WWUTT 473 Hidden Reefs?

In the book of Jude, he goes through a series of metaphors to help us understand what these false teachers are like, and unless we are discerning, they will cause others to make shipwreck of their faith and lead them astray when we understand the text.

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Thank you, Becky. In Psalm 32, verses 8 and 9, we read, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curved with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near to you.

This goes with something we read yesterday in Jude, where it says that the false teachers are like unreasoning animals and they do what they understand instinctively from their own sinful hearts.

Here in Psalm 32, David says, don't be like them, the unreasoning animals who do not have understanding.

Instead, be the one who has the instruction and the teaching of the Lord with his eye upon you, that he may show you the way that you should go.

We come back to the Word of God again today. In Jude, verses 8 through 13, yet in like manner, these people also relying on their dreams defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

But when the archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, the

Lord rebuke you. But those people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.

These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead uprooted, wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their own shame, wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

If you've not yet listened to what we have studied in this particular paragraph this week,

I would encourage you to do so, listening back to Monday and Tuesday's episodes of the broadcast.

We're going to come now to verse 12 with this series of metaphors that Jude uses to describe these false teachers.

We might get a better picture of what they are like and what we should be watching out for. He first describes them as hidden reefs.

Now, what's the significance of that picture? Well, what's a reef? A reef is coral, right?

Well, it's quite a bit more than that. It's also the rock that the coral grows on. There can be other mineral deposits, sandbars, the sand hardening into sandstone.

And there are also islands in a reef, the reef rising above the surface of the water and forming islands.

Perhaps the most famous reef is the Great Barrier Reef, which is along the northeastern side of Australia, something like fifteen hundred miles long and includes nine hundred islands.

But most of the reef is under the surface of the water and poses quite a hazard for ships as they try to get close to Australia.

You can't see the reef. They'll crash into it. Now, of course, with with our advanced technology today, they can map the reef.

They know where it's at. They can transmit that information to the ships. So there's not many shipwrecks, but they still will happen.

I remember a big news story several years back of an ocean liner, an ocean oil, a big oil vessel crashed into the reef and spilled millions of gallons of oil there on that northeastern side of Australia.

So shipwrecks do happen. And that's the kind of hazard that a reef poses. And Jude specifically here calls them hidden reefs.

So this isn't like the reef that rises above the surface of the water or forms islands.

It's the it's the reef that's under the water that ships can crash into. These false teachers are hidden reefs at your love feast as they feast with you without fear.

So they are fellowshipping with you in your church. And you don't even know that they are there, but they can cause shipwreck to your faith.

Now, that's a picture that Paul has used in going back to first Timothy chapter one.

He has sent Timothy to Ephesus to be an elder there at the Ephesian church and is giving

Timothy instructions on what he's supposed to do there, what Paul intends for him to do with this church that he loves so much.

And the very first instruction that he gives Timothy is to charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than stew rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

What's the stewardship from God? It is the sound, true gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is what Timothy is to preserve and teach and encourage the other elders in and not let anyone else teach anything that leads to speculation or anything apart from the sound words of the gospel of Christ.

And as Paul goes on toward the end of that chapter, first Timothy one verse 18, he says this charge,

I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them, you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.

In other words, holding so true to the faith and teaching what has come from Christ and what has been taught by the apostles so that you would not teach anything that defiles your conscience, have no reason to feel guilty over anything that you have taught.

And you will not have to be concerned over what you've taught as long as what you're teaching comes from Christ.

It is the truth from the one who called himself the truth, the way, the truth and the life.

So then Paul goes on by rejecting this, by rejecting the truth of Christ.

Some have made shipwreck of their faith. That's first Timothy chapter one, verse 19, among whom are

Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, that they may learn, they may learn not to blaspheme.

Now, we don't know exactly what it was that Hymenaeus and Alexander were teaching in that church, but we know that whatever it was, it was necessary to remove them from the church so that they would feel guilty over what it was that they believed and what they tried to dupe other people into believing.

