Inductive Study: Jude 16

These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.

Jude 16

Dear Heavenly Father, please hear my humble prayer.  Please be with the people who were in hurricane Harvey's path.  Comfort them, protect them, provide for them, be there for them.  Send people to minister to them and show the Holy Spirit.  Encourage them.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Jude continues to describe the attributes of these false teachers.  To bring deeper understanding to today's text, let's examine some key words and their companion or similar verses.

"Grumblers" in the Greek is goggustes which means murmurers, one who discontentedly complains (against God), generally of smoldering discontent.  This Greek word is only mentioned once in the Bible.  "Complainers" in the Greek is mempsimoiros which means discontented, finding fault, blaming one's lot or destiny, blame, complaint over an allotted portion, complaining about one's lot in life.    This Greek word is also only mentioned once in the Bible.  2 Peter 2:10 states "and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries."  These false teachers grumble and complain about their life blaming the result on God and others.  However, their life was a result of their choice to walk in the flesh.

"Walking" in the Greek is poreuomai which means travel, journey, die, moving something from one destination to another, emphasizing the personal meaning which is attached to reaching a particular destination.  "Lusts" in the Greek is epithumia which means desire, eagerness for, inordinate lust, passion built on strong feelings, craving, longing desire for what is forbidden.  These false teachers live their life according to their thirst for forbidden passions.

"Swelling" in the Greek is huperogkos which only occurs twice in the Bible, in Jude and 2 Peter. It means immoderate, boastful, pompous, excessive, beyond a swelling, bloated, oversized, braggart, spewing words out of an inflated ego.  2 Peter 2:18 states "For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error."  These false teachers spew empty excessive words out of their inflated, bloated ego.

"Flattering" in the Greek is thaumazo which means admire, marvel, wonder, awestruck, admire one's external appearance, to influence by partiality.  Leviticus 19:15 states "You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor."  Deuteronomy 10:17 states "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe."  As Christians, we are instructed to treat all people equally regardless of their background or their status.  These false teachers hope to gain an advantage or benefit by showing partiality to a group or individual.

To summarize, Jude states that these false teachers:

• Smoldering, discontentedly complain about God
• Blame their situation on someone else
• Live their life according to their passion for what God forbids
• Construct their conversations out of their pompous, bloated, inflated ego
• Influence others by feigning interest and admiration in their target to get what they want

Remember, you are the only person to blame for the decisions in your  life, especially if you put yourself in that situation to begin with.

These people are [habitual] murmurers, griping and complaining, following after their own desires [controlled by passion]; they speak arrogantly, [pretending admiration and] flattering people to gain an advantage.

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Inductive Study: Jude 15

to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

Jude 15

Dear Heavenly Father, please hear my humble prayer.  Tonight, I pray for the fathers across the country, that they will kneel down and submit to Your will.  That these men will be real men and teach their families about Christ.  Please convict fathers across the world to believe, become saved, and serve, not only the church but more importantly their families.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Tonight's verse is the concluding phrase to Jude 14.  We learned previously that Jude is using Enoch as an example.  Specifically, Enoch is prophesizing about the false teachers' fate.  To bring deeper understanding to today's text, let's examine some key words and their companion or similar verses.

"Execute" in the Greek is poieo which means I do make, manufacture, construct, cause, form, fashion, create, produce, mode or kind of action, more precisely defined, make ready, prepare.  "Judgement" in the Greek is kreesis which means decision, divine judgement, accusation, to separate, negative verdict which condemns the nature of sin that brings it on, results go with the choice made (judgement or blessing).    2 Peter 2:5 states "and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly." God precisely constructs a divine judgement on these false teachers based on the choice they have made.  

"Convict" in the Greek is elegcho which means rebuke, expose, show to be guilty, discipline, to convince with solid compelling evidence, especially to expose (prove wrong), by conviction to bring light to.   "Ungodly" in the Greek is asebeia which means impiety, irreverence (no fear of God), wickedness, ungodliness, a lack of respect, showing itself in bold irreverence, refusing to give honor where honor is due.  By solid, compelling evidence, God exposes men who lack respect for God and do not fear God.

"Deeds" in the Greek is ergon which means work, labor, employment, that which is wrought or made, accomplishes something, a deed that completes an inner desire, deed done in darkness.  "Committed in an ungodly way" in the Greek is asebeo which means act profanely, do impiously, boldly defying what God deems sacred, live wickedly.  2 Peter 2:6 states "and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly."  These false teachers wrought in darkness deeds that complete their innermost desires which is wickedness and defying what God deems sacred.  To their core, these teachers are totally against God.

