 01:14:12.360 |
Actually, it would either be from the prophets of old, like Ezekiel, 01:14:16.360 |
or the most famous would be Matthew 23, when Jesus is looking at the establishment, 01:14:22.360 |
the Pharisees, and he would look at them and say, "Woe to you, Pharisees. 01:14:26.360 |
You clean the outside, and inside you're filthy and rotten with dead bones," right? 01:14:34.360 |
So it makes us kind of think for a moment, it's like, "Whoa." 01:14:37.360 |
With the same kind of indignation, and also almost a finality of judgment, 01:14:47.360 |
And in the previous passage, Jude talks about them as, 01:14:50.360 |
"These individuals have been marked out for condemnation," okay? 01:14:54.360 |
And to me, as soon as I hear this, I do take a moment to just reflect, 01:15:01.360 |
Jude is clearly telling us, for us to be careful, have our eyes open, 01:15:06.360 |
but there's this question, should we also, as Christians, 01:15:09.360 |
in some certain scenarios, be able to mark out individuals 01:15:13.360 |
and say that person is a threat to the church, woe to them, 01:15:19.360 |
Or are we to always say every single person who walks into the church, 01:15:23.360 |
they're deserving of hope, ministry, and grace? 01:15:29.360 |
I think there are some times when it just doesn't sit right with us, right? 01:15:34.360 |
To be able to say that person we reject from fellowship. 01:15:43.360 |
But are there instances where we need to practice that? 01:15:48.360 |
Moving forward, for the sake of time, we take a look at this important part, 01:15:52.360 |
and clearly we see, again, I think we could camp out of verse 11 01:15:58.360 |
Because what we notice is, in describing them, 01:16:09.360 |
That when these individuals start on this path of Cain, 01:16:17.360 |
Whenever you walk in such a way, or whenever you stand with such a person, 01:16:21.360 |
or then you walk with such a person, you sit with such a person, 01:16:24.360 |
it's going to lead you down this destruction. 01:16:27.360 |
But clearly there's a description of the way of Cain, 01:16:32.360 |
the error of Balaam, and then this rebellion of Korah. 01:16:36.360 |
And I hope you guys had a chance to actually meditate and think about 01:16:42.360 |
Is it just because he offered grain and not bloody, medium-rare, delicious meat? 01:16:52.360 |
There's this countenance that fell out of reaction, 01:16:55.360 |
and there was this destructive, murderous kind of thought, all that stuff. 01:16:58.360 |
I hope you guys got a chance to think about that. 01:17:01.360 |
For the sake of our time, I'm going to just highlight one. 01:17:06.360 |
And I highlighted the rebellion of Korah because it was less known. 01:17:10.360 |
I think Balaam a lot of people know because of Donkey. 01:17:16.360 |
Now Balaam was a--clearly his sin was he was a prophet for hire. 01:17:20.360 |
And when they offered more money, he was like, 01:17:32.360 |
I didn't put it on the PowerPoint because there's a couple verses I want us to look at. 01:17:37.360 |
But we asked the question, okay, if he's highlighting the example 01:17:55.360 |
And turn to Numbers 16.3 and look what it says. 01:17:58.360 |
It says, "The people," right, "they assembled together against Moses and Aaron 01:18:06.360 |
Right, "You've gone far enough for all the congregation are holy. 01:18:09.360 |
Every one of them and the Lord is in their midst. 01:18:12.360 |
So why do you exalt yourselves above assembly of the Lord?" 01:18:19.360 |
They're grumbling against the leadership and saying, 01:18:32.360 |
All true, but clearly their motive and their heart was all wrong. 01:18:36.360 |
And if Moses and Aaron were not strong leaders, 01:18:39.360 |
maybe they would have said, "Oh, you know, you're right. 01:18:41.360 |
You're accusing us of holding too tight onto the leadership authority. 01:18:50.360 |
And then what happens later on is--take a look at verse 10. 01:18:56.360 |
Basically, Moses said to Korah, "Oh, you guys need to listen." 01:18:59.360 |
Verse 10, it says, "And that you brought us nearer to Korah 01:19:02.360 |
and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you." 01:19:04.360 |
He's saying, "Oh, my goodness, what are you doing? 01:19:06.360 |
You rallied your people to come and complain, 01:19:09.360 |
and now you're seeking for the priesthood too? 01:19:12.360 |
And therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord? 01:19:23.360 |
They have a special place in the service of God, 01:19:28.360 |
were specifically designated to offer the sacrifice and incense. 01:19:33.360 |
