False - Christians
Jude
The year was 2003
“When officials announced the vote tally on June 8, thunderous applause showered the crowd at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Concord, N.H
The occasion: Episcopalians in the diocese of New Hampshire had just elected the first openly homosexual bishop
As joyous clergy and delegates leapt to their feet, the new bishop, Gene Robinson, ambled forward, stood before the altar, and embraced his grown children and his male lover.
On May 23 in Nashville, officials of Glendale Baptist Church met with officials of the Tennessee Baptist Convention
The issue: Glendale had in 2002 hired as its associate
pastor April Baker
A practicing lesbian, a fact the Tenn. Baptist Convention did not learn until January 2003
TBC officials felt Ms. Baler’s sexuality violated Scripture
Glendale Baptist Church officials believed otherwise, and asked the TBC to quietly vote them out
In October, 2002, about 300 Presbyterian Church (USA)
members from Northeastern churches gathered at South
Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
There they nailed to a church door dissents and demands that included calls for the reversal of PCUSA laws against ordaining non-celibate homosexuals and marrying same-sex couples
During an ensuing two-hour worship service
Church members hoisted the door atop sawhorses and converted it into a communion table
Where gay ministers and elders blessed bread and wine, then served it to worshippers
A growing number of churches in some denominations are stepping beyond the acceptance of repenting homosexuals as members
And instead loving both sinner and sin
Denominations that for decades have ordained pastors who reject such essential doctrines of Christianity as
Christ’s deity and His resurrection are now also on the verge of affirming homosexuality as biblical
Conservative Christians who remain in those bodies are fighting for the scriptural view of sexual morality that has stood for millennia.”
Some of the conservative members of the 2.3 million-member denomination known as the ’Anglicans’
worldwide
Will be meeting to decide whether or not to walk
out of the denomination over this issue
One has to ask oneself
Why it took them so long to recognize their own apostasy?
Jude is an amazing little book
Perhaps the least appreciated and most overlooked of all N.T. books
Jude is the only N.T. book devoted exclusively to confronting “apostasy”
Meaning defecting from the true Biblical faith
An apostate is a person who has turned away from God’s truth and embraced a false-teaching
Jude wrote to condemn the apostates
And to urge believers to contend for the faith
He called for discernment on the part of the church
And a rigorous defense of Biblical truth
We are still under the same orders today
We are to contend for the faith, for Biblical truth
The word contend is descriptive of the strain to which a contestant is put
It might be compared to an athletic event when the contestants strain or rise to the challenge of the event
Jude wrote this urgent imperative for Christians to wage war against error in all forms
And fight strenuously for the truth
Like a soldier who has been entrusted with the sacred task of guarding a Holy treasure
We are living in a world full of false-teachers
Preaching and living a counterfeit Gospel
Misleading thousands of people who need to hear the true Gospel
This world is full of false-Christians as well
That claim to know Jesus because they prayed a prayer one time
But are living like the devil
In a sense, these false-converts are really false-teachers
With their horrible testimony
Living like the world
But claiming to be a Christian
We are to be in the world, but not of the world
Are you a false-teacher?
Are you living a life that glorifies God, or glorifies Satan?
Jesus says in Matthew 12:30 He that is not with me is against me
There are only two teams to choose from
Jude 4 says the phrase “ungodly men”
Godless men have slipped into your group, secretly
They are among us
Denying the only Lord God
Maybe not denying him with your mouth
But with your lifestyle
Jude hits hard, calls it like it is
And we are in a time of many false-teachers
Many false-Christians
Jude quickly goes into a history lesson to remind us of how God dealt with false-teachers in the past
First he mentions the rebellion of the Nation of Israel
Although they were delivered from Egypt
They refused to trust God and enter the promise land
Remember out of the estimated 2 million Hebrews that left Egypt only Caleb and Joshua enters the promise land
All the other adults died in the desert
Israel struggled with idol worship in the desert
They struggled with lack of faith in the desert
Sound familiar?
