The Self-Judgment of Believers – Jude 1:16-19

SPEAKER 02 : 0:17

All throughout the Bible, God’s people are called to remember. Remember all that God has done. Remember His loving kindness. Remember how He saved you. Remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But how do we hold on to all that God wants us to remember? Well, the answer is pretty simple. By studying His Word and sharing it with others. We’re so glad that you’ve made time for our study on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. You know, one of Dr. McGee’s main goals in teaching the entire Bible was to help us to see the big picture. The unity of God’s Word as well as the steady message of His grace, His love, and His invitation to live a meaningful, God-honoring life now and for all eternity. We’re in the book of Jude, continuing right on schedule in our five-year journey. In this short letter, Jude reminds us of God’s mercy and then warns us about those who try to lead us astray from the truth. He calls them apostates, false teachers who often slip in unnoticed. But when we’re grounded in Scripture, we’ll be ready to recognize them. Before we dive into our study, let’s continue with Dr. McGee’s special introductions on the subject of judgments in the Bible.

SPEAKER 01 : 1:28

I want to come now to the next judgment, and that’s the self-judgment of believers. And we find that over in 1 Corinthians, and I think we should turn there, 1 Corinthians, the 11th chapter, verse 30. Will you notice the language here? It says, For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. Now, actually, that is the chastening judgment of God. upon believers. And we have that in Hebrews. I have a little book on the subject, Why Do God’s Children Suffer? Well, one of the reasons is it is a chastisement. It is a discipline. God is exercising that matter of chastening to get us ready for eternity. And he says here that because of the sin committed at the Lord’s table and the way they observed it, he said, many are sick among you and some die. That is the judgment of God in chastening believers. Now he opens up another way, the self-judgment of believers. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened to the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. So that when you and I judge ourselves, and we can judge ourselves, we can go to God in confession of our sin. If we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us. Our sin cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Now, when a Christian does that, he’s judged himself. When you and I are willing to look at ourselves as God does, and that’s what it means to confess. It’s homo legeo in the Greek, and it means to say the same thing God says. God says it’s sin. Now, if you’re willing to say that that thing in your life is sin, and you want to be free of it, and you go in confession to God, then God will not judge you. But if you don’t settle that problem, why, you can be sure one thing, God will judge you. Now, you have this also mentioned up in the upper room when the Lord Jesus said, I’m the true vine and you’re the branches and every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he prunes it. Well, that’s the chastening of the Lord. God wants to get fruit in our lives. And sometimes he has to prune us. He has to trim us down. in order to do that. Now, there together, we have a self-judgment of the believer and the chastening judgments of God. And they are together. Now, we come to the fourth, which is the judgment of believers’ works. And this is one of the most important of all. I’ll have to, of course, save it until next time. The judgment of believers’ works. And that’s going to take place, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, 9th and 10th verse there, that we all, that is, all of believers, we all must appear before the judgment seat. And that’s an unusual word. It was used of civil court in that day. I’ve seen the bema that’s in Corinth, by the way. And the Lord Jesus said, Lord Jesus is going to judge us for rewards. It hasn’t anything to do with salvation. We’ll talk about that next time.

SPEAKER 02 : 5:00

Join us next time for more on this continuing look at God’s judgments and, as we learned, also His rewards. As you open your Bible and find your place in Jude, here’s a meaningful letter from a listener in Africa. She writes, In recent years, I’ve gone through a very difficult time at home. Constant conflict, misunderstandings, and the weight of responsibility nearly crushed me. My heart was full of bitterness and anger, and I saw no way out. One day, a close friend, seeing my distress, told me about your program. She said it brought her comfort in her own hard times. Curious but hesitant, I began to listen in secret. What I heard was unlike anything I’ve ever known. The program spoke of forgiveness, unconditional love, and a peace I had never experienced. Each episode felt like it was speaking directly to me, as if someone truly understood my struggles. Slowly I began to let go of my anger. I learned to forgive my husband and others who had hurt me. Now my home isn’t perfect, but my heart is at peace. I still listen quietly and I thank you for guiding me to light in the darkness. Isn’t that beautiful? I love what she said. My home isn’t perfect, but my heart is at peace. Let’s pray that that same peace would be a part of our lives as we study God’s word together. Heavenly Father, thank you for the power of your living and active word. Speak to us now. Pierce our hearts with truth and comfort us with your promises and then help us to be faithful to share all its precious truths. Give us your peace to sustain us in the days ahead. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Now let’s turn to Jude 16 as we continue going through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

