False teachers are like unreavening animals.
They operate by instinct. They do not operate by revelation. Dr. Tony Evans says opinion and personality, no matter how popular or attractive, are no substitute for truth.
That's why you want to watch who's leading you based on the Word. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Some of the most dangerous lies in the church sound spiritual on the surface, but as the saying goes, not all that glitters is gold. Today, Dr. Evans takes us to the book of Jude to reveal how false teachers can twist grace into permission to sin and why defending the truth is essential to fulfilling your destiny.
Let's join him as he begins. Jude is the half-brother of Jesus Christ. Jude did not believe in his brother, in Jesus, prior to his death on the cross. He did not believe, according to John 7, verse 5. He became a believer after the resurrection. Jude is writing to address a concern that ought to be a concern today as it was then, and that is the rise of false teachers in the church.
His message is, don't be deceived by the deceivers. Not only did Jude become converted, he subjected himself, submitted himself to Jesus' lordship and therefore became his slave. He's not only his slave, he's a slave in shackles. He's a bond slave. He's shackled. He's handcuffed to Jesus. He's owned by him, dominated by him. One of the great problems today is that many who have trusted Christ for heaven deny him ownership on earth.
We do pleasantries toward him, we nod toward him, we acknowledge him. But Jude says, I am a bond servant. I'm in shackles to Jesus Christ. That's a statement of lordship. He says, I'm writing to the beloved in God. In the end of verse 1, fellow Christians, mercy, grace, and peace, not that you get more of it, that you get it multiplied, that you get overwhelmed by these three attributes of God, his mercy and his peace and his love.
So he wants it to be multiplied. The reason why he wants them to get more of this is because he knows that the more they are deceived by the false teacher, the less of God they will experience. He calls them beloved again in verse 3. So he speaks with affection to them because he is concerned about their spiritual well-being as any shepherd should be toward his sheep. And then he says, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I was going to sit down and talk about how great it is to be born again, I felt it necessary to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the saints.
Why? Because certain persons have crept in and they came through the side door. As they came in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for condemnation, ungodly persons who turned the grace of God into a license, he says, and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. So he says they've snuck in and they've turned God's grace into something grace was never meant to be. Whenever anyone uses grace, God's a merited favor, and they use it as an excuse to sin, you know that either they don't understand grace or that they're a false teacher misusing it.
Either way, they're wrong. Grace was never meant to be a cover-up for wrong. Romans 6, shall we sin that grace may abound, meganoita, the Greek term, God forbid. You don't use grace to excuse sin. Now, grace does cover sin. Grace is greater than sin, but it's not an excuse to sin.
You don't say, because God's going to forgive me, let me go ahead and sin. So that's what he says, but these false teachers are misusing grace, even though they're still using the word. Titus 2, verse 11 and following, the grace of God has been revealed to all men, teaching us to deny ungodliness. So grace is designed to make you more holy, not to make you more sinful. Whenever a teacher or preacher, no matter how many degrees are behind their names, no matter how well-known they may be, no matter how large they're following or how gifted their ability, if they are using grace to excuse wrong, they are false teachers. And in fact, he says strongly, he says at the end of verse 4, that they deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ. So wait a minute, how can you be in the church and denying Jesus? Because they're misusing grace. And when you misuse grace, you deny what Jesus came to do. Notice, remember, Jude is a bondservant. So he says Jesus is our only master and Lord.
He gives a number of illustrations. This illustration is when God delivered him from the land of Egypt. They got to the Promised Land and wandered in the Promised Land 40 years.
Here's how it's supposed to work for everybody's life. Deliverance, salvation from Egypt, destiny where God's taking you in your life, the Promised Land. The Promised Land is not heaven. The Promised Land is your destiny. It's where God's taking your life in history. So he delivers you from Egypt in order to take you to your destiny, but in order to go from deliverance to destiny, you must pass through a parcel of land that's prescribed for your development, and that's called the wilderness. The wilderness is a dry spell. It's where nothing's happening. Prayers aren't being answered. Basic needs are being met. He still fed him and gave him water, but it's still a dry place trying to get to where God wants you.
Why? Because the wilderness is always trying to teach you to grow in your faith. So God walked with them through the wilderness, when they got through the wilderness, there were 12 spies. Joshua and Caleb said, let's go get it. God promised it.
It's ours. The 10 spies said, no, they're too big. Yeah, the land is exactly what God said, but the giants are too big.
