The Disrespectful & Delusional False Teachers

Jude 8-11

v. 8 Jude describes the false teachers in these verses. He says “in like manner” making a comparison between the false teachers in the church and the apostate Israelites, angels and inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Notice the distinction he makes between the false teachers and the rest of the church. He calls them with the word “these” in v.8, 10, 14, and 16 and with “them” in 11.  Clearly he wants to separate them from the true believers in the church (v.11). In verse 8 he describes the false teachers in three ways.

The first thing we see is that they are “dreamers”. The same word is used to describe believers in Acts 2:16-17 when Peter is quoting Joel.

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

God has often spoken through dreams and visions. Knowing that, Satan capitalizes on it. The false teachers claimed a type of secret knowledge to justify their teachings. They claimed that God spoke to them through a dream or revealed something to them in a vision. Their dream or vision is their authority and they want it to be ours as well. That is a dangerous thing. As believers our authority is the word of God. If any dream or vision contradicts what the word says, that dream or vision is not of God. Because false teachers can’t justify their teaching with the Bible, they use dreams to justify it. Sometimes they may actually have these dreams. Satan and our own imagination can inspire dreams and visions. Other times they are lying and have not seen anything at all. Either way, as believers we are not to believe what someone says because of some experience that person has had. We believe the Bible. If anything or anyone contradicts that, we should reject it. When a person claims to have had a dream or a vision, it’s exciting. It sounds spiritual. And it may be. But we should be careful and remember that we have everything we need to live for God in His Word. We don’t need a dream or a vision to live for Him.

The second thing we see about these false teachers is that they are filthy. Jude says they “defile the flesh”. In other words, they engage in sinful activities. False teachers are unsaved; therefore they cannot resist sin in the power of the Holy Spirit. For that reason, they defile the flesh. Some are not ashamed of their sin at all. They continue in it openly. They justify sin with some false teaching. Others hide their sin. They appear to be righteous, but they are actually very sinful. Often times their sin is revealed through some scandal. Usually it’s discovered that they did not “fall” into sin but they wallowed in sin for years before it was discovered. We need to remember that there are two things we look for in a teacher of the Word. We look for the content of their teaching (right doctrine) and we look at the content of their character (right living). A person must have both of these in order to lead God’s people.

The third thing we see about false teachers in this verse is they reject authority.  False teachers hate all authority but their own. They do not listen to anyone but themselves. Their rejection of the lordship of Christ reveals that. False teachers will never be sheep. Not even to the Good Shepherd. They will always seek to be shepherds because they hate authority. “Glorious ones” describes angelic beings. In context it speaks of fallen angels. The false teachers do not even respect the authority of Satan and the fallen angels. Jude is saying the same thing that Peter did about the false teachers (2 Peter 2:10). We might wonder why the false teachers would speak evil of Satan when they are on his side. Well, here’s a couple of reasons that might be:

* They don’t know they are on Satan’s side. They rebuke demons and seek to cast them out believing they are doing a work of God.

* They are deceiving people intentionally. They know they are on Satan’s side but don’t want others to know it.

We might also wonder why Satan doesn’t attack these false teachers. He did with the Sons of Sceva in Acts 19:16. Maybe Satan doesn’t want to blow his cover. Maybe he wants people to think that these false teachers are of God so that more people will be deceived.

V.9 In this verse Jude tells us that even Michael the Archangel has respect for the powers of darkness. “Archangel” means “the highest angel” it speaks of rank. The event mentioned by Jude is not recorded in the Bible anywhere else. When Moses died the Bible tells us that God buried him. Evidently God used the archangel Michael to bury him. God probably knew that the people would worship Moses by building a shrine or something at his grave if they knew where he was buried. Moses burial was such a secret that not even Satan knew where it was. By the way, that also proves that Satan is not omniscient and is dependent upon God as well. There was an argument that took place between Michael and Satan. Satan wanted Michael to tell him where Moses was buried. Satan probably wanted the body so he could get Israel to worship it. God knew that, so He took steps before hand to make sure it didn’t happen. Once Satan recognized that God ruined his plans, he took it up with Michael. We have no idea the terrible things that Satan said to Michael. But we know there was a serious dispute between the two.