SPEAKER 01 : 6:40

Now we are finishing verse 16. And we saw last time that apostates are labeled again by five different designations. They’re called murmurers. That is, they’re discontented. They’re complainers. They don’t like their lot in life. They find fault with everything that happens to them. And walking after their own lusts, it means simply their desires. And they can be very base and immoral, or they can be those that pass today as very civilized life, to be interested in music, to be interested in sailing a boat, There’s some people that that sort of thing is their religion. They live to satisfy their craving and overweening desires, and then they speak great swelling words. That’s an addiction to flowery, extravagant, and exaggerated language. but doesn’t mean a thing. It’s like fuzz and fizz and foam. It’s that type of speaking that really has no content in it at all. I think the politicians, I was rather amused listening to one the other night that was being questioned, and he brought in a great deal of modern words that are being overworked today. He talked about a certain program that was productive. And he talked a great deal about that we must do this to help people, you know, that type of thing. Well, when I analyzed it, when he got through, he hadn’t said anything. He had just been talking, that’s all, and had not committed himself to anything whatsoever. Well, there are a great many today that are in the ministry that talk like that too, by the way. And having man’s person in admiration because of advantage. This simply means that they do not look to God, but they look to man. They look to man for their promotion, their advantage. They do not look to God at all. This is something that we’ve had up before. You remember James had something to say about this over in the second chapter of the book of James, verse 1. Listen to this. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man and vile raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool. I went into a church some time ago where I was to preach. And they did not know me very well. That is, the ushers certainly didn’t. And so I thought that I would just go in and not identify myself at all. Well, when I walked up, two ushers were busy talking to each other. And they paid no attention to me. And so I just waited, never said a word. And finally, one of them said, you want a bulletin? I said, yes, thank you. And I took a bulletin. And then he said, where do you want to sit? And I said, well, I don’t know. Just where would you want to seat me? Well, he says, how about taking that seat right there? Well, it wasn’t about to take me down front. And there were plenty of seats down front. I got there very early. And he was not in a friendly mood at all. So that I never said anything. I just walked on down. I didn’t sit down. I walked on back. And then I came out on the platform later and I looked back at that usher. Believe me, he was white. After the service, he came up to me very apologetically. You know, he said, I didn’t know you were going to be our preacher today. You were Dr. McGee and that sort of thing. And I said to him, I said, well, it really wasn’t very important for you to recognize me at all because, very frankly, I was going to preach here today, and I was going to preach here regardless of whether the ushers let me in or not. But I said, I really think it is important. That you usher strangers and visitors to a seat and be very friendly to them. I think that would be important. Now, that’s the thing that you find today. And I have noted this, especially in church circles, do you find this? I’ve noticed certain schools. One school will give a man from another school a doctor’s degree, something he didn’t work for. So that school, in turn, turns around and invites the brother down there that gave him a degree. They give him a degree up there. And so they can call each other doctor from then on. And then they talk about how wonderful each one is. And that’s true sometime of preachers. We go to a place and the pastor there introduces us as some great person as if we were and we’re not. And then he comes over to our place and we introduce him as some great person. And he may be, I don’t know. But the point is that that’s the method that is pursued. And frankly, that’s the method of apostate. They do not look to God. They are not concerned to hear the Lord Jesus say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. They’re more interested in the applause of the crowd of what people say. And I think that today is one of the curses of the ministry. And I do not mean to be ugly or pick on my brethren because There were so many wonderful men, and many of them very courageous. But I was at a certain conference, and a very timid preacher came up to me. And he said to me, do you preach in your church the way that you are speaking here? And I said, why, certainly, why not? Well, he says, why, if I preach that way in my church, I’m confident that I would have to resign. Well, I