Jude, What Is Right In Their Eyes

Jude 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.

I don’t typically begin the conversation with a biblical quote, but it is appropriate to cite 1 Timothy 4:1: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” The apostles of the Lord warned that we should adhere to the words they have committed by virtue of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Jude 17. Why? Because the same Holy Spirit warns the church that in later times professing Christians will leave behind the truth, paying attention to, and being deceived by, the doctrines of demons. The saint is not to, “give place to the devil,” Ephesians 4:27; that is, not to give him a foothold in our lives by which he may lead us from our faith whichever distraction most pleases us.

There is a correlation passage in 1 Kings, regarding Ahab, wicked king of Israel. God wants Ahab to go to Ramoth Gilead, so he may die as a consequence for his sins, 1 Kings 22:20. An evil spirit comes forward, willing to be a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab’s prophets, preaching peace when Ahab’s death will instead result, 1 Kings 22:22. Though the passage does not state the spirit is evil, we do know the rebel sons of God still come before Him periodically to give an account of their doings, such as in the case recorded in Job, see Job 2:1 for example. Ahab hardened his heart against God to do evil, and so God permitted an evil spirit to mislead him, as He formerly permitted an evil spirit to vex King Saul, 1 Samuel 16:14. God is sovereign over His creatures and creation; Satan is God’s Satan and may do no more than God permits, Job 1:12, 2:6.

Continuing in Timothy, Paul has an eye to such men. He warns his son in the spirit that the professing Christians who stray are, “speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,” 1 Timothy 4:2. Rather than speaking truth to glorify God and save their fellow man, they speak lies that originate from a less selfless motive. Further, Paul explains that these men have their conscience seared with a hot iron; God can harden the heart, and man hardens his own. It seems to work that if man desires to have a hardened heart God obliges. In 2 Thessalonians Paul writes, “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness,” 2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12. The ultimate motive is that the unsaved, carnal man finds pleasure in revelling in the sin that has spiritually killed him. It arouses the flesh and titulates the carnal senses; godliness commands man to mortify the flesh so the Holy Spirit may lead us in a walk of fellowship and service. But these men, who in Jude 16 are called grumblers, complainers and flatterers, are now labelled as mockers, too. This aligns with Jude 10, where he writes that such men, “speak evil of whatever they do not know.”

The latter times of Paul and the last time of Jude are one and same, of course. In this era of Churchianity many professing Christians do not believe: Christ is returning bodily, or in the Rapture or the Millenium. They reject Israel’s claim to being God’s earthly people. They reject salvation by grace through faith in Christ’s redemptive work alone. They reject the Holy Spirit as a person and the Trinity as three persons comprising one being we call God. They reject Christ’s lordship, and some do not even believe He is God, or rose from the dead. Many believe Darwinian Evolution is the real explanation for human and cosmological origination. Genesis, Adam, Eden, Satan, Babel, etc., are myths. Hell isn’t real and all roads lead to God. All religions carry an element of truth in them that others lack. The Bible alone is not the revelatory masterpiece of God’s truth, alone conveying His words to mankind. Does any of this sound familiar? Once John Bunyan wrote about a fictional pitfall every Christian struggles through called the Slough of Despond in his seminal work, the Pilgrim’s Progress. 

I would say that another Slough has reared its head within the church. It is the Slough of Apathetic Conformity. We jettison truth to conform to modern cultural norms. Science proved Genesis to be ridiculously inaccurate? (which is woefully untrue, since science can’t prove it right or wrong; that goes beyond its sphere of practice) Adopt evolutionary theory and shoehorn in some type of quasi-biblical compromise! Christ claims to be the only way to the Father? He wasn’t being literal or serious. Every religion rightly practiced is acceptable to God, right? This disagrees with Scripture, but does align with modern sensibilities, and we would rather look smart or savvy to the masses, then actually hold fast to the truth. The truth sets people free. If we jettison truth, then our function as the church, the body of Christ, has ceased. We are to be soul winners, concerned with and loving our fellow man, for the salvation of his soul. “Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar,” Romans 3:4. These false teachers, like the time of the Judges, walk according to their own ungodly lusts. His lust steers the course of his life, always in jeopardy as the wrath of God abides on such a soul, while a blind church, no longer concerned with the souls of men, looks the other way. These false teachers bring in their damnable heresies; so we who belong to Christ must come armed with the truth to dispel the lies and share the gospel with the lost. We must uphold the weak and weary, especially in this time, as the shadows draw long and we eagerly anticipate our Lord’s glorious return. Even so, Amen!