Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, June 4th. The Book of Jude warned first century Christians not to be deceived by those who twist the truth. Let's continue the series with an outline of the principles we need for living amidst false teachers. And here's some two thousand years later. We'll follow us to the Lord Jesus Christ because those men, not taken out of their society, but planted there, very strongly, well equipped, well disciples, they made a difference where they lived. Now, God isn't going to take us out of this society. society to make things easy for us. In fact, the truth is our society, according to the Scriptures, is not going to get better.
It's going to get worse. And it's interesting to me when I hear these theological perspectives oftentimes on the radio, the television, talk about things are going to get better and we're going to bring in the kingdom. I want to tell you, you can't find that in this book because Jesus said there'll be wars and rumors of wars and the end is not yet and all that Jesus said about the end has nothing to do with a great society where everything is going to get better and better and better and we're going to bring in the kingdom.
First of all, it's not our kingdom to bring in. Only Jesus can bring in the kingdom. And He's going to bring in His kingdom in a world that is ungodly, anti-Christ, anti-Scripture, anti-church.
And what we're seeing is we're seeing that world develop right in front of us. So when Jude wrote his heroes and his readers, he warned them about these false teachers. That's what this whole book is about. And you'll notice that he said in the very beginning, you are to be strong and to contend for the faith.
Stand up for it and defend it. Then he describes the character of false teachers. He describes their conduct. And then he describes the condemnation that is certain to be theirs because of what they're doing. And so the first 16 verses really have to do with the kind of people these false teachers are. Then he begins in verse 17 and I want us to read through verse 23 but we're not going to take all that tonight but I want you to get the context of this paragraph. He says, But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, In the last time there shall be mockers following after their own ungodly lust.
These are the ones who caused divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, see he says that twice. First he says, But you, beloved, ought to remember. Now he says, But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ through eternal life, and have mercy on some who are doubting, save others, snatching them out of the fire, and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now, the more I read that passage of Scripture, the more I realized we couldn't handle all that tonight. So the title of the message tonight is Living Amidst False Teachers. And I want to begin, and we'll see how far we get along here. There are three things I want to say in this passage.
I may not be able to get but one of them said, but that's all right. I want us to look first of all at what he says in verse 17 when really he's saying, Remember the past warnings you have received about false teachers. Now listen, whenever God speaks through our heart, he speaks through our heart for a purpose. And whenever God is spoken in the Word, he's always spoken for a very clear purpose.
And what he's saying here is this, listen. But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ warning you, and the purpose of that warning was to protect you. The purpose of the warning was to protect you from false teachers. He says, The words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ that they were saying to you in the last time, There shall be mockers following after their own ungodly lusts. Now, he says, Now you remember the warnings that they gave. The nature of these warnings came through words, but these weren't just idle words.
These were words that were handed down, that were given by God through inspiration. They were very accurate, listen, very accurate descriptions of false teachers. And that's why Jude comes up here, and he above everybody else in the Scripture gives us the most detailed accurate description of false teachers.
Subtle, tricky, laying snares, appearing to be what they are not, coming in with a divisive hand. And that's what he's saying in this particular passage here. False teachers, he says, these false teachers, they were saying, are inevitable. You can look for them.
There's no fellowship where false teaching does not attempt to enter. So he says, Be on the alert for them. Now, he says, This is the way you identify them.
He's already given us all kinds of identification over here in the first 16 verses, but listen to what he says now. First of all, they shall be mockers. Now, what does mocking? Mocking doesn't mean just making fun, but these mockers are those who make an intense attack upon the body of Christ.
Now, what is it the mockers attack today? They attack the Bible, and they attack the church. They attack the very thing that you and I base all of our faith on. They mock the Scriptures. But he says, These times are inevitable, and he says, You'll understand because they're mockers. You can detect them because they will criticize the truths, and what he's referring to here, the truths handed down through the Lord Jesus Christ, through the apostles and the church, and for us it is the Bible, following after their own ungodly lusts. Now, we've seen that over and over and over again, but there's another problem in the church here.
Now, look at this. Not only were these men slaves to their own lusts, but they were divisive. They had another idea about humanity and about the way life is to be lived. Now, listen to their philosophy.
We've already described part of it, but here's the way they divided the church. They said, Now, surely we understand body, soul and spirit, but here's what they said. There are many people who have a body, the structure, and then they also have this physical life within them, this soulishness. Then there are some who go beyond, and they are the elite, those who fully understand, those who've had the real genuine experience, those who are on a higher level than these others down here. Now, they have a little bit of knowledge, but they don't have the real experience. They don't have the real true knowledge because, you see, they don't have the capacity to think like we think.
They don't have the understanding that we have up here, and so we are on a whole different level. So what they did in the church, they had a divided body. Those who were the intellectual elite thinkers, who had the experience, who were not only body and soul, but also spirit, looking down on those who were just body and soul because they didn't have the intellectual capacity to think. You see, those who were the elite had so positioned themselves they were above those old staid moral laws and values that had been handed down by Jesus and the apostles.
All of that's outdated now. And so while man is body, soul and spirit, only those who had the capacity, who had been given this extra perspective and gift, only they had what you really need, but most folks could never get it. Any time I look down on anybody with the implication that I've learned something and that I have an experience that you don't have, and until you get up here on my level you don't have it, I want to tell you, my friend, that is not scriptural. That attitude is not scriptural. That's what divides people. Listen, we are to be one, not many. One in our spirit. I want to tell you, any time you think that you have reached the level above other folks, Satan has tricked you with the sin of pride and he's got you in the most subtle fashion.
