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Fred R. Coulter—December 16, 1995
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| We are not going to go specifically through the book of Jude verse-by-verse, but I've combined 2-Peter 2 and Jude together, because they give the same story flow and actually give us quite a few more details in it. We're talking a awful lot about false prophets, various kinds of rebellion and what God does. We need to understand something that's very important: It doesn't matter who or what you are, sin is still sin.
You go back and you look at even the first man and woman that God created. They didn't say, 'Well, God, You know I'm the first man You created and this is the first woman You created, surely we have a right to do whatever we want.' Of course, that didn't work with God either. They had their punishment because of their sin.
We're just going to review a couple of things so that we can understand that God is going to bring judgment because of sin. Punishment does not come real quickly does not mean that it isn't going to eventually come. Most people who sin, and knowingly sin, they either attach the name of God to it to give them license to do it, or they avoid the inevitable because punishment doesn't come instantly.
Ecclesiastes 8:11: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him" (vs 11-12).
All of Israel (Jude 5)
Remember, we talked about Israel. Even though all Israel sinned, did God punish all of Israel because of their sin against God and not accepting going into the 'promised land'? Yes, He did! How did He judge them? As we saw, He judged them 'out of their own mouth!' He said, 'Okay, the sentence they accused Me of, I'm going to judge against you.'
Jude 5: "But I personally want to remind you, though you once understood this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, in the second place destroyed those who did not believe."
We have the angels (2-Peter 2:4)
God did not even spare the angels. When the angels sinned and rebelled, God had to judge them and take care of them.
The reason that I'm going through this is because we need to understand that sin is sin and it doesn't matter who or what you are or how many you are, God is still going to hold it all accountable. And if He doesn't judge instantly, as we think that He ought to, nevertheless, God is still going to—in His time!
And God spared not the ancient world
Let's go back to Genesis 6 for just a minute, because this will tie in when we come to the section there: the three distinct ways—which are in addition to these—the way of Cain. This is an appropriate place to read it into the record—sometimes it's good to have things contained within the context of what we are studying. We need to review how bad it really was. Let's remind ourselves of what Jesus said: 'As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.' Whatever they were doing back there is what is going to be happening here. Isn't it interesting that everything we look out and see how things are developing—we have one-worldism, we have globalism, we have all of these things coming closer and closer together.
Now, I don't know if they had what is called the mark of the beast back then, but they're getting down now to electronic transactions. Everything electronic. They have experimented in Australia and in England and I think in one town in Iowa, and they use what is called 'monex'—that's a card, has a number on it. The next step which they are going to introduce—which a lot of people are going to accept—is 'debit cards'—you go the bank and they stick it in a machine and they say, okay, we're going to give you a thousand dollars worth of debits on this; you can use this for a phone—they actually have this in major tourist areas, which you can get, you don't have to have any money for a phone or anything, you just stick the card in, takes so much off, deducts it out of it and keeps a running balance on the card—so it tells you how much they can really do with these cards.
It's not a credit card where then you build up a balance that you pay off. This is a debit card. You start off with a plus balance and you take it down. When you run out of money you can't use it—it says, 'sorry, out of debits.' And they're going to make this to fit into phones, into parking meters. I think they going to try and devise a way where they can just have all regular commuters across the bridges—just have a little readable chip on their fender or corner of their car and you just drive straight thru, and it clicks up whatever you owe and they bill you at the end of the month. You can have special number that clicks up and takes it right off your bank account you don't even have to worry about it. So, it's quite amazing concerning those little, teeny chips that were shown me—it's amazing what they can do with those.
Let's look at the moral side of it, because we're seeing the way that the world is today—and by the way, there are more dangerous diseases coming out of the jungles of South America which make the Ebola disease look like a bad case of the flu.
Genesis 6:5: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…. [That is a broad sweeping indictment. It wasn't that there were just a few who were evil, now we have the whole civilization so bad that]: …And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart" (vs 5-6).
Now, that takes an awful lot to do, especially when you understand that God knows the beginning from the end. Jesus said, 'I am the Beginning and the Ending. I am the First and the Last.' But this even got so bad that it grieved God! He knew it was going to get bad, because when you give free moral agency, you must have free moral agency and you can exercise free moral agency, and God does not intervene in the free moral agency. But, what surprised God was how far they went! How evil it got!
This is how the pagan societies got right after the Flood. We don't know how far they got scientifically in their development. We don't know the different things that they did, but if it's just like it is today. We won't go through the whole chapter here. You can go back and tie in various different things here. You can tie this in morally, sexually, intellectually, every other way you want to.
Romans 1:28—this is the key: "And in exact proportion as they did not consent to have God in their knowledge, God abandoned them to a reprobate mind, to practice those things that are immoral." There comes a point in rejecting God that God says, 'Okay, I'm just going to give you a mind totally void of any judgment.' That's what 'reprobate' means. You can't decide what is right and wrong, you're just going to give yourself continually over to evil.
Verse 29: "Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, guile, evil dispositions, whisperers, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things and practices… [and that's what we are seeing today; great inventions of evil things] …disobedient to parents, void of understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable and unmerciful… [now then, here is the key: when people reach a certain point.]: …who, knowing the righteous judgment of God… [there are some of those in different positions, high and low positions who know the judgment of God, but have determined to set their course against God.] (Just like it's recorded here): …that those who commit such things are worthy of death, not only practice these things themselves, but also approve of those who commit them" (vs 29-32).
