The Arrogance of a Spiritual Apostate
Notes
Transcript
Intro; Let me remind you this morning of what the definition of apostasy and an apostate is.
Apostasy- denial of previously held religious beliefs, falling away and distancing oneself from the community that holds to those beliefs
Apostate- Somebody who has received the truth and he has rejected the truth and now begins to ridicule the truth.
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
The subjects of this warning would be first century Jews who made an initial response to the Gospel but turned back to Judaism, the Law, rituals, and temple worship.
This warning has application to those today who hear the gospel message and make a profession of faith, only to renounce it and turn back to a worldly walk.
This is where many people are at today in America. A nation saturated with the Gospel message, a people who have been brought up in church only to turn away from the truth to live the lie of the world.
This is the “Arrogance of a Spiritual Apostate”
Text; Jude 8-11
8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
1. Present Spiritual Apostates; 8
1. Present Spiritual Apostates; 8
Likewise- in the same manner/way [refers to v.7] The present apostates are acting like the former people of Sodom and Gomorrah
Dreamers- people with empty opinions, vain deception, who claim authority from visions/dreams that they have.
[Illus.] God spoke to me in a dream, or I recieved a word or revelation from God. They claim God has given them a higher knowledge than what the Bible reveals and use that to justify their immoral behavior.
1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,
2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’
3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.
5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
Defile flesh- like Sodom and Gomorrah they accept all forms of sexual perversion out of pride, arrogance and rebellion against God. They think God’s plan for intimacy is wrong and they have a better solution. “Everyone does what is right in their own eyes.”
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
Reject authority- both divine and human authority, breaking the law and creating chaos and havoc in society. They live to please themselves and dismiss the prospect of a Second Coming and judgment by God.
Reject human authority;
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
Reject divine authority;
11 Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?
19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people— The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words Nor My law, but rejected it.
Speak evil of dignitaries- reject the existence of spiritual beings, especially the Deity and Divine authority of Jesus Christ over His creation!
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
In his keynote address at the opening session of the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) International Christian Media Convention in Orlando on Monday night, Rev. Franklin Graham minced no words regarding faith in today's society. . Graham said that "every demon from hell" has been "turned loose" in our culture today. "The world has deteriorated so quickly," he said from the stage. "We cannot be deceived and we can’t be fooled. We need to get ready and be prepared."
2. Spiritual Arrogance of Apostates; 9-11
2. Spiritual Arrogance of Apostates; 9-11
Arrogance- haughty, boastful, dangerously overconfident
Apostate- Somebody who has received the truth and he has rejected the truth and now begins to ridicule/mock the truth.
[9] Michael is the archangel, the chief angel in terms of position and authority. He is called the “great prince” that watches over Israel [Dan. 12:1].
He fights against the dragon [Satan] and defeats him, driving him out of heaven [Rev. 12:7]
This situation may refer to the burying of Moses by God found in [Deut. 34:6]. Michael may have been the one God used to bury Moses and Satan wanted Moses body.
Our best guess is that the story shows Satan wanting the body of Moses as a potential relic for idolatry, or perhaps he challenged Moses’s right to be buried by God because he had murdered an Egyptian. Or even to keep Moses from appearing in the Transfiguration with Elijah and Jesus.
Shaddix, J., & Akin, D. L. (2018). Exalting jesus in 2 peter, jude (Jud 9). Holman Reference.
If Michael, being the greatest warrior angel, knowing his proper place under the authority of God, is going to respect the position and power of Satan and engage him in battle as Jesus did by the Word, what type of fool are they or anybody to believe you can have victory over the devil outside of Christ!
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
[10] They run off at the mouth about things they have no clue about. They act out of instinct like an animal not a reasoning human being.
Out of a poll of 700 preachers, the following results were given:
48% denied the complete inspiration of the Bible;
24% rejected the atonement;
12% rejected the resurrection of the body;
27% did not believe that Christ will return to judge the quick and the dead.
A Washington, D.C., minister said, “We liberal clergymen are no longer interested in the fundamentalist–modernist controversy. We do not believe we should even waste our time engaging in it. So far as we are concerned, it makes no difference whether Christ was born of a virgin or not. We don’t even bother to form an opinion on the subject.”
An Arlington, Va., minister said, “We have closed our minds to such trivial consideration as the question of the resurrection of Christ. If you fundamentalists wish to believe that nonsense we have no objection, but we have more important things to preach than the presence or absence of an empty tomb 20 centuries ago.”
McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (2 and 3 John/Jude) (electronic ed., Vol. 57, p. 97). Thomas Nelson.
[11] Not only are they thinking like an animal, they are acting like one as well.
Gone the way of Cain- Cain was a religious man but a lost man. He believed in God and believed in religion, but he did it after his own will. He denied that he was a sinner, rejected redemption by blood, and thought that he could come his own way to God.
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Run greedily in the error of Balaam- Balaam prophesied out of greed for money not obedience to God. He led Israel into immorality and idolatry [Num. 22-25]. False teachers care nothing about God nor his church but use it as a tool for their love of money.
15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
Perished in rebellion of Korah- Korah led a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, God’s appointed authority [Num. 16]. When he rebelled against God’s leader he was actually rebelling against God. God opened the earth and Korah and his whole family perished. Jude is saying these apostates have already perished, they just don’t know it yet!
15 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”
29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—
Jude painted a clear picture of these false teachers. They were without love (like Cain), greedy for money (like Balaam), and insubordinate to God-appointed authorities (like Korah).
In short, they were “Spiritually Arrogant”
Close;
32 Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.
Are you being seduced by the flattery of false teaching? Repent!
Franklin Graham also told the crowd, "Preach — don’t back up, don’t make excuses." "We cannot back up, we can’t retreat, don’t apologize for the gospel. Just declare it, just preach it."