This term that Paul uses here that he's handed them over to Satan. This is the same term that he uses in first Corinthians five when he's talking about the sexually immoral man that is in the

Corinthian church that needs to be removed, have nothing to do with a person who calls himself a brother, but is guilty of sexual immorality.

Purge the evil person from among you, Paul says, turn him over to Satan. So he needs to be removed from the church that he would be so convicted over his sin, realizing that he is no longer in the protection of the body.

He does not have fellowship with the body of Christ so that he would repent of his sin and come back into righteousness.

And the grace of God would be displayed when the church welcomes him back and forgives him of his sin.

And we have a picture of that also in second Corinthians, where in chapter four, it seems to talk about that man having been forgiven and needing to be welcomed back.

So that's the term that's used there in first Corinthians chapter five. He uses it here again to describe

Hymenaeus and Alexander. So we know that whatever it was they taught was severe enough. They needed to be kicked out of the church.

And at the time that Paul had written this to Timothy, they had yet to repent and come back.

They made shipwreck of their faith and were attempting to shipwreck others. And so Paul had handed them over to Satan, had them removed from the church that they would learn not to blaspheme the glorious ones, just as Jude has warned about the false teachers doing here in his letter.

So once again, describing these false teachers as hidden reefs causing shipwreck of the faith, this was likely a kind of terminology that was used among the apostles because Paul has clearly used it in first Timothy chapter one and Jude refers to it again in verse twelve, only in a slightly different way, but still with the same effect, causing a shipwreck of the faith.

They're hidden reefs at your love feasts as they feast with you without fear. They don't even think that what they believe and what they are teaching is a problem.

They are utterly convinced that they are right and there's no fear of God in them.

And so this is why they're not going to expose themselves. They're not going to come out to you and they're going to say, oh, hey, by the way,

I'm a false teacher. So be careful with what it is that I say. Of course not. No false teachers going to present themselves this way.

This is why we need to discernment. We need to know the truth of the word of God so that we can test every counterfeit that comes through the door.

It requires discernment of testing according to the scriptures because Jude goes on to describe them as shepherds feeding themselves.

So they look just like the other shepherds or the illustration that Jesus uses in the is that they are wolves in sheep's clothing.

They look just like they belong in the flock. But underneath is somebody who is ready to devour.

There's another connection to referring to them as shepherds. And this goes back to Ezekiel, when the shepherds of Israel were not feeding the people of Israel as God had instructed them to do.

So when Ezekiel chapter 34, there is a prophecy against the shepherds of Israel.

Ezekiel writes, the word of the Lord came to me, 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 you have been feeding yourselves.

You eat the fat. You clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.

The weak, you have not strengthened the sick. You have not healed the injured. You have not bound up the straight.

You have not brought back the lost. You have not sought. And with force of harshness, you have ruled them.

So they were scattered because there was no shepherd. So describing them after their enemies had come upon them and had stricken the people of Israel and they became food for all the wild beasts.

My sheep were scattered. They wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill.

My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth with none to search or seek for them.

Therefore, you shepherds hear the word of the Lord as I live declares the Lord God surely because my sheep have become a prey and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts since there was no shepherd and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep.

Therefore, you shepherds hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, behold,

I am against the shepherds and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep.

No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths that they may not be food for them.

And then the Lord God goes on to talk about seeking them out. For thus says the Lord God, behold,

I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out 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 on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

And this is actually prophetic concerning the coming of Christ, because here what

Jesus says in John chapter 10, truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way.

That man is a thief and a robber, but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the gatekeeper opens the sheep, hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.

A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers.

This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. That's John 10, six.

So he is calling upon the word of God as it was delivered to Ezekiel. And these, the teachers in Israel who should have known the words of Ezekiel did not understand what

Jesus was referring to. So Jesus said to them again, verse seven, truly, truly, I say to you,

I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them, referring to the shepherds that Ezekiel was rebuking in Ezekiel 34.