This is what we are dealing with, with the whole society. If the whole world sins against God, is that going to stop God's judgment? No! Let's look at it this way: let's just talk for just a minute about how it's going to be with the two witnesses. They're going to be two men testifying against all the evils in the world. And what is the world going to end up doing to them? Killing them! That's how the world will view this. That's how the world was viewing what was happening here with God.
You would have to imagine that they got a point that they felt that they themselves had as much knowledge as God and they could defy God and get away with it. They had to have felt that way. If there is any fear of God, even an evil person will stop at a certain point. But when you get to this point, where you're only thinking evil, you must have in mind that you're as good as God, you're greater than God; so God let's them continue in that and then brings a judgment upon them.
Genesis 6:7: "And the LORD said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the crawling thing, and the fowl of the air; for I repent that I have made them.'" What was so grievous here that God had destroy all life? That's something! All animal life! All bird life! All the creeping things!
Verse 8: "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generations…"(vs 8-9)—genealogy. Why would it say that he was perfect in his genealogy unless all the other human beings had corrupted their way and had corrupted the genealogy.
This was brought up in discussion earlier that there is a man who received the marrow of a baboon just this past week. He may live for a while, but there may be a reaction against it. Could it be that at that time that they learned the secrets of genetics? Isn't that what man is trying to do today? They learned how to combine different genes and come up with all of these weird-looking animals and creatures that God had to destroy! You think about how many times God said to Israel, 'turn, repent, change and I'll hold back My judgment.' But here is the whole world, the whole civilization.
Notice there are two things that he (Noah) had in order to receive this grace:
- perfect in his generations
- walked with God
We're going see that's important, that's very important.
Verse 10: "And Noah begat three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now, the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt—for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth" (vs 10-12). That's corrupting God's way! This could be translated either way. They corrupted God's way or every way of all flesh was corrupted.
Verse 13: "And God said to Noah, 'The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.'" Again, God brings His judgment according to what they were boasting. So, this really some mammoth, powerful things we're dealing with when we are going through 2-Peter and Jude. We're talking about the mammoth sins that God expects the whole world to learn from.
Jude 7—we're still reviewing—and we have been talking about Sodom and Gomorrah—the rebellious, impetus lifestyle, or sexual immorality. Of course, men have always tried to say 'God will overlook it.' They went further in the pagan religions. They made sexual immorality a part of their religious ceremonies. You can go back and read about the temples in Babylon and so forth. He's saying here that it doesn't matter if you have a whole group together—and I'm still waiting to find out what's going to happen to San Francisco because it's going to happen. One of these days something drastic is going to happen in San Francisco and the whole so-called 'gay' community is going to be completely and absolutely ravaged. I would not want to be the mayor of San Francisco. As a matter of fact I don't even want to go into the city.
2-Peter 2:6: "And having reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, condemned them with a catastrophic destruction, making them an example…" God has done all of these things for an example.
I remember when I joined the army—I was very intelligent to do so. I joined for three years when I could have volunteered for two; it tells you something about the thought-process of youth. We went down to Ft. Ord for basic training, and they get you in and they always do it—just like in the movies—'how would you like your hair cut?' oh, a little here and a little there. And they do, they take all of it off and they give you this real short haircut. Then they march us out and they march us down to orientation and here comes the general out there, dressed up and had his hat on, light on the stage and here are all these recruits sitting out there and we're looking at him and he says: 'I want to tell you one thing: I've learned through the years, a wise man will learn from his mistakes; but a wiser man will learn from the mistakes of others.'He said, 'Now, I don't want any of you to forget that.' At least I remembered it. That is a truism out of the Bible. That is absolutely true!
This is what God is trying to tell us with these examples. You read 1-Cor. 10, that all these things 'happened to them as examples' so that we don't do the same thing. Let's come down here to v 9, because there's always interjected into these things of condemnation; there is always a little hope—so v 9 gives us a little hope.
2-Peter 2:9: "The Lord knows how to deliver the Godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unrighteous to the day of judgment to be punished." Of course we know that 'judgment is on the house of God.'
Verse 12: "But these—as irrational brute beasts, born to be caught and killed—are blaspheming those things of which they are ignorant…"
It says in v 10 that men are blaspheming angels. How do you blaspheme angels? Well, I think you blaspheme angels by attributing to demons the things the angels of God should be doing. And I think that you blaspheme angels by putting demons as points of worship rather than looking to God and the true angels. There's a lot of angel stuff out there in the world today—how to get in touch with your angel and all of this sort of thing. All of that is just spirit-divination. Nowhere are we instructed in the Scriptures anywhere to get in touch with our so-called 'guardian angel.' We have guardian angels watching over us, and we don't know them, we don't talk to them, we don't see them; and most of all, they should not be worshiped at all. But this is what they are teaching in society and that's how they are blaspheming angels.
Verse 12: "But these—as irrational brute beasts, born to be caught and killed—are blaspheming those things of which they are ignorant andwill be utterly destroyed in their own corruption."
Now notice, God always brings the judgment upon them that they accuse God of—always! Verse 13: "They are bringing upon themselves the reward of unrighteousness, while finding pleasure in satisfying their lustful desires in the daytime…."
