Jude 1:17-19

The book of Jude, verse 17 through 19 for our text and study this evening. But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. How they told you there would be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly life. lust. These be they who separate themselves sensual, having not the spirit. God bless to us is sacred and holy word this evening. Part of the training of the U.S. Secret Service agents is to learn to detect counterfeit bills. In order to do that, the agents go through a course in which they make a thorough study of genuine bills. Not the phonies, but the real bills, so that when they come across a phony bill, they’ll be able to detect it more easily. Counterfeit bills stand out when they’re closely contrasted with the real thing. thus a full knowledge of the characteristics of genuine bills is essential. Now, the child of God can learn something, I think, from this, and that is it’s helpful to study false religions and certainly to be aware of the teaching of all the false religions and the dangerous dogma and so forth. And yet the best defense against error is to know the dogma. doctrines of the word of God well enough that you detect error as soon as you hear it, that it doesn’t match with what you know the scripture teaches. You can spot it immediately. Today, many are being led astray because they don’t recognize how they are being deceived by these people. Now, Jude’s book, this epistle, has been known as the epistle warning because it is one that certainly addresses this issue of false teachers, deceivers, at length. And most of the book really is concerned about that. Even though he would like to write to them more about the common salvation, he found it more needful to spend time dealing with these false teachers. And while he does deal with the false teachers, and some of the things they are guilty, of doing in their false doctrine. You’ll notice that he also appeals, as our text indicates, to scripture, to indicate what has been taught and where the true doctrine is found. In this text, he argues that the apostles of Jesus Christ have given special instruction with regard to these false teachers, these religious frauds, and that we should be fully aware of what they have taught. I want to speak tonight on a warning of the apostles here. Now, you should expect to find false teachers causing trouble for the church. And we see that in verses 17 and 18 here. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told you there should be mockers in the last time who would walk after their own ungodly lust. So the apostles of Christ have forewarned you of this particular thing that Jude has been talking about through most of this epistle, these false teachers. In particular, we can point to Paul and Peter, who has been talking about, who has been talking about have really emphasized this particular facet and has cautioned the church against this matter of deceivers. Because these admonitions were given by the apostles of Jesus Christ, they are worthy of notice, they are worthy of our careful attention. This does not mean that Jude was not an apostle. but he, being joined by the other apostles, are warning of the same thing. And we certainly need this warning. We find that it appears that Jude had lived to see, perhaps some of the predictions of the apostles come to pass, that their epistles had been out for a while. these people were more familiar with what has already been written, and therefore knowing that, he mentions them here. Whereas it seems that Jude may have written more later, certainly not later than John, I think, John’s epistle, John’s works may be some of the later ones that were written, but at any rate, it seems he wrote later than some of the other apostles so that he could point you to what’s already been written. Now let’s look at a couple of passages of scripture in this regard. If you would, look with me at the book of Acts and chapter 20 and begin with verse 29. Acts chapter 20 and beginning with verse 29 reading through verse 31. Paul at this point is speaking to the elders at Ephesus and he’s basically giving a farewell the dress. He may not see them again. He doesn’t think that he will. So he’s warning them. He’s going to tell him about all the things. He says, I, you know, I don’t have any blood on my hands. I gave you the whole counsel of God. And he ends a lot of what he’s saying here with these words. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves, entering among you not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after him. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn every one day and night with tears. Here is what the apostle Paul has said about these matters. And then if you would look at 1 Timothy, chapter 4 in verses 1 and 2, here’s another passage from Paul. Paul writes here in 1 Timothy 4 1 and 2. Now the spirit speaketh expressly. Then in the latter time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Then jump over to 2nd Timothy, if you would, chapter 4, verses 3 and 4. Paul continues here in writing and warning. Timothy. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. And then if you’ll look at 2 Peter, Chapter 2, verses 1 to 3, here we have Peter’s teaching on the subject. 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 1 to 3. But beloved, excuse me, but there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernacious ways, by reason, of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken off. And through covetousness, shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. One more passage. 