All who come before me were thieves and robbers, but I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

And you probably know that as John 10, 10, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep.

So Jesus showing himself to be the fulfillment of the prophecy as it was given to Ezekiel concerning the

Lord who would find his own and no longer use the shepherds of Israel to feed the sheep of God.

And then Jesus commissioned his apostles. Remember what he said to Peter when he reinstated

Peter after Peter denied him three times. So this is right at the very end of the book of John chapter 21, when after they finished breakfast,

Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these referring to the disciples?

Because if you'll remember before Jesus was arrested, Peter said to Jesus, even if these all fall away,

I will never abandon you. But Jesus said to Peter, no, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

So now Jesus is asking him, do you really love me more than these? As you said, you did.

And Peter said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my lambs.

He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And he said to him, yes,

Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, tend my sheep. He said to him a third time,

Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me?

And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify

God. And after saying this, he said to Peter, follow me. And so this same thing that he has said to Peter is also being said to us, that we would feed the sheep of God.

So God took away that responsibility from the shepherds of Israel and has instead done so himself, found his sheep and gathered them to himself.

But he has appointed his disciples who are even among the sheep to feed the sheep, to shepherd the flock of God is the way

Peter himself puts it in first Peter chapter five as he takes the things that Jesus said to him. And then he says it to the other teachers in the church that they need to feed the flock of God.

This is the responsibility that is given to those who are teachers, that they feed

God's sheep. But we have those who are false shepherds, who Jesus describes as thieves and robbers in John 10, that Jude comes to as well.

In Jude verse 12, they're hidden reefs at your love feasts as they feast with you without fear.

They will make shipwreck of your faith by the things that they believe and teach. They are shepherds feeding themselves.

They are using the faith. They are using the name of Christ. They're using the church for their own shameful gain, feeding themselves at your love feasts, not just sitting at the same table, but even among the fellowship of the saints.

They are conning the church, receiving the money from the church and using it to fill themselves up.

Now, oftentimes when, uh, when we talk about this, we'll talk about false teachers who use this for shameful gain.

This is not just rich false teachers. You can also have a false teacher who just makes a living off of the church.

And maybe he doesn't even have the kind of go get them sort of an, uh, of an attitude.

He's not headstrong enough to make himself wealthy off of the church. Maybe he just doesn't even have the skill or the charisma to be able to do that.

He's not cunning enough, but he will still con the church just enough that he can make a living off of it and is still cashing a paycheck to pay his bills.

But in his heart, he is not truly with the Lord and what he teaches is not truly from the word of God.

This also would be a person who is feeding themselves and is hidden among your table looks like the rest of the saints.

And again, it uses discernment to know who is true and who is a follower of the devil.

Now, I don't think that this means that we need to have our cynical glasses on and be nitpicky of every person, but when those signs do show themselves, that we can connect the dots and realize there's something a little bit off about this person and their teaching does not jive with the word of God, which is why we need to know the word of God.

Well, submit yourselves to this, the inerrant, infallible, authoritative word of God and those who don't submit themselves to that authority are not the true shepherds of God's people.

Let us pray. That's as far as we're going to get in these analogies that have been painted for us here by Jude.

We'll have to pick this up and continue it again on Monday. Lord, we thank you for your word that by this word, we can test all things.

It is also from the Apostle John that we read in 1 John 4, 1 to test the spirits, for not every spirit is from God.

And there are many false prophets who have gone out into the world. So guide us according to your truth, as we read from Psalm 32 at the beginning of the lesson today.

Instruct us and teach us in the way that we should go. Counsel us with your eyes upon us so that we wouldn't be like instinctive animals following along irrationally with whatever it is that we think in our own minds and hearts, but that we have the word of God near to us as a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, giving light to the eyes and strength to the bones.

And so, Lord, we pray that you continue to guide us in these things in the name of Christ. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.