The Sword of the Spirit

Jude 10 ESV

10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

Assuredly, there have been a great many people who have suffered consequences as a result of entangling themselves in affairs that they really know nothing about.

Now, there is no shame in having a lack of knowledge about something. But it is shameful to lack knowledge about something and then go on and try to perform whatever you lack the knowledge of as though you are knowledgeable of it.

So, if one lacks knowledge of something, they need to first learn about that which they lack knowledge of in order to successfully accomplish what they are trying to accomplish. And the reason why they need to do this is because of what I have already stated: entangling yourself in affairs that you know nothing about leads to grave consequences.

I will give you an example. Whenever I was a teenager, some of my friends and I would sometimes congregate in the country just outside of Niantic, down at a certain place on the Sangamon River.

We would swim there, fish there, have bonfires there, and a lot of other things. But one day we decided to tie a rope to a branch on one of the trees that was overlooking the river so that we could swing out into the river and back.

Well, my friend who installed this rope swing had some experience with swinging on ropes, so he told me and a few others that when we swing out on the rope, we needed to wrap the rope around the wrist of whichever arm is our dominant arm, and to take our weaker hand and grip it higher up on the rope.

Well, that advice worked well, we would swing out and never fall in the river below us, and so anytime that anyone new would come out to our spot, we would tell them what their hand placement needed to be at whenever they would swing so that they wouldn’t fall in the river.

This worked fine, and nobody ever fell in the river, until one night, I think it was sometime in November of a particular year when another friend of mine came out to this spot on the river for the first time. There were a couple of us sitting by a fire that we made when this particular friend showed up. We told him about the rope swing, and he said that he wanted to try it out.

So, I walked over and grabbed the rope and started to tell him what I would always tell people the first time that they swung about where their hand placement needed to be. But this guy wasn’t having any of it, he ran towards me, snatched the rope out of my hand and started to swing without placing his hands in the correct manner. And the result was that he inadvertently took an ice-cold dip in the Sangamon River on that cold, Fall evening.

Like I said, people who entangle themselves in affairs which they know nothing about face grave consequences.

Our reading for today speaks of this. It speaks of a certain people who try to pry into and teach other people things that they know nothing about. And because they know nothing about what they try to teach, they fail, and they suffer eternal consequences because of it.

Indeed, I sorrowfully confess that I believe that this is the sad state of a great many preachers and supposed Bible teachers in our day. They don’t really know what it is that they are supposed to be teaching.

And when I speak of these not knowing what they are supposed to be teaching, I don’t just mean that they aren’t aware of the facts, what I mean is that these, through their practices, refuse to acknowledge the authority of God, indeed, they reject it, and because they reject God’s authority, they do not recognize what the Word of God actually says.

But even though they don’t really know what the Bible says, they still attempt to teach others on what the Bible says. And thus, they face grave consequences as a result.

And because those things which have to do with God are of the highest and most important order, it then follows that those who know not God and thus refuse to submit to what the Bible actually says, yet go on and teach fallacies to others, the consequence which these then face is the most severe consequence possible, and it is of an eternal nature.

Indeed, Jude speaks of such teachers and in turn their followers, and the awful consequence that awaits them in our reading for today.

We will begin our exposition this morning by looking at the first half of this verse, where it reads:

Jude 10a ESV

10a But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand,

Now, as you will notice, we begin this verse with the word “but” which means that we must harken back to our reading from last week in order to properly understand that which is being spoken of here.

In our reading from last week we discussed how even Michael, the highest-ranking angel would not blaspheme and make a judgment against another angel, specifically the devil. And because he would not do that, he correctly left the judgment of the devil to God when he simply said to him, “The Lord rebuke you!”.

Now, this was done because Michael recognized the authority of God, and he knew that God alone had the authority to make such judgments.

And again, this was performed by the highest-ranking angel. Yet, these people whom Jude speaks of in our reading, these false teachers who have crept into orthodox circles do what not even Michael the Archangel would do, when he says that “these people blaspheme all that they do not understand”.

Now, when Jude speaks of “all that they do not understand”, he refers to these really knowing nothing of God. And as I said before, this does not mean that they knew not about God. It doesn’t mean that they did not intellectually grasp the truth about God. But rather, it means they have not been known by God or have known God.

What I mean is that these false teachers were not truly born-again Christians. And because they are not born-again Christians, they therefore have not been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And because they have not been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, that then means that these have not known God in a saving sense. And thus, God has equally not known them in a saving sense.

Thus, the only way that they know God and the only way that God knows them is through opposition to one another. And because these are opposed to one another, then, as we will recall back in the eighth verse of this chapter, they reject the authority of God.

And yet, these claim to speak the truth concerning God and even claim to the have the calling and authority to teach others about the truth of God, but as Jude says here, these don’t even know God in a saving sense. Thus, they speak of things that they know nothing about and claim to have authority to do so.

And as was said, because these don’t really know God, they are at odds with God, and because they are at odds with God, they then instinctually reject the authority of God, and because they reject the authority of God, then it is that when they teach the things that are supposedly of God, they are actually blaspheming God, slandering the truth.

And because these are faithful to slandering God and slandering the truth concerning God, we find the natural consequence of their slander in the second half of this verse, where we read:

Jude 10b ESV

10b and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

So, what Jude is telling us here is that these false teachers and their followers naturally oppose God and because they have not been changed by God, they then naturally rebel against and slander God and the truth concerning God through doing those things which they do outside of a state of salvation.

Thus, the slander is natural for them. God is their enemy and thus they slander Him. They do it instinctively. And because they are perpetually at odds with God, then it is only natural for them to instinctively proceed forward with the things that lead to their destruction.

As Jude tells us, “They are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively”.

These people do not understand God. As was said, they may intellectually know about God, they may even intellectually understand the facts concerning the orthodox faith, but they do not know God in a saving sense.

The only thing that they understand is being at odds with God, therefore, they act only in accordance with their flesh, and because this is the only thing that they understand, they are then destroyed through eternal condemnation, which is what their instinctive nature led them to.

It is for this reason, beloved, that we must be illuminated by the Holy Spirit to understand orthodoxy. To know what is true. To know what really is biblical. And it is for this reason too that we must be illuminated by the Holy Spirit to understand what is heterodoxy, heresy, that which is contrary to the truth.

And how is it that the Holy Spirit reveals to us what is true and what is not true? By illuminating the sincere, consistent, devout, open-minded study of the scriptures on our part.

In the prophecy of Hosea, God proclaims something that should make all of us absolutely tremble when He says first, in the second half of Hosea, chapter 4, verse 1:

Hosea 4:1b ESV

1b There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;

Then down at the beginning of verse six of that same chapter, God says:

Hosea 4:6a ESV

6a My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;

These people know not God. And they knew Him not for two reasons. First, they knew Him not because they cared not to know Him as He truly is, thus they pursued Him not. And secondly, they knew Him not because they were being led by shepherds who were fleecing the flock.

The priests in the land in the time of Hosea, like the false teachers in our reading for today, had no real understanding concerning God, they intellectually knew God, yet they knew Him not.

They had no real knowledge of God and thus they, like the false teachers in our reading for today, were destroyed. And not only that, but their hearers, the people, those who listened and learned about God from those who didn’t even know God, also perished, were destroyed. They had no base of orthodoxy to stand upon, and thus, they were easily led away into fatal error.

We live in a day where the lack of the knowledge of God, even a lack of the basic understanding of orthodox doctrine is so profound and widespread that it is stunningly appalling.

Indeed, we sadly live in a day when a religious shyster or con artist can walk into the majority of churches and convince many of the attendees to not only reject truth, but to also embrace heresy.

How can this be done? Because either the people did not know the Lord in a saving way, or those who did know Him in a saving way did not take the time to know the truth concerning Him found in His Word.

The exclamation of God to Hosea was, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge!” They know not the truth of God, and their lot is with the wicked in the Lake of Fire. For whatever one sows, so must he reap.

Beloved, it is vital that we know the Word of God. It is vital that we hold fast to the Word of God. It is vital that we remain in the Word of God. As society and culture and thought shifts, and is tossed to and fro, we must ever hold to the unchanging God and His unchanging truth!

Amen?