This nation struggles with idol worship
That includes us here, that includes you
We are more worried about what our friends, coworkers, family thinks than what God thinks
That is idol worship
We are more worried about our wardrobe being in style then we are about our witness
We are more worried about our homes, cars, 4 wheelers, tractors, boats, whatever material possessions
Then we are about telling others about Christ
That is idol worship
And we are portraying a false-witness
Our #1 priority should be God
We struggle with faith as well
Our economy is going in the tank
These buy outs and bail outs are moving us one step closer to socialism
We worry about the election
Obama is a Marxist Socialist, and McCain is to liberal for some
Vote for the lesser of two evils some say
I say PRAY and then vote
This election won’t surprise my God
Have faith
God is the only one who has the power to appoint out leaders
He could cause Bill Cosby to be president is He wanted
We as Christians need to have faith that God is indeed in control
He is in control of this world’s economy
He is in control of Iran and their desire to destroy Israel
He is in control of this election
So pray, and have faith that God will handle it
The next example of rebellion from Jude is about the fallen angels
Although they were once pure, Holy and living in God’s presence
Some gave in to pride and joined Satan to rebel against God
False teacher’s and false Christian’s pride is at the forefront
They are full of pride in the fact that they have an experience they can look back on and say that is when I was saved
We are not saved by those words spoken during a prayer
We are saved by grace
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God
Not of works, lest any man should boast
Pride has no place in Christianity
We are simply saved by putting our faith in Him
And by His grace He redeems us
False teachers long for attention
They want to be at the head of the class
They want all eyes on them
But the things that are seen are the same things that affected those fallen angels
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
A prideful Christian
Is destined for a fall
God will bring you back to earth
The third example Jude uses is Sodom and Gomorrah
The inhabitants were so full of sin that God wiped them off the face of the earth
The destruction of these cities is used over 20 times in scriptures
As an illustration of God’s judgment
This destruction was in view of their apostasy
Since it occurred about 450 years after the flood
When at least one of Noah’s sons, Shem, was still living
Since this was only 100 years after Noah’s death
People would have known about the message of righteousness and judgment from God
Which Noah preached and they in turn rejected
Jude speaks of fornication and strange flesh
This refers to both heterosexual and homosexual lusts
Our world has become a cesspool of lust
Just this week I have heard of two more famous people “coming out of the closet”
One of them is a Christian music artist
With a long list of songs you have probably heard
It sickens me
This display of lust is smeared all over our TV sets
Magazines, books, billboards, everywhere
And we watch it, look at it, and laugh at it
Laughing at things God hates
Psalm 97:10 “those who love the Lord hate evil”
Do you hate evil?
All forms of evil?
Or do you laugh at it
Do you knowingly bring it into you home?
Do you hate evil?
If you cannot answer that question with an honest yes
Then according to the Bible
You do not love the Lord
So do you hate evil? YOU NEED TO
Sure we sin
We slide into a sinful pattern sometimes even
But the Lord will correct you, perhaps punish you, convict you and pick you up
Placing you back on the narrow road
If He doesn’t do those things
He doesn’t know you
This country is falling into an abyss
And is taking Christians, or so called Christians with it
If you fall off the narrow road, and God doesn’t pick you up and put you back on it
Through conviction and correction
Then you were never on it to begin with
You are not saved
1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Do you love the world?
If yes, the love of the Father is not in you
You need to take a serious look at your life
Are you truly saved?
Do you really know the Lord?
What is more important than that is
Does the Lord know you?
Matthew 7:23 says “I will declare unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness” or sin
Does Jesus know you?
One way to know you are a child of God is to follow what Psalm 97:10 says
Those who love the Lord hate evil
Christians today do not hate evil
We allow it into our homes on a daily basis
We listen to evil music
We watch evil movies
We laugh at evil TV shows and commercials
We should hate evil
For what was the outcome of these three rebellions?
Israel - “afterward destroyed them that believed not”
Angels - “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment”
Sodom and Gomorrah - “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire”
Then Jude used the word likewise in verse 8
Which means in the same way these filthy dreamers defile the flesh
I fear we have a world full of false-teachers represented by false-Christians
Claiming to be a child of God
But living like a child of the devil
They defile the flesh
Similar to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah
These false-Christians have few, if any, moral restraints
And thus are frequently characterized by immoral lifestyles
Are you guilty of this same lifestyle?
Are you guilty of supporting this lifestyle?
But we will get to that later
We read from jude how we can defend ourselves against these false teachers in v. 17-23
We are warned that they will come
Jude 1:18-19 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. [19] These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
There will be those who follow their own ungodly desires
These are the men who divide you
Who follow mere natural instincts
And do not have the Spirit
Is there division in Christianity today?
You better believe there is
Why do you suppose these larger churches will have a contemporary service at 9 and then a traditional at 10?
You many think, that’s no big deal
But is a certain level of division
There are those out there right now that would never preach from Jude because it would hurt someone’s feelings
You can’t make statements like that
I may have made some of you mad this morning
I don’t care
The truth is, there is division among Christians today because the Word is not being preached
Churches all across this country are full of false-converts
Billy Graham has said he would be happy if 5% of those that have made a profession of faith at his crusades were truly saved
According to U.S. News and World Report 78% of people believe in heaven and that they are going there
Only 60% believed in Hell, and only 4% believed they were going there
If we went door to door in Melbourne I bet nearly 100% of the people would say they were a Christian
Matthew 7:14 “small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it
A few
The many are those who claim to be Christian, but follow mere natural instincts
Are you following mere natural instincts?
Are you truly saved?
The reason I don’t care if I make you mad this morning is, it would be better to make you mad and you be truly saved
Then for you to go through life thinking you were saved
But Jesus says, I never knew you, depart from me
Listen, I’m not trying to make you doubt your salvation
But the Bible is plain on this
Few find the narrow gate
Those who love the Lord hate evil
Do you act like a Christian?
Well you say, Hey I’m just like my other Christian friends
We dress similarly, listen to the same music
I look like my parents, follow along with their lifestyle
I fit in with others at church
We all look and act the same
Even the Pastor
You are not called to be like your friends, your parents
Those at church, even your Pastor
You are called to be like God
V 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
God is the pattern you need to follow, not man
God created us in His image and that is the standard we are to live up to
That takes us to the main point
Why are we here?
What is your purpose in life?
We are to keep ourselves in God’s love
We were created to worship and love God
We are responsible to be obedient and faithful by living out His salvation
It means to remain in the place of obedience where God’s love is poured out on His children
As opposed to being disobedient and incurring His chastening
We are to live close to God and His people
Not listening to false-teachers
Who would try to pull you away from Him
And in staying close to God we will long to bring others to Him
V22 “and on some have compassion, making a difference”
Which means “be merciful to those who doubt”
If your lifestyle is contradictory to the Word of God
If you live like the devil how can you ever witness to someone
They will obviously doubt you and your God
We must live as one who hates evil in order to show others to Christ
Our ultimate goal, our life’s mission, the one thing that we as Christians were placed on this earth to do is found in v 23
Jude 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Effective witnessing saves people from God’s judgment
To hate even the garment spotted by the flesh
Means that we are to hate the sin, but we must witness to and love the sinner
Unbelievers, no matter how successful they seem by worldly standards
Are lost and in need of salvation
We should not take witnessing lightly
It is a matter of life and death
We are to pull them out of the fire
What is more alarming that an outbreak of fire?
