What should we look for when contending for the faith? OR How do you know if someone is a false teacher?

Introduction

STORY: An article I came across recently told the story of Melita Norwood.

She was a seemingly harmless assistant who worked for the director of one of Britain’s atomic research centers. While she appeared innocent, for 37 years, she passed secret information from Britain’s atomic bomb program to the Russians. How she evaded detection for so long is anyone’s guess, but she did.

The scary thing is, she is not the only one who has spied on the world’s governments, nor will she be the last. There are certainly spies positioned in governments right now all around the world. Spies, covert operatives that have infiltrated key departments for deceptive purposes.

CONNECTION: That is not only the case with governments, but, as we talked about last week, with the church as well.

FCF: It is sad, but we live in a world where we can’t even trust those who go to church with us.

BOND TO THE TEXT: According the Jude, there could be false teachers among us now.

Covert operatives whose mission is different than Jesus’ mission. Instead of seeking to save the world from sin, they work to drag the world into it. Instead of leading the world and their fellow church members to Christ, they work to pull them away from Christ. This is why we must contend for the faith.

In order to do that, we not only need to know the faith, which we talked about last week represents all of the theology and doctrine that is found in God’s word.

It’s basically all the teaching that is in the Bible.We not only need to know God’s word, but

THESIS: We must watch for false teachers.

Hearing that you’re probably thinking,

“Ok, that’s great, I need to watch for false teachers but what am I to watch for?

OVERARCHING QUESTION: How do you know if someone is a false teacher?”

ILLUSTRATION: That question reminds me of Sherlock Holmes. I like reading the Sherlock Holmes’ novels.

If you’re not familiar with Sherlock Holmes, he is a master detective. He solves crimes and mysteries that no one else can solve. One of the things that allows Holmes to solve these mysteries is the grid that he has developed through years of experimentation and experience. A grid he uses when he meets people. A grid he runs all his encounters through.

APPLICATION: In a similar way, we need a grid.

A grid we can run all our interactions with others through. A grid that helps us determine who is and isn’t a false teacher.

The good news is, we don’t have to spend years developing that grid.

The even better news is that it’s free — Jude gives it to us.

I. What does Jude’s grid reveal about the false teachers beliefs?

ILLUSTRATION: Several years ago the Smithsonian had some of Thomas Jefferson’s works on display.

One of the items they were showing was an alternative book or Bible that he had produced entitled: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.

Over an extended period of time He painstaking created the 84 page volume by cutting and pasting text from the gospels on to a blank page in a book to create an account with which he agreed. An account that left out anything that was miraculous, or what he perceived to be contrary to reason. It basically focused on the moral teachings of Jesus.

The Jefferson Bible, as it’s known, is called scripture by subtraction.

Jefferson makes his intention in creating it known when he says that The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth was “the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system, imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions.”

Jefferson’s statement and his actions are bold. What they reveal is that he believes he is the authority on matters of creation, revelation, salvation, and morals. This leads him to sit over the text rather than under the text.

APPLICATION: That is exactly what the false teachers were doing in Jude’s day and what they do today.

Instead of submitting their lives to God’s Word, they submitted the Word to their own opinion.

When that occurs, we are essentially creating our own Jefferson Bible. We may not be meticulously cutting and pasting the text into a blank book, but we are making our own Bible.

To be sure, the Bible that most people make is one that agrees with their every action.It’s not a Bible that contradicts their beliefs or directs them to change. It’s one that is consistent with the way that they want to live.

ILLUSTRATION: Matthew Vines. The Bible and homosexuality.

So we see that false teachers reject the Bible’s authority.

Transition: But false teachers don’t just reject the authority of Scripture:

False teachers also reject Jesus’ authority over their life.

They don’t recognize Him as Lord. As the one who should guide and direct their life

Notice at the end of verse 4, we are told that they:

“deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” ()

A rejection of the faith, a rejection of the the Bible’s authority also leads to a rejection of Jesus’ authority.

So we see that:

(1) False teachers don’t accept the authority of God’s Word, nor do they accept Jesus’ authority.

They are their own authority

Transition: When we encounter someone, one of the first questions we need to ask is:

Do they believe that the Bible is authoritative? Or do they deny its authority and create their own body of doctrine and theology, their own faith?

A follow up question should be:

Do they recognize Jesus’ authority? That He has the right to direct their life?

Transition: Those are important question to ask because once we diminish the authority of Scripture and reject Jesus’ authority, we have no problem twisting Scripture to fit our agenda.

One of the first beliefs to go, to be twisted, is the gospel.

We see that here. Look at verse 4,

"For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” ()

Notice what they pervert, what they change, what they twist — It is the grace of God.

The grace to which Jude refers is God’s saving grace.

The Bible teaches us that God is a God of grace.

He freely gives us what we don’t deserve.

By nature we are all sinners. As sinners, we deserve death. We deserve to face God’s wrath for all eternity. No matter what we do, how we live, how “good” we might act or think we are, we all deserve God’s punishment. But God gives us what we don’t deserve. He gives us a Savior. A Savior who willingly paid the penalty for our sins, which is death, in order to release us from God‘s wrath, free us from the grip of sin, and make us into a new creation. As those who have been created anew, we can and we should follow God‘s will.

The hard thing about that message, the stumbling block, is that we have to admit that we are broken and that we can’t fix ourselves.

People just don’t walk around a freely admitting that they’re broken, that they’re messed up, that they need to be fixed. That requires us to humble ourselves. But we’re prideful people. We think we are much better than we really are.

As well as this idea that we must change, that we are to follow God‘s will, that grates against the natural man.

If we don’t think that we’re broken, if we think that we’re right, we certainly don’t see a need to change, nor do we see a desire to change.

If that’s the case, and if you are trying to influence people within the church, one of the first things that you’re going to twist is the gospel message

That’s what the false teachers in the church to whom Jude wrote did. They twisted the gospel, they turned God’s grace into a license to sin.

So if we see people using God’s grace as a license to sin, we can know right off the bat that they are false teachers.

But is that the only way the gospel can be twisted, or are their other ways?

There are other ways that people can pervert the grace of God.

Transition: One of the first ways I’m thinking about is:

A moralistic gospel.

One that agrees that Jesus saves us. But after experiencing salvation it is our responsibility to live right in our own efforts. When we live right, we can expect to earn God’s blessing and favor. You might consider this a soft prosperity gospel.

Honestly, this is what a lot of cultural Christians believe. This is why so many people walk away from God when they don’t advance in the career, when they get sick, or when a loved ones die. They think that their good behavior should have earned God‘s blessing and favor. They held up their end of the bargain after all, but God didn’t hold up his. God either does not exist, or He’s not the benevolent God of grace that they thought. And so He becomes a God who is not worthy of their worship or service.

That’s a false gospel. God does not expect us to make our own life right. Nor does he have some sort of contractual agreement with us.

Transition: But that is not the only way God’s grace is perverted. There is also:

A legalistic gospel

One that teaches that we must do certain things in order to earn our salvation. Maybe it’s Jesus plus tithing, or Jesus plus right living, or Jesus plus attending church, or Jesus plus dressing a certain way. Or maybe it’s just works altogether without Jesus.

Again, that’s not a true gospel. It’s not our work that saves us, instead it’s in Jesus’ work on our behalf that provides us with salvation. It’s Jesus plus nothing.

Transition: Yet still, there are other ways the gospel is perverted. One of those is:

A social justice gospel

Instead of salvation referring to us being saved from God’s wrath and sin’s grip, it is redefined as salvation from oppressive societal structures.

But again that’s not the true gospel.