But Korah wanted a little chance to do something special. 01:19:38.360 |
Maybe he thought, "You know, it's my gift to lift up incense." 01:19:42.360 |
Like nowadays a lot of people talk about, "It's my gift to teach. 01:19:50.360 |
"So Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the door of the tent of meeting, 01:19:54.360 |
and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation." 01:19:58.360 |
If you highlight your Bible, this is like exclamation point. 01:20:05.360 |
'Don't separate yourself from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly.' 01:20:11.360 |
He said, 'You need to step back, because when my fury comes down, I don't want you to get hurt.'" 01:20:20.360 |
And then later on in Numbers 16, the same chapter, verse 34, 01:20:24.360 |
it says, "All Israel who were around them fled out at their outcry, 01:20:30.360 |
for they said, 'The earth may swallow us up.' 01:20:33.360 |
Fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed 250 men who were offering the incense." 01:20:40.360 |
So essentially what happens to certain short in the story is, 01:20:43.360 |
basically Moses says, "Listen, you guys want to complain? 01:20:47.360 |
You guys are going to see that you're not going to die a natural death, 01:20:52.360 |
And Moses is like, "Maybe the earth may open up." 01:20:56.360 |
And then lo and behold, that very moment, the earth opens up and just kills them with fire, 01:21:00.360 |
and the people are falling into it alive, that they're crying as they're falling. 01:21:06.360 |
But take a moment to think for a moment, right? 01:21:18.360 |
Did he pillage the temple goods, the temple, the meeting place, the gold, the utensils? 01:21:27.360 |
Did he steal that stuff and hold it for himself? 01:21:30.360 |
Actually, what's crazy about this story is he wanted to offer up incense, and he did. 01:21:35.360 |
And then what God did was he actually burned all of them and their tools, 01:21:39.360 |
and he placed it, clasped it against the altar, so that everyone would remember, 01:21:43.360 |
"If you ever do this again, you will die like these people." 01:21:50.360 |
Well, all I'm going to say about that is what a convicting idea that pride is in all of us, 01:21:56.360 |
and perhaps this little selfish ambition that wants to do the whole "let my wings fly" 01:22:02.360 |
and at least see what I'm capable of, that kind of stuff is in all of us. 01:22:07.360 |
And yet when it comes to keeping God's people holy, 01:22:11.360 |
when it comes to the community of the Lord, God sees that as so corrupting, 01:22:16.360 |
he would actually kill the entire host that came, the congregation that came. 01:22:21.360 |
As a matter of fact, as soon as God pronounced that judgment, 01:22:24.360 |
a lot of people said, "Oh, Lord, please, please, are you going to kill us because it's one guy?" 01:22:29.360 |
God saw it as a corrupting element in the community, 01:22:33.360 |
this selfish ambition, this desire to showcase what we can do, 01:22:38.360 |
this grumbling attitude towards God's chosen leaders. 01:22:49.360 |
and I think it would be good for us to take a look at each individual example for its own merit, 01:22:55.360 |
and then think, "What's the general description here?" 01:22:58.360 |
Well, the general description is pretty clear. 01:23:00.360 |
These are individuals who have jealousy in their heart, 01:23:03.360 |
they're in it for their own gain, and they have this ambition. 01:23:07.360 |
So you almost get this picture of the self-willed man, right? 01:23:19.360 |
and what we see is a reflection, like a really vivid, picturesque depiction of the character of these men. 01:23:30.360 |
And it's pretty crazy because there's so many, actually. 01:23:36.360 |
what you notice is that there's the hidden reefs, 01:23:42.360 |
there are the waves, and there are wandering stars. 01:23:46.360 |
And again, if we took a moment to think about each one, 01:23:50.360 |
for example, letter A, it talks about hidden reefs. 01:23:54.360 |
Man, the kind of beauty in the way that he describes this sinner 01:24:01.360 |
is kind of crazy because he says "hidden reefs," 01:24:07.360 |
and in the feminine form of that noun, it's a stone that's hidden 01:24:12.360 |
and used a lot, talking about basically like an iceberg. 01:24:15.360 |
It's a reef hidden underneath the waters, hits the boat, and it shipwrecks, right? 01:24:20.360 |
And so the scripture in its picture is pretty profound 01:24:24.360 |
because these are people who may have been in the church, 01:24:28.360 |