Why does he say 'daytime'? Because when sinners get so bold that their lustful indulgences just come right out in the open, in the broad, bright daylight, they are arrogant; they are contemptuous; they are going against God in such terrible and horrible ways. Then it affects the Church.
"…They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their own deceptions, while feasting together with you; having eyes full of adultery… [they're supposed to have their minds on God, but they don't] …and that cannot cease from sin… [almost like 'every imagination of the thought is only evil continually.'] …they are engaged in seducing unstable souls; having a heart trained in lustful craving—cursed children" (vs 13-14). They know how to work the angles; they know how to come in and conquer with words.
Now then, let's review just a little bit more: Jude 11: "Calamity be to them! For they have walked in the way of Cain… [We're going to see today the way of God/the way of Truth; the way of Cain/the way of unrighteousness.] …and for gain, they have wholly given themselves up to Balaam's delusion, and have perished in the rebellion of Korah."
2-Peter 2:15: "Who have abandoned the straight way. They have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the reward of wickedness."
We ended up last time where there is pleasure in sin for a season. Now let's go back and look at the other three major areas of sin: Israel, the angels and the whole world. The next three are specific ways: The way of Cain; and Balaam; and Korah, So, we're going to take these in that particular order:
The Way of Cain
Let's go to Genesis, the fourth chapter. The way of Cain is that which led to the way the world was in its destruction; and Cain, by choice, decided to do what he did. Always remember this: Sin, when it becomes willful, is a choice. And when it becomes a choice that it is planned and practiced, then it becomes a way of life. The way of Cain was that he was completely rejecting God's way; yet, in his attitude was demanding that God accept him. This means that the way of Cain is actually setting yourself in the place of God. We're going to see at the end-time all of these things are going to be combined in the way that the world is at the end.
Genesis 4:3: "It came to pass that Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground." We are to bring firstfruits if you harvest; that is true. But this is something that was not pleasing to God. I read the account in Josephus, and Josephus says that he forced the ground; that he was a violently wicked person and so forth—which I believe is substantially true. So, this was something that was sin. This was something that God did not want brought—as we read how the priests do in Mal. 1 & 2.] …And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of it. And the LORD had regard unto Abel and his offering, but He did not have regard unto Cain and his offering. And Cain was extremely angry and his countenance fell" (vs 4-5).
Angry against God
Verse 6: "And the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you so angry? And why has your countenance fallen?'" He not only was angry but he probably figured whatever he did was plenty good enough for God, and if God didn't like it, that was tough—and expected God to accept it.
"'If you do well… [if you do what is proper—which then reflects back on the commandments of God] …shall you not be accepted? But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door….'" What Cain was doing—the way of Cain—is this: You accept my sin! It shows absolutely an attitude of no remorse, and absolute hardened heart toward God and toward sin. So God went on to show him.
"'…Its desire is for you… [If that's what you want sin is going to have its desire upon you. And that's what God did; He turned him over to his own devices.] …but you must rule over it!'" (vs 6-7). Even there God is saying that you are to overcome sin—not incorporate it, not make it part of your lifestyle and go along with it.
Now then, here comes something else—one sin leads to another. The whole example of the Days of Unleavened Bread is this: 'a little leaven leavens the whole lump.' Verse 8: "And Cain talked with his brother Abel. And it came to pass that when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him."
So, we have here just the savageness of going after those who are right. That's part of the way of Cain—to kill those who are righteous. As we're going through these things, I want you to think of all the different so-called organizations in the world that do that. We've got the Mafia; we have the Catholic Church; we have the Muslims; we have the voodooists; we have all of these people that get in and do these things. So, there's murder involved.
Verse 9: "And the LORD said unto Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' And he said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?' And He said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to Me from the ground…. [Tie this in with Gen. 18 where the Lord and the two angels came down and said, 'We're going to go to Sodom and Gomorrah and find if the 'cry of their sin' is as bad as what is 'reaching Our ears.' There is sin that cries out from the whole society.] (So here it is in this particular case): …And now you are cursed from the earth, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you, and you shall be a wanderer and a fugitive upon the earth.' And Cain said to the LORD, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear'" (vs 9-13). Sometimes the worst punishment is not death. Sometimes the worst punishment—as in the case of Cain—is to let him continue on in his evil. And look what happened to the whole society.
Verse 14: "'Behold, You have driven me out from the face of the earth today, and I shall be hidden from Your face…'" Another thing concerning the way of Cain [transcriber's correction] is this: you're totally cut off from God. After Adam and Eve were put out of the Garden of Eden, they could still come to the entrance of the Garden of Eden and they still could put their offerings there, and they could still talk with God. They could still have that contact with God. But now Cain is removed even further; he's put away, he has no contact with God; he has not even allowance to come to the entrance of where the Garden of Eden was.
"'…And I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth, and it shall be that anyone who finds me shall kill me'" (v 14). There was at least a reasonable amount of population on the earth at that particular time.
Verse 15: "And the LORD said to him, 'Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.'…." We're going to see how bad it got that Lamech, of the seventh generation, he slew Cain and bragged about it and said that 'now seventy times seven be the curse upon me.' So that shows how bad it really got.