"Harsh" in the Greek is skleros which means hard, violent, stern, (because dried out), stiff, stubborn, unyielding, people who don't budge (submit), to speak hard and bitter things.  1 Samuel 2:3 states "Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the Lord is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed."  Psalm 94:4 states "They utter speech, and speak insolent things; All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves."  John 6:60 states "Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, 'This is a hard saying; who can understand it?'"  These false teachers speak difficult, hard, arrogant words against Christ.  The source of their contempt is their boasting in themselves.

We talked about Enoch's prophesy when studying Jude 14.  In that study, the conclusion was that Enoch was the first prophet after the fall.  Jude is showing us that even from the beginning God has had His plan for people who don't believe in him.  From the beginning, false teachers have a date with judgement.  Enoch had a son and named him Methuselah which means "his death shall bring judgement."  We also see that Enoch made the same prophesy when he named his child.

If you rely on yourself, if you boast in yourself, if you believe that you are better than anyone else, you don't believe in God.  You believe only in yourself.  You show your greatness by mocking and defaming God.  You bully God to make yourself feel better.  In the end all will be judged.  Are you really that great?  Are you really that special?  Do you really have power?  You know the answer to these questions.  You just have too much pride to be honest.  Be free, release yourself from these unholy, unreachable expectations and thoughts of yourself, believe in Christ.

to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly deeds they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh and cruel things ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

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W.O.R.D. Worksheet

Inductive Study: Jude 14

Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,

Jude 14

Dear Heavenly Father, please hear my prayer.  Please, regardless of my stumbles, guide and direct me.  Help me to understand Your Word, so I can be who you need me to be.  Please bless this study this afternoon.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Jude continues to describe the fate of "these," the false teachers.  To bring deeper understanding to today's text, let's examine some key words and their companion or similar verses.

"Enoch" in the Greek is Enoch which means the seed of Jared, father of Methuselah, an antediluvian (belonging to the time before the flood).  Enoch is a Hebrew name which means dedicated, disciplined, trained.  Genesis 5:18 states "Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch."  Enoch literally is the seventh from Adam, Jared was the sixth.  Luke 3:37 shows that Enoch was in the lineage of Jesus, "the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan."

Using the Amplified Bible, let's read about Enoch's life.  Genesis 5:21-24 states "When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he became the father of Methuselah. Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah and had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And [in reverent fear and obedience] Enoch walked with God; and he was not [found among men], because God took him [away to be home with Him]."  Enoch was in fellowship with God so much that God took him away with Him.   Enoch didn't die.

Hebrews 11:5 states "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, 'and was not found, because God had taken him'; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God."  Enoch and only one other human has had this honor.  2 Kings 2:1 states "And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal."  Elijah was a prophet.  Enoch was a prophet, in fact the very first prophet of God.  Enoch was the first to be mentioned in the Bible who walked with God after the fall in the Garden of Eden.

"Prophesied" in the Greek is phopheteuo which means foretell, set forth a matter of divine teaching by special faculty, assert by elevating one's statement over another, reveals mind and message of God, predicting the future as God reveals.  "Saints" in the Greek is hagios which means set apart, sacred, likeness of nature with the Lord, different from the world, worthy of great respect, reverence, exclusively God's, pure, sinless, persons whose services God employs.

But who are these "ten thousands of His saints" that we are told about?  Deuteronomy 33:2 states " And he said: 'The Lord came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came with ten thousands of saints; From His right hand Came a fiery law for them.'"  Daniel 7:10 states "A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened." Mark 8:38 states "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."  1 Thessalonians 3:13 states "so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints."  2 Thessalonians 1:7 states "and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels."  This is the day of the Lord, His judgement day, when he comes with the ones who believe in Jesus.

Although this day is throughout the Bible, no where in the Bible is it cited that Enoch said it.  Why then would Jude use Enoch when he could of used other citations?  Enoch was the first prophet after the fall.  Jude is showing us here that even from the beginning, God has had His plan for people who don't believe in him.  From the beginning, false teachers have a date with judgement.

Paul writes to us in Romans about these false teachers.  Romans 16:17-20 states "Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."  Don't be deceived by these false teachers.  Avoid them.

It was about these people that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, when he said, “Look, the Lord came with myriads of His holy ones

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