being a good, functioning member for several years, 01:24:31.360 |
and then all of a sudden you start to see their motive. 01:24:37.360 |
And then only later do you realize, "Oh my goodness, 01:24:43.360 |
But then if you take a look at some of the other translations, 01:24:47.360 |
you'll notice that there's a little bit of variance 01:24:49.360 |
because let's say within the King James, it talks about them as "spots." 01:24:56.360 |
In the NIV, it talks about them as "blemishes," 01:25:00.360 |
when you guys do the comparison of the translations. 01:25:03.360 |
Because that word just in the masculine form, 01:25:08.360 |
or even as a verse, "bleru," means "to blemish or to stain." 01:25:13.360 |
And so these individuals are like stones that are corrupting and staining 01:25:18.360 |
that which is supposed to be good, and he describes it that 01:25:20.360 |
when you have these feasts, they're complete blemishes to your community. 01:25:26.360 |
Another one I want to highlight to you is, out of all of these ones, 01:25:33.360 |
I think there is, again, for each one, there's something to meditate about, 01:25:38.360 |
like, "Whoa, this is the character of these people." 01:25:44.360 |
What is maybe the kind of overarching description of these individuals? 01:25:49.360 |
And I really, really get convicted by this idea of letter C, 01:25:56.360 |
Because that does seem to be a repeated idea, right? 01:25:59.360 |
We have clouds with no water, we have trees with no fruit, 01:26:03.360 |
we have stars that wander, and so there's no good for any kind-- 01:26:08.360 |
if we're talking about maritime, ship, that kind of stuff, 01:26:13.360 |
there's no good for anything if there are wandering stars. 01:26:16.360 |
And so I want to ask this question for you guys, 01:26:26.360 |
I mean, we had many, many churches go through a movement 01:26:31.360 |
called the Seeker-Friendly Movement, then we had Word of Faith Movement, 01:26:35.360 |
and then we have, even more recently, Gospel-Centric Movement, 01:26:41.360 |
and then now we have the Ex-Pangelical Movement, 01:26:50.360 |
"Yep, I don't recognize any of those movements you listed, 01:26:55.360 |
But there's a lot of people around us who are into those things. 01:26:59.360 |
Do you have ways where you can discern, is that good or bad? 01:27:03.360 |
And one of the things we should for sure be asking is, 01:27:08.360 |
Take, for example, that Gospel-Centric Movement. 01:27:11.360 |
If you take--it was good because there was people who were saying, 01:27:14.360 |
"We dare not be legalistic because legalism is an atrocity against the Gospel." 01:27:20.360 |
But a hyper form of that, actually, in its fruitfulness, it bore no fruit. 01:27:26.360 |
It essentially gave people a pass on repentance. 01:27:29.360 |
It limited the preaching and said, "No indicatives for us, no commands. 01:27:36.360 |
It bore zero fruit and just gave license to everybody, 01:27:40.360 |
"If you feel guilty, now you feel okay to come." 01:27:43.360 |
And the fruit that was born out of that, actually, was a lot of division. 01:27:47.360 |
"Is your church Gospel-centered? Is this Gospel-centered?" 01:27:55.360 |
Okay, so here in verse 12 through 13, we have the characteristics of these men. 01:28:02.360 |
And, you know, again, it's very, very poetic and descriptive, 01:28:05.360 |
and I hope we got a chance to just meditate on those things. 01:28:10.360 |
For the sake of time, let's go to verse 14 through 15, 01:28:17.360 |
And it says, "It was about these men that Enoch prophesied, saying, 01:28:21.360 |
'In the seventh generation of Adam, behold, the Lord came with many thousands 01:28:26.360 |
of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, 01:28:30.360 |
and to convict all the ungodly of their ungodly deeds.'" 01:28:37.360 |
And that is, some of you may have asked the question of, "Who is Enoch? 01:28:44.360 |
And, yes, if you look it up, if you guys have a study Bible, 01:28:46.360 |
it will say that Jude is quoting from the Book of Enoch. 01:28:50.360 |
There are what's called apocryphal, outside of the canon, three letters of Enoch. 01:28:56.360 |
And here, I know some of you guys can't see it, 01:28:59.360 |
but I'm going to give you what is the kind of structure of Jewish tradition 01:29:09.360 |
The thing that you have to focus on here is right in the middle, there is the Torah. 01:29:26.360 |
The first five books of Moses is seen as the--oh, I'm so sorry, I just see it right here. 01:29:31.360 |
Okay, first five books of Moses are seen as the epitome at the core that gives life to everything. 01:29:40.360 |
