Who's Your Two?
Notes
Transcript
Good morning and welcome to Dishman Baptist Church. Please take your Bibles and open them with me to the book of Jude. We’re nearing the end of our study of this little epistle and I hope what you have found is that this epistle really could be written today as easily as it was in the first century. Many of the same issues that precipitated and necessitated the writing of this little book are prevalent within the church today. Maybe not the same issues per se, but rather let me say that it is the same environment - there are those who would encourage us to change or alter the clear teachings of the Bible in order to align better with the world or their own preferences. Those are two areas that we’re going to see are primary characteristics of the false teachers that Jude wrote this epistle against.
We’ve been here before. Nearly to the day. The year was 1979 and while the rank and file among Southern Baptists still affirmed the inerrancy of Scripture, the entity heads and many of the Seminaries no longer did. Messengers descended upon Houston for the National Convention. During that Convention Adrian Rodgers was elected and the Conservative Resurgence began - including a battle for the inerrancy of Scripture. During his time as President, Dr. Rodgers famously said “I’m willing to compromise about many things, but not the Word of God. So far as getting together is concerned, we don’t have to get together. The Southern Baptist Convention, as it is, does not have to survive. I don’t have to be the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church. I don’t have to be loved; I don’t even have to live. But I will not compromise the Word of God.”
Now why do I mention this? Because there are some among our convention who are saying we need another conservative resurgence. And there are some who say things aren’t that bad. We can still agree on most things and that’s enough. When Jude’s letter arrived in the churches that it was sent to - there were those who said the same thing. Jude you’re overreacting. Things aren’t that bad. And yet Jude implores them that they need to contend for the faith. The question isn’t usually is “is it bad enough that I should do something about it” but rather “how bad does it have to get before I will do something about it?” I know that every hill is not a hill to die on and that there are some issues that are non-essential that we can disagree on and still have fellowship. I would agree with the seventeenth century Lutheran theologian Rupertus Meldenius who said “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”
It was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones
to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly concerning all the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against him.”
These people are discontented grumblers, living according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage.
But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
They told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.”
These people create divisions and are worldly, not having the Spirit.
If you’ve been here at Dishman for any length of time you know that we usually start at verse 14 and finish with verse 19. Jude is going to continue the pattern that we’ve seen from him during this book of giving an example - either from the Old Testament or in this case from a prophetic utterance - and then giving that example legs by describing the false teachers in light of the example. This morning though we’re going to break this passage down in a little different manner in an effort to realize that while there may be some negative aspects at play in the church that Jude is writing to and within our own churches today, there is hope. There is light at the end of this tunnel.
So we’re going to look first at verses 16 and 19 together as we see seven final descriptions or characteristics that Jude gives of the false teachers. Then we’re going to see that yet again that this isn’t a surprise - that we’ve known all along that these people were coming but sometimes even when we are prepared and forewarned we still miss the signs. And finally we’re going to see that there is no there there. Meaning that there is no future for those who are foisting these false gospels and false doctrines onto the church - and in that there is hope for us but also heartbreak.
Final Characteristics of an Apostate
Final Characteristics of an Apostate
Jude has given lots of examples and vivid descriptions of the false teachers. Last week Chuck took you through verses 12-13 where he called them hidden reefs, clouds without rain, dead trees in late autumn, wild waves on the sea and wandering stars. I think God kept me home last week to spare all of you from having to endure Navy stories with a few of those. He has said that they rely on their dreams, defile their flesh, reject authority and slander glorious ones in effect acting like irrational animals. They are stealthy, ungodly, they turn the grace of God into sensuality and they deny Jesus Christ. What more could really be said about these people?
Jude finds more. Picking up with the same phraseology he used in verse 12 to start this section he says “these people” and then gives us seven more characteristics for identifying the false teachers. Look at verse 16 and 19. Both start with the phrase “these people” tying us back to verse 12 and what Jude has begun to say. He continues that they are discontented grumblers, that they live according to their desires, that they utter arrogant words and that they flatter people for their own advantage. Drop down to verse 19 now and he says that they create divisions and are worldly. The most scathing indictment and the one that ties all of it together is that they do not have the Spirit.
