JUDE - Apostasy in Old Testament Prophecy (vs 14-16)

“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” Enoch prophesied of these apostates. This is the earliest recorded prophesy of a prophet, once again if it was not for Jude, we would not know anything about this, as it is not mentioned in the Old Testament. Jude here mentions that this Enoch is the seventh from Adam to ensure that we know exactly which Enoch he is talking about, there was another Enoch that was a descendent from Cain. We see Enoch mentioned in Genesis 5; 21-24. He is mentioned in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 verse 5, that he pleased God, verse 6 tells us how to please God. Enoch did not die, he was translated, or raptured. His walk with God would not have been a short easy walk, there were 300 years between verse 21 and verse 22. It involved agreement, surrender and witness. The prophesy is of Christ’s second coming. From this prophesy we learn 3 things about the second coming. 1) We learn that the Lord’s coming is sure. The prophesy is expressed in the past tense, it is written as history and therefore cannot be changed. It is not dependent or conditional on anything else happening. 2) We learn who is going to accompany him. Those who are saved will return with him along with the angels, this is also referred to in 1 Thess 3;13. 3) We learn of the purpose of his coming. To bring judgement upon the earth and those who have not believed, to those that are ungodly. Verse 16 “These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.” These are murmurers(grumblers),complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage (flattering people to gain advantage) a. Grumblers, complainers… they mouth great swelling words, flattering people: Jude noticed that their methods all revolved around words. On top of their questionable lives, they were essentially a people of deception. b. These are grumblers, complainers: These people were complainers. It has rightly been observed that whenever a man gets out of touch with God, he is likely to begin complaining about something. i. Grumbling “is to insult the God who gives us all things; it is to forget that whatever befalls us God is still in control. ii. You know the sort of people alluded to here, nothing ever satisfies them. They are discontented even with the gospel. Spurgeon said,“They will pick holes in every preacher’s coat; and if the great High Priest himself were here, they would find fault with the colour of the stones of his breastplate.” c. Flattering people: These certain men knew how to use smooth, flattering words to get an advantage over other people. They would say anything – good or bad – to get an advantage. d. Professional approach to the gospel and worship, to please man’s affections, preaching what man wants to hear and using their own techniques to “drum” up the spirit.