2. Peter 3, if you would, in the first three verses. This second epistle, Beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I see, stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles, of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last day scoffers walking after their own loss. I could go to John, and we could go to First John, and he talks about him. we, even Revelation, we’ve seen the false prophet mentioned and some of the false people there. But it’s important to note here the harmony of the scriptures, that all the apostles spoke the same thing, that they all were in unison, in lockstep, in this warning about apostates. The Bible is not a collection. of the writings of various men, but a unified body of truth, given by the Holy Spirit, so that the message that we have is a unified warning or message of the apostles. Whatever apostle we turn to, somewhere along the line, there’s going to be a warning about the same kind of thing. So the apostles of Christ have forewarned you of this. Secondly, you have been given a specific warning in particular. It’s interesting, if you look here at 2 Peter chapter 3 in verse 3, and you compare it to Jude in verse 18, it seems to be, he’s talking about the same kind of thing, as if he’s actually referring, it seems, to Peter’s message here. about there being, in the last day, scoffers or mockers walking after their own lust, because it’s exactly what Jude says, as if he was referring to this particular passage of Scripture. Now, Peter’s prophecy here about this matter, it’s clear, I think, that he is certainly the one that Jude has in mind. When he talks about scoffers or mockers here, these are those that make light of something that’s spiritual. Whether we may make light of sin, would they make light of hell, the final judgment, the resurrection of the dead, or the gospel of Christ, they’re making fun of something. He uses the phrase last time. It’s used with reference to the destruction of Israel at times, but in particular it’s used with the times introduced with the times introduced by the Messiah. For the scripture says, Hebrews 1-2, God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. And 1 John 2.18, little children, now it is the last time. He’s saying in his day, it is the last time. The last time was a present reality then, for the days of the apostles. In a specific application to the message, of the Son of God, certainly in the Gospels. Some have, I think, reasonably applied the last times or the last days to the entire period between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. And I think that’s a reasonable assumption. Now, he says that they will walk after their own lust. This is in a settled course of action. It is a daily custom. It is a progression. and evil, and we see that it is something that we would certainly see as evil and worthy of condemnation. What do they mock in particular? Well, Peter tells us it’s the return of Christ. Where is the promise of his coming? In 2 Peter 3.4. We have told us about Christ’s coming and the judging of the judgment of the, wicked and all that. We don’t see it happening. And they mocked it. They denied the return of Christ. They denied the fact that people are going to be held accountable at a final judgment where the books will be open and they will have to give an account of what they’ve done in their life. So here’s Peter’s prophecy. Now, Peter answers his scoffers here in verses 4 to 7 and saying, where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this, they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God, the heavens were of old, and that earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and earth, which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved under fire. against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Well, friends, there’s no real gospel if there is no final judgment and there’s no final resurrection, no accountability at the end. Thus, Satan would really like to attack this idea of Christ’s second coming and do away with this whole concept. Mockers argue that the regular course of nature hasn’t changed since the beginning of the world. That’s what they’d like to argue. In other words, it’s not going to change in the future because it’s never changed in the past. There’s been no dramatic events occurring in the past. The constant revolution of the planets, the permanency of the earth, the reproduction of human beings, generation after generation has occurred, and seeing the, this seems unchangeable. And thus they say Christ cannot come. They deny there’s going to be something catastrophic at the end, like the destruction of the present, heavens and earth, and the renewing of them, to make the new heavens and the new earth. Peter, however, argues that they have forgotten, or perhaps even more evil, they have willingly put out of their minds the flood on Noah’s Day. we talked about Enoch and his prophecy, and the judgment was coming. And we related both to the flood and to the second coming of Christ. but we see here in this passage of scripture that Peter is indicating to us this flood of Noah. clearly refutes this thinking. For God flooded the whole world. He judged all mankind. Only eight souls were saved in the ark. Noah and his family. Things then have not continued as they were since the beginning of creation. God has brought this devastating universal judgment on the earth. A destruction of mankind took place because of their wish. wickedness and rebellion against the Lord. Now, mockers are willingly ignorant of this. People wish to close their eyes. They wish to be silent about this fact. In fact, if you study evolutionary teaching today, you will find they deny a universal flood. They have removed it from their geological tables and so forth that they had in the past. In the past, they acknowledged it. But now today we have it denied. Everything is uniform. You know, if the Grand Canyon, it, you know, took a long time for that Colorado River to cut through that canyon. So we have to be billions of years old. It couldn’t be anything catastrophic that caused something like that, see. They deny this because if the Bible is true, there is a God, there is an accountability, there is a judgment, there is a second coming, and so forth. Peter reasons that if God does. destroyed the earth the first time by a flood, he will certainly be able to destroy the second time by fire. Both of them are purging methods under the law of God. If you can’t put it through the water, if you can’t put it through the fire, you can put it through the water. But one of the other was used to purify all things under the law. So Peter’s answer to the scoffers. And then Peter’s comfort for the saints is found in verses. 8 through 11. Let’s look at this quickly here. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. Some men count slackness, but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. and the element shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also in the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Now, the question is, well, where’s the promise of his coming? He’s not going to come. And so Peter wants to address this issue why hasn’t Christ come at this point? And he says, first of all, God doesn’t count time as we do. He’s, you know, one day with him as is as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day and so forth. And so we have to be patient. We have to look at things from God’s perspective. God does not delay he’s coming. God has not forgotten to come. The apparent delay that we perceive, or at least we think there is a delay, it’s based upon the fact that God is still gathering his elect out of this world. And until he gathers all his elect, Christ is not going to come. And so this is why the seeming delay. He is long suffering toward his elect. Working faith and repentance in his elect, bringing them to salvation, and it’s interesting, verse 15 indicates to us an account, he says here, that, excuse me, verse 15, says, an account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. If the Lord is long-suffering, it’s for the purpose of bringing salvation, and he does bring it. There’s no question about this. It’s not as if he’s waiting in vain for people to repent or something like that, and maybe they won’t repent, and any Christ can’t come back, and we’re not going through all that, foolishness. He’s long-suffering toward his lack, the us word of this text, who are called the beloved, the beloved of the Lord, as well as beloved of the apostle. And therefore, until they are all called in, Christ waits. And when they are called, then he will come. The day of the Lord will come. Now it may indeed catch people unawares, they’re going to be unprepared for his coming. He comes as a thief, he tells us here, but he’s going to come. It’s a certain, a fixed day. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world and righteousness by that man which he hath appointed. So there is a fixed day for Christ returned and the judgment that will immediately follow. There’s no reason for us to doubt this. For this purpose, then, every Christian ought to be walking in holiness and godliness of life. As verse 11 tells us, we ought to walk with God as Enoch walk with God, when judgment is imminent to come or could come at any time. See how terrible the coming of the Lord will be. Seeing that being the case, how motivated we ought to be to put away our sin and be prepared for that day. So you have been given a specific warning in particular. And if we draw this from Peter, we see what may be the main thrust of the mocker’s that Jude speaks about. Now, you too are going to encounter scoffers. Among all the sins that dominate the last times, one of the things that are mentioned and gives given special recognition is this idea of scoffers or mockers. When God’s truths are made questionable, when God’s truths are ridiculed, we know that this is in fulfillment to what the scriptures tell us is going to happen. It shouldn’t be surprising then that people today scoff at the authority of Scripture, a day of judgment, creationism, even prayer itself. as simple as that is. It is one of Satan’s tactics to make the things of the most serious nature appear ridiculous to the average man. You don’t really believe those things, do you? You don’t really believe in a six-day creation, do you? That doesn’t square with evolution. You’re not being very scientific, are you? You don’t believe Christ is really coming in judgment. You don’t believe all those miracles, do you? It’s spoken of in the gospel that Christ performed. You don’t really believe God answers prayer to you. These are the questions that are raised. Recently, the Bible we’ve been told is outdated. It has to be rewritten to be of value today. That’s the opinion of a Texas businessman who donated 1.1.4 million to Oregon State University in order for someone a professor there to rewrite the scriptures for us. The man was an alumnus of the school and he gave money to further the work of a Marcus Borg, he was a professor there, who contended that most of the words attributed to Jesus in the gospel accounts he never said. That’s what we’re being told. They want to discredit the teaching of Christ. What is being done today not only blatantly by those who are rewrite in scripture and others, but also subtly by the so-called Bible translators is an undermining of the Word of God. Nelson publishers published a gender-neutral Bible. Think about that. All your dynamic equivalence Bible really boil down to a denial of the verbal inspiration of scripture. If you believed that every word was inspired, then you would translate every word word for word and not just give the general idea or to the general thought. The equivalence. Particularly the concept of the return of Christ and the day of judgment are being attacked by false teachers, mocked by society at large. you know, we looked upon like the guy that’s walking around with a sandwich sign on saying, you know, Christ is coming. The end of the world is at hand. The judgment is coming or something like that. Those guys are crazy. Today, to be a Christianist, be considered unsophisticated and scientifically ignorant. So we should expect to be scoffed at. And even those who you would think would be, you know, religious, people, or at least promote themselves as people because they are frauds, they mock at the truth too. Some of those are their leaders in mocking at the teachings of the apostles. So you should expect to find false teachers causing trouble for the church. We should expect that. Now, secondly, tonight, you should refuse to associate with false teachers. Notice verse 19. He says, these be they who separate themselves, sensual having not the spirit. You should realize that these people are divisive. They separate themselves. One of the ways in which false teachers work is they attempt to steal away people from the true church. You know, in the old days of the west, they had the cattle rustlers. Well, these are the sheep rustlers because they’re trying to steal the sheep. But those who profess to be sheep, anyhow. They separate themselves. Now, they may start out by creeping into the assembly, as verse four of Jude talks about. And they may, for a time, be among us in our love feast, as we read about here in verse 12. But eventually, they don’t only produce discord in the church, but their whole purpose is the gain of following, and then to leave the church, to separate from the church and pull these people out with them. To win over their allegiance by flattery, as we saw in verse 16 last week. Now, most of the religious sects and cults today were created by those who separated somewhere along the line from a true church of Jesus Christ. Romans 1617 says, Mark them that caused division and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. they’re divisive. You should realize that they are driven by lusts. They are sensual, he says. Sensual here has to do with minding the things of the flesh. It is a term that’s often used with regard to sexual perversity or sexual sin of some kind. It’s interesting, Peter, in 2. 