Jude does take a bit of a turn on us here as he focuses in more on the words of the false teachers. If you were with us when we looked at verse 4 of this book, and as a refresher for those who may not have been with us, Jude’s main contention with the false teachers wasn’t necessarily with what they taught but rather with the practical results of their lives. They turned the grace of God into licentious and sensual living and in so doing denied the Lord Jesus Christ. And even here Jude may not be so focused on their teaching per se as he is on the results of their attitudes toward God. Grumblers is only found here in the New Testament but it is the same word used in the Septuagint to describe the attitudes of the Israelites in the desert as they grumbled and complained against God.
They despised the pleasant land and did not believe his promise.
They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the Lord.
God describes the nation of Israel in Numbers 14:27
“How long must I endure this evil community that keeps complaining about me? I have heard the Israelites’ complaints that they make against me.
And Paul warns the New Testament church, specifically in Corinth, against being like the Israelites in the desert
And don’t grumble as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.
The New American Standard version adds that they were not simply grumbling but that they were actually finding fault with God for the way that He had determined things to be. These false teachers were not satisfied with the way God had organized things and so were grumbling and finding fault with Him and His plans. God’s way isn’t good enough so they were willing to alter His way to meet what would satisfy them. In the desert the Israelites complained about the conditions - they should have stayed in Egypt, there wasn’t any water, there wasn’t any meat, the people of Canaan were too mighty and unbeatable - and they ended up perishing in the desert for their lack of faith. Jude doesn’t give us enough detail to understand what the issues were here. A modern day issue that seems comparable is the issue of women preaching or pastoring.
Despite clear Scripture that forbids this practice this hot button issue has become a dividing line for the church. 1 Timothy 2:12 is straight forward and 1 Timothy 3 makes it clear that the role of elder or pastor is reserved for qualified men. Does this mean that women are incapable - no. Does it mean that men have somehow been gifted with special insight into the Scriptures that makes them more fit for pastoral leadership? Again no. Does it mean that there are no roles for women in leadership in a church? No. In fact we have women leading here at Dishman - Mary is doing a spectacular job leading our Fellowship team. Tami Smith is leading prayer and our welcome team. Debbie Wuthrich led children’s ministry. Debi Ferguson and Karen Meek have led our budget and finance team for years. There are places where women can and do serve Christ’s church - just not in the pulpit.
Which is the core of the issue for some people - they aren’t satisfied or content with all of the areas that they can serve. They only focus on the areas that they can’t. I didn’t write 1 Timothy. I would even venture to say that Paul didn’t write 1 Timothy after a fashion. God wrote the words and to be discontented with what Scripture is teaching is to be discontent with God. Those who would seek to lead the church in this manner - not only allowing women to preach but also ordaining them - are seeking to lead the church contrary to Scripture and contrary to God’s will.
Now if you’re struggling with these issues but you are searching the Word then I am not calling you an apostate. The people that Jude is referring to here, and the people that I am referring to, are those who would teach that it is okay to ignore what God has clearly said because it doesn’t fit your narrative. It’s okay to live however you desire.
That is the next description that Jude gives is that these teachers are living according to their own desires. This is ultimately what results in grumbling - we want something and we aren’t getting it so we first grumble and then determine to get what we want whatever it takes. God isn’t giving us a spouse so we’ll go out and find one our own way. God isn’t giving us a job so we’ll take matters into our own hands. God isn’t meeting this or that desire then I’ll do it myself. In that case self becomes god and we think we are in charge of our lives and that we’re on the throne. We become deluded into thinking that we can meet our needs better than God can and that our way is actually working. I can speak from experience that whenever we are outside of God’s will for our lives, no matter how good it might seem for the moment, there is a crash and burn coming. But for the moment things actually seem to be in our favor and we’re getting what we want which makes us arrogant.
