YEar 2 Day 330

Year 2 Day 330 


Pray (ACts)


Read - Jude 1v14-16


Message - Scott Woodburn
There is next to nothing in the Scriptures about Enoch. Indeed the whole story of Enoch is so short that it can be written here "When Enoch had lived for 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah for 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." (Genesis 5v21-24) We see him again in the family tree of Christ (Luke 3v37) and then in Hebrews 11v5 we are told that he was a man of faith. I'll not count up the number of words but you'll agree that not much is said.
Long after Enoch was taken to heaven a book bearing his name appeared. This book is known to this day as "The Book of Enoch" and was written a couple of hundred years before Christ. Enoch didn't actually write it and it is not considered to be part of the canon of Scripture. However just like the "Assumption of Moses", it seems that the false teachers were well aware of "The Book of Enoch" and used it in their "teaching".
Jude once again turned the words of the false teachers against them with an exact quote from "The Book of Enoch". Jude said that Enoch prophesied against the false teachers by stating “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgement on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
What are we to do with this quote? Did Jude take a quote from an uninspired book and somehow turn it into God's Word? Let me explain. Have you ever heard that even a broken clock is right twice a day? Well in the same way even a book that isn't considered to be the Word of God can at times accurately speak truth. In this case "The Book of Enoch" was correct - the Lord is coming in judgement and He will call to account the ungodly.
What does this ungodliness look like? Jude cuts right to the bone. He states that the ungodly are those who grumble. Those who are never happy - the so called malcontents. Those who follow every sinful desire. Those who loudly and proudly boast and those who are "sleekit" enough to favour someone in order to gain an advantage. Tragically these marks of ungodliness are often quite evident in our churches and in our own souls. Let's hear the voice of God today - it is on account of sins like these that the Lord is coming in judgement. Flee from such sins!
Enoch didn't write a book but he did walk with God. Even all these years later, walking with God remains the antidote to our sinful self-obsessed existence. False teachers and those who follow them are fools who will one day fail to stand in the judgement of Christ. But you and I need not be fools. As we have received Christ by faith may we follow Him all the days of our lives. May we put aside the old-self with all of its old desires. We leave behind the grumbling, the discontented spirit, the boasting and the favouritism. Instead as we attend to the ordinary means of grace may the Lord grow us up in the faith and lead us in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. Then when our race is run may it be said that we walked with God.    
Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q85 What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin? To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.
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