Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: It's a tough question these days. Who can you trust? One preacher on TV or the internet says one thing, and another says something completely different. So how do we know who's teaching the truth? It's an important question, and you know the answer is simple, but also profound. The Bible is our final authority. It's the standard by which we measure all teaching.

Welcome to Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I'm your host, Steve Schwetz, and I'm so glad that you're with us as we continue our journey through the New Testament book of Jude, where truth and how to recognize it is front and center.

Now, in our last study, we began a series of special introductions from Dr. McGee on the judgments that are found in Scripture. He told us the Bible speaks of eight judgments, and one of them has already happened. That's the judgment of our sin through the death of Jesus Christ. John 3:16, a familiar verse to us all, tells us that because of the cross, whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Now Dr. McGee continues by explaining why Jesus had to die and what that means for you and me.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And he died a death that was substitutionary. It was a death in which he was made sin for us, who knew no sin. He was delivered for our offenses, raised for our justification. It was a substitutionary death, dying for each individual. When Jesus died, it actually revealed what God thinks of sin and what God had to demand in order to forgive you and forgive me our sin. It was a tremendous thing.

Now when we say he died for the sin of the world, and let me turn to Hebrews the second chapter at verse nine: "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, and he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Now that's a very strong statement and one that must be adhered to and accepted.

Now not only that, but we are told in First John, the second chapter and the second verse, we are told that he is the propitiation—that is, he is the mercy seat—for our sins, that is, those of us that are believers, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. So that the Scripture is very careful here now to make it clear.

Now I grant that for the elect, the death of Christ has a special meaning that it would not have for an unsaved person. I think that is something that we'd normally accept and believe. For instance, in the Gospel of John at the 10th chapter, and I'm turning there at verse 11, we read: "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." Well, in a particular peculiar way, he died for the sheep, but he also died for the sins of the whole world. That's made to us very clearly.

And we have in Ephesians the fifth chapter: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and he gave himself for it." Now the death of Christ has a special meaning to these, but that does not disturb the fact that he died for the entire world, a substitutionary death. And he died, it revealed what God thinks of sin. Paul said to the Galatians in 3:21, he said if there had been any other way or a law given whereby man could be saved, that's the way God would've provided salvation. But it required the death of Christ, nothing short of that. And it absolutely was essential, and the Scripture says, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" In other words, there's no other way at all for a person to be forgiven.

All right, I see that our time is up, and I'll follow this through next time.

Steve Schwetz: You know, Dr. McGee makes an important point. There is no other way to be forgiven than through the death of Jesus Christ. As someone once said, Jesus paid a debt he did not owe because I owed a debt I could not pay. That's powerful truth, isn't it?

You know, Dr. McGee's challenge is one that we should all take seriously. Don't neglect responding to such a great offer of salvation. And maybe you're not sure whether Jesus has paid your debt. Well, I'd invite you to find out, and one way you can do that is by looking at several messages that Dr. McGee gave explaining this clearly. You can read or listen to them by clicking on "How Can I Know God" in our app or at ttb.org. Or if you'd prefer, we'd be happy to send some of these resources to you by mail. Just call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE.

Let's commit this time to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for the reminder of your great salvation. Stir our hearts to respond to your word. And for those hearing of your grace for the first time, Lord, give them ears to hear and faith to believe. Teach us now through your beautiful word. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Here's our study of Jude 11 to 13 on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now our study today brings us to the 11th verse of the little Epistle of Jude. And we just got started in that last time, and it opens with "Woe unto them." And this word "woe" is an interesting word because the very pronunciation of it is a wail, and it's "ouai, ouai," and just the pronunciation of it is a woe. But it's a wail of woe, either of sorrow or denunciation. And here it is a wail of denunciation more than a wail of sorrow, but I think both are here.

Now we got last time down to the "way of Cain." And you will notice that we have mentioned here in the Epistle of Jude the way of Cain, and we are told here that the way of Cain characterizes an apostate who is religious but who denies he's a sinner. And therefore he denies the redemption that there is in Christ. And for Cain, he refused to bring a lamb as Abel did.

