A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on January 28, 2024.
Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! 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 (Jude 8-13).[1]
In the prior passage, Jude provides a variety of examples of sinful behavior that is due God’s judgement, from unbelief to rebellion to sexual perversion. But his purpose in providing these examples is practical: How do you identify deceivers who have crept into the church unnoticed? Jude provides three characteristics to look for: defilement, rejection, and dishonor. Do those who claim spiritual insight, whether by dreams or otherwise, defile the flesh, meaning do they accept, advocate, or engage in sexual immorality? Do those who claim spiritual insight reject authority, meaning Christ’s authority over their life and Christ’s ordained authority in the church? Do those who claim spiritual insight “blaspheme the glorious ones,” likely meaning do they disregard or discredit the supernatural[2] ? If so, beware.
But what if they are already in the church? What if they fit in so well you can’t really tell? What if they profess Christ? What if they are biblically knowledgeable and theologically astute? What if they have reached out to you specifically, seeking to win you over? What if you can’t imagine that they would desire to deceive you? Well, for starters, check their motives (and your own).
Identify their motives
Describing the deceivers’ motivation, Jude gives three Old Testament examples described as “the way of Cain,” “Balaam’s error,” and “Korah’s rebellion.” The example of Cain is a familiar one: He committed the first sin outside Eden, murder. But while we often fixate on the act of his sin, it was his motivation that God first addressed, saying, “if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it” (Gen. 4:6-7). But it’s hard to subdue what you obsess over, as Cain found out.
You will recall that Cain and his brother Abel brought offerings to the Lord. Cain offered “fruit of the ground,” but Abel offered “the firstborn of his flock” (Gen. 4:3-5). Abel’s offering pleased the Lord not Cain’s, but Scripture does not specify why. Perhaps Abel’s offering was superior in quality, perhaps he offered with a right heart-attitude; perhaps it was the blood of the sacrifice, or perhaps all the above. Whatever the case, God was pleased with Abel’s offering only.
What is often missed is that Cain could have learned from God’s revelation and worshiped rightly; he could have heeded God’s warning and obeyed, but he did not. God’s revelation instead made him angry, even vengeful, and he took it out on Abel, murdering his brother and breaking God’s law, revealing the thoughts and intentions of his wicked heart. Referencing Cain, the writer of Hebrews explains that without faith it is impossible to please God and draw near to him (Heb. 11:6). Cain refused to listen to and trust God, choosing anger and sinful self-interest over obedience. Historically, Cain has been interpreted as the “archetypical sinner,”[3] paving a pattern of sin for all who would follow his way.
The second example Jude gives is “Balaam’s error,” referring to the wicked prophet who was hired by the king of Moab to curse Israel but could not. Restrained by God prophetically, though he could not curse Israel, Balaam sought other means of entrapment, finally devising a scheme of sexual enticement through Moabite women, leading Israel into fornication and idolatry (Num. 31:16). As a result, Balaam collected his cash and Israel suffered judgment, and the deaths of 24,000.
The third example Jude gives is “Korah’s rebellion,” referring to the Israelite who led 250 men in rebellion against the authority of Moses and Aaron (Num. 16). God raised up Moses and Aaron and ordained them with authority over Israel, but Korah disdained their leadership and questioned their authority. Stirring up dissension, Korah rallied a contingency against Israel’s leaders. And so Moses, trusting the Lord, turned over Korah and his brigade to God’s judgment.
And when he did, Scripture says, “the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly” (Num. 16:31b-33). And fire came out from the Lord and consumed all of Korah’s followers (Num. 16:35).
In Jude’s three examples, he is specifically revealing characteristics of deceivers in the church but also motives to be examined in each of us. Like Cain, deceivers in the church may hear the Word of God and act as if they want to please him, but their hearts are far from him. They are motivated not by God’s pleasure but their own. They grow angry, even vengeful, when what they want is disregarded. They lust for acknowledgement and would kill, if they could, to get it.
Like Balaam, they may be thwarted in their deception, but they won’t give up but tenaciously pursue ways to entice the weak, carefully seeking out those within the church who are most vulnerable. Appealing to base desires, they facilitate insidious indulgence, leading to sinful entrapment. Creating an illusion of spiritual maturity, instead they care nothing for the condition of their own souls or those they lead astray. In the end, it’s all about them.
Like Korah, they pit themselves against the church’s elders, and encourage a root of distrust in those gullible enough to follow. In their mind, they know best and leadership is wrong. Growing more and more calloused, they seek to find disgruntled others in the church that they may build a contingency of dissension, to undermine God-ordained authority and be validated in their opposition. The apostle Paul encouraged the church at Thessalonica “to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (1 Thess. 5:12-13a), but deceivers in the church disrespect authority in the church and scoff at the idea of highly esteeming the elders in love. Jude says, “Woe to them,” yes, woe to them, indeed.