"…And the LORD set a mark upon Cain so that anyone who found him should not kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and lived in the land of Nod… [land of wandering] …to the east of Eden… [clear away from God] …And Cain knew his wife… [he probably married one of his sisters] …and she conceived and bore Enoch…" (vs 15-17)
I want you to notice one thing about the way of Cain: They have names very similar to the names of those of the people of God. It's a whole counterfeit way that leads to war; that leads to sin, which will eventually destroy the whole earth. That's why the way of Cain starts out with the attitude of Cain.
The way of Baalim
Baalim is a very interesting example. Let's go to Numbers 22. Baalim was hired by Balak to come and bring a curse upon the children of Israel. We probably won't go through too many verses here—we'll just sort of summarize it. What happened, the agents of Balak came to Baalim. Baalim had a temple in what was called Pethor. Now you take away the 'h' and you have 'Petor.' And 'petor' is another word for 'potter'; another word for 'father'; another word for pope. So here was the one who was the Babylonian religious leader at Pethor on the River Euphrates. And they came and offered him tremendous amounts of money.
So, he said, 'Well, I got to check with the Lord to see if I can go.' And the Lord said, 'No, don't go.' He came back and complained to God: 'Oh, look at all that money, God, I've got to go. Just please let me go.' So God said, 'Okay, fine, you can go, but you aren't going to say anything more than I say.' He got up and God said, 'Okay, I'm going to go with you.' Then God gave him another witness by causing an angel to stand right in the way as they were going to Balak, knocked him off his donkey, and so Baalim got mad and was beating the animal because he didn't think he was going to be able to get the money; and then the angel of the Lord spoke through the mouth of the 'dumb ass' and rebuked him. Well, that wasn't enough, he said, 'Oh, Lord, please let me go.' So the Lord said, 'Okay, I'll let you go.'
Numbers 24 brings about the curses and so forth, and Balak really got upset. What I want you to understand is that Baalim went up onto the high places of Baal to curse. Now you can go back and read chapters 22-24 (don't want to get all involved into that and get bogged down into it). He wanted to use enchantment. Enchantments are using the curses of Satan. God will not allow Satan to come upon you, or the curses of Satan to come upon you, because someone else wants to—even if you haven't been as good as you ought to be.
Numbers 23:20: "Behold, I have received word to bless. And He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it." What I want you do is put in there the word 'grace'; because that has to do with the New Testament. What's so important is that if you are under grace and in good standing with God, under grace, then these things cannot touch you. They may bother you, but they cannot touch you. There's a vast difference.
Verse 21: "He has not seen iniquity in Jacob, neither has He seen perverseness in Israel.…" Yet, we read how that God in Num. 14 had to tell them, 'Look, you have tempted Me these ten times.' When it comes an enemy coming against the people of God, then God says: 'I haven't beheld iniquity, neither have I seen perverseness'
"…The LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a King among them.
22. God brought them out of Egypt. He has, as it were, the strength of an ox. Surely, there is no enchantment against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'What God has worked!'" (vs 21-23). So what God is working He is going to do!
So, then he [Baalim] went up and he tried to curse and all he could do was bless. He did this four times and Balak just came out of his gourd and said, 'Look, I hired you to curse.' And he said, 'Well, I can't do anything but bless, because God won't let me go beyond what He's already determined that He's going to do.' What happened: Baalim said, 'I can't do it, but I can tell you a way that you can.' This is part of the way of Baalim: Thatyou devise a way to get around God cursing them directly, by teaching them to sin. Have we not seen some of that today? Yes!
- Well, the Sabbath's not important
- Clean and unclean meat is not important
- Holy Days are not important
I read a letter that is so hard-hearted that it's unreal, that was written—stating very clearly—that because we are not under the Old Covenant there is no sin! This is exactly what Baalim was teaching the people to do. He was teaching them to sin, while calling it 'not sin'—that's the way of Baalim.
He told Balak, 'Look, I can't curse them, but you do this: You get all of the fine girls over here and you get down there and you have a feast, and you tell them what to do and you tell them this is to worship God; and remember, they just came out of Egypt so all of this will appeal to them. So, that's what he did. He caused them to commit fornication.
Numbers 25:1: "And Israel dwelt in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to their gods" (vs 1-2).
It's almost like Adam and Eve—isn't it? 'eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil'—it is to make one wise and desire and so forth. So, here we have the same thing here. 'Why, it's all right to do this.
Verse 3: "And Israel joined himself to Baal Peor… [Baal-worship; right off the bat. That's what all of these things and false doctrine come down to: various forms of Baal-worship.] …And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel." When you do sin in spite of God's blessing, then there's correction coming.
Let's notice what happened here, v 4: "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Take all the heads of the people and impale them before the LORD facing the sun, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.'…. [Go out there and slay them and cut off their heads.] …And Moses said to the judges of Israel, 'Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal Peor.'…. [those were the judges in the tribes, they were to find out who it was.] …And behold, a man of the children of Israel came and brought to his brethren a woman of Midian, in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation and took a spear in his hand. And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman, through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel" (vs 4-8).
This man who did this was one of the leading members of Israel. The way you get the ordinary people to sin is corrupt the leaders and have the leaders teach them to corrupt the people. Does this not sound familiar? Yes, indeed!
