Jude 11-16 The True Shepherd

That seems like an unbelievable statement doesn’t it? I mean we are doing a whole sermon series on Beware of wolves! Beware of false teachers. I thought the whole point was to avoid these people!

What do you mean false teachers show us something about Christ that can actually make us love Christ more and trust him with greater faith? How can a false teacher do that?

By the end of this sermon I hope to answer that question.

But in order to get there, we have to look at what Jude says about false teachers.

Here’s the big idea of Jude 11-16.

The True Shepherd will judge false shepherds for all their ungodliness.

In fact, this isn’t just the big idea for this passage. This is one of the Big Ideas of Jude’s entire book: False teachers are under judgment.

Last week we looked at Jude 5-10 where Jude guaranteed that Jesus would judge false teachers on the Day of Judgment.

And this week in Jude 11-16, Jude doesn’t just tell us that false teachers are under judgment. He tells us why they are under judgment.

Jesus will judge false teachers for three things. 1. Their Ungodly life, 2. Their Ungodly Character, and 3. Their Ungodly Words.

Now just like last week, when we are talking about false teachers and the judgment Christ has promised for them, it can be easy for us to think, “What does this have to do with me? I’m not a false teacher? Why should I care that false teachers are under judgment?”

So in this sermon, I want to tell you up front why this matters for you.

First and foremost, in this passage Jude is teaching us. He is teaching us what to look out for in a false teacher.

So in His grace, the Holy Spirit inspired this passage to be written first and foremost to guard you. To help you identify false teachers to keep you in Christ.

As a Christian, this should bring you great comfort because God has not thrown you to the wolves. He is guarding you through his Word and godly leadership to bring you to glory as a follower of Christ.

Ina parallel passage to this one in 2 Peter 2, Peter says it like this. If God knows how to keep false teachers under judgment, then he also knows how to keep you and deliver you from false teachers.

So this passage matters because it should bring comfort to you that God cares for you enough to warn you about false teachers and tell you how to identify them.

The second thing I want to do in this sermon is to have us examine ourselves and bring the Word of God to bear on all of us.

False teachers are the personification of ungodliness. If there was only one thing you could say about them, it would be that they are ungodly.

So when Jude tells us what kinds of ungodliness marks a false teacher, every single one of us should look at our own lives and ask, “Do I look more like one of these false shepherds than I do the true shepherd, Jesus Christ?”

Christians should be marked by godliness. We should look like Christ.

And by looking at the ungodliness that characterizes false teachers, we can see what ungodliness in our life needs to be put to death.

So throughout this sermon, I want you to be asking yourself, “Do I look like that? Does my life, character and words line up in anyway with the life, character, and words of these false teachers?”

Those are the things the Holy Spirit can use from this passage to convict us so that we pray God give me grace.

Finally, this passage should not only comfort us and it should not only convict us, It should also draw our eyes and our affections to Christ, our True Shepherd, and what it means to follow him and not our passions and desires like the false teachers.

So, with all that said, lets get into this passage and look at what brings the judgment of God on false teachers and anyone who follows them.

I. Jesus Will Judge False Teachers for Their Ungodly Life

Jude 11 Woe to Them!

The word Woe is a declaration of judgment.

The opposite of woe is blessing.

You remember in the beatitudes Jesus says, “Blessed, blessed, blessed,” and he describes a Christian.

In the Beatitudes Jesus promises how wonderful and enjoyable it is to follow him instead of living in our sin.

But woe is a curse. It is a condemnation or emotional cry that says “Oh, How horrible will it be!”

And Jude says, Woe to them. How horrible it will be for the false teachers. Why? Well, in verse 10 he just said they will be destroyed because of their sin.

Then in verses 11-16, Jude describes that sin that brings God’s judgment and the false teacher’s destruction.

And just like last week, Jude packs it in. He gives us three OT examples of extreme ungodliness and then applies those examples directly to the false teachers.

And again, just like last week, Jude takes our knowledge of the OT for granted.

So for us to see what Jude is saying in these verses, we need to do some leg work in the OT.

What marks the ungodly life of a false teacher? Jude gives us three things.

First...

1. False Teachers Reject Christ for Their Sin

Jude 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain...

The story of Cain is all the way back in Genesis 4.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve have sinned against God.

And when they sinned God did not kill them right then and there like they deserved.

Paul says the wages of sin is death. And God had warned Adam and Eve that the day they ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would surely die.

But instead of death, God gave them grace.

In their shame, Adam and Eve realized they were naked so they made clothes out of fig leaves.

This shows us that even from the very beginning our sin defiles us.

And we can try and cover it up, but and of our works or the fig leaves we sew together can remove our sin and take away our shame.

In his grace, God gave them new clothes.

God killed an animal and clothed Adam and Eve with its skin.

This sacrifice foreshadowed how our sin demands a sacrifice. If the wages of sin is death, death must be the payment.

And just like God provided that animal in the Garden of Eden, God himself provides the only sacrifice that can truly forgive our sin once and for all in the death of Jesus Christ, the perfect lamb.

Even in the beginning, God was showing us that Jesus would die for us.

Jesus paid our debt of sin, and through faith in him we are clothed, not in fig leaves of our own making, but in his own righteousness and all of our sins are washed away.

So with Adam and Eve, God established a pattern. Sin demands a sacrifice. And Adam and Eve told this to two sons Cain and Able, which is why Cain and Able brought sacrifices to the Lord and that brings us to Genesis 4.

Able brought the firstborn of his flock, and Cain brought the fruit of the ground. The Bible tells us that the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard (Genesis 4:4)

Cain knew God required a blood sacrifice, but instead of obeying the Lord Cain chose his own way to worship God.

This reveals that Cain’s heart was far from God. He rejected God and refused to fear him despite knowing his sin needed to be paid for.

When the LORD rejected Cain’s offering, he grew angry and God came to him and said, Genesis 4:6 “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

God was gracious to Cain. He didn’t kill him for his insolence. Instead he gave Cain an opportunity to repent.

But instead of repenting, Cain went out and murdered his brother.

Here’s what Jude is saying. False teachers look like they worship God. They look like they fear the Lord, but in reality, like Cain, their hearts are far from him.

They are proud, arrogant, with no fear of God and instead of repenting of their sin, they live for their sin and are consumed.

Judes point is that the same way Cain ignored the sacrifice and chose his sin, False teachers reject Christ for their sin.

Instead of repentance, they follow the way of Cain and chase after wickedness. And on that path their sin consumes them.

So False Teachers live an ungodly life because they reject Christ and choose sin over repentance and the fear of the Lord.

2. False Teachers Live for Their Greed

Jude 11 Woe to Them! For they...abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error.

Now the story of Balaam is in Numbers 22-24.

Balaam was a prophet for hire. But he wasn’t one of Israel’s prophets. He was a pagan prophet.

And when Balaam comes into the picture, Israel is wandering in the wilderness.

You’ll remember that God delivered Israel from Egypt, but Israel grumbled and rebelled against the Lord.

So God promised that that generation, the generation that saw all his signs and wonders in Egypt would die in the wilderness because they did not believe.

And as Israel sojourned, a pagan nation called the Amorites, made war against Israel and by God’s grace, Israel defeated them.

After this, Balak the king of Moab, another pagan nation, saw Israel as a threat and knew he had to do something.

So Balak sent messengers and a whole lot of money to Balaam hoping to hire Balaam to curse Israel.

Balaam, loved money and he loved prestige prestige so he was all to happy to have this new business opportunity with the King of Moab.

So Balaam went to the LORD and told him to curse Israel.

God these guys are here to pay me. Do your thing!

Do you see the pride and audacity? Who is Balaam to tell God what to do?

But God in his mercy did not kill Balaam right then and there. Instead, he commanded Balaam, “Do not curse them.”

So Balaam turned down the job, but Balak sent more men and more money and promised Balaam great fame and honor if he would just curse Israel.

The opportunity was just too tempting.

Even though Balaam knew God had said no, he went to the Lord again.

Do you see how Balaam’s greed was consuming him? God had already said no. What more was there to say. But Balaam had to try.

So this time God says, “Go to Balak, but only say what I tell you.”

And Balaam went. But God knew that in his heart, Balaam wanted to curse Israel. He wanted all the fame, money, notoriety that Balak had promised him.

Knowing this, God sent the Angel of the Lord to stand in Balaam’s path.