Why didn’t Michael just rebuke Satan or engage him in combat? Well, the obvious answer is that unlike the false teachers, he respected the position of Satan. Satan was a cherub, of a different order of angels than Michael (Ezekiel 28:14). Satan was and remains to be a very powerful being. Michael is as well (Daniel 10:13 and Rev. 12:7-8). But it was not the time for Michael to go to war. He respected the position of Satan as God’s anointed cherub and special creation.

Michael simply said “The Lord rebuke you”. Satan tried to provoke Michael, probably to intimidate him or possibly even to get him to fight. But Michael stayed strong and relied on the Lord.  Nothing else is said about the incident. We should assume that the Lord rebuked Satan. Michael resisted the devil and the devil had to flee. And he fled without the body of Moses!

v.10 The false teachers did not react to the forces of darkness like Michael. They spoke evil of them. Jude says they speak evil of “all they do not understand”. That shows the ignorance of the false teachers. They don’t even know what they are doing. They have invented a doctrine of communicating with demons. In our day we see it all the time. Preachers talk to demons inside of people, command Satan to do this and that, rebuke spirits and on and on. They do it usually out of ignorance.

In the second part of this verse Jude describes the false teachers as wild animals.  “Unreasoning animals” live by their instincts. They just follow their lusts. When they are hungry they eat. When they are thirsty they drink. The reference here shows that false teachers cannot control their sinful passions. They respond to their lust like its instinct. If they desire something they indulge in it. This leads to self corruption and self destruction.

v.11 In this verse Jude compares the false teachers to three Old Testament examples of ungodliness. He says “Woe to them” meaning that God has pronounced His judgment upon them.

*The way of Cain.  Cain was the older brother of Abel, the firstborn of Adam and Eve. Cain was driven into a jealous rage because the Lord rejected his sacrifice but received his brothers. In his rage he murdered his brother and was cursed by God (Gen. 4). Hebrews 11:4 says that Abel’s sacrifice was offered by faith and was therefore a better sacrifice. It’s also possible that Abel had the better sacrifice because he sacrificed an animal and Cain only gave a sacrifice of vegetables. Many have thought that God told the two that He required a blood sacrifice and Cain refused to give it. 1 John 3:12 says that Cain was “Of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous”.

Cain’s religion was at the very least devoid of faith and love. It was possibly devoid of truth as well if indeed the Lord had commanded him to offer an animal as a sacrifice. The false teachers had the same type of religion. It was built on a false faith a false love and was void of truth.

* Balaam. Jude says the false teachers “abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error”. Balaam was a prophet for hire. He was in the ministry for the money. He was hired by King Balak to curse Israel. Although he couldn’t curse them, he did ultimately corrupt them, which led to God cursing them (Num. 31:16). The false teachers were greedy people. They loved money. They would change their doctrine for a little extra change! The fact that Jude says they “abandoned themselves” shows how eager they are to engage in heresy if it will bring them money.

* Korah. This refers to Korah in the Old Testament. Korah started a rebellion against Moses (Num. 16). He was jealous of Moses and Aaron’s position as priests. He wanted to be a priest. Therefore, he and 250 others gathered themselves in opposition to Moses. As a result, God’s judgment fell on these men. The earth opened up and swallowed them all (Num. 16:32). This led to many of the Israelites getting upset at Moses (Num. 16:41). As a result of that the judgment of the Lord fell upon 14, 700 more people.

The false teachers of Jude’s day were hungry for power. They were jealous of the true men of God. Therefore they went outside of God’s authority and established their own. They, like Korah, also got many others to follow them, and even got people to sympathize with them. They could expect judgment just like Korah and his followers received.

All three of these examples show the selfish heart of an unredeemed person. Cain was jealous because God rejected his sacrifice and received Able’s. Balaam was selfish and wanted money. Korah was selfish and wanted power. The mark of a true man of God is selflessness. The false teachers of Jude’s day were anything but that.

Thoughts to Consider

1. Truth never needs to be established by anything other than the Bible.

2. God’s army only fights when He commands them to.

3. Pride is the number one problem of the false teacher.

4. Hell is full of prophets and preachers.