What you have in the Tanakh is the building up through the history books and the writings, 01:29:45.360 |
and then you have the prophets, and the Tanakh, essentially, you can think of equated to the Old Testament. 01:29:51.360 |
But building around it is the Mishnah, which are commentaries pertaining to these books. 01:29:57.360 |
And then all of these commentaries combined, basically, is what you're going to probably hear 01:30:02.360 |
if you've studied anything about Jewish culture history, there's a Talmud, 01:30:06.360 |
which is essentially the commentaries of the rabbi. 01:30:10.360 |
But over time, those are seen just as weighty and just as authoritative as the scriptures. 01:30:17.360 |
It's because, as you can see, the Jewish people had an incredible respect for scripture, 01:30:23.360 |
and at the center of it was the core first five books. 01:30:27.360 |
According to their own tradition, they had what's called the Midrash, 01:30:31.360 |
and that's additional stories that they had on top of the Torah. 01:30:36.360 |
But never did they ever dare mess with the Torah and include those books in. 01:30:41.360 |
Where does Inah come in? It's one of these books in the Midrash. 01:30:47.360 |
It begins as oral traditions, and then it came into written form. 01:30:52.360 |
And one of those stories is the Book of Enoch. 01:30:54.360 |
Typically, they refer to the first one when they say Book of Enoch. 01:30:58.360 |
Does that mean that somehow the canon is now compromised because we have these other letters? 01:31:03.360 |
No. Everybody knew across time there were other writings. 01:31:09.360 |
But they never gave it the same kind of respect that they did to the Torah or the Tanakh. 01:31:15.360 |
But because there was oral tradition, will you sometimes get instances 01:31:20.360 |
where the scripture is mentioning something and it's also mentioned in another outside book, 01:31:27.360 |
Can they allude to things that were actually happening in history or correct? Yes. 01:31:32.360 |
But it does not mean that the Torah or the Tanakh was relying on it 01:31:40.360 |
So the other thing, this was just a brief thing for you, is time. 01:31:46.360 |
The reason why it's also time difference is because the Mishnah and the Talmud are here. 01:31:51.360 |
And what we're saying is that when it comes to some of these midrash books, 01:31:55.360 |
they came much later than the actual canonical books that the Jewish people revered. 01:32:03.360 |
So going back to here, that's just a brief note because some questions came up 01:32:09.360 |
And I'm going to email everybody that PowerPoint. 01:32:12.360 |
I apologize. I never, ever emailed you before, but I will email you this one. 01:32:17.360 |
OK. But clearly, I mean, we don't have to like mull over what's happening here. 01:32:25.360 |
Think about the pervasiveness of sin, but then also the exacting pervasiveness of God's judgment. 01:32:34.360 |
What's repeated here is that all the ungodly deeds, all the ungodly way, 01:32:40.360 |
all the harsh words, all the things and statements that were spoken, God is going to judge them. 01:32:46.360 |
And yes, although maybe in the moment, in the immediate moment, a lot of times we look up and we're like, 01:32:51.360 |
"Oh my gosh, this is getting out of hand. Where is our culture going?" 01:32:55.360 |
That probably was said throughout history by the godly people, right? 01:33:00.360 |
But we are told God is so perfect in His judgment, 01:33:05.360 |
not a single word that is even careless will go unpunished. 01:33:11.360 |
And I want us to take a moment to think about that is we are thinking about the community 01:33:16.360 |
and God talking about that which stains the community. 01:33:20.360 |
We dare not just flippantly say stuff just because we're like, "This is a pretty novel idea. What do you think about it?" 01:33:25.360 |
You know, like we have to be cautious because one of the things that's very clear here 01:33:39.360 |
The last verse, verse 16, is the ungodly character continued, a description of what they do. 01:33:48.360 |
And here it talks about these individuals are grumblers. 01:33:51.360 |
They find fault following after their own lust. 01:33:54.360 |
They speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. 01:34:00.360 |
I think what is interesting and very convicting about this portion 01:34:04.360 |
is that we've already seen the lust, you know, the giving to sensuality. 01:34:12.360 |