Balaam couldn’t see the Angel, but his donkey could. And when the donkey saw that angel’s sword drawn and ready to kill, the donkey wisely turned away.

But Balaam didn’t want any delays. He waned his money so so he beat the donkey, and this happened three times.

Then on the third time Balaam cursed the donkey and said if he had a sword, he would kill it.

And That’s when the donkey spoke. God rebuked Balaam through the donkey and God commanded Balaam to ONLY say what God would tell him.

So when Balaam finally sees Israel, instead of cursing them, Balaam blessed them three times.

But that’s not where the story ends.

Right after Balaam blesses Israel, the Bible says thatMoabite women came into the Israelite camp to seduce them men and convince God’s people to sacrifice and bow down to the false gods of the Moabites.

Well was going on? Numbers 31:16 tells us.

Numbers 31:16 Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.

Balaam couldn’t curse Israel, but his greed showed him a loophole.

Balaam told Balak to send in the women and convince Israel to worship idols because then God would punish them for their sins.

Now hear me. Balaam did not manipulate God. Balaam manipulated sinful Israel. And by doing so Balaam cursed Israel without cursing them because he was consumed with his greed.

False teachers are like Balaam. They abandon themselves, which literally in Greek means they pour themselves out for their greed and sinful desires.

They will commit all kinds of evil and ignore God in all kinds of ways as long as they profit off it. They will do anything for the sake of gain.

False teachers are consumed with greed.

Finally, the third mark of an ungodly life in a false teacher is this.

3. False Teachers Rebel Against Godly Authority

Jude 11 Woe to Them! For they...perished in Korah’s rebellion.

Korah’s rebellion is in Numbers 16:1-31.

Korah is Moses’ cousin and a Levite which mean he had an important job in the tabernacle to lead Israel in worship of Yahweh.

But when he was not chosen to be the priest Korah was enraged.

So instead of submitting to God’s chosen leaders, Korah gathered 250 leaders in Israel and came against Moses and Korah.

Numbers 16:3 You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?

Here’s the idea. Korah was saying, “Aren’t we all holy? If we are all holy, why are Moses and Aaron in authority over us?”

Korah was leading a hostile takeover. Korah was using the discontentment and grumbling of the people of Israel for his own gain.

He fanned the flames of division, against God’s appointed leadership in Israel.

So interestingly, when you see division and rebellion against God ordained authority in a church, its usually spearheaded by one of these false teachers or apostates.

And as we know from Jude, God judges false teachers.

So in Korah’s rebellion, God intervened.

Numbers 16:32-35 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. 33 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. 34 And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” 35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.

God killed all of them. He destroyed to those that did not submit to godly authority.

And unsubmissive rebellion against God’s appointed leaders marks the life of the false teacher.

So the Big Idea, Jesus will judge false teachers for all their ungodliness. And the first mark or characteristic of ungodliness from these three OT illustrations is an ungodly life.

False teachers reject Christ in favor of their sin.

They live for their greed and disobey God anytime it might mean they gain what their heart desires.

And the sow division and rebel against godly authority.

Now, If these are the marks of an ungodly life, if these are the marks of a person who does not worship God but walks in ungodliness, then we would be unwise if we did not take the opportunity to examine ourselves.

To ask, are these marks in any way, shape, or form a part of my life?

Is there some sin in your life that is consuming you? Something you know Christ wants you to put to death. Something he died for to free you from your slavery to it?

The question is Will you repent or will you reject Christ?

Will you follow the way of Cain and say, No Lord, I want this sin. I can’t give it up. I won’t give it up.

Or will you bring it to Christ and say, God this sin is consuming me, and even right now in this prayer, I don’t want to live without it, but will you please save me and change my heart so I love you more than I love my sin?

What about Balaam’s error? Are you consumed with greed? It doesn’t just have to be money. It can be anything.

The real question is, do you want what you want no matter what God says and if you have to bend the rules just to have it, if your willing to sin to satisfy the desires of your heart, is that a sacrifice you’re willing to make?

What are you living for? Are you living for the greed and desires of your heart or are you counting everything a loss to gain Christ and his holiness?

Finally, do you submit to your leaders?

Do you grumble against church leadership? Do you gossip and sow division? Do you listen when other people gossip and slander the leaders to you when you should rebuke them?

