Judgment Upon False Teachers

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Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, June 3rd. The book of Jude urged the early church to stay vigilant against false teachers. Let’s discover how these warnings remain just as relevant today.

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One false teacher can destroy a vibrant living church. And Jude wrote this epistle. For the very simple reason of warning those who were his readers of those ungodly men who were turning the grace of God into licentiousness, loose, immoral living, and denying their only master, the Lord Jesus Christ. So I want you to turn to Jude, if you will. And this is our second message in a very brief series because the book only has one chapter and 25 verses. And this is our second message, the judgment upon false teachers. And the whole book really deals with false teachers. That’s what he’s discussing primarily. And if you’ll notice in verse 3, he says, Beloved… while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, which was his primary motivation for writing the book, he said, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which is the theme of this book, Contending for the Faith. That is, standing up for it, standing strong against error, and being willing to defend that which is right. And so we discussed these first four verses in the first message of contending for the faith. And now we come to verse 5. But verse 5 through 7 primarily, but we’re going to take in verse 8. Deal with the principle. And what he’s doing in these verses is simply saying, if God did this to these folks, here’s what false teachers can expect. And his whole theme here is the judgment upon these false teachers. Now, he’s just said in verse 4, giving a brief description of them, which he enlarges on throughout the book. He says they’re people. who turn the grace of God into licentiousness, which means they so interpret the grace of God as to provide for their immoral living. And secondly, they’re denying the person of Jesus Christ for whom God says he is. Now, so verse 5 says, Now I desire to remind you, though you know all these things. That is, he says, I’m not telling you something you don’t know, but I’m reminding you of something that it is very important for you to remember, and that’s this. That the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. 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. Verse 8. Yet in the same manner, these men also. Which men? Go back to verse 4. Certain persons who have crept into your fellowship unnoticed. ungodly persons who turn the grace of God into licentiousness and deny the Lord Jesus Christ, in the same manner these men also by dreaming defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. Now, I want us to stop with those few verses, and I want us to look at the principle here. The principle is very simple. And you’ll recall as we looked at this entire book on the first message that usually Jude will put things in threes. Usually it’s three here, three here, three here, which is what he does in this passage. What he’s doing beginning in verse 5 is saying, I want to remind you of something very important that you understand. And he’s saying this not only for the good of the people who are there, but also for these false teachers. He says there’s a principle that God’s laid down. And here’s the principle, and here’s how strong God feels toward ungodly men who would destroy a church by false teaching. Now, friend, that’s going on all over this country. Men who weasel their way into churches… on the promise of being a good pastor, and then absolutely destroying that fellowship. Now, what we don’t realize is this. When a family raises their children, two, three, four young children, in a church where there is a false teacher, the father is contaminated, the mother is contaminated, and all the children are contaminated with false doctrine. What it does… it puts a crack in their foundation about spiritual things. And in the light of that, you see, God sees false teachers as terrible threats to the body of Christ. And that’s why he led Jude to write this very short but very potent epistle. Now listen to what he says. Here’s the principle. The principle is very simple, so he gives us three illustrations, and I want us to look at these illustrations. First of all, he says… That the Lord after, beginning in verse 5, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently he destroyed those who did not believe. Now what’s all of this about? He’s simply saying this. You’ll recall after God brought the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage down to Sinai to receive the law and up to the promised land. that in spite of sending the spies in, and you remember the committee meeting they had, it was 10 to 2. 2 said we can, 10 said we can’t. It cost the nation of Israel 40 long years of death, disease, and doubt, war, wandering around because they listened to a very, very erroneous report. In spite of the fact that God opened the sea, fed them from the sky, gave them water when they needed it, provided all their needs for two and a half million people coming out of Egyptian bondage. And they came to the promised land and they said to Moses, we are not listening to you any longer. We don’t believe what you say. That’s what you tell us. How do we know that what you’re saying is right? And they rebelled against God’s authority. They had two problems. Their rebellion against authority and unbelief. Their rebellion against authority and their unbelief cost them the promised land. But it cost them more than that. Everybody over 20 years of age, everyone over 20 years of age died. Forty years they wandered around in circles being destroyed by disease, by war, by droughts, by pestilence. And you remember on one occasion they were dying being bitten by And God, in his mercy, time after time, came back. But everybody over 20 years of age died except Joshua and Caleb. That’s what it cost them. Now, what in the world does that have to do with false teachers? Here’s what he’s saying. Listen. I desire to remind you, though you already know these things, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. Now, I want you to go back to verse 4. When he describes these ungodly teachers, the last part says, “…who deny our Master and Lord Jesus Christ.” And what he’s simply saying in this passage is this. Here is the similarity. As these men and as these children of God in the Old Testament, as they rebelled against the authority of God back when they were about to cross over into the Promised Land… When they chose unbelief, when they chose rebellion against authority, what did God do? The Bible says that he destroyed them. Now, look at the next part. And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper abode, he has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Go back to Genesis chapter 6 and let’s look at that for a moment so you won’t wonder where in the world that is and where I got that. Let’s read a few verses here. Chapter 6. Verse 1. Verse 1. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterwards when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children of them. Those were the mighty men who were of old men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continual. And of course begins the flood. So these are interpreted here as angels coming down. and giving birth to mighty men through women. That is, when they fell, there are two reasons they fell. First of all, lust, and the second one, pride. Now, what Jude is doing here is simply saying, remember the time, remember what the Bible says about the angels falling? Remember? And why they fell, pride primarily in Isaiah, lust primarily in Genesis. What he’s saying is these men have the same problem. Now look back, if you will, in verse 4. He says, “…who turned the grace of our God into,” what? “…into licentiousness,” which is lust or immorality. Let’s look at the verses that imply this or say this, really. Verse 8, “…yet in the same manner these men also by dreaming defile the flesh.” Reject authority, revile majestic or angelic majesties. Look, if you will, in verse 16. I’m coming back to that verse. He says in verse 16, And then in verse 18, Now, one of the problems with these false teachers, first of all, rejection of authority, rebellion against God, unbelief. Secondly, in the illustration of the angels, pride and lusts. And so what did God do? God cast them out of heaven, and he says he put them in eternal bonds in darkness until the day of the great judgment. What’s the principle? Simply this, that these false teachers… who are guilty of pride and lust, likewise are going to be judged. If God judged the nation, his people, Israel, because of their rebellion and because of their unbelief, he’s going to judge these false teachers who are guilty of the same thing. If God cast angels out of heaven because of their pride and their lustfulness, and he’s judged them by putting them in bonds until the judgment, he’s likewise going to judge false teachers who are guilty of the same sin. Then he gives us a third illustration. Now, What is he speaking of? He is speaking here of the experience of Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, it’s mentioned in 12 different books of the Bible. And probably Sodom and Gomorrah is God’s greatest example, everlasting example of God’s hatred for sin and what he does. Have you ever heard anything good about Sodom and Gomorrah? Not a thing. These were cities that were absolutely given over to a lifestyle of homosexuality and God destroyed them off the face of the earth and more than likely at the bottom of the Dead Sea. What in the world does that have to do with false teachers? Well, here’s what he says. Just as, now look at the little words between the big words, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way Listen to these little words. Just as 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. Let’s go down to verse 8. And look at these words between the important words. Yet, yet what? God destroyed His people for their rebellion against authority and their unbelief. God cast the angels out of heaven because of their lust and their pride. God wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah because they were so deceived and because they were so given over to gross sexual immorality. Yet in the same manner these men, which men, ungodly false teachers, also by what? By dreaming. That could mean one of two things. Either they’re erotic, they’re sexual fantasies, or it could mean their claims for supernatural revelation. Yet in the same manner, these men also by dreaming defile or pollute the flesh. Now here’s what I want you to see. He takes these three illustrations we just saw before and he reverses them. Defiling the flesh, homosexuality. Rejecting authority. The angels reviling angelic majesties, slandering God. Listen to what he says these folks are doing. In the same manner, these men also by dreaming defile, pollute the flesh. Speaking of immorality, rejecting all authority and even slandering the law of God. If God judged his choice nation Israel for rejecting God’s will, rebelling against him, and refused to go to the promised land, and he destroyed them, what’s he going to do with false teachers? He’s going to destroy them. If God wouldn’t allow the angelic host who disobeyed him, rejected him because of their pride and their lust, if he cast them out of heaven into the bottomless pit or into a pit and chained them for eternity to judgment, he says, if God did that for them, he’s going to judge these false teachers. They’re guilty of the same thing. If God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of that gross immorality and these men in like manner doing the same thing, he says, God will judge false teachers. I don’t know of any place in the Bible where God so illustrates his judgment against false teachers as in these three illustrations. Think about that. God’s wrath is coming upon false teachers. If that’s what God thinks about false teachers, I want to tell you, my friend, anybody who sits under them needs to think twice, three times. You can’t afford the contamination of your heart. You can’t afford it for your family. That’s why we have to be protective. That’s why we have to be careful. Because every once in a while, you meet somebody who wants to set everybody straight. If you want to get straight, this will straighten you out. Here’s God’s Word. I’ll never forget this story as long as I don’t know where I read it. This pastor didn’t believe much of the Bible. And he preached in this same church for years and years and years. And every time he’d come to a passage that he said was not inspired, he said, I would cut that out of my Bible if I were you. That’s not inspired. And after years of that one day, he was called to the bedside of this man who was dying. And he said to this man, you need to place your trust in God for death. He said, you know, I tried that. He said, but you know, I pulled out my Bible after all these years of hearing you preach. And he said, there was so much that was cut out of it. I don’t have much left, pastor, to believe in because I’ve listened to you all these years and you destroyed my Bible and my faith. Now, no man may ever tell you to cut it out. But if he tells you that it’s not true, he’s saying mentally cut that out. Mentally cut this out. Mentally eliminate this. Mentally cut this out. Mentally erase this. And mentally get rid of that. Let me ask you a question. If any part of that is not true, how do I know the rest of it is? Hallelujah. All of it is true. Amen.

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Thank you for listening to Judgment Upon False Teachers. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.