We've seen the example of Balaam where for pay and selfish gain he would just say whatever, you know, Balak asked him, etc., etc. 01:34:21.360 |
Well, one of the things that's introduced here is the idea of the grumblers and the fault finders, right? 01:34:28.360 |
And I want us to take a moment just to meditate on that and just realize like, 01:34:34.360 |
"Whoa, grumbling and finding fault is such an easy sin to fall into." 01:34:43.360 |
There's a sense to which if we're going to highlight or I guess mark out apostates based on this, 01:34:51.360 |
are we going to look at everyone and say, "Are you falling?" 01:34:55.360 |
Are we going to all look at each other with suspicious eyes? 01:35:01.360 |
But the fact of the matter is, one, we should take heed because although maybe grumbling and complaining 01:35:09.360 |
is technically a respectable sin, meaning understandable sin, there are so many things that irritate us, 01:35:14.360 |
there are so many things that don't go well or are expected, 01:35:18.360 |
that we can find ourselves excusing those things as minor sins that everybody falls into. 01:35:24.360 |
But we're looking not simply as, "Look how bad they are," but we're actually looking at, 01:35:28.360 |
"Look how seriously God sees this sin." Right? 01:35:34.360 |
We're not just simply looking at, "Oh, look how wicked and vicious these evil people are," 01:35:40.360 |
but we are also seeing it in terms of, "You know God is going to judge this." 01:35:47.360 |
When he says, "I want to remind you," going hand in hand with the picture of, "This is sin," 01:35:52.360 |
is also the reminder, "You know God will judge this." 01:35:58.360 |
And so there's conviction for us to remember. 01:36:02.360 |
I want to highlight for you there's a proverb that says, 01:36:04.360 |
"Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife." 01:36:11.360 |
That Hebrew word for contention is the same as the murmuring man, right? 01:36:16.360 |
The one who's constantly just grumbling inside. 01:36:19.360 |
What's very interesting is this term for the fault finder in some of your translations, 01:36:24.360 |
it describes it or, I guess, translates it as malcontent people. 01:36:29.360 |
They're the individuals who are discontent in the ESV. 01:36:32.360 |
And so it gives us a little bit more description on the kind of heart and attitude behind what they do. 01:36:40.360 |
Now, for us, I'm going to now wrap up by saying it is so essential for us to keep praying for wisdom 01:36:50.360 |
because it's one thing for us to be like, "Yeah, we see this. I can list for you ten different descriptions of the evil ones." 01:36:57.360 |
But then on the backside, you have one right next to you, where you're like there with him, so to speak. 01:37:04.360 |
What I mean by that is, it is one thing to have all the explicit categories within the scripture. 01:37:09.360 |
It's another thing to wisely, prudently say, "You know what? This right now is a danger to us." Right? 01:37:16.360 |
And we have to be praying because by way of the schemes of the devil, it is subtle. 01:37:23.360 |
It typically, like majority sounds pretty good. "We're all holy." Yeah, you're right. 01:37:28.360 |
"Priesthood of believers." Yeah, you're right. 01:37:30.360 |
That's one of the things recently I got into an argument about protecting the church from this kind of liberal theology where, 01:37:37.360 |
let's say even the topic of women in ministry, women who are preaching the scriptures. 01:37:42.360 |
Now it's a hotly contested and debated issue. 01:37:45.360 |
To us at our church, we're saying, "Hey, we have great, great respect for the value of women because we're created equal in God." 01:37:52.360 |
But one, there's a difference between what is priesthood of believers and our equal standing with Christ versus church ecclesiology, 01:38:04.360 |
But the analogy actually, that sort of argument of, "Hey, we're all priesthood of believers. We're all equal because of Christ." 01:38:11.360 |
That's literally used as the argument for that side, for the liberal side. 01:38:18.360 |
Now is that something we should look at and say, "Oh my gosh, we dare not." Right? 01:38:24.360 |
Well, I'm going to give that challenge to you. 01:38:26.360 |
Scripture says in this time that Satan is asked for permission. 01:38:32.360 |
He is almost in a bullish way seeking to sway the congregation, left and right. 01:38:39.360 |
And if he can get one footing even on that angle, he's going to push for another footing on this angle. 01:38:45.360 |