Do you try to stir people up like Korah, and lead others to grumble and distrust the authority God has placed over them so that they distrust the pastors and take your side?

Repent! That’s ungodliness. When you submit to your leaders and joyfully follow them, you aren’t putting your faith in men, you’re putting your faith in God!

Your saying I trust God to lead this church through the leaders he has appointed.

Do you know what God wants us to submit to the Authority he has placed over us in every sphere of life?

Because to the degree we submit to our earthly authority when they are faithfully carrying out God’s purpose for them, is the same degree to which we will submit to our heavenly authority, to God, even when everything in us doesn’t want to.

An ungodly life will bring God’s judgment and as God’s people our lives should be marked by godliness, not ungodliness.

Number 2...

II. Jesus Will Judge False Teachers for Their Ungodly Character

In rapid fire succession, Jude uses 5 metaphors to describe the ungodly character of false teachers.

If the last section talked about what false teachers do to bring Christ’s judgment, this section lays out who they are.

So we are going to go through these one by one pretty quickly.

1. Selfish and Greedy

Jude 12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves.

The love feast in the early church were like a potluck.

The church would come together for fellowship, prayer, and caring for one another over a meal that culminated in celebrating the Lord’s Supper together.

And Jude says at these love feasts false teachers are like hidden reefs.

Jude is using imagery of reefs in shallow water that might destroy the hull of a ship that didn’t know they were their.

Its this picture of these false teachers sinking the faith of believers in the church.

And for these false teachers they didn’t care about the damage their false ministry caused because they were only in it for themselves.

Jude says they are shepherds feeding themselves.

They don’t care about anyone else. They call themselves teachers. They call themselves shepherds, but they don’t care for the flock.

The fleece the sheep. They use their position of leadership to give themselves a comfortable life.

Their ministry is not about serving the church, its about using the church for their own gain no matter the cost the sheep have to pay.

2. Devoid of God’s Word

Jude 12 Waterless clouds, swept along by winds.

What is the purpose of a true shepherd? To preach the Word.

The idea being that if you listen to us as we minister the word of God, the fruit of your faith will grow and grow and grow.

True shepherds are filled up with the Word of God. Its pouring out of us as we talk to you because we want to see you grow in Christ.

But Jude says false teachers are like waterless clouds.

Throughout Scripture God uses water as a picture of his wisdom, law, revelation, blessing, and eternal life.

When God says his word will not return to him empty in Isaiah 55 He says it is like rain falling on the earth to bring forth fruit.

Jude is saying these false teachers claim to have the Word. The promise to shower the church with blessing and life, but they are waterless clouds.

The Word is not in them and they are false shepherds who can’t actually help you grow if you follow them.

3. Spiritually Dead

Jude 12 Fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted.

Autumn was the time for harvest. And late autumn was the last chance to get any fruit to feed your family in the winter.

Here what Jude is saying. They aren’t Christian. They might talk about Jesus, claim to follow Jesus, say they love Jesus, but they are fruitless.

Jude says they are twice dead, uprooted. They are deader than dead.

They don’t have Christ. They don’t have the Holy Spirit. They don’t have eternal life.

They are dead in their trespasses and sins. And if they have no life in them, everyone that follows them is following after death.

4. Wicked

Jude 13 Wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame.

When Jude says they are wild waves casting up the foam of their own shame, he is saying they are evil to the core and not only do they lack good works like fruitless trees they actually specialize in evil ones.

They are ruled and dominated by their evil heart. They lack self control and they are unbroken and savage sinners.

5. Lying Guides

Jude 13 Wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

In the ancient world, you would use stars to navigate. If you were on a journey or at sea the stars would show you your way home.

But false teachers are wandering stars. They don’t actually lead you where you want to go!

They claim to be a light. They claim to lead people out of the darkness of sin and damnation to God and the eternal light of his kingdom.

But following them actually leads to judgment.

And Jude actually describes that judgment. It is the gloom of utter darkness for all eternity.

This is a just and fitting punishment for false teachers.

God is saying, You say you’re a light? Someone people should follow? I will give you darkness.

Breakdown

Now you might be saying, that’s a lot of metaphors. And your right. And the reason why Jude puts them back to back to back like that is to overwhelm you with his big idea.

The character, the heart of every false teacher is sin and wickedness.