This arrogance can work itself out in two ways. The first is that we think that we knew better than God and that we are actually achieving what we wanted to achieve on our own. That it is our power that is making things go well for us. The power of positive thought and all that. The visualize it and it can be yours. The ridiculous idea that we can make anything happen either positive or negative over the long term. Then we speak arrogantly - yep I knew God was going to see it my way. Or I didn’t need God, I have this all figured out by myself.
The second is that God couldn’t move for us until we either gave Him permission or that we determined which way He should move. The idea that God can’t move for you until you determine which way you want Him to go and start moving in that direction yourself. The idea that He can’t do anything in your life until you give Him permission to. All of that is pompous religious speech that leads us no where. It is a religious verbiage that sounds good and sounds close to right but is so far off as to lead us further away from God than thinking we were in charge and doing it ourselves. Experts in air navigation have a rule of thumb known as the 1 in 60 rule. It states that for every 1 degree a plane veers off its course, it misses its target destination by 1 mile for every 60 miles you fly. This means that the further you travel, the further you are from your destination.
It is this kind of thought that leads us to think that God owes us something rather than that He has already given us everything.
These people are flatterers. They are smooth talkers. Dr. MacArthur in his commentary on this passage writes that they are good at telling people what they want them to hear, cleverly manipulating others for their own gain. The challenge with false teachers is that they are so likeable. They are winsome. What they say sounds good and believable. And yet it is off. And when you call them on it you are the bad guy. Jude’s letter would not have been well recieved in our modern society. It’s too polarizing. It’s too fundamental. It’s too mean. And to call out false teachers, because they are so like-able, is to open yourself up to the same treatment.
And no one wants to be the bad guy. No one wants to spend their lives fighting against false teaching. I’d rather preach a thousand sermons on John 3:16 than to spend time calling out and preparing you all to call out false teachers - but it must be done. Because not only are they telling people what they want them to hear - they are inoculating them against the truths of the Gospel by giving them a false sense of security. That is the danger to these teachers - not only are they convoluting the truths of Scripture they are misleading people as they do so. They are truly clouds without water - there is no there there. There is no hope to what they are peddling - even when they use Jesus name to do it. All they pious platitudes they say are useless if the Gospel they are leading people into isn’t the idea that we are wretched sinners saved by a gracious Savior despite and in spite of ourselves. We bring nothing to the table except our sin. Christ provides everything - and it doesn’t matter who you are, what your skin color is, what your bank account or paycheck looks like, how old you are - there is no distinction in the salvation that Christ has provided.
Yet Jude says, dropping down to verse 19, that these people cause divisions. That they are dividing the church along artificial lines that don’t exist in the story of salvation. The word here is apodiorizo and it refers to both the action of causing division but also the motivation behind the behavior. It means to make a distinction or to make a false distinction or division between people. Our world is so busy creating new dividing lines among people that we can’t keep up. The whole idea of critical race theory and intersectionality is to create divisions among people. Divisions based on skin color, ethnicity, economic status, gender, sexual orientation - these false divisions are making their way into the church where the only distinction that matters is sinner or saint. In God’s economy the only distinction that matters is whether you are covered by His Son’s blood or not. Have you submitted to Him and called Him Lord and Savior or not? That is the only division that matters.
But these false teachers - then and now - are more concerned with blending with the world than they are with remaining true to what God has actually taught in His Word. And in so doing they reveal that they do not have the Spirit. What a scathing indictment and summary. These are the popular teachers - the published authors, the sought after speakers for conferences, the one’s that every one wants to model their churches after because they are so large - and yet Jude says they do not have the Spirit. What a tragedy it will be for some of them - those in Jude’s day and those in our’s - when they stand before God and they hear “depart from me, I never knew you.”
