Emmaus Saturday Morning Men’s Bible Study - Jude Ý
Copyright 2004 by William Meisheid  

Jude Verses 5-11                                              May 8. 2004

Today’s theme: Apostasy and falseness: here, there, and everywhere.

Scriptural background: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8b

Quotes to think about

Something must fill God’s place. “Many people assert that this abandonment of the god hypothesis means the abandonment of all religion and all moral sanctions. This is simply not true. But it does mean, once our relief at jettisoning an outdated piece of ideological furniture is over, that we must construct some thing to take its place. Sir Julian Huxley.

Price of false peace. “They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security...” Benjamin Franklin.

Freedom costs. "The condition upon which God has given liberty to man is eternal vigilance." John Philpot Curran, lawyer.

Review

1.  Why is the audience and time frame of Jude important? What does it mean to us?

2.  What is the key to contending without being contentious?

3.  Why is it important that Jude used the generic term for “certain men” rather than the masculine term, especially today?

Jude 5-11

⁵Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.
1. Notice that all those delivered were “his people” but not all believed. How is that statement significant and how would you apply it today?

⁶And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
2. Why is useless to expend very much energy trying to figure out who these angels were?

⁷In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. [literally it says fornication (excessive) and going away after different flesh (unnatural sexual acts or turning aside from the right way.)
3. What does this appear to say about the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah?

4. What does this tell you about God’s reaction to excessive sexual sin, especially sexual perversion?

⁸In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.

Jude now shifts back to “certain men” and calls them dreamers. Something missing in this translation is the thought that despite the examples of judgment these dreamers (filled with delusions) still do what they do.
5. How does Jeremiah 23:27 relate to this passage? - “They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship.”

6. Jude accuses them of three basic problems: sexual immorality, rebellion, and disrespect of God’s created order. While the first two are easy to see in today’s church, how does the third charge fit today’s pseudo Christians?

⁹But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
7. What is the key truth revealed here about how one treats even the worst of enemies (no one is worse than Satan)?

¹⁰Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them.
8. “whatever they do not understand” Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:20-25 “²⁰Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²²Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
There is an old saying, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem.” How might this apply today in light of verse 10 and Paul’s admonition?

9. You could translate that last section of verse 10 as “these things they admire and delight in, these things are their ruin.” Note that they rely on instinct rather than reasoning. Don’t we hear exactly the opposite though? How is this possible?

¹¹Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
10. Cain, Balaam, and Korah. These three are men who refused to listen to God’s counsel. Cain denied God’s correction when he approached God incorrectly. Balaam opposed God and presumed to speak prophetically for Him for money, and Korah tried to displace God’s chosen leadership in Moses, not being willing to submit to God’s established line of authority. Moses’ challenge is illuminating, “The Lord will show who belongs to Him and who is holy.” How do these three men reflect the situation in the church today, as Jude has warned us?

Assignment

Read verses 12-19. Note especially what is said about them in verse 19 and the lie it exposes. Remember to do your review questions first. Think about how we know what is and what is not of the Holy Spirit of God.