A warning from Jude
Jude who is generally recognized as a half brother of Jesus states,
“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
“These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.” Jude 1:3,4,..12,13
Jude like the apostles Peter and Paul writes to warn believers in Christ that there are men and women who are claiming to be believers of Christ that are not. Jude notes,
“They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”
Jude states,
“These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.”
It can’t be emphasised enough that there are many who claim to be Christians, Men and women not only sitting in church pews but preaching from the pulpit that are not.
There are many evangelist, pastors and teachers who as Jude states are, “shepherds who feed only themselves”.
Outwardly these men and women look good. Inwardly they are nothing more than charlatans who claim to be of God but are not.
The apostle Paul states,
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” 2 Timothy 3:1-4.
As a believers in Christ we must heed Paul and Jude’s warning.
In our multimedia world all too often we cannot see what a given preacher or evangelist is truly like.
I would say most are good honest men and women who love God and are doing their best for him. However we still need to be cautious.
The terrible times Paul is speaking about is upon us. There are many evangelist and pastors out there in the world who are not speaking the truth. They are as Jude stated, “shepherds who feed only themselves”.
Put bluntly they are in the “preaching game” to make money and enrich themselves nothing more. Thus we must be careful.
There are also others who claim to be preaching the world of God but are not. The apostle Peter warns,
“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.” 2 Peter 2:1.
As Christians we must read the Bible. We must read especially the New Testament to see exactly what those who knew Jesus personally said and believed. It is the only way we can truly know what right teaching is. Pauls advice to Timothy is as true to day as it was in the day he wrote it. He said,
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2Timothy 2:15.
Please think about it.
Jude who is generally recognized as a half brother of Jesus states,
“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
“These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.” Jude 1:3,4,..12,13
Jude like the apostles Peter and Paul writes to warn believers in Christ that there are men and women who are claiming to be believers of Christ that are not. Jude notes,
“They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”
Jude states,
“These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.”
It can’t be emphasised enough that there are many who claim to be Christians, Men and women not only sitting in church pews but preaching from the pulpit that are not.
There are many evangelist, pastors and teachers who as Jude states are, “shepherds who feed only themselves”.
Outwardly these men and women look good. Inwardly they are nothing more than charlatans who claim to be of God but are not.
The apostle Paul states,
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” 2 Timothy 3:1-4.
As a believers in Christ we must heed Paul and Jude’s warning.
In our multimedia world all too often we cannot see what a given preacher or evangelist is truly like.
I would say most are good honest men and women who love God and are doing their best for him. However we still need to be cautious.
The terrible times Paul is speaking about is upon us. There are many evangelist and pastors out there in the world who are not speaking the truth. They are as Jude stated, “shepherds who feed only themselves”.
Put bluntly they are in the “preaching game” to make money and enrich themselves nothing more. Thus we must be careful.
There are also others who claim to be preaching the world of God but are not. The apostle Peter warns,
“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.” 2 Peter 2:1.
As Christians we must read the Bible. We must read especially the New Testament to see exactly what those who knew Jesus personally said and believed. It is the only way we can truly know what right teaching is. Pauls advice to Timothy is as true to day as it was in the day he wrote it. He said,
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2Timothy 2:15.
Please think about it.
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