Verse 9: "And those that died in the plague were twenty-four thousand." Now, Phinehas was not popular among those people who died. Whenever anyone stands up and tells the truth, you're not popular. I mean, even in politics. Look at someone who stands up and says that the Catholic Church is the 'whore' of Rev. 17—you won't last! Homosexuality is wrong—you won't last! When someone stands up and says there's sin within the Church of God, they get angry at the person and say, 'Why you shouldn't say that, speak to us smooth things.' It's the same way here with Phinehas. But he got a blessing from God.
Verse 10: "And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 'Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the children of Israel in that he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not destroy the children of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, "Behold, I give him My covenant of peace"'" (vs 10-12).
So, as we went through the covenants and studied that, this is a special covenant to all the descendants of Eleazar because of what he did. So God respects righteousness, just as we covered last time: Those who keep His commandments and love Him to a thousand generations.
(go to the next track)
Verse 14: "And the name of the Israelite who was killed… [so God names names—doesn't He? Yes, God names names—sometimes you have to.] …he who was struck with the woman of Midian, was Zimri, the son of Salu, leader of a chief house of the Simeonites." Here he was a very important person. And somehow it always turns out true. Those who are important people end up—when you strip everything away—being great sinners. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear!
Verse 15: "And the Midianite woman's name who was killed was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian." Another way of Baalim is this: You get the leaders to sin and the people will sin. Isn't that true? Yes!
I mean, even my kids, one day we came home and they were in trouble. The neighbors came over and said they were throwing tomatoes up alongside of our house. And when I asked them why they did that, they said, 'Well, when you were a boy you threw rotten apples up alongside of the house of one of your neighbors.' So whenever someone over you sins then that gives you license to sin. And they justified it. I didn't tell the story for them to go ahead and do that.
God sent the children of Israel in, Numbers 31:6: "And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe. He sent them, and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with the Holy instruments and the silver trumpets to blow in his hand. And they warred against the Midianites as the LORD commanded Moses. And they killed all the males. And they killed the kings of Midian, besides the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam, the son of Beor, with the sword" (vs 6-8). So Baalim finally got his.
Notice though, the Israelites always wanted to do something other than what God said. God said, 'Kill everything!' What did they do? They brought back all the women and children and Moses said, 'Why did you do this?' They brought them back:
Verse 15: "And Moses said to them, 'Have you saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit sin against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and the plague was on the congregation of the LORD. And now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that has known man by lying with him. But all the female children that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves'" (vs 15-18).
They made them servants. But you see, every time Israel wanted to go out and compromise against God. And it seems the same way in the Church, just over and over and over again. This thing with Baalim was a tremendous sin and sticking point with God all the way through.
Deuteronomy 23:3: "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD. Even to their tenth generation they shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD forever… [God really meant it!] …because they did not meet you with bread and with water in the way when you came forth out of Egypt and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor, of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. Nevertheless, the LORD your God would not hearken to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your God loved you. You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever" (vs 3-6). Tremendous lesson for us.
Now let's go to Revelation, the second chapter, and here's a spiritual lesson; because the way of Baalim affects the Church. That's why Jude and Peter were writing about it. It was right there affecting the Church at that day, saying that: 'a little bit of fornication spiritually doesn't matter.' We've had it today: 'How far can a person innovate in their worship of God? If they do it with the right heart, surely a Christmas tree cannot be sin; surely observing Christmas in the right spirit can't be wrong.' That's like saying, 'surely if you go commit fornication with the right heart and spirit, surely that's all right.' You just be nice about it; that's all. Have good thoughts in your heart; that's all. You can't separate the actions from the heart! The action is as evil as the thought, and the thought is as evil as the action.
Here, the Church at Pergamos—Revelation 2:14—notice they were right there where Satan's throne was: "But I have a few things against you because you have there those who hold the teaching of Balaam… [which is: to do things for the sake of merchandise; to take money for doing religious work.] …who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel… [We can also say that this is also combining the religions of Satan in with the Truth of God—have to have that combination together.] …to eat things sacrificed to idols… [I believe that this is a direct reference to the sacrifice of the mass of the Eucharist, as the Catholics do it and explain it. That is completely against God!] …and to commit fornication."
That's what they were doing. There is spiritual fornication; there is physical fornication—so it could be both! How can you have it so that you can give indulgences? Indulgences is turning the grace of God into license, as the Catholic Church does. You go to the priest and you buy 'indulgences' which then is: forgiveness of your future sins. So therefore, you can go and do anything you want to do, and it's already forgiven! That's how they built the St. Peter's Basilica.
It's the same thing the Jews do (Kol Nidre) on the Day of Atonement when they release themselves from any vows, especially any contracts with any of the Gentiles for the coming year. It is license to sin! For an orthodox Jew it is not a sin to commit adultery or fornication with a Gentile. It's the same thing with the Catholic priest. When they go to the houses of prostitution or go to the nunneries and they have adultery and fornication going on there, it is done in the name of God; so therefore it's okay; because the nun is married to Christ and the priest is a representative of Christ. So how could there be sin? Well, to them there's no sin, just open an orphanage. That's why God is so vehement against this thing! It is something! The Doctrine of Nicolaitans or the dictatorship over the people of God. That comes next, it's the only way.
Now we come over here to the Church of Thyatira and we have the woman who calls herself Jezebel—v 20: "But I have a few things against you, because you allow the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants into committing fornication… [We have seen that happen within our lifetime just this past five years [1990-95], that that has happened within the Churches of God; to commit spiritual fornication] …and eating things sacrificed to idols…. [Believe me, it's going to come.] (notice what God did here): …And I gave her time to repent of her fornication, but she did not repent. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their works. And I will kill her children with death…" (vs 20-23).