We can't take it. So two million people followed 10 unbelieving leaders rather than two believing leaders. So the question that you have to ask is, are the ones leading me, are the ones teaching me, do they believe God based on his word? Or else they can get you stuck in the wilderness with him. And angels, verse six, who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, he has kept any eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
So he dealt with now Israel and Egypt, so he wants to give another illustration of following bad leaders. Angels who left their first abode, well, their first abode was in heaven. Their first abode was with God.
Who did they follow? Lucifer. Second Corinthians chapter 11 says, and Lucifer, or Satan, has many false deceivers in the world. In other words, he's got reps. He's got folks who represent him, and it says, as angels of light. So they did not keep their eternal abode, and of course, that led to the creation of hell, okay, under the darkness forever, hell.
Well, again, that's a whole doctrinal statement. Basically, hell is—the illustration I give is Alcatraz in San Francisco. Alcatraz is in the vicinity of San Francisco. You can see San Francisco from Alcatraz, but when it was operating, you couldn't get to San Francisco because of the shark-infested waters in the San Francisco Bay.
So you couldn't get there, but you could see there. In Alcatraz, there are three levels—there were, when it was operating, three levels of security, minimum security, medium security, and maximum security, depending on how bad a criminal you were, okay? The Bible says hell will be cast into the lake of fire. So in the same way that Alcatraz is in the lake of the San Francisco Bay, surrounded by shark-infested waters, hell is placed in the lake of fire. In other words, no escape. It's like they couldn't escape from Alcatraz. You can't escape because this incarceration that separates you from San Francisco, heaven, is surrounded by fire that cannot be penetrated.
So it is an escape-proof system, but it is a tiered system. Hell is not equal to everybody. That's why the books are open in the book of Revelation, and people, sinners, are judged by their works. They're not judged by their works to get to heaven, because you don't get to heaven by works. They're judged by their works to determine which level they're on, minimum, medium, or maximum security. False teachers are in maximum, because not only were they evil, they led others as well.
So the judgment is greater on false teachers. Dr. Evans will share a sobering biblical example of where the path of false teaching can lead when he returns in just a moment. Before he does, though, I want to let you know that we're in the middle of a short but powerful three-part series from Tony called Jude Delivered from Deception.
These messages will equip you to spot spiritual deception, hold fast to biblical truth, and live out your faith with clarity and courage, even when the culture around you doesn't. If you'd like to go deeper than what we have time for here on the broadcast, the complete series is available right now as a digital download as well as on either CD or USB flash drive. And when you make a donation to support the ongoing outreach of the alternative, we'll send the series to you as our thank you gift. Just visit tonyevans.org to make your request. It's easy to find right on the home page. Or call us anytime at 1-800-800-3222.
And that's 1-800-800-3222. Right now, let's get back to Dr. Evans' teaching from the book of Jude. Verse 7, Just as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these, indulged in gross immorality, and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. So he now brings up Sodom and Gomorrah, which was destroyed because of legitimized evil.
It's a major problem in the church today, and that is churches who no longer hold to the authority of God and His Word, but who are trying to placate the culture. Sometimes the reason sounds so spiritual, well, we want to draw them in. We want to draw them in. We want to win them.
And that's fine. They want people to come. They want to draw them in. They want people to hear the gospel.
There's nothing wrong with that. But not at the expense of compromising the truth to do it. You speak the truth with love. You try to reach people, but you don't deny the truth in the name of love until you get this guilt trip. Well, God is a God of love. Yeah, but that ain't all He is. So that's why He wants you to see the whole story here. So He's talked about this Old Testament premise focused on false teaching leading people astray.
You say, well, what's the connection? Verse 8, Yet in the same way these men, these false teachers, also by dreaming defile the flesh, reject authority, revile angelic majesties. The Greek word for angel is angelos, and angelos is a messenger. Now the word is used of human messengers that are called angels in the Bible and angelic messengers that are called angels in the Bible.
So it can be a human or it can be a divine messenger. The book of Hebrews says in chapter 13, don't disregard strangers who bring you a word from God lest you be putting out an angel unaware. That is, don't dismiss something that comes to you that is legitimate, spiritually legitimate, because that may be the message that God wants you to hear. So before you dismiss it, evaluate it. Or as the Bible says in 1 John 4, test the spirits.
See whether it's legit or not. Don't dismiss it because God does have messengers who communicate. This is to New Testament people He's talking, so this is not an Old Testament ethereal thing. But then He gives an illustration that's a whopper, and it's the only place found in the Bible.
Verse 9 is not found anywhere else in the Bible. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. So he's in the previous verse talking about angelic majesties, and then he comes down to this angelic conflict. The angelic conflict is between Michael and Satan. Now Michael took Lucifer's place. Lucifer was the archangel. He was the anointed cherub. Lucifer, the name means shining one, was God's showpiece. He was God's show model. And he was called the anointed cherub, chief angel in charge. His job was to lead all the other angels in the worship of God and in the service of God. That was his full-time job. According to Isaiah 14, Lucifer said five times, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, negative volition.