2.14, in talking about these false teachers, he says, they have eyes full of adultery. Much time’s already been spent on this subject. I’m not going to take the time to go over all again tonight, so I won’t pursue it any further, but just to mention it to make you aware of this once again. Notice, however, those who turn away from God’s truth end up being reigned over by their own lusts, controlled, dominated by their lusts. Peter stated that those who mockingly said, where is the promise of his coming are the ones who walk after their own lust? In 2 Peter 3 that we read. Spiritual truth directs the believer, fleshly desires control and direct false teachers and those who follow them. If you resist the truth, how can it set you free. So they’re driven by lust. Thirdly, you should realize they are devoid of the spirit. This is a clear indication that these teachers or these religious frauds do not know Jesus Christ, do not have salvation, because they are unregenerate. For what does this scripture tell us in Romans 8, 9? If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. They don’t have the spirit. They’re not Christ. They don’t belong to him. They’re lost. They’re in their sins. They’re destitute of true grace. They are not being led by the spirit. Now, they lift themselves up as somebody in the church. They lift themselves up as someone to be a leader, someone to look up to, someone who promises to give people spiritual light. But they don’t possess the spirit of God. And therefore they possess no spiritual light. There’s darkness within them. They have no illumination with regard to the spiritual things by the Spirit of God. How can they help you spiritually? How can they aid you to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord? They cannot. Satan’s agents may appear on the surface as angels of light. But it’s all show. There’s no true substance to that. I once had some neighbors who used to go to a church in the area. It was Rick Rossi’s church. Some of you might remember him who ended up trying to kill his wife and ended up in jail for a time. He fled to California or he decided he was going to get into the movies, supposedly. But this family thought very highly. In fact, the husband was studying. under Rick Rossi, because he was going to enter into the ministry. He was portrayed as a real spiritual giant. And if you wanted to know that, you could watch his video. He had a video about himself and how great he was. But the man was a fraud. He was a sinister minister. He deceived these people. But he had this video out about his greatness, and, you know, he would cast out of a demon in this video and all this stuff. This man was destitute of the spirit of a look at his end. Look at what he did. He denied the doctrine of the Trinity. He was one that would use movies in his church, R-rated movies in his church. He used that part of the service, you know, part of a stimulus. Try to kill his wife, as I mentioned. How is he going to help anybody spiritually? This family that, we knew was really destroyed by this man. The children, you know, were all rebellious, and some of them into drugs. The husband and wife divorced. The husband, I don’t know, he seems to be rather flaky about his doctrinal issues. I don’t know where the wife is anymore. The last time we saw her, she was running around in a sports car, it looked like on the hunt for another man. It just seemed like this family was like ruined, destroyed, because of their association with this false teacher. The Bible teaches that the natural man, the central man, receives not the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. You don’t have the spirit, you can’t discern anything spiritually. So you should refuse to associate. with false teachers. Let me conclude. Well, U.S. Secret Service agents study genuine money in order to detect the counterfeit. God’s truth should be carefully mastered so that we can detect any false error, any false teaching that comes along. Here’s some important questions you need to ask when you suspect a dangerous religious teacher. Are they characterized by towards the things of God and humility, or by brashness and arrogance. Are they gentle in dealing with people, or are they overbearing? Do they show respect for other authority and power, including the Lord and church leaders and government and so forth? Do they promote individual discernment, growth, and maturity in their followers? Or do they foster a spirit of dependence upon them and total submission to them? Do they exploit people financially? Or do they do whatever they can really to spare people when it comes to financially burdening them? Is there evidence of sexual unfaithfulness? Are they sensually indulgent? Do they encourage separation from sin in order to serve God? Or do they tighten the grip of evil upon those who follow them because they teach them what they want to hear? And they don’t really deal with the issue of mortifying sin and lust and so forth. For they themselves are given over to it, why should they tell their followers to depart from evil? So they ensnare people in sin and guess what? They leave them there. They leave them in it. Do they focus your allegiance upon Jesus Christ? Or is their attention focused on themselves? Do they abuse their authority, throwing their weight around? or do they lead by teaching, by encouragement, and by example, those who profess to follow the Lord? Do they meet the qualifications of a spiritual overseer according to Scripture in 1 Timothy 3, 1 to 7? Or are they just men that are articulate with great swelling words and have questionable character? And do not meet the criteria of 1 Timothy 3. These are the things we should weigh when we think about false teachers and be aware that they are always going to be present. during these last days, we should always be aware of their presence and their danger. Well, let us close with the word of prayer.