Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

STORY: An article I came across recently told the story of Melita Norwood.

She was a seemingly harmless assistant who worked for the director of one of Britain’s atomic research centers.

While she appeared innocent, for 37 years, she passed secret information from Britain’s atomic bomb program to the Russians.

How she evaded detection for so long is anyone’s guess, but she did.

The scary thing is, she is not the only one who has spied on the world’s governments, nor will she be the last.

There are certainly spies positioned in governments right now all around the world.

Spies, covert operatives that have infiltrated key departments for deceptive purposes.

CONNECTION: That is not only the case with governments, but, as we talked about last week, with the church as well.

FCF: It is sad, but we live in a world where we can’t even trust those who go to church with us.

BOND TO THE TEXT: According the Jude, there could be false teachers among us now.

Covert operatives whose mission is different than Jesus’ mission.

Instead of seeking to save the world from sin, they work to drag the world into it.

Instead of leading the world and their fellow church members to Christ, they work to pull them away from Christ.

This is why we must contend for the faith.

In order to do that, we not only need to know the faith, which we talked about last week represents all of the theology and doctrine that is found in God’s word.

It’s basically all the teaching that is in the Bible.We not only need to know God’s word, but

THESIS: We must watch for false teachers.

Hearing that you’re probably thinking,

“Ok, that’s great, I need to watch for false teachers but what am I to watch for?

OVERARCHING QUESTION: How do you know if someone is a false teacher?”

ILLUSTRATION: That question reminds me of Sherlock Holmes.

I like reading the Sherlock Holmes’ novels.

If you’re not familiar with Sherlock Holmes, he is a master detective.

He solves crimes and mysteries that no one else can solve.

One of the things that allows Holmes to solve these mysteries is the grid that he has developed through years of experimentation and experience.

A grid he uses when he meets people.

A grid he runs all his encounters through.

APPLICATION: In a similar way, we need a grid.

A grid we can run all our interactions with others through.

A grid that helps us determine who is and isn’t a false teacher.

The good news is, we don’t have to spend years developing that grid.

The even better news is that it’s free — Jude gives it to us.

I. What does Jude’s grid reveal about the false teachers beliefs?

ILLUSTRATION: Several years ago the Smithsonian had some of Thomas Jefferson’s works on display.

One of the items they were showing was an alternative book or Bible that he had produced entitled: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.

Over an extended period of time He painstaking created the 84 page volume by cutting and pasting text from the gospels on to a blank page in a book to create an account with which he agreed.

An account that left out anything that was miraculous, or what he perceived to be contrary to reason.

It basically focused on the moral teachings of Jesus.

The Jefferson Bible, as it’s known, is called scripture by subtraction.

Jefferson makes his intention in creating it known when he says that The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth was “the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system, imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions.”

Jefferson’s statement and his actions are bold.

What they reveal is that he believes he is the authority on matters of creation, revelation, salvation, and morals.

This leads him to sit over the text rather than under the text.

APPLICATION: That is exactly what the false teachers were doing in Jude’s day and what they do today.

Instead of submitting their lives to God’s Word, they submitted the Word to their own opinion.

When that occurs, we are essentially creating our own Jefferson Bible.

We may not be meticulously cutting and pasting the text into a blank book, but we are making our own Bible.

To be sure, the Bible that most people make is one that agrees with their every action.It’s not a Bible that contradicts their beliefs or directs them to change.

It’s one that is consistent with the way that they want to live.

ILLUSTRATION: Matthew Vines.

The Bible and homosexuality.

So we see that false teachers reject the Bible’s authority.

Transition: But false teachers don’t just reject the authority of Scripture:

False teachers also reject Jesus’ authority over their life.

They don’t recognize Him as Lord.

As the one who should guide and direct their life

Notice at the end of verse 4, we are told that they:

“deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

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A rejection of the faith, a rejection of the the Bible’s authority also leads to a rejection of Jesus’ authority.

So we see that:

(1) False teachers don’t accept the authority of God’s Word, nor do they accept Jesus’ authority.

They are their own authority

Transition: When we encounter someone, one of the first questions we need to ask is:

Do they believe that the Bible is authoritative?

Or do they deny its authority and create their own body of doctrine and theology, their own faith?

A follow up question should be:

Do they recognize Jesus’ authority?

That He has the right to direct their life?

Transition: Those are important question to ask because once we diminish the authority of Scripture and reject Jesus’ authority, we have no problem twisting Scripture to fit our agenda.

One of the first beliefs to go, to be twisted, is the gospel.

We see that here.

Look at verse 4,

"For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

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Notice what they pervert, what they change, what they twist — It is the grace of God.

The grace to which Jude refers is God’s saving grace.

The Bible teaches us that God is a God of grace.

He freely gives us what we don’t deserve.

By nature we are all sinners.

As sinners, we deserve death.

We deserve to face God’s wrath for all eternity.

No matter what we do, how we live, how “good” we might act or think we are, we all deserve God’s punishment.

But God gives us what we don’t deserve.

He gives us a Savior.

A Savior who willingly paid the penalty for our sins, which is death, in order to release us from God‘s wrath, free us from the grip of sin, and make us into a new creation.

As those who have been created anew, we can and we should follow God‘s will.

The hard thing about that message, the stumbling block, is that we have to admit that we are broken and that we can’t fix ourselves.

People just don’t walk around a freely admitting that they’re broken, that they’re messed up, that they need to be fixed.

That requires us to humble ourselves.

But we’re prideful people.

We think we are much better than we really are.

As well as this idea that we must change, that we are to follow God‘s will, that grates against the natural man.

If we don’t think that we’re broken, if we think that we’re right, we certainly don’t see a need to change, nor do we see a desire to change.

If that’s the case, and if you are trying to influence people within the church, one of the first things that you’re going to twist is the gospel message

That’s what the false teachers in the church to whom Jude wrote did.

They twisted the gospel, they turned God’s grace into a license to sin.

So if we see people using God’s grace as a license to sin, we can know right off the bat that they are false teachers.

But is that the only way the gospel can be twisted, or are their other ways?

There are other ways that people can pervert the grace of God.

Transition: One of the first ways I’m thinking about is: