Before we begin today's episode of Renewing Your Mind, we invite you to stay with us through the end of the program to hear how you can request today's featured resource from Ligadaire Ministries. We have no higher calling than to know who God is. Join Ligadier Ministries for our 2027 National Conference in Orlando. Together with Christians from around the world, we'll gather to hear biblical teaching on the glorious attributes of God. equipping us to serve him faithfully and pursue his glory in every sphere of life.
Save thirty five percent on your registration with the early bird rate at ligoneer.org slash twenty twenty seven. We stand upon the Word of God. Our feelings, our thoughts, our dreams, they are not determiners of truth. God is the determiner of truth. He establishes truth.
because he is true. Our feelings can so easily deceive us. Ultimately, we must rely on the truth of God's Word. Hello and welcome to the Tuesday edition of Renewing Your Mind. Wars begin and end.
Politicians rise and fall. We can be healthy one day and deathly ill the next. In the midst of rapid change, we can begin to doubt. As we'll learn today from the book of Jude, We must trust God and His Word. Our teacher is Reverend Jason Halopoulos.
Let's join him now. What I want to do is look at verses 8 through 16 together in this session. Remember that Jude's main theme for this letter is that he wants them to contend for the faith. There are false teachers that are in their midst and are teaching things that are diverting God's people away from the truth that has been once for all delivered to the saints, as Jude said. We saw in our last session that what he did, he was calling to the remembrance.
Who God is. by what God has done in the past. And he gave three. Stories there in verses five through seven. What I want to do is look at the fourth story here in verse eight.
And then, as we go through, he's also going to give us three individuals as examples as well. But he begins in verse 8 with pointing out that these false teachers are relying upon dreams, that this is how they are diverting and they are discouraging God's people from the true gospel. They are feeling something different. But there is something more or Less that needs to be added to the faith. for people actually to be saved.
And so They are appealing to their dreams. They trusted dreams. rather than that which they heard from the word of God. It doesn't really matter. in one sense what you feel.
About this, sir, about that. It doesn't make the thing true. Uh Jason Halopoulos.
So my first name and my last name are Greek. Uh I Grew up? knowing I was Greek. My name is Greek, first name, last name, uh I love Greek food. I have Greek taste buds.
Love it. When I was in fifth grade, I started doing genealogy. And it became my passion and my hobby, and started doing all kinds of research. Poor family, we still have these big filing cabinets where what I would do is get all of these documents I could, every birth certificate, every death certificate, every marriage certificate for family members, and create these files. And we have probably 2,500 files that have followed us everywhere.
in life.
Well, there's one day when I was in high school. I started in fifth grade, I'm in high school. Junior in high school, It's the beginning days of the computer where you could actually put some of this in a program. And I thought, you know, I've done this for family members going back to the 1500s, but I've never just done this for immediate family members. And so.
Looking things up and Dates aren't adding up? Call my mom into the room. Mom, is there a family secret I don't know about? Jason, I can't answer that question? Mom and Dad were divorced.
Next thing I know, my Dad has driven from Florida to Springfield, Illinois. He's on our doorstep and he says we need to go for a ride. And I find out. He was adopted. My grandmother had him out of wedlock.
He said, I've never pressed on it. But would you like to know? I'll ask her. I said I'd least like to know what my last name would have been.
So he asked my grandmother. She wouldn't talk about it. My my great grandmother was still alive.
So ask her. And she said, Well, what I know is, is his last name was Levine.
So he was a Levite, so I went from Greek to Jew overnight, just like that. But I knew I was Greek. I knew it. First name, last name, taste buds? If there's anything you should know, it's yourself.
But there was something in the right field I didn't know. All it took was one thing. There's only two ways to know something is true. Either you have to know everything, So nothing can come out of right field? Intern what you think you know.
into something you didn't actually know. But I don't know about you, but I don't know everything. That's an impossibility. There's a second possibility. And that is that you know.
Someone who knows all things. is willing to tell you and does not lie. And that's what we have in the Word of God. We have God who knows all things. He has told us And he does not lie.
So when someone says I have a dream. I feel I think, and it's contrary to the word of God, you run. You run. It doesn't matter. If it is contrary to the word of God, it is not true.
We stand upon the Word of God. They were having dreams and relying on those dreams, and so they were arguing that Jesus would not come in judgment. There are feelings, or thoughts, or dreams that are not determiners of truth. God is the determiner of truth. He establishes truth.
because he is true. So, Jude Warning about these false teachers saying you can live any way you want to because God is a God of grace, and He is a God of grace. But he's equally just. He equally once righteousness upheld? And he will judge.
So he moves on to his fourth story in verse nine to illustrate this. And he references For many, what feels troubling, he references a non-biblical book. And he actually does this twice, just in our verses here in this lesson. He refers to Anam the Bukhubook.
Now that bothers some because they say, well, If he's referring to a non-biblical book, then that biblical book must itself be inerrant and inspired. Or Jude itself is not inerrant and inspired. No. And no. He can cite something and say that thing is true.
without saying that entire book is inspired in an error. Example would be Think every preacher I have ever known at some point gives the CS Lewis illustration from the Chronicles of Narnia. With mister Beaver and Lucy. Where Mr. Beavers asked Is Aslon safe?
He says, of course he's not safe. But he's good. And it's used. Because it hasn't been said much better than that. Aslon, the Christlike figure, Of course he's not safe.
But he's good. But you're not saying the chronicles of Nornia are inspired. You're just saying that's a true fact. Jesus? It's not safe.
But it's good.
Well, Jude here, he quotes from a book called The Assumption of Moses. It's not inspired. It can state something true, though itself not be canonical. And it has the account of the archangel Michael and the devil. They're contending for Moses' body.
And the devil is saying, you have no right. Moses cannot go to heaven because Moses is a murderer. He has no right to go to heaven. And in this Satan is right. Moses has no right in of itself to go to heaven.
But Jude tells us. that Michael quote did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment upon Satan. Satan is attempting to judge Moses. He doesn't know his bounds. It's God that judges.
But Michael. Knows the bounds. He knows that God is judged, so he won't even judge. Satan. And he calls God The judge said.
Judgment is God's prerogative. And Jude's point is. He will judge. It's just who he is. He must uphold righteousness.
He will execute judgment. Do not presume upon God's grace He will judge the ungodly. Michael was right. The radical teachers they have overstepped. Jude concludes in verse 10, These people blaspheme all that they do not understand.
and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. That is, they simply don't understand. But even worse than that, they don't want to understand. They're just driven like animals by their appetites. This is what I feel.
So this is what I'm going to take This is what I feel, so this must be true. And Judas say No, that that's not how we judge what is true. We judge what is true by the faith that was once delivered to the saints. This is what establishes what is true. Christians are set free from the burden of the law.
And yet, we are also called to a life of obedience according. to the word. of the law. These false teachers didn't seem to understand this and didn't want to understand this. We don't now obey the law to earn God's favor.
He has poured out His grace upon us. Again, to go back to the introduction, We are His Beloved, He called us. Andy keep sauce. But we now live according to the law. We attempt to do so by his grace.
We attempt to do so to the best of our ability in his work. At work within us, his spirit at work within us. We attempt to do so to the best of our ability out of thanksgiving to him. It's a life of obedience as much as we are able. But he's pointing out they refuse to stop and think like this.
And they've just become like animals. Just simply moving by their passions. And if this isn't a word for our day, I don't know what is. Where we have people redefining what the church believes by saying, that can't be true because I have always felt this way. I feel this way.
This is who I am. It is not feelings. That dictate truth. It is God. In God's Word.
We are not unreasoning animals. Yeah, if you take um a bowl of dog food or Even better, you put a couple of of rare steaks in front of a dog. And you have that dog sit there and you say to the dog, you know what, don't eat those two rare stakes. If you just wait for five minutes, I'll give you ten rare steaks. And then you take a step back, what's the dog going to do?
Those steaks are going to be devoured. Why? because they're just driven by their carnal appetites. We are thinkers, reasoning beings, that know delayed gratification. And know that we seek to wield and yield the members of our body, to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to the Lord, to put off and to put on.
Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do to do to the glory of God, it's our aim. though we won't do it perfectly. It's our aim. to live in accordance with the law to his glory and praise. Because He saved us to Himself.
Jude. Then in verse 11. In following he gives us three individuals as illustrations. He's told the stories.
Now he's just going to give three individuals. He gives These three, Cain, Balaam, and Korah, and he's comparing the false teachers to all three of these. All three of these were leaders who led God's people in revolt against God. and against God's people. I'm not going to take time to go through all of them.
Look at them, turn to them in your Old Testament scriptures, but all of them rejected God's Word. And all of them, each of them, were destroyed.
So he's presenting these as clear types. Types of leaders that you and I are to avoid. Those that would Abuse God's Word? That would seek to lead us away from God's Word. What are these false teachers and leaders like?
Well, he presents them in verse 12 and 13 as some of the most poetic. writing in Scripture. Let me just read them and explain it. He says they are like hidden reefs at their love feasts, and as Christians must steer the ship of their lives away from them so that they don't break their lives upon them. He says that these false teachers are shepherds feeding themselves.
That is, that they are getting rich and fat at the expense of God's people. Reminds you of Eli's sons in the Old Testament. He says they are waterless clouds. In a dry region like Israel, when there was a cloud on the horizon, that was a reason for excitement. Because you need that rain, but when that cloud would pass over and not drop any rain, Then it was a false expectation that it provided, false peace.
that it projected. And so it is. with these false teachers. They are like fruitless trees. They're promising nourishment, but they provide no sustenance.
They are like wild waves of the sea. They are chaotic instead of calming. They are wandering stars, he says, stars fixed in the night sky in the ancient world. They were a blessing. You could navigate by them.
But if it's not fixed and it's wandering You get lost. And so they are leading people to be lost and ultimately destroyed. And again, Jude can't help himself. He's forthright in verse 13. The gloom of utter darkness, he says, has been reserved forever for such people.
He wants to be very clear. Destruction is coming. Because judgment is coming. And judgment is coming. Because Christ is coming.
Verse fourteen. Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of His holy ones to execute Judgment. Again, the same Jesus. Deliverance? or destruction.
He's coming. He's yelling it from the rooftops, he's comin'. And notice the scope of his judgment. Trude employs the word all four times in verse fifteen and sixteen. He will execute judgment on all.
The quote convict all. Of quote, all their deeds of ungodliness, and quote, of all the harsh things spoken. That's the scope, all. And the cause he uses the same word four times there as well the word ungodly. He will convict all the ungodly.
of all their deeds of ungodliness, that they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken, destruction is coming, because judgment is coming, because Jesus is coming. And that's all encompassing. Let's think about this together. I mean think about this from an old story context. Think about the Jews and every year.
They would celebrate the Passover. Why? Because it was a beautiful moment of deliverance. There they were, gathered in their homes, and feasting upon that lamb, and eating the unleavened cakes, and the bitter roots, and consuming all that lamb. It's an appropriation of of faith.
And the blood would cover over the lintels of their doorposts on their house. And that was the night in which the angel of death had passed over their homes. And they were delivered. And so at Passover, Jews will gather and they will. Feast And they will dance.
And they will pray and they will rejoice.
Now imagine if the Egyptians celebrated the Passover. What would they do? It wouldn't be feasting. It wouldn't be dancing. There wouldn't be rejoicing.
They would just be weeping. Same event. Sing God Deliverance and destruction. That's Jude's warning for us in this passage. Jesus is coming.
For some it will be Tears of everlasting joy. For some it will be tears of everlasting sorrow. Same event. Same person.
So, I think Make sure you're in Christ. These false teachers that just are trying to get you a degree off Christ, you got to run from them. They would seek to change the gospel so that it's more palatable for your generation. No, you got to get rid of them. You got to maintain this.
Contend for this. Because he's coming one way or the other. And this alone is our hope. That we have this? And we believe Upon him having received this, He's a good shepherd of John Tin.
Who takes the sheep in his arms and he carries them. And he is The great rider of the white horse in Revelation nineteen, that The blood goes up to his bridal. Same Jesus. Again, go back to verse five. God destroyed these Israelites because they quote Did not believe.
So Julia said Don't get t' the last day. and presume upon God's grace. You couldn't believe. This way. Thief.
Moses did not deserve heaven. Satan was right. He was a sinner through and through. He didn't deserve it at all. But as the writer of Hebrews says he believed.
By safe. By faith. By faith. It seems like a very good idea. Impossible.
That he who knew no sin would become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. Such folly. That wasn't so true. And I know it's true. Because his word says it's true.
This faith once delivered to the saints. That's upon this that we can stand for all of eternity. And he's my deliverer. I hope he's your deliverer. This is a faith worth contending for.
Amen. A faith worth contending for. This is the Tuesday edition of Renewing Your Mind, and that was Jason Halopoulos, the senior pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan. His study of Jude is seven messages. And we'll send you all seven on DVD when you give a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org.
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Well, according to Jude, we are to contend for the faith. But what does that look like?
So remember that there are false teachers that have infiltrated the church. And they are antinomians, that is, they are against the law. They're teaching, look, you're saved by grace, it doesn't matter how you live. The other is that they were independents, weren't recognizing that Christ is Master and Lord as well as our Saviour. And so he is telling these recipients of letter, you got to contend for the faith.
This is a faith we can't lose. You can't allow these false teachers to take you away from Christ. We contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Why? Because the same Jesus Who delivers?
also is coming to destroy. There will be judgment. And this is the faith The faith that saves So let's contend for this, cling to this. I hope you'll join us again tomorrow, here. on Renewing Your Mind.