said, I certainly feel sorry for you, and I think the church is in a very bad way. Why, I said, of course I speak that way. I said, the message that you just heard me give, I gave it in my own church before I came up here. I practiced on them so I could give it to this group up here. I don’t quite understand that today, but that does happen to be one of the marks of an apostate, having man’s person in advantage, in admiration, because of some advantage they will get from it. In other words, they’re looking to men for promotion and not looking to God for promotion. Now, this is certainly a condemnation of these men. Now we’ve come to the section that I’ve labeled the occupation of believers in days of apostasy. Now, we’re going to see next time this matter of what can believers do in days of apostasy? What can real believers do? Well, we’ll be looking at that next time. But here, believers are warned by apostles that these apostates would come. In other words, this ought not to disturb us. This is something that God has permitted, and he’s permitted it for a purpose. and therefore we need to recognize that. Now he says here, and you will notice that he uses the term, but beloved. Now he’s turning away from the apostates, describing them, and he says, but beloved. In other words, he’s turning the page, as it were, turning the coin over. Now Now he’s talking to the beloved. Now the beloved are not those beloved of Jude. However, I think he loved them because he wouldn’t have written this strong epistle if he hadn’t loved them. He’s telling them the truth. But the word that he uses means they’re beloved of God. These are the ones that are experiencing the love of God in their lives. And for that reason, they’re called beloved. Now he says to them here, remember, remember. This is something that you and I are going to carry over into the next life, a memory. You remember the Lord Jesus said to that rich man that died and he went to a place of torment. He said to him, remember, remember in your lifetime you had these things. Now, that’s part of this darkness that’s going to be the state of the lost. I think that when they look back, They’re going to remember what they did in this life. I think all of us are going to do that. Thank God our sins are blotted out because, friends, if they were not, we’d be tortured in our own minds because memory is carried over. And all the way through the Word of God, you will find that we’re told to remember. In other words, they are to remember the Word of God. You and I should know the Word of God so that our memory can call it up when we need to have these great truths brought to our attention. In other words, believers should know the Word of God. In other words, you should go through the Bible with us for five years. And I think that’s very scriptural, by the way. And he says now, “…but, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Apparently, Jude was not an apostle, and he takes a very humble position, though the half-blood brother of the Lord Jesus takes a very humble position. He actually uses the apostles to corroborate what he’s going to say. He says, he’s done this before, you remember. In fact, he said, what I’m going to write to you about the apostasy. It’s not new with me. I’m not the only one that’s written on it. Others have written on it. They’ve written of it beforehand. Now he says, here you are to remember the words that were spoken to you by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, you’re to know what the Word of God has to say. And we’re going to see before we finish this epistle, that’s all essential. I do not believe that you can span in this world for God and not trip up unless you have a knowledge of the Word of God today. It is essential. I have seen individual after individual Both men and women trip up and fall, and you can attribute everyone that I know about, you contribute to a lack of a knowledge of the Word of God. How important it is for us to know what the Word of God has to say. Now, we come to something that is very important. And here is a place where I feel I need a special anointing of the Holy Spirit to even speak about it, because this is something that is, I feel, all important and a distinction that’s not always made today. Now, will you listen to this? How they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These are they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit. This is very important for us to see. Now, as we move into it. I want to drop back and give you Dr. Wiest’s translation of verse 16. Now, he’s speaking of these apostates. These are complainers against their lot, ordering their course of conduct in accordance with their own passionate cravings, and their mouths speaking immoderate, extravagant things, catering to personalities for the sake of advantage.” Now, he says, but you remember what the apostles said to you. They told you there were going to come mockers in the last times. And they would walk after their own ungodly