And that leads me to the last two assertions that Jude makes in this passage this morning. This is not a surprise and there is no future there.
No Surprise Here
No Surprise Here
Look at verses 17-18 with me - Jude says but you. He is going to briefly shift his attention from the false teachers to his audience to remind them that they knew this was coming and therefore should not be surprised by it. He also wants to remind them of his love for them in contrast to the false teachers. He calls them dear friends. He is not using empty words to flatter or puff them up. He is not acting like a shepherd who is only out for himself. He has a deep affection for them and he desires to remind them of that. Even while reminding them of what they should have already known - that the apostles had predicted that “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.”
Jude is reiterating to them teachings by Peter, Paul and John that there would be false teachers. Paul’s last words to the elders of Ephesus was that there would be false teachers among them - a warning that church didn’t heed for long. Peter’s second epistle is a more extensive treatment of the same topics that Jude touches on here. Chapters two and three of that letter specifically talk about false teachers.
Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires,
John’s second and third epistles talk about how to handle false teachers. The Apostle of Love tells his readers not even to greet those who would bring false teachings to them or would seek to alter the Gospel.
Friends - we are still living in the last days and we shouldn’t be surprised when false teaching continues to arise and be a challenge for our churches. The surprising thing is that they are still so effective at worming their way in. But there is no future there.
No Future There
No Future There
Look back with me at verse 14 and 15. Jude here quotes a saying contained in the extrabiblical book 1 Enoch. There are lots of debate about the origin and authenticity of this saying and why exactly does Jude quote an extra-biblical book. Two observations about this controversy. The first is that this passage says exactly what Jude is trying to get across and second it is corroborated by Scripture - not word for word but the concept that Jude is trying to convey is there.
A river of fire was flowing, coming out from his presence. Thousands upon thousands served him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.
For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen.
All three of these passages allude to the second coming of Christ - which Jude also alludes to saying The Lord - a name that he has already used to refer to Christ. Jude changes the quote to read the Lord taking an Old Testament or intertestimental era prophetic passage that referred to the impending judgement day with God presiding and applies it to the second coming of Christ.
And it doesn’t present a pretty picture for the apostate teachers. Christ isn’t coming alone as He did the first time. When He returns the legions of angels He could have called during His crucifixion will be with Him. He also isn’t coming in peace, He is coming in judgement. The verb convict here means to expose, rebuke or prove guilty. Christ will expose the false teacher’s errors and demonstrate how they have been ungodly. Their error will be revealed and the verdict will not be in their favor. The use of ungodly points to the apostate’s utter disregard for the holiness of God and the proper reverence that He deserves. They are ungodly in their actions and their words. There is no hope of escape for them. Which should break our hearts.
One of the challenges with a message like this is that there is a tenuous balance that I walk between warning you against teachers who embody these characteristics and preparing you for what we should be doing. On the one hand it is easy to hold up a person and say this is what’s wrong with them. It can often be harder to discuss and demonstrate what we should be doing in light of their error. We should certainly be equipped to recognize those who are misguiding others from the truths of Scripture and be able and willing to warn those who may be falling under their influence. But more importantly is we must be teaching people the true Gospel which will prepare and prevent them from falling under the influences of the false Gospel. We must be evangelizing those who are vulnerable and then mentoring them into maturity.
At the beginning of 2020 we started talking about the “Who’s Your One” campaign and we here at Dishman changed it to a “Who’s Your Two” campaign. Who is the one person in your life that you need to be sharing the Gospel with and who is the one person, here at church or in your life outside church, that you should be discipling? The challenge that we should take away from this morning’s passage is that there are false teachers out there - we may not be able to save them although we should try - but we need to be evangelizing those we know who could fall under their influence and discipling them because it is a sure promise that there will be a day - whether soon or far off is not our concern - when Christ will split the sky and return with His myriads of angels to execute judgement on this earth and it should break our hearts that even one might be sentenced to Hell on that day.