And what we're told in Hebrews 11:4 certainly tells the story: "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh." Well, Cain's dead also, and he speaks because right here the way of Cain is the way of a man who refused to bring a little lamb that pointed to Christ. In other words, he did not come to God by faith. He did not believe God when he said that man was to bring a little lamb or a sacrifice and that without shedding of blood there's no forgiveness of sins, that the penalty must be paid. Cain just didn't believe that, you see.

Now we're told here another man, Balaam, and then we have Korah. You remember we were given here first three examples of apostates, and they were groups. There were three: the children of Israel, and then the angels, and then Sodom and Gomorrah—two cities. Now we are given another three by way of illustration, and they're three individuals. The way of Cain is one. Then we have, "and they ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and they perished in the gainsaying of Korah."

Now you have here relative to Balaam that they ran greedily after the error of Balaam. Now we have in Second Peter the way of Balaam, and in Jude, we have the error of Balaam, and in Revelation, we have the doctrine of Balaam. Now the way of Balaam in Second Peter was actually the thing that was the undermining of the man—that is, he was covetous and that's idolatry. And he was the hired preacher, and he wanted to make a buck for the gift that he had, apparently a God-given gift. And this is the way of Balaam that's mentioned in Second Peter, and it's his undoing.

You see, a man can seek for something other than just money, however. He can seek prominence or popularity or fame and applause and for position. There are many things that would put him in the way of Balaam, and this was the way of Balaam, you see. But his was money, of course. This man, he ran greedily—they do after the error of Balaam for reward.

But this marks the apostate, of course, and "perished in the gainsaying of Korah." Probably before I should mention that, since I mentioned the way of Balaam in Second Peter and the error of Balaam in this Epistle of Jude, and you have the doctrine of Balaam in Revelation and we'll be coming to that, of course, later on. But you find the story of Balaam back in the book of Numbers, the 25th chapter. And he could not curse Israel, and he told Balak that by sending the Moabite women into the camp of Israel, he'd bring about fornication and the introduction of idolatry into the homes through mixed marriages. And you can be sure of one thing: from Genesis to Revelation, God warns against the intermarriage of believers and unbelievers. You can't condone those on any basis whatsoever.

Unfortunate that too many young people are not warned of that today because a great deal of unhappiness has come. We have literally hundreds of letters that testify to that. But actually here, the error of this man Balaam was that he is not seeking money here, but his error was that he thought God would have to punish Israel for their sins. He did not recognize that there is a morality that is above natural morality. He thought a righteous God had to curse Israel, and the morality of the cross, he was totally unaware of it. And it's in the Old Testament, that God can maintain and does enforce his authority and all of that, but he can be just and the justifier of a believing sinner. And this nation, when they turned to God, God would forgive them.

And today, it's difficult sometimes for somebody to understand how you can be converted. I know that when I worked in a bank and I was led to Christ and wanted to study for the ministry, my friends there—and I would say most of them were church members—they couldn't understand how I could study for the ministry. And by the way, they had ample reason to wonder about that. They couldn't understand that God had forgiven me, that I had a new life. Now they just didn't believe that. They didn't believe it because they couldn't understand it, and that was the problem that Balaam had, you see.

Now let me come to the "gainsaying of Korah." Now what is the gainsaying here of Korah? Well, you will recall that he led a rebellion against Moses. He came to the conclusion that Moses wasn't the only one around that had access to God. You find that story in the book of Numbers, chapter 16. And this man had rebelled against God's constituted authority, which was Moses, and he wanted to intrude into the thing that was sacred. Has God only spoken to Moses? Who does Moses think that he is? Well, Moses didn't think too much of himself, that he had any undue qualification. In fact, he wanted to disqualify himself as the leader out of Egypt, but God had called him. And this man Korah rebels against him, which means that he contradicted the authority of Moses, and he intruded into the office of priest, and he died. In other words, he was a rebellious man, rebelling against God.

And that characterizes the apostate, you see. Now here are three individuals. And notice the thing that the apostate has that these three individuals in the Old Testament had. Cain did not believe that you needed to come to God by faith and needed a bloody sacrifice because man's a sinner. He just believed if you had a religion, that was all. The apostate goes along with that. The error of Balaam is that a holy God must punish sin and therefore God would have to punish Israel and that sinners couldn't be forgiven. And these make the mistake. They say, "How in the world can the sacrifice of Christ save anyone?" A man's got to do this himself. And then they rebel against God as Korah did. They assume an authority that is not theirs, stand in the pulpit and give out politics instead of giving out the Word of God. Instead of telling what God says, they tell people what they say and what they think.