The bottom line is, I will be like the Most High. Now what did God have that He didn't have that He wanted so badly? What was it that He wanted to be like? God had this one thing that He desired more than anything else in the world, and it's the same one thing your teenagers want, independence. They don't want to have to answer you anymore.
Anybody know what I'm talking about? No? Okay. Got teenagers.
They don't want to be under your authority anymore. So what did he do? He established his own kingdom, okay?
Kingdom of darkness. One-third of the angels went with him. So he was still chief angel in charge, but he was chief angel in charge of rebels, okay, the rebellious angels. So God tells Michael to take care of the body of Moses. Satan meets Michael and wants to confiscate Moses. He wants to battle over Moses.
Why? What's this thing about Moses? Well, you have to understand, Satan has read the Bible too.
Okay? He knows the Bible. He knows what prophecy says. He knows about Messiah coming.
He knows about all that. So his full-time job is seeking to interrupt the program of God. The job of angels are to carry out the will of God in the invisible realm until it reaches us in the visible realm. Every Christian has an angel.
Hebrews chapter 1, verse 14. Every believer, those who inherit eternal life, has been assigned an angel, okay? So you have a full-time designate that has been assigned to you for the carrying out of God's will from the spiritual realm into the physical realm.
That is their job. What many people don't recognize is that one of the reasons certain things that could happen, didn't happen, is because of angelic invisible assistance. It was not visible to you because angels are invisible beings, and it may have evolved using a physical being, but you have been assigned that.
In fact, when Lazarus died, Luke 16, the rich man, angels delivered him to Abraham's bosom. So even at death, you have an escort who is assigned to you. One of the assignments is to keep demons off of you. So they're in a battle over a man. So when you say the devil is attacking you or could be a demon, you know, what they're trying to do is subvert God's will for you.
The job of the angel is to act on God's behalf for you, tied to your submission to Jesus' Lordship. It says they argued. So there's an argument going on over this man's body, over Moses. But it says, while they were arguing, Michael refused to bring a railing judgment. He said, the Lord rebuke you.
Watch this now. You got two equals, because we are both angels. One of the good angels, one of the bad angels, but they're both spirit beings. So Michael does not have any, by nature, authority over the devil, because they're both spirit beings. So in order for Michael to win, he has to one-up him. Michael, understanding that these are two equals in terms of their nature, spirit, says, the Lord rebuke you.
He one-upped him. I don't have, by nature, the ability to enforce the argument. I'm making the argument, we're arguing, but I can't enforce it, because you're a spirit being like I'm a spirit being.
But I know the enforcer. The Lord rebuke you. Okay, remember what Scripture said? Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.
Not greater are you. That's why Ephesians 6, stand firm in the Lord and the strength of his might, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers. See, he's saying you've got to stand firm in your one-upmanship. The Lord rebuke you. Knowing how to invoke the Lord is critical. He comes and he says that Michael understood spiritual authority.
Well, what's your point? Verse 10, but these men, he's coming back to now, the false teachers, revile the things which they do not understand, they don't understand how the spiritual world works, and the things which they know by instinct, the unreasoning animals, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. He says false teachers are like unreasoning animals. That is, they operate by instinct, they do not operate by revelation. In other words, animals react.
They are instinctive. You don't reason with your dog. You don't reason. You don't get into discussions and try to explain things to your cat. Well, dog, you really oughtn't use the bathroom in here because, you know, this is my new carpet and, you know, you know, he says these men react with instinct. You cannot reason with them because God can't even reason with them.
Woe to them! Dr. Tony Evans, warning us to stay alert to spiritual deception by remaining anchored in God's unchanging truth. Today's message comes from the book of Jude, one of the shortest books in the Bible, yet packed with truth that's just as timely and relevant now as when it was written. If you'd like to take a deeper dive into this powerful book, the best way to do that is by requesting the full-length version of these messages from Tony's three-part series called Jude Delivered from Deception. This study will help you recognize spiritual deception, stay rooted in biblical truth, and live with boldness and clarity in a world filled with persuasive but misleading ideologies. You can receive the complete series with our thanks when you make a donation to support the ongoing outreach of the alternative. Request your copy today at tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222, where a member of our resource team is always available to assist. Again, that's tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222. Life can sometimes seem to pull us in a hundred different directions, and it's easy to lose our spiritual footing. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans will show ways to stay grounded as we grow stronger in faith and truth. Be sure to join us.
