“Defending Your Faith”
Jude
1/20/02 - Lakeview
Intro: It is good to be here this morning. Now you know that while we’ve been having some mighty cold weather up here this past week, Pastor Hubert and Cheryl have been “suffering for the Lord” down in sunny Florida. I hope you’ve been praying for them to be refreshed and renewed and to come back ready to help take this church to new heights.
I’m reminded of the case of the Illinois man who left the snow-filled streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick e-mail. Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it in from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher’s wife, whose husband had passed away only the day before.
When the grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream and fell to the floor in a dead faint. At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen: DEAREST WIFE:
JUST GOT CHECKED IN. EVERYTHING PREPARED FOR YOUR ARRIVAL TOMORROW.
P.S. SURE IS HOT DOWN HERE.
Well, we sure hope it hasn’t been THAT hot for Pastor Hubert this week! Pastor Hubert holds a special place in my heart. I had the opportunity to follow the Schmuckers as the Pastor of Union Chapel in Fort Wayne. We served there for the last 6 years. Now we are looking to see where God might lead us to serve him.
I’ve been blessed to have the chance many times to share God’s wonderfully rich word with others. It’s my chance to do that again today. I know that while I’ve come to preach, you’ve also come to hear what God might have to say to you. I hope you don’t get done listening before I get done sharing. Stick with me this morning, and I’m sure God will have a special blessing for each one of us. Let’s pray right now and ask God to offer his special blessing upon his word today.
PRAY - God to bless His word.
This morning, turn with me to the Book of Jude. If you turn to the last book of the Bible, Revelation, chapter 1, and turn back one page, you’ll be at the book of Jude. Now I would guess that this isn’t the most common book of the Bible to most of us. In verse one we see this is a book written by Jude, the brother of James, and the half-brother of Jesus. Make a note for yourself to look at Matthew 13:55 some time. It seems that during his lifetime his brothers did not believe, but after the resurrection, they became powerful men of God. James became the head of the church at Jerusalem and wrote the book of James. Jude also was greatly used in writing this book.
Jude writes this book to those who are called, loved by God, and kept by Christ. I hope that includes most of us in the room today. He writes us a very practical book that meets us right where we live. We often ignore this book, but I hope that as a result of our time looking at it today, you will come away with a greater love of the book of Jude.
When I think of Jude, I think of my pastor growing up. As he would give the benediction, he would quote from Jude 24 - “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling” - As he prayed this I would stand there as a child and think that somehow God kept us standing up. While that is true, that is not what Jude 24 speaks of. In college I heard one fiery Irish preacher who loved to quote from “CHUDE verse E-IT” and talked about “apostates” who were “reprobate concerning the faith.” None of that seemed very practical.
This morning, lets look at Jude with open eyes to see what this book is all about.
In verse 3, we see that Jude was excited to talk about our wonderful salvation, yet the church needed something else. Jude’s task was to exhort the church to “contend for the faith.” This term here is really a term from the sports arena, the olympics. We are to enter the arena, so to speak, in defense of our faith. The book of Jude is really all about how faith is to be active in our lives.
I. We need to defend our faith - vs. 3-19 - We need to be aware of those who would twist the faith with incorrect doctrine. Now you might ask “Why?” The answer is simple. God hates heresy!
God is truth. God will judge false teachers. Now, while we might like to believe that Lakeview is just this wonderful church where we can believe anything any leader tells us, that may not be true. Our attitude should always be that of the Berean church - Acts 17:11 - they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
The only way to keep our lives true to the word of God is to look out for false teaching. It’s everywhere we look today. TV, radio, books, evangelists, and often even in Bible preaching churches. I have a file filled with things I have received from false teachers, and I looked for it this week, but it’s hidden somewhere in a myriad of boxes in storage in Dick Fether’s garage. But let’s see what kind of deceivers and false teaching that Jude says will come to our churches.
*4-they use God’s grace as an excuse to live immoral lives - I talked with one couple going through a divorce. The wife wanted to leave her husband for another man. The excuse was “I can’t believe that God would want me to be unhappy.”
*4-they deny Jesus Christ our Lord - Did you ever have a Jehovah’s witness at your door? They believe in worshiping God the Father, but not Jesus Christ. How about a Mormon at your door? They believe Jesus and Satan are brothers, and while they are both gods, so you and I can also become Gods. If you don’t believe it, check out their teachings.
*8 - they reject authority - Often false teachers want to answer to no one. They set themselves about authority. They claim direct inspiration from God. They preface their teachings with “God told me” and anyone who differs with them they accuse of disobeying God’s desires. Yet, we know that God’s will is never contrary to his word.
*8-they mock heavenly beings - verse 9 goes on to say that even the archangel Michael did not rebuke Satan but said “The Lord rebuke you.”