Discern animal impulses
Remembering that these deceivers creep into the church unnoticed, we should not expect them to identify themselves. Their tactic is not declaration but conniving. Jude says, “They are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear” (12a). Like a ship on smooth seas, the church may sail along without concern until unexpectedly a reef is struck, resulting in unforeseen, immobilizing damage. Such deceivers are hidden just below the surface, because they know how to mix and mingle at fellowship lunches. They have no fear because they know what to say and how to behave to not only fit in but gain a gullible following. But unlike a true shepherd of Christ’s church, they have no desire to care for or feed the flock but only to feed their fleshly appetite.
But this does not mean that the church is without discernment. Proverbs teaches us, “Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright” (Prov. 20:11). Employing multiple metaphors (clouds, trees, waves, and stars), Jude describes how deceivers in the church make themselves known. They are clouds that produce no rain, contributing nothing of value but vanity, yet carrying away the deceived like the wind. Unlike the “tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season” (Ps. 1:3), the deceivers grow nothing for Christ’s church but strife, because they have no root in Christ; having no life in him, not matter what they say, they are spiritually dead. They are “wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame,” uncontrolled and unconstrained by the Word of God and without a sense of honor or propriety in the church. They are “wanderings stars,” leading all who will follow their light wayward, but their destiny is far darker, reserved just for them.
Such deceivers do not carefully consider what they are doing, but rather act by fleshly impulse. Jude says they are “like unreasoning animals,” driven by their desires and feelings. You cannot reason with them, because they are ruled by their emotions, submitting not the Lord nor authority but in animal-like obeisance to their flesh. Therefore, they “blaspheme,” or slander, a gospel they don’t really believe nor submit to a Master and Lord they do not know. “Woe to them,” indeed.
Such a description might lead us to wonder: Who can contend with such beasts? I would imagine we all feel inadequate to deal with those who “have crept in unnoticed … ungodly people, who pervert the grace of God … and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (4). Perhaps if we were supernaturally equipped, like an archangel, then we might contend with such demonic deception. But we are mere mortals, and a church of sinners saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone. This is true, to which Jude adds, “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you’” (9). In other words, even an archangel contends not by his own power and authority but the Lord’s.
Contend with Christ
Drawing from an ancient text called the Assumption of Moses,[4] Jude describes a supernatural confrontation between the archangel Michael and the devil. In Deuteronomy, we read of Moses’ death in the land of Moab and his subsequent burial by God, concluding with “no one knows the place of his burial to this day” (Deut. 34:5-6). Apparently, the confrontation between Michael and the devil happened here. The ancient story told is that God sent Michael to bury Moses’ body, but the devil argued that Moses was a murderer and should not receive an honorable burial. According to Deuteronomy, Moses was in fact buried honorably and so presumably Michael prevailed, but Jude’s point is not that Michael prevailed but how. “The Lord rebuke you,” Michael said, and so prevailed.
There are several points we may observe here. First, unlike the fallen angels “who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling” (6), Michael knows his position and place. Though the archangel of the Lord, he is not the Lord, and all that he says and does is under the Lord’s authority. Second, though the devil is a powerful fallen angel, he is still a created being, not the Lord but rebuked by the name of the Lord. Let us remember, at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that he is Lord (Phil. 2:10-11), including the knee and tongue of the devil. Third, Michael calls upon the Lord to carry out perfect judgment. Unlike the arrogant deceiver, and his deceivers who creep into the church, Michael knows and trusts our righteous Lord, who judges best.
Jude provides this example not for trivia but application in Christ’s church, whether deceivers have crept within or remain without. Must we contend with deception in the church? Indeed, but we do so not by our power or authority but the Lord’s. We rebuke by the name of Lord, according to his Word, trusting him for his righteous judgment, for as our King he not only subdues us to himself but also rules and defends us, restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.[5] As Moses said to the children of Israel as Pharaoh and his army followed fiercely after them, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. … The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Ex. 14:13-14). “For,” as Isaiah says, “the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king; he will save us” (Is. 33:22).
But we must also remember that part of our contending is not being deceived. Jude goes at great lengths to help us identify deceivers, not so we may personally rebuke them but so we don’t fall prey to their deception and follow them. A deceiver will not remain in a church without followers, so wake up, be aware that you are susceptible, and exercise discernment. For, the “way of Cain,” “Balaam’s error,” and “Korah’s rebellion,” lead to sin and death, but in the way of Christ we find righteousness and life. And this is true for us all, so let us look to our Lord Jesus Christ, who lived and died and rose again that we might live and abide in him. He is the Way, the Truth, and Life, and keeps us from deception when we look to him and listen to his Word. For we are his church, and it is in his name that we contend.
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] Peter H. Davids, The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006), 57.
[3] D.F. Watson, Invention, Arrangement, And Style: Rhetorical Criticism of Jude and 2 Peter quoted in Gene L. Green, Jude and 2 Peter (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 90.
[4] Gene L. Green, Jude and 2 Peter (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 79; Peter H. Davids, The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006), 59-60.
[5] “The Shorter Catechism” Q. 26, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 372.
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