Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

The title of my sermon today is wrestling for our faith.

In one of our Gideons’ Army graduation classes it was said that Christianity is always a generation away from extinction.

since the days of the apostles to today christianity is always one generation away from being removed from the face of the earth, and that is because if one generation misses to pass the right baton the next generation will be in jeopardy of extinction.

so Paul told Timothy in You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

that is how God has designed Christianity to move from one generation to the next- the one generation of faithful men and women pass it on to the next generation who then pass it on.

If one generation was to miss it completely then we are in danger of losing the whole thing, BUT GOD!!

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,

as I have grown up I have had an increasing concern that we might be that generation that might miss it if we are not careful to hear the Holy Spirit and also to discern the times we are living in.

we might be that generation that has nothing to pass to the next generation.

our previous generation our fathers and their fathers were an generation.

in The Holy Spirit fell upon the believers on the day of pentecost and the crowd is amazed but some say that the believers are drunk and then Peter stands up and says Men of Judea this people are not drunk as you suppose…

but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel that in the last days God says, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophesy.

you see the reason Peter could quote the scriptures like that is because the crowd too was familiar with the scriptures, they knew them, they knew thats what Joel had said,

they had a general knowledge of the scriptures.

our previous generation had a general knowledge of the scriptures,

most of us growing up in school we quoted the Lords prayer, most of us knew psalm 23- The Lord is my shepherd, we were conversant with most of the stories of the bible, creation, Noah and the ark, Samson and Delilah, David and Goliath.

we knew .

but that has been lost…the generation we are living in is an generation

2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was gprovoked within him as he saw that the city was hfull of idols.

17 So ihe reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.

And some said, j“What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because khe was preaching lJesus and the resurrection.

19 And they took him and brought him to mthe Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this nnew teaching is that you are presenting?

20 For you bring some ostrange things to our ears.

We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”

21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

w See ch.

1:2

to the greeks, the epicurean and stoic philosopher, Paul was a babbler, as knowledgeable as he was of the scriptures to them he was bringing some strange things to their ears.

This is where this generation is.

we live in a time of myriad ideas, multiple opinions, so many voices, so many gods and this generation is not as familiar with the scriptures as the previous generations,

they don’t know the scriptures we do.

to them sometimes we are babbling.

sociologists are now telling us that by 2050 Islam will be the largest religion in the world.

the other largest growing sector in the world is those who claim no religious affiliation at all.

in a world where christianity has been the largest religion for the last 19 centuries.

Christianity is being invaded from every corner from educated minds in the western world, from eastern religions, from Islam, from our African religious cultures and every man and woman do what they think is right to them.

x See

Now these were the times Jude was living in where Christianity was facing imminent threats from within and without.

y ch.

1:13

false teachers were infiltrating the church and propagating a false gospel, false teachings.

z

This teaching which was an early form of Gnosticism went something like this that everything that is spiritual is good and everything that is of the physical is bad.

Therefore Jesus could not have come in the flesh because then he would have been evil and a further expansion of this teaching said since only what is spirit is good what is done in the physical is inconsequential.

So Jude writes and describes what these teachers were and he shows that they were deceived in 2 areas

This teaching which was an early form of Gnosticism went something like this

1 The Greek word anthropoi can refer to both men and women, depending on the context

everything that is spiritual is good and everything that is of the physical is bad.

Therefore Jesus could not have come in the flesh because then he would have been evil

a []

a further expansion of this teaching said since only what is spirit is good what is done in the physical is inconsequential.

So Jude writes and describes what these teachers were and he shows that they were corrupt in 2 areas

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

they were corrupt in their doctrine and they were corrupt in their desires

what was corrupt in their doctrine?

I) THEIR DOCTRINE PERVERTED THE GRACE OF GOD.

vs 4

For hcertain people ihave crept in unnoticed jwho long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert kthe grace of our God into sensuality and ldeny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

EXPLAIN THE TEXT

for certain people have crept in unnoticed/ secretly/ by stealth/ they wormed their way into the churches- now how did they creep in unnoticed?

no one in the church detected them.

ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality- in other words they took the grace of God and turned it into a license for immorality-

I know God needed me to teach this when pastor Ekelemu Ewomazino started off his sermon yesterday by saying you cannot use God’s grace as justification for your sinning.

I just said Thank you Jesus you have confirmed for me what i need to teach today.

these false teachers were perverting the grace of God into a license to sin.

they said since what is spiritual is what is good and what we do in the body is inconsequential we can do what we want to do.

sex is for the body and the body is for sex, food is for the body and the body is for food.

it was the same teaching that Paul was fighting in Corinth where they were saying all things are permissible for me, all things are lawful for me.

Paul tells them but not all things are beneficial.

Food is the for the stomach and the stomach is for food but God will destroy them both.

they said since what is spiritual is what is good and what we do in the body is inconsequential we can do what we want to do.

and what we do in the body is inconsequential we can do what we want to do.

sex is for the body and the body is for sex, food is for the body and the body is for food.

it was the same teaching that Paul was fighting in Corinth where they were saying all things are permissible for me, all things are lawful for me.

Paul tells them but not all things are beneficial.

Food is the for the stomach and the stomach is for food but God will destroy them both.

sex is for the body and the body is for sex, food is for the body and the body is for food.

it was the same teaching that Paul was fighting in Corinth where they were saying all things are permissible for me, all things are lawful for me.

Paul tells them but not all things are beneficial.

Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food but God will destroy them both.

or like we are hearing today since we are saved by faith alone and not by works then faith keeps us we don’t need the moral law of God, so we can do anything we want to do.

Our sins were forgiven, are forgiven have been forgiven so we can live however we want.

This teaching was called antinomianism in the 1st century and it is still here with us today under different names.

there is nothing new under the sun.

Or since we are saved by faith alone and not by works then faith keeps us we don’t need the moral law of God, so we can do anything we want to do.

Our sins were forgiven, are forgiven have been forgiven so we can live however we want.

This teaching was called antinomianism

CONTEMPORIZE THE TEXT

or like we are hearing today since we are saved by faith alone and not by works then faith keeps

us we don’t need the moral law of God, so we can do anything we want to do.

Our sins were forgiven, are forgiven have been forgiven so we can live however we want.

This teaching was called antinomianism in the 1st century and it is still here with us today under different names.

there is nothing new under the sun.

but not only did this people pervert the grace of God but they

II THEIR DOCTRINE DENIED THE LORD AND MASTER, JESUS CHRIST vs 4

A) EXPLAIN THE TEXT

These false teachers stated that since all physical existence is evil and only the spiritual is good.

Christ could not have come in the flesh otherwise he was evil too and in doing this

they denied the virgin birth of Christ,