The whole moral of the story of all of this, it doesn't matter who you are, what you are; it doesn't matter what organization you belong to; who your parents were—anything like that. If you sin, God is going to hold you accountable! If you turn it into a way of life then you're going to be in very, very bad shape, indeed!
Rebellion of Korah
The rebellion of Korah is also very instructive and gives us some things we need to learn about here. This we can put in: demanding rights that God never gave. Today we have the same thing. Just because the Greek word for serve is 'diakoneo' from which we get the noun deacon and deaconess—from which also Paul said, 'I am a servant'—a 'diakoneos'—'therefore all members are ministers'—not so! That's what Korah was all about. Again, we have leading, important people involved in this:
Numbers 16:1: "Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, took both Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben; even they rose up before Moses… [Here's a committee, appointing themselves to Moses] …with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the assembly, chosen men of the congregation, men who were well-known" (vs 1-2).
This is a pretty impressive crowd—right? Yes! It doesn't matter if there are important people involved. This is what God wants us to learn from this. It doesn't matter how important; it doesn't matter the numbers involved. It's what's right—not who thinks they're right—it's what is right! God is the only One Who's always right—we know that for sure.
Verse 3: "And they gathered themselves against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, 'You take too much upon you since all the congregation are Holy…'" All are equal so here we are demanding rights that do not exist. Moses and Aaron weren't taking anything to themselves. How many times did Moses say, 'Look, all these children of Israel, it's too much for me.' Moses didn't walk up to God on the mountain and say, 'God, here I am, I'm here, send me to Egypt because I know You've appointed me and You want me because I'm so important to take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.' NO! He didn't even want to go. He said, 'I can't even speak.' So this is a complete, wrong accusation.
"'…every one of them [is Holy], and the LORD is among them….'" (v 3). Just because a person has the Spirit of God doesn't mean that that person is a minister; doesn't mean that they are given to do a certain task; same way here. 'Why, we're just as good as you.'
"'…Why then do you lift yourselves up above the congregation of the LORD?'" (v 3). They were judging Moses. There are certain people who should not be judged. Now Moses, God judged—didn't He? Yes, He did. And He told him why he couldn't go into the 'promised land.'
Verse 4: "And when Moses heard this, he fell on his face. And he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, 'Even at daybreak the LORD will show who is His, and who is Holy, and will cause him to come near to Him; even him whom He has chosen will He cause to come near to Him…. [God already decided the matter.] …Do this. Take censors, Korah and all your company" (vs 4-6).
You know the rest of the story. Those that rebelled—and their whole families—were swallowed up in the earthquake that opened up the earth and they were gone! So, we have:
- The way of Cain
- The way of Baalim
- The rebellion of Korah
Those things are all pointed to as the way that sin and heresy and unrighteousness enter into the Church.
Let's see something that's important here, 2-Peter 2:1 "But there were also false prophets among the people, as indeed there will be false teachers among you, who will stealthily introduce destructive heresies… [These are the heresies that were introduced.] …personally denying the Lord Who bought them, and bringing swift destruction upon themselves…. [We've lived through and have seen that, too—haven't we?] …And many people will follow as authoritative their destructive ways; and because of them, the way of the Truth will be blasphemed" (vs 1-2).
What is happening, Peter and Jude are comparing the way of Truth and the way of God with all of these who were coming through to destroy it. Since Satan is the adversary and the enemy and wants to destroy. The way he destroys is from within! That's something! We need to really think about that and understand it!
Verse 3: "Also, through insatiable greed they will with enticing messages exploit you for fain; for whom the judgment of old is in full force, and their destruction is ever watching." These are the things that were taking place—profound events! And I think we're seeing the same thing happen today for us—exactly the same thing. And when that happens, God always scatters the Church—always does for it's own protection. Whenever there is a static hierarchy into which men can come and gain power, then it's going to be subverted from within—that's the easiest way to do it.
Delores and I were watching this special on investigated reports and they started out and they showed the Weaver case and the Waco case and so forth, and something was very interestingly brought out: That in all of these subversive groups, the government sends their own subversive agents within, so they can find out what's going on, but also to tempt them, entice them, and bring them down. They tried this on a one-to-one basis with Weaver. They did it with the group down there with Koresh and the people down in Waco, Texas. This is why God scatters the Church. No one's going to be interested in this little group here. What power are they going to have? None! What authority are they going to be granted? None! That's why God does it.
We're seeing in the world today: merger, merger, merger, bigger, more, more—and with all of that comes control. So, when we're scattered God expects us to exercise the control between us and God directly so that we won't be affected by these things. Just think of how many brethren that you know whose lives have been turned upside down and made miserable because of all of these sins that we've just covered here; because of all of these different ways that have come through. So you see, it's part of God's blessing and cleansing and judgment and goodness that He does it this way.
Jude 12: "These are subversive stains in your love feasts… [and that's what the Feast of God need to be—love to God, love to each other.] …feasting in person together with you; fearlessly they are feeding themselves. They are clouds without water… [all can look good. When I'm reading this, I want you to think about all the good-looking, authoritative men who went through the Churches of God, that you knew of, who climbed up into important positions, who were evangelists, who had authority, and where are they today? You think about that. They looked good on the outside. It's 'like a cloud, but no water in it.'] …being driven by the winds…[every 'wind of doctrine'] …trees of late autumn, without any fruit, uprooted, twice dead."
