JUDE: WEEK 1 DAY 5
Jude 1:5-10
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
We want to be people who live and function under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Inspiration and instinct, however, can be difficult to distinguish between. Someone who has learned to survive on instinct can be really good at saying the right thing at the right time; they seem inspired. There is really only one way to tell for sure whether an individual is acting off of instinct or inspiration: look at their lives.
Jude cautioned the people not to listen to what these ungodly people were saying because their lives proved they were against Christ. Their lives were marked with sexual immorality and greed. They had rejected Jesus’ authority and refused to live in submission to Him. A life in submission lays instincts aside, and operates in submission to God, under the inspired guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Before we test this in others, we need to examine our own lives. Think over the past day. Think over the temptations you faced, or the conflicts you experienced. What was the driving force? Your instincts or the Holy Spirit?
Signs of operating under instinct may include the following:
grumbling
slander
introducing doubt in others
justification of behavior
defensiveness