The fire of sin broke out in Eden
And has spread over the whole world
The only way of escape is to be pulled out
There is a ladder of escape like the ladder Jacob dreamed of, that reaches to heaven it is
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The nature of sin here is compared to fire
Fire is an element that can neither be weighed nor measured
Who can weigh or measure the workings of sin
The nature of sin, like fire, is to mar or destroy all that comes within its grasp
Sin is an unquenchable fire to man
There is a danger for the sinner
As he needs to be pulled out of the fire
It is clear that he must be in the fire
He is living under the power and dominion of sin
He may be completely unaware of his awful position
But the end is destruction all the same
Sin, like fire, when it is finished bringeth forth death
We have a work of rescue
To pull them out of the fire
With a cattle brand there are only two ways the brand can be saved from the burning
Either put out the fire, or pull out the brand
Man cannot put out the fire of sin
So sinners must be pulled out of the fire
In this world the church is God’s fire brigade
A rescue party sent to pull men out of the fire
There is not escape from sin’s destructive power
But by being separated from it
On January 27, 1903 fire broke out in a London lunatic asylum
Of the 300 inmates 50 perished and 250 had to be literally pulled out of the fire
While the rescue was taking place, these poor insane people behaved in such a way as to remind us of how insane sinners behave when others present them with salvation
Some laughed at the mention of fire
Only fools could laugh at a tragedy like this
Fools make a mockery of sin
Only those who are morally insane would dare to flirt with the fire of sin
Some said they would not leave their bed in the night to go out
They would not consent to leave their present enjoyment, even to save their own lives
There are many like this today
Who prefer the pleasures of a condemned state to the joy of salvation
Some were found hiding under the bed from the fire
They yearned for Peace, peace, when there was no peace
No one but a fool can suppose that a bed of ease or indifference is any protection against a consuming fire
Be sure your sin, like a fire, will find you out
Some seemed to think that the rescuers had made the fire
They were blamed for trying to burn them up
You would think to hear some people speak, that preachers were the makers of Hell
And disturbers of the peace
By seeking to convince men of sin and to pull them out of their deadly condition
Making a charge such as this shows they are simply trying to push the blame on someone else
They know what they say is not true
Many of them fought against their rescuers, biting and tearing their hair out
What a horrible picture
Warring and fighting against those who were sacrificing themselves for their deliverance
It is not an uncommon occurrence for those who seek to pull men out of the fire
To have their Christ-like efforts gnashed on with their teeth
And to have their merciful motives torn to pieces
Only spiritual lunatics could behave in this fashion
Some were heard knocking at a closed door to get out when it was to late
It must have been a terrible wake up call to come to their senses and find themselves imprisoned by a consuming fire
Those who refuse to be pulled out of the fire of sin will perish in it
“how shall ye escape, if ye neglect so great a salvation”
Every sane man and woman went to the rescue
The time was short
The doom of the unsaved was certain
The work was great and urgent
Every other interest was set aside
The one thing needed was the salvation of souls
All sane Christians make it their chief business to get souls pulled out of the fire
Are you out or in?
Are you a true Christian?
Or a false-teacher, a false-Christian?
Are you in the fire of sin or in it?
Those who love the Lord hate evil
Do you hate evil?
There are many false-teachers in our world today
There are literally thousands of cults out there to draw people away from the truth
Men like Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Robert Tilton, Joel Olsteen
These false-teachers are deceiving thousands and thousands of people every day
They are very dangerous
Groups like the Mormons, Christian Science and Jehovah’s Witnesses
These groups and false-teachers are very dangerous indeed
But they are no more dangerous than you
Claiming to be a christen, but living like the devil
1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Do you love the world?
Are their activities in your life that show those around you that you love evil?
Is it the movies you watch?
The books you read?
A friend told me of ladies in his church that are all reading these vampire books, and how much they are enjoying them
A Christian SHOULD NOT READ BOOKS LIKE THAT
Harry Potter? Sorry
Vampires, witches, demon possession?
Nope sorry, stay away from that stuff
Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Galatians 5:20-21 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, [21] Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Reading books and watching movies that portray that stuff is supporting that activity
Don’t do it
Do the shows you watch and music you listen to show the world you hate evil?
Do the clothes you wear?
A false-Christian is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous than a false-teacher, cult leader
This morning you need to examine your life
Do you love the Lord?
Then you must hate evil
Are you an apostate?
A person who has turned away from God’s truth
And embraced false-teachings and things of this world
If you fall into those categories you need to find out if you are truly saved
How can you know?
Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
And what does Jude 12 say?
Trees whose fruit witherith, without fruit
Are you without fruit?
If you are, then you are not saved
Do you know Jesus?
Does Jesus know you?
You need to get this settled today
Jesus is coming soon
Death may be right around the corner for you
Come to this alter and get it settled
Don’t live a life of a false-Christian any longer
The only outcome for that life is death in Hell for an eternity
Please come