What we are being told here is this: Those who do and perpetrate these things we've just covered are committing the unpardonable sin and are going to suffer the second death! And there are those who are doing right this very day! And God is not going to have any mercy upon them. Now maybe, it's possible, that repentance could come if they would choose so—but they have to choose! These are those who are beyond that choice.
Verse 13: "Raging wild waves of the sea, casting up like foam their own ignominious shame; wandering stars…" This tells you the power behind them.
Let's go to 1-John, the fourth chapter, for just a minute, because wherever there are false prophets, there are false spirits. They sound good. They sound spiritual. But here it tells us about it. We are to test the spirits. We are to find out—especially in the time when there are a lot of different ministers and preachers, different doctrines going around—it's amazing!
1-John 4:1: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit…" That means also, don't believe every doctrine that comes along. Just because they sound spiritual, just because they appear spiritual, doesn't mean that they are. They've got to really preach the Word of God in Truth.
"…but test the spirits, whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (v 1). Wherever there are false preachers, there are false spirits that come along that inspire them, that make them look and sound so good.
Verse 2: "By this test you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." That is a valid, absolute test! Every one of these false preachers that come along will not truly admit that Jesus Christ had the same kind of flesh and human nature that we do. They will always hedge on it. So, that is the true test.
Let's come back to Jude 13: "…for whom has been reserved the blackest darkness forever!" They're going to be cut off from God. Whether they're going to go into the Lake of Fire and then in the blackness of darkness forever… Can God destroy a demon? God can do anything; there's nothing impossible for God! What is the will of God? Not whether it's possible or impossible for God to do; and He doesn't tell us precisely.
2-Peter 2:17: "These false prophets are fountains without water, clouds driven by a storm, for whom is reserved the blackest of the darkness forever." Isn't it interesting: "…fountains without water…"
Let's go to John, the seventh chapter. It's telling us they don't have the Holy Spirit—that's what it's telling us. If we put the rest of the Scriptures together, we will understand it. John 7:37: "Now, in the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said… [there's a qualification on how to do it] …out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.'…. [We're talking about those false prophets and preachers who do not have the Spirit of God.] …But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, which those who believed in Him would soon receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified" (vs 37-39).
That's what it's talking about—'fountains without water.' "…clouds driven by a storm, for whom is reserved the blackest of the darkness forever." (2-Pet. 2:17).
Jude quotes from what Enoch said. The book of Enoch is one of the apocrypha books—you can get the book of Enoch, but I think the book of Enoch that is preserved today, though it has some of the things that Enoch may have originally written or said, is so totally perverted today that there's just a little bit here and there in it that even sounds a smattering like it would have anything to do with Scripture. I don't know about you, but whenever I read some of those books, you can almost tell there's a completely different spirit behind it than the inspired Word of God. I remember the first time I heard of the book of Enoch, I went over to the library and I said I'm going to read the book of Enoch. I started reading and said, 'this is strange.' So we just have to accept it for what it is here, and just realize that it's been perverted.
Jude 14: "And Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied of these, proclaiming, 'Behold the Lord comes with then thousands of His Holy saints." It doesn't say angels in the original—this is saints. Now, who's coming with Him? Ten thousands—that is myriads, means many, many, described as tens of thousands. That's talking about us when we come back with Christ after the resurrection. We are the Holy saints.
Verse 15: "To execute judgment against all… [Isn't that what we're going to do?] …and to convict all who are ungodly of all their works of evil ungodliness that they have impiously committed, and of all the hard things that ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" These are tough words when you really read them; it's really something! It's so powerful!
Verse 16: "These are complainers and critics…" Isn't that the way it always starts? That's the way it always starts! There are two words I hate. When someone wants to pry into your business, when someone wants to leverage you, they say, 'we are concerned.' Now you listen to that. Every group that comes to any kind of government thing, they get a little group together and they say, 'we are concerned.' And whenever I hear those words, I know doom is around the corner. I've had it executed upon me several times where people who say that. There is a time when it is good to be concerned, but when you come in, they're tipped off immediately complainers and critics, and they complain about something that is not worthy of being complained about. And they're criticizing something that they don't know anything about. That's a tip-off.
"…who are walking after their own personal lusts…" (v 16). In other words they have their own hidden agenda—they want to come in and leverage against you. That's another reason why a small group is just fine. It's not wrong to be small.
"…while their mouths are speaking great swelling words, flattering persons for the sake of advantage" (v 16). I could name names if I had to. Those coming around just giving all kinds of flattery to make you think you're something! I've learned one thing, when that happens, just back away, put the little barrier between you and the person. Now there's a sincere kind of acknowledging what a person has done, that's fine. But this is the flattery to get you, to control you, to use you, to manipulate you—that's what this is talking about.
2-Peter 2:18: "For while they are speaking bombastic words of vanity… [Oh, they're great preachers!] …they are alluring through the lusts of the flesh—by granting indulgences to sin—…" That is so true; and I think part of it went this way: If you're an evangelist in the work of God, God gives you a special blessing; and God will not hold accountable to you any of your sins.' And I truly believe that's what was told almost all the evangelists that we know of. I have no other way of explaining their behavior otherwise—that's my opinion.