They are not filled with the fruit of the Spirit because they are spiritually dead and the only fruit they produce is the fruit of the flesh.

Paul says...

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

This marks the character of God’s people.

Sin is breaking God’s law, and sin leads to judgment. But look what Paul says, against such things there is no law.

This is the character of godliness. And notice it is the fruit of the Spirit. It is not the fruit of our own doing. The fruit of our will power.

It is a work of God in us and as Christians we should be praying, “God will you fill me with the fruit of the Spirit.

Will you work in my life in such a way that where I once was filled with sin, now by your grace I am filled with Christ?

And then by God’s grace, by the Holy Spirit’s power we do all that we can to faithfully grow and grow and grow in this fruit.

Jesus will judge false teachers for their ungodly life. He will judge false teachers for their ungodly character. And finally he will judge false teachers for their ungodly words.

III. Jesus will Judge False Teachers for Their Ungodly Words

Jude 14-15 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

You remember Enoch. He’s from Genesis 5 in a genealogy from Adam to Noah.

And all Genesis tells us is that Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him.

Instead of dying, God took Enoch straight to heaven.

But that’s it. It doesn’t tell us anything he said. There’s not a book in the Bible called Enoch. So where is Jude getting this quote?

Jude is quoting a book popular with Jewish people in his day called 1 Enoch.

They believed the prophecies of Enoch, this man who walked with God, were passed down through the generations as oral history until they were eventually written down.

But Jude quoting it doesn’t mean 1 Enoch is missing from our Bibles.

First of all, Jude doesn’t say it is written so Jude is not saying that 1 Enoch should be considered Scripture.

Paul even does this. In Acts 17 Paul quotes a popular philosopher to share the gospel and in Titus he quotes a pagan poet.

Just because Paul thought something they said was true, doesn’t mean he thought everything they said was true.

Its the same way in Jude.

So Jude quotes 1 Enoch to make 1 big point. Jesus will judge ungodliness.

You see it four times in this quote. Jesus will return to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Jude is saying that these false teachers are characterized by ungodliness.

And that’s an important word. In Greek it literally means “destitute of reverence.”

Its godlessness. In other words these ungodly ones are people who have no fear of God. They do not honor him, they do not worship him, they do not give him the glory that is due to his name.

Judes point is that these false teachers are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of judgment because of their deeds of ungodliness and because of all the harsh things ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

So Jude says these ungodly people are characterized by two things. Their ungodly deeds which is what he has been talking about so far in this passage, and number 2. their ungodly words.

And verse 16 shows us that these false teachers ungodly words are what Jude wants to talk about next.

Jude 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

When Jude says that false teachers are grumblers, that is the same word used to describe Israel’s grumbling in the wilderness.

And what was Israel’s problem there? They were not content with what the Lord had provided.

They grumbled about the manna. They grumbled about not having meat. They grumbled about their thirst and not having water.

Israel was constantly grumbling against the Lord. They were not content with him or what he had given.

And in context Jude is saying that false teachers grumble against the Lord because, just like Israel, they have no contentment in God or what he has given them.

They want more. They want what they want.

Then Jude calls them malcontents. Literally that means fault finders. They blame God and they blame other people because they don’t have what their heart wants most.

So you starting to see a common theme.

False teachers and apostates grumble, complain, gripe and find fault with God, other people, and their circumstances because they have an insatiable desire for the things of the world.

They want money, prestige, power. They yearn for the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life and all the things that come with it.

Sex. Big houses. Nice cars. Fine food and clothes. Prestige and notoriety. In a word, they love the World.

So they grumble and find fault because they don’t have the desires of their heart. They grumble because they have no satisfaction in God. No love for him.

Instead of praising God with thanksgiving, false teachers use their words to complain and worship what their hearts really desire: their sin.

Then Jude says they are loud mouthed boasters

With their words, False teachers speak arrogantly and exalt themselves.

They don’t have any humility because they are swelled up with pride.

They fancy themselves as small gods so of course they would pervert the grace of God if it could give them what they want. After all, Gods deserved to be worshiped.

And finally they showing favoritism to gain advantage.

In other words they flatter people. But not to encourage them and to build them up in the Lord. To use them and gain an advantage. Usually to get rich.

This is probably the most obvious tell-tell sign of a false teacher.