lusts. That is, their desires are totally apart from God and the will of God. In other words, he defines them here as being sensual. They separate themselves, and they do not have the Holy Spirit. Now, I feel I should pass on to you here something that’s very important. First of all, they cause divisions in the church. They separate themselves. They cause divisions in the church. They draw a line through the church and set off one part from another. That’s what liberalism did. It split the church. The organized church. The great denominations were split by liberals. It wasn’t the fundamentalists who divided. He just held to what the church had always believed. They were first called modernists that came along. Why? They wanted to change things, be modern. And that’s the way they got that name. They never liked it. They like the name of liberal today. But the liberal, instead of being broad-minded, is to my judgment, whether he’s in theology or politics, he’s the most narrow-minded person in the world. And frankly, a dangerous man to deal with because he’ll deal with you in a vitriolic manner and with bitterness and hatred and will not mind hurting you. I can assure you that. Now, that is the thing Dr. Vinson says. They cause divisions in the church. Now, they’re called sensual, and the word is supercoast. We get our word psychology from that. It means a life that centers about the individual. That is the I. It’s an egotistical way of living. so that the individual becomes all-important. I come first. It is selfish. It is natural. It means he’s unrenewed. He’s not born again at all. Now, I want to read a statement of Alford here. He says the psuche, that is the soul, is the center of the personal being, the I of each individual. It is in each man bound to the spirit, man’s higher part, and to the body, now man’s lower part, drawn upwards by the one, downward by the other. Now he who gives himself up to the lower appetites is sarcocos, that is fleshly. He who by communion of his spirit with God’s spirit is employed in the higher aims of his being, and he is a pneumatikos man, a spiritual man. And the natural man, the sensual man, he’s a selfish man that lives like an animal. He wants to get all he can. He wants to eat all he can. He wants to get all the money he can. He wants to get all the favor that he can down here. He lives entirely for himself. Now this has to do. With man in his makeup today, when you and I come to Christ and trust him as Savior, we are given a new nature. That new nature can now respond to the Holy Spirit of God. We’re renewed in the spiritual part of our life. Now we can respond to the Spirit of God. But we still have that old nature. We’re still fleshly. We can live in the flesh. Now, Paul had a great deal to say about that. And I want to turn back to the eighth of Romans and very briefly in closing, look at this. He says in Romans 8, verse 5, for they that are after the flesh. Now, this is that natural man. This is the apostate. They do mind the things of the flesh. That’s all they’re interested in. But they, they’re after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. They seek to please God. Now, verse 6, “…for to be carnally minded is death.” That is, if a believer is carnally minded, it’s total separation from God. No fellowship whatsoever. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. He’ll really live it up if he lives in the Spirit and attempts to please God. Or the Spirit, instead of going downward and doing the things the flesh wants to do, does the things that God wants done. Now he goes on. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, it’s not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Now you and I have that kind of a nature. But if we have a new nature, that nature can respond to God. But that old nature, Paul says in verse 8, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. You cannot please God in the flesh. These things that characterize the flesh, it’s only when you and I yield to God and come to the place where He can use us. Now, let me read the translation that Dr. Wiest has here of this section. “‘But as for you, divinely loved ones, remember the words which were spoken previously by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ that they were saying to you in the last time, there shall be mockers ordering their course of conduct in accordance with their own passionate cravings, which are destitute of reverential awe towards God. These are those who cause divisions. They are egocentric, not holding the spirit. Now, that is a marvelous translation. We must leave off there. May God richly bless you, my beloved.

SPEAKER 02 : 25:14

Join us next time for more of Dr. McGee’s great teaching in the book of Jude. Until then, to be in touch, contact us through our app, call 1-800-65-BIBLE or email us at biblebus at ttb.org. We’re grateful for our committed listening family who faithfully pray and invest in Through the Bible as we together take the whole word to the whole world.