"…those who truly were escaping from those who live in deception" (v 18). So, we have that they come along and turn around the conversion of people by telling them it's all right to do this; it's all right to do that—and it's really sin! They were escaping. They were coming out of the world. They were coming to God; and now they are put back in it. How?
Verse 19: "While promisingthem freedom… [And isn't that the word they always use!] …they themselves are actually the slaves of corruption; because by whom anyone has been overcome, he is also being held in bondage." With all the things that have gone on, we can just use a Bible phrase here: he who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Now we're given some warnings here, by Jude, what we need to do: Jude 17: "But you, beloved, remember the words that were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because they said to you that in the last time there would be mockers, who would be selfishly walking according to their own ungodly lusts…. [they have their own secret agenda. Again, he who has ears, let him hear!] …These are the ones who are causing division… [so all the division that has occurred is because sin was discovered. That's why! And you have separate yourself from it.] …they are psychic… [the Greek is 'see kee'—now if you're psychic, you're using psychic powers. And it says in the Greek]: …not having the Spirit of God" (vs 17-19). When they come along, they look good, they sound good, they sound spiritual, but they are using psychic powers and not the power of the Spirit of God.
2-Peter 2:20: "For if, after having escaped the moral defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in corruptions and are overcome by them…" So, they qualified it; you're completely overcome by it. When a person goes back into the world and let's the world completely overcome him.
"…the final end is worse than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness… [there is a way of righteousness. There is a way of Truth.] …than, after knowing it, to turn back from the Holy commandment that was delivered to them" (vs 20-21). We're talking about people who have crept in; people who have turned the grace of God into license; people who have dedicated themselves to evil and evil spirits. This is pretty powerful stuff!
Verse 22: "But the pronouncement found in the true proverb has happened to them: The dog has returned to eat his own vomit; and the sow that was washed has returned to her wallowing place in the filthy mire." Couldn't have any better descriptive words than that.
Jude 20: "But you, beloved, be building up yourselves on your most Holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit… [This is an encouragement for us to do in spite of all of this going on. Because we've learned that it doesn't matter even if the whole world goes wrong. If you're right with God, then that's what counts!] …so that you keep yourselves in the love of God…" (vs 20-21).
Most important! And I think it's really profound that God is showing us and teaching His love at this particular time when all of this is taking place—isn't it? Keep yourself in the love of God. I know I talked to one person the other day and they were telling me about this and that with this split-off of the Church and so forth. And I said, 'Look, just strip it all away. If you don't love God and love each other, it doesn't count. Just strip it all away; it doesn't count. If you loved God you're going to keep His commandments. And if you truly have the relationship with Him that God wants you to have, then you're also going to love the brethren. Take all this organizational thing and all these evil men that are involved in it and just realize before God, it's nothing! Keep yourselves in the love of God! That's what's more important.
"…while you are personally awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (v 21). In other words, keep your eye on the goal. Put there Mat. 6:33—seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness—ties right in with it.
Verse 22: "Now, on the one hand…" This is how we're to deal with people that we know—brethren we know. I know people come along and say, 'What should I do about the brethren that I know?'
Here's some instruction: …show mercy to those individuals who are doubting… [about which is right and wrong] …now on the other hand, save others with fear… [depends on their attitude; you have to go up and tell them, 'Look, you're facing the lake of fire.] …snatching them out of the fire, hating even the garment that has been defiled by the flesh. But to Him Who is able to keep them from falling… [again, get your mind back on God whenever these difficulties and problems come] …and to bring them into the presence of His own glory, blameless in exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior, be the glory and greatness, the might and authority, even now, and into all the ages of eternity, AMEN" (vs 22-25).
What they're showing here all the way through, and these are two of the strongest chapters in the entire Bible, against false prophets and false teachers and those who sneak in and connive and have other agendas and political purposes and so forth to take away the people of God.
All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, AFaithful Version by Fred R. Coulter (except where noted)
- Exception: 1& 2-Peter, from The Seven General Epistles by Fred R. Coulter—author's translation
Scriptural References:
- Ecclesiastes 8:11-12
- Jude 5
- Genesis 6:5-6
- Romans 1:28-32
- Genesis 6:7-13
- 2 Peter 2:6, 9, 12-14
- Jude 11
- 2 Peter 2:15
- Genesis 4:3-17
- Numbers 23:20-23
- Numbers 25:1-9, 12, 14-15
- Numbers 31:6-8, 15-18
- Deuteronomy 23:3-6
- Revelation 2:14, 20-23
- Numbers 16:1-6
- 2 Peter 2:1-3
- Jude 12-13
- 1 John 4:1-2
- Jude 13
- 2 Peter 2:17
- John 7:37-39
- Jude 14-16
- 2 Peter 2:18-19
- Jude 17-19
- 2 Peter 2:20-22
- Jude 20-25
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- 2 Peter 2:4
- Jude 7
- 1 Corinthians 10
- 2 Peter 2:10
- Malachi 1, 2
- Genesis 18
- Numbers 22-24, 14
- Revelation 17
- Matthew 6:33
Also referenced: Book: Josephus
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 8-12-09
Corrected: 3/12