They will always tell people what they want to hear if it will benefit them.

That’s the same thing Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:3-4.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

False teachers love to scratch itching ears because it benefits them.

People follow them. Give them money. Allow them to have influence because really all a false teacher is doing is peddling worldliness under the name of Christ.

So Jude says judgment is coming against false teachers because of their ungodly words.

They grumble against God because they want the desires of their heart more than they want to obey him, and then they fleece the sheep with flattering words to try and steal what their hearts really want most.

Application

What all of this tells us is that our words matter.

Just like the false teachers Jesus said that on the day of judgment every person will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37

Well why is that? Jesus told us.

Luke 6:45 Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45

Our words, reveal our heart. If we have ungodly words, we have ungodly hearts.

So hears the question, “What do your words say about your heart?”

Do you curse under your breath when something doesn’t go your way?

Do you use your words to love and encourage people, or do you just use your words to try and use people to get what you want?

Do you snap or lash out in anger at your spouse or your kids?

How’s your heart? What fills it?

I’ll tell you this is the most convicting one for me. I grumble. I complain. Sure we might call it venting or just getting it off our chest, but ultimately I’m just griping.

And here’s why that’s so concerning. When w complain, Calvin says what we really doing is criticizing God. We are saying, “God, you’re doing it wrong. This isn’t good and so you must not be good.”

When we grumble we say to God we are discontent with our lot in life. The very lot in life that comes to us by his sovereign will.

Everything, good and bad happens under God’s control so when we complain and grumble, we are criticizing God.

Now you are starting to see why this is so convicting to me and why I hope its convicting for you.

Just like with Israel in the wilderness, Our grumbling shows our lack of faith. It shows that we don’t really trust God. We don’t really trust that he loves us and that he cares for us.

And Paul says anything that does not proceed from faith is sin.

God gives us the breath in our lungs, and all of our words shouldn’t be used to grumble against him and question his sovereignty.

They should be used to praise him with thanksgiving for everything that comes to us through his hand because in Christ we know that everything is for our good.

Conclusion

The True Shepherd will judge false shepherds for all their ungodliness.

In Jude 11-16 Jude shows us three ways ungodliness manifests itself and brings Christ’s judgment.

False teachers live an ungodly life. They have ungodly character. And they breath out ungodly words.

And ultimately, false teachers are characterized by ungodliness because they live for themselves instead of Christ.

Instead of denying themselves, false teachers are consumed their passions and desires. Their love of the world and their love of the self shape everything about their life.

Its interesting that Jude specifically calls out these false teachers as shepherds who feed themselves.

I think Jude does that intentionally to ultimately point us to our true shepherd.

I started this sermon by asking what can false teachers show us about Jesus that can benefit and grow our faith? Here it is.

Jude explicitly calls False teachers false shepherds. They promise life, they promise God’s Word, but ultimately they only feed themselves.

They are not true shepherds, they are wicked shepherds.

Jesus is the True Shepherd

Ezekiel 34:2-5 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.

God condemns false shepherds because they hurt the sheep and because of them the sheep are scattered and vulnerable to all kinds of sin and destruction.

But hear what God says.

Ezekiel 34:11-12; 14-15 Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered...I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.

God’s own promise is that he would come and shepherd his people. Bind them up and heal them.

That as their good shepherd God would bring salvation.

And what did Jesus say?

John 10:10-15 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Jesus is our True Shepherd.

Just like God promised in Ezekiel, Jesus Christ the Son of God seeks out his sheep.

He himself said the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Lk 19:10.

He feeds us with with his own flesh and blood in the Lord’s Supper.

He is our Shepherd who is able to make us lie down in peace because he laid down his life for us.

Jesus died for our sins and rose again three days later so that through faith in him we could be saved, given eternal life, and become the sheep of his pasture.

False shepherds have false works and false words that lead everyone who follows them into judgment.

Not so with Jesus. He is the true Son of God. The True Shepherd who died for his sheep and brings them into green pastures of everlasting life.

And if you know anything about shepherds and sheep, if a sheep wants to live they need to follow the shepherd.

So How are we sheep called to follow our True Shepherd Jesus Christ?

Not by living for ourselves like the false teachers. Because Jesus said...

Matthew 16:24-25 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Related Media

Related Sermons