A man said to me some time ago, he said, "I have dropped out of my church." I asked him why. Well, he said, "I'm tired of listening to a preacher give political economy and also attempt to stand in the position, actually, of being an authority on government." Well, he says he assumes that he has all knowledge, and he never uses the Word of God. He never tells what God says or what God thinks. And he said, "I'm tired of listening to it." Well, that man, apparently, in that man's church—I know nothing about it—but I assume that he's an apostate. He has the mark of an apostate.

Now these three men illustrate that for us today. Now beginning with verse 12 here and going through verse 16, these modern apostate teachers are defined and described. And you will not find anywhere language more vivid, more graphic, more dramatic, more frightening than the description that's given here of the apostates in the last days. Now I'm reading verse 12, and you listen to this: "These are spots in your love feasts, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about by winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots."

Now here is without doubt one of the most vivid descriptions of these men that's possible to find anywhere. And I think probably that I ought to read a translation that Dr. Wuest had because it's quite vivid itself, and I want to share that with you now. I'm reading his: "These are the hidden rocks in your love feasts, sumptuously feasting with you without fear, as shepherds leading themselves to pasture; waterless clouds, carried past by winds; autumn trees without fruit, having died twice, rooted up."

Now what a picture that you have here. Now they are "spots" in our translation, but you'll notice that the translation we have here is "hidden rocks." And that is the picture. They're hidden rocks that wreck a ship, and they make what Paul called the shipwreck of the faith that many say they've made shipwreck of the faith. They evidently ran into an apostate. Hidden rocks that wreck a ship.

In other words, an apostate is merely the tip of an iceberg. Actually, you see but very little, but if you bump into it and the ship runs into it, the ship will go to the bottom of the sea. And how many, especially young people today, whose faith has been not only shaken, but in many cases wrecked by this type of teaching. I wouldn't want to be in the position of a person like that.

Now they attend the love feasts. Now these love feasts were held in the early church before the communion service. They came there and they shared a meal together. Well, these apostates came in and they had a ravenous appetite. They could eat more than anyone else, and they did it without any fear at all. They would feast, feeding themselves without fear. In other words, shepherds are supposed to feed the flock. Well, as shepherds, they fed themselves.

I think Milton aptly described this situation when he wrote about his friend Lycidas. And it's in the poem, Lycidas, where this young preacher who was a real expositor of the word was drowned crossing the Irish Channel. And Milton grieved about the young man, and he told about the situation in England even in his day: that the hungry sheep look up and are not fed. What a picture of an apostate in the pulpit. He feeds himself, but he's not feeding the flock at all, not giving them the Word of God.

And they're clouds without water. In other words, they wear robes and they speak in a very pompous, pontifical voice. They speak with authority. They've had a public speaking course, and they've had a course in homiletics. And they know how to spiritualize a text of Scripture and make it mean entirely something different than God intended it to mean. They look like they're filled with the Word of God, but they're empty and dry. Beautiful clouds that go over. I remember chopping cotton as a boy in southern Oklahoma in summertime, and the clouds would go over. Oh, how this boy prayed for rain so I wouldn't have to chop cotton. But there wasn't any rain in those clouds. They were just snowy white, nothing in the world but puffs of white. They were just heads of clouds, that's all in the world that they were, and there was no water in them at all. Well, these do not have the water of life. They know nothing about the Word of God, actually.

And then they're described as trees without fruit. Remember the Lord Jesus says, "By their fruits ye shall know them." Well, these old boys, they don't even have any fruit. How are you going to judge them? Well, when they don't have any fruit, that's the worst kind of fruit of all. And he says here concerning them, "twice dead, plucked up by the roots." It was Dwight L. Moody that I believe put it like this: When a man is born once, he'll have to die twice. When a man is born twice, he'll only have to die once, and he may not have to die that time. But these are twice dead. And that means they are physically dead, actually. Then they're twice dead in the sense that they're spiritually dead—the body's going to have to die—so that actually they're dead in trespasses and sins, and yet they're trying to lead others. What a picture this is of the apostate.