And what was dividing this body that Jude was writing to was those who felt like that they had reached some elite area in which only those who had certain experiences and who had certain capabilities could reach. And I'm going to tell you, my friend, that's ungodly. And I'm saying that to say, to give you a warning, that any time, my friend, that somebody puts it on you and puts you down because you haven't had it, I want to ask you something. When you've got Jesus, what else do you need?
When you've got Jesus, you've got it all. And the devil's tricked a lot of people, getting them off on tangents, when the issue is this, is Jesus Christ, the crucified, resurrected, living, reigning Lord, have I yielded myself to him in such a fashion that he has absolute free reign in my life? That is the ultimate question, not whether I've experienced this, that, or the other.
That's the issue. Who's reigning in my life? Here's what I want you to understand. Jesus said the whole issue is where is he in your life?
Something else secondary to that. And we, you and I cannot afford the slightest bit of pride of thinking we've had it, somebody else hasn't got it. You know what he's saying in this passage? He says, listen, here's how we'd respond living amidst false teachers. First of all, he says, you're to remember the past warnings you receive. Secondly, he says, you're to reinforce your own faith, building up yourselves. And thirdly, he says, you're to reach out to those who are in doubt, those who are on the brink of hell, and those who are so spiritually nauseatingly filthy. He says, you're to reach out and help them even when they are so vile and so full of wickedness, you even hate to get around them.
He says, it's our responsibility to help them. I want to tell you something, friend, I can't afford to look down on anybody who has or has not anything because the truth is we're all still learners and the day you cease to see yourself as a learner, you cease to be the kind of person God wants you to be. Now, I'll tell you something. I want everything Jesus Christ has got to offer. Everything the Holy Spirit's got to offer, God knows I've prayed, fasted, begged, pleaded, cried. I've done everything imaginable to tell God, Lord, I want what you have, don't deprive me of anything you've got. Now, if I believe any part of the Scripture, I've got to believe this. If I humble myself before God genuinely and absolutely and completely and tell Him I am open to anything and everything He has for me, do you think God's going to ignore that? You've got to cut out a whole bunch of passages if God doesn't answer that prayer.
And what He's saying here is their divisiveness in the body of Christ was that they were boasting of something that others didn't have. Isn't it strange that we can't be satisfied with Jesus? I'm amazed at that. You know why folks can't be satisfied with Him? I'm going to tell you why.
I'm really not really amazed. They just don't know Him in all the fullness of what He has chosen to be in our life. And the Spirit of the living God magnifying, lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit's never to magnify Himself, it's always Jesus Christ. And in a warm, intimate, personal relationship with Him, there you find it all. And if God gives you any particular gift, He will want you to exercise any gift that He gives you, whatever that is. But I'm going to tell you how He won't have you exercise it. He will never have you exercise a gift in such a fashion that you're looking down on the rest of us who don't have what you have. That's ungodly, unChristlike, unbiblical, and divisive.
That's what He's saying. He says these men were divisive. Now look, these were mockers following after their own ungodly lusts. These are the ones who caused division.
Now, they were causing division because of what they were claiming. He says they were worldly minded. To be worldly minded is to follow the whole philosophy of the world, which is get my needs met, whatever they are, any way I see fit, minus God.
You see, there is freedom in the body of Christ. But the body of Christ becomes worldly minded when it attempts to satisfy its needs the way the world satisfies its needs. He says these folks are worldly minded. They're acting like the world, living like the world, dressing like the world.
It's their mindset. And the last part of that 19th verse sums it all up. He says devoid of the Spirit.
Notice what He didn't say. He didn't say devoid of Spirit. He says devoid of the Holy Spirit. They were false teachers. They weren't saved. Now look at this. He says they were mockers, followers after their own ungodly lusts.
They caused division in the church, worldly minded and devoid of the Spirit. That's the way He said you can identify them. Now, do you know what I'm scared to death of? Not really scared to death, but what really frightens me, that you would come listen to sermons week after week after week after week and let them go in one ear and out the other and just enjoy the hour.
I'm here to tell you, my brother, that frightens me. Because I know that you are going to be held accountable to God just like I am. And I'm going to be held much more accountable than you. But if you can sit, my friend, with arms folded week after week and just let it go on by, I want to tell you, I'm frightened for you when you stand in the judgment. You don't think God's going to hold you accountable for that?
I guarantee you He is. You say, I just want you to be smart enough, wise enough, godly enough, not to let any truth get by you. Grab it. Meditate upon it.
Make it your own. And go tell somebody else what Jesus Christ is doing in your life. I want to tell you something, friend. A lot of folks in the world who'd swap places with you just to hear a little bit of truth for anything in the world. Don't take it for granted. When I think about how many people in this world don't have a Bible, not allowed to have a pastor, can't go to church, nobody to teach them, and little hope. And I want to ask you, what in the world are you going to do when you stand before Jesus?
And He reminds you of how many years upon years upon years upon years upon years. You heard one principle after the other. And all you did was tuck it away. Go your way and keep it to yourself. And I want to ask you, what are you doing with the truth that you're hearing?
Receiving, believing, applying, sharing, or taking it for granted. It's frightening to think about the results of ignoring the truth of God. Father, we thank you for loving us enough to preserve this precious, precious truth whereupon all of our hope lies. And Father, I want to thank you for the copy of the Word of God that is mine. And I pray this evening that you'll just send down great conviction, Father, upon us for keeping so much to ourselves when there is so much to give away. Let there be repentance. Now look down on those as those who are drinking and carousing when our sin may be far worse in your eyes. Keeping the most precious truth the world has ever known to ourselves, selfishly, and the folks around us are dying and going to hell. And we love sitting in church pews. And God, I pray that you'll root us up out of this place to start telling it with gratitude and thanksgiving that we've heard it. And when the power of the Holy Spirit that we know it's true is my prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.