And what's necessary is every single one of us has to have the discernment to be able to say, 01:38:50.360 |
"Not only do I know the descriptions here, but I'm able to see it coming in life." Right? 01:38:56.360 |
So I want to leave you with that encouragement is, yes, we have to be wise that we're not hypercritical. 01:39:02.360 |
We're not suspect of everybody, that we're actually practicing loves that believes all things, that hopes in all things, that trusts. 01:39:09.360 |
But at the same time, given the generation, I mean, this is an emphatic charge to us to be able to tell the difference between the times. 01:39:22.360 |
Lord God, we pray for discernment and wisdom. 01:39:26.360 |
We pray, Father God, first for the discernment and wisdom to recognize sinful patterns in our own lives. 01:39:36.360 |
Lord God, are we not sometimes so self-interested that we may take perverted steps to just gain a slight advantage? 01:39:44.360 |
Lord, sometimes do we not grumble? Do we not complain? 01:39:48.360 |
So God, for all these things, we pray that we would have the greatest and utmost concern, 01:39:53.360 |
that we desire to be washed by your word and truly cleansed by your spirit. 01:39:59.360 |
But as we do that, Lord, help us to have the humility to say, even if I am weak in myself, I will not drop the standards of God. 01:40:10.360 |
And God, when we see this world, this generation, our culture, that we stand firm in your truth, not because we're prideful, but because we're your servants. 01:40:20.360 |
God, we uphold your word, not because we're powerful, but because, Lord, your word deserves that kind of obedience. 01:40:28.360 |
And I pray we would be convicted to that degree. 01:40:32.360 |
Father, give us courage, give us wisdom and discernment. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. 01:40:38.360 |
For the next time, we're going to be studying verse 17 through 23. 01:40:43.360 |
There are now, it turns to us and says, but you, right? 01:40:51.360 |
The participles are the ING, like doing this and doing that. 01:40:55.360 |
And you want to make sure you're highlighting each one and you take the time to meditate. 01:41:03.360 |
Meditate on personal application because you will immediately recognize that the commands are generic and repeating. 01:41:09.360 |
So if it says, so remember, like you kind of have to ask yourself, like, what am I forgetting? 01:41:15.360 |
What do I need to remember? You know, if it says like hope in the future. 01:41:19.360 |
I mean, 2 Peter was like three weeks in a row. 01:41:23.360 |
You would be like, let's discuss how can we make sure that we're preparing for the future? 01:41:27.360 |
Well, as an anticipation for you, or I guess heads up to you, we're going to talk about that again. 01:41:32.360 |
But in order to make it fruitful, it's got to be really personal to you. 01:41:36.360 |
Like, you know what? I was taking a big, big, you know, moment to analyze what I'm doing. 01:41:43.360 |
And in these ways, I'm actually not thinking about the future at all. 01:41:46.360 |
Right. Or something like that. Make it very personal, please. 01:41:50.360 |
And then for today, for discussion questions, number one, scriptures clearly condemn certain people and their behavior for their sinfulness by saying woe to them. 01:42:00.360 |
To what extent should we do the same? Right. Obviously. 01:42:05.360 |
Yeah, we're not apostles and we definitely are not Jesus. So in what sense do we do it in the same way? 01:42:11.360 |
How can we wisely go about discerning who to reject from fellowship or who to minister to? 01:42:16.360 |
Number two, grumbling and complaining is an easy sin to commit. 01:42:20.360 |
So Cher, if you're struggling with this kind of embittered or angst, please do share. 01:42:26.360 |
How does a grumbling heart stain the community? And how can we tell if someone is just a very analytical person? 01:42:34.360 |
OK, or and so they're like not really complaining, but they're actually just being analytical versus somebody who's grumbling, complaining, you know. 01:42:43.360 |
Number three, what should our attitude be towards just generally any movement? 01:42:48.360 |
OK, there's a lot of movements that move. So what's our attitude? 01:42:51.360 |
And then last one, after looking at verse four through 16, we went through basically two full weeks of talking about these apostate people. 01:42:59.360 |
What's a good summary of the people that we should be looking out for or their pattern? 01:43:04.360 |
OK. All right. Thanks, everybody. Go ahead and go into your time of further discussion.