How many televangelists have you heard who tell you to rebuke Satan, bind Satan, bind all sorts of demons. So many times these false teachers claim any problem is a demonic attack. They love to tell you to “shake those serpents off” take all power over those demons. Verse 10 sums up the situation well when it says “they speak about what they don’t understand.”
*11-they want things their way - the way of Cain - to bring a sacrifice they want to bring in stead of the sacrifice that God demands. Remember the words of Samuel in 1 Sam 15:22 - To obey is better than sacrifice. So many people are deceived into believing they can engage in any lifestyle they want if they just go to church or pray a prayer. It makes no sense to think you sin all week and then go to a confessional before going out to sin for another week. It makes no sense to me to think of someone being a “practicing homosexual pastor.” If you choose to live a homosexual lifestyle, you choose to disobey God. Lev. 20:13 - If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. Yet, our society tells us we need more “sensitivity training” to accept alternate lifestyles.
*11-they have a lust for money - Balaam’s error was a love of money. He disobeyed God to get the gold. I have in my file many items from “Rev. Ewing.” Testimonials of people saying “ I sent Rev. Ewing my $100 and the next week I received a free new Cadillac.” Rev. Ewing sends out a “Little Gold Book” - you show you faith by sending in $100 each month and supposedly God will then send you back a hundredfold blessing.
*11-they think God speaks directly through them - Korah rebelled against Moses leadership. Look at Numbers 16. He said “God speaks through each of us. Who are you to lead us.” Many deceivers come claiming special revelation from God. And who wouldn’t want a special revelation from God. I heard one woman in a church tell another woman who had a wayward son that an OT passage about the Israelites returning to Jerusalem was a promise from God that her wayward son would return to the Lord.
“That’s your promise - just claim it and believe it - Hallelujah!”
But that’s not what God’s word says. Deceivers love to twist God’s word.
*16- they are judgmental and critical - often false teachers are critical of anyone who believes differently. We need unity in essential doctrines, but in areas of liberty, we need to accept differences. Once the father of one of my best friends came up to me and said, “O Dean, I’m so ashamed of you” - I thought I had done some great sin - He said, “You have a beard: that’s a sign of rebellion.” Actually it was just a sign that I was out of college for Christmas break, and wanted to see what a beard would look like on me.
So many issues of liberty that become tests of spirituality. You aren’t any more or less spiritual if you do or don’t _____: and you fill in the blank. - drinking, smoking, card playing, dancing, hairstyles, coverings, pants on women, movies, mixed bathing, the list goes on. . .
*16 - they live for self; boast about self; manipulate others for self - they have “I” problems
*19 - they will seek to divide the church - In one church I pastored there was a factious group over the gifts of the spirit. They felt that God had put them there to enlighten everyone else to see things their way. They were divisive and contentious. Their goal was to take over control of the church.
Do you somehow get the idea that false teachers are dangerous? Yet, they can appear so innocent. And often they are great preachers. They have great personalities. They are on all the cable channels and write all the best selling books, but they are teaching error - heresy - lies.
Jude reminds us to defend our faith - don’t let false teaching sway us from the truth.
Jude also tells us
II. We need to Develop our faith - vs. 20-23
How do you stand against false teaching? You recognize it by knowing the truth!
A. We develop our faith by Study of the Word of God
Heb. 5:12&14 - In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
2 Tim. 2:15 tells us Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
B. We develop our faith through Prayer - 20 - “pray in the Holy Spirit”
It’s interesting that Jesus said in Luke 19:46 - It is written, My house is the house of prayer
Yet how much time do we spend in prayer in the church today?
We spend more time looking at ourselves in front of a mirror that we spend before the
God of all creation. Do you think if we spent a little more time with our God that our lives might be a little different?
C. We develop our faith through relationship with God - 21
This morning how close do you feel to God? Do you know without a shadow of a doubt that God loves you? We often get wrong views of God because we try to explain his actions based on our limited understandings. Rather, we are to trust and believe and let him show himself strong in our behalf.
D. We demonstrate ourselves through practical expressions of love towards others. - 22
We need to be patient with those who are not where we are spiritually
We need to be persistent in trying to introduce others to a personal relationship with Christ
We need to hate sin, and not tolerate it in our lives: it will destroy us.
Conc: now for the doxology - We defend our faith and we develop our faith - but where do we get the strength for all this. We might say:
I’m not smart enough to understand the Bible
I don’t have time to read the Bible or pray
I can’t live a sinless life; I sin too easily
or any other excuse we can think of.
But Jude’s answer to us is that it is God who will give us the strength.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior, [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
God alone has all the strength we need. Remember the words of Paul:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
This week I would ask you ask yourself four questions:
1. Where have I been influenced by unbiblical teaching, ideas, thoughts?
2. What have I been doing to grow spiritually?
3. Am I seeking to live my live in my own strength or God’s strength working through me?
4. What will I do to make this week different and change what needs to change in my life?
Shall we pray.
