Deliverance from False Prophets
(Jude 1:3–16)
Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Mat 7:15Jud 1:4Deu 13:1-32Ti 4:3Mat 24:112Pe 2:3Gal 2:41Co 11:19 Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed. Rom 2:24Jud 1:10Mat 24:242Pe 2:151Pe 2:12Act 16:17Act 24:14Jud 1:15 In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep. 2Co 2:17Deu 32:35Rom 16:181Th 2:5Jud 1:151Ti 6:5Tit 1:111Pe 5:2
For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, 1 placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; Jud 1:6Mat 25:41Rom 8:32Rev 20:1-3Rev 12:7-9Isa 14:12Rev 20:10Ezk 7:4 if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight; 2Pe 3:6Heb 11:7Jud 1:14-15Luk 17:26-271Pe 3:19-20Gen 7:1-24Mat 24:37-39Gen 6:1-8 if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, 2 reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly; 3 Jud 1:7Luk 17:28-30Deu 29:23Gen 19:24-25Num 26:101Co 10:11Isa 13:19Jer 50:40 and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless Gen 19:16Gen 19:29Gen 19:7-8Gen 13:13Gen 19:221Co 10:132Pe 3:17Jer 23:9 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— Psa 119:158Ezk 9:4Psa 119:1361Ti 1:9Pro 25:26Jas 5:16Mal 3:15-17Pro 28:12 if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. Psa 34:15-191Co 10:13Rev 3:102Ti 3:12Jud 1:14-152Pe 3:72Co 5:10-11Job 5:19
Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings. 4 Jud 1:16Jud 1:10Exo 22:28Jud 1:182Pe 3:3Rom 1:24-27Eph 5:5Jud 1:4 Yet not even angels, though greater in strength and power, dare to bring such slanderous charges against them before the Lord. Jud 1:92Th 1:7Dan 6:22Psa 103:20Psa 104:4
These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed. Jud 1:10Jer 12:32Pe 2:19Gal 6:8Psa 92:6Jer 10:21Jer 10:8Jer 4:22 The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. Rom 13:13Rom 2:8-9Heb 2:2-3Php 3:191Pe 4:4Eph 5:27Jud 1:12-161Th 5:7-8
They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you. Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed. 2Pe 2:32Pe 2:18Eph 2:32Pe 3:16Eph 4:14Rom 16:181Co 11:19Jhn 5:44
They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, 5 who loved the wages of wickedness. Rev 2:14Jud 1:11Deu 23:4-5Num 22:5-7Num 31:16Neh 13:2Mic 6:52Pe 2:13 But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. Num 22:21-33Act 26:11Ecc 7:25Ecc 9:3Hos 9:7Luk 16:11Act 26:24-25
These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. Jud 1:12-13Eph 4:14Jer 14:32Pe 2:4Hos 6:4Job 6:14-17Jud 1:6Mat 22:13 With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error. 2Pe 2:20Jud 1:15-16Rom 13:13Jas 5:52Pe 1:42Th 2:4Rev 13:5-6Act 2:40 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. Jhn 8:34Rom 6:16-22Gal 5:1Gal 5:131Pe 2:16Tit 3:3Rom 6:12-142Pe 2:20
If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 6 only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. Heb 10:26-27Heb 6:4-8Php 3:19Luk 11:24-26Deu 32:29Mat 12:43-452Pe 1:42Pe 2:18 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them. Ezk 18:24Heb 6:4-6Jas 4:17Ezk 3:20Luk 12:47Jhn 15:221Th 4:2Jhn 9:41 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” 7 and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.” Pro 26:11