Yes, Jesus will free us from injustice. He promises that he will do that. But that won’t happen until he returns and restores all of creation back to its natural order. Plus, Jesus freeing us from injustice is just a slice of the hope that he provides. I don’t know about you but I want the whole pie. I want all of Jesus’ salvation. I want to be saved from God‘s wrath so that I can experience eternal life in a restored kingdom with no injustice.If our sins are not forgiven and our relationship with the Father is not restored, we will not be able to experience that restored world. Instead, we will face God‘s wrath.I want the whole pie. This is one time in your life that you can truly be a glutton. And I wanna be a glutton for Jesus. I want all of what he has to offer.

But when you deny the authority of scripture, when you pervert the grace of God, you can and most likely will turn God’s grace into any gospel that you want.

But it’s not the true gospel. It’s not the gospel that is presented in Scripture, nor is it a gospel that provides us true salvation.

Transition: And so when we encounter someone’s teaching, we need to ask ourself:

Do they believe the true gospel? Or do they pervert God’s grace?

Transition: You see,

(2) False teachers deny the biblical gospel

Transition: But that is not all denying the authority of Scripture leads to.

Verse 8 reveals another characteristic of false teachers that stems from denying the Scriptures authority and Jesus’ authority.

Look there with me:

"Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.” ()

What were these false teachers relying on?

They were relying on their dreams to direct them.

While it might sound spiritual, everyone wants to be spiritual these days.

While it might sound spiritual to say,

“I’m following my dream, or God gave me insight through a dream, or I received a vision”

— all these things sound spiritual but they are almost always based on our own biases.

Transition: Biblical writers aren’t the only ones to recognize that that’s the case.

ILLUSTRATION: I recently came across an article in the NY Times that makes the same point.

The headline alone says it all — What do dreams mean? Whatever your bias says

Once you dive into the article, you find even more evidence pointing toward the idea that our dreams are heavily biased toward that which is convenient for us.

One researcher concludes:

“Once you see how flexible dream interpretation can be, you can appreciate why it has always been such a popular tool for decision-making. Relying on your dreams for guidance is like the political ritual of appointing an “independent blue-ribbon panel” to resolve an issue. You can duck any personal responsibility for action while pretending to rely on an impartial process, even though youʼve stacked the panel with your own friends and will ignore any advice that conflicts with your desires. Charity work, no; margaritas, sí.”

While it might make us sound spiritual to say that we received some insight from a dream, the revelation that we almost always receive is that which we want to hear.

Dreams, then, are just a convenient way to back up how we want to live.

In other words, they don’t lead to life change. It certainly didn’t with the false teachers. It led them to:

Defile the fleshReject authority And blasphemy

Now, I want to be cautious here, and I want you to hear me clearly: all dreams are not self-serving.

There are several instances of dreams leading and guiding people in Scripture. As well as there are people who are led by them today. Even led to Christ by them. So all dreams aren’t self-serving.

But where folks go wrong is when they don’t run the dream they have had through a biblical grid to see if it accords with Scripture. Instead what they do is elevate the teaching they receive in dreams over the teaching found in Scripture. When that occurs, when we give subjective dreams more authority than objective Scripture, we are off course.

That is exactly what false teachers do.

(3) False teachers elevate subjective dreams, visions, and experiences over against objective Scripture.

So when we meet someone we need to ask:

What is the basis for their teaching? Is it subjective dreams, visions, or experiences? Or is it scripture, scripture that they recognize as divinely authoritative?

Conclusion

So the next time you are in conversation with someone.

The next time you hear someone preach.The next time you read a book, blog, or article, ask these questions.

We have to be careful.

We have to protect ourselves and others. We have to contend for the faith. These are some of the things that we can watch for as we do that.

So if you are a believer here today, use this grid.

Jude has done the hard work, and he’s freely given it to us. Now it’s our responsibility to take it and use it.

We can’t afford not to. Our life and the life of our fellow church members is literally on the line. False teachers, covert operatives, could be seeking to infiltrate the church right now or they could already be in here spreading teaching that is false. So we must use this grid as we seek to contend for the faith.

If you are a believer here today, that’s how you can respond.

If you are not a believer here today, you have heard some of the ways that false teachers pervert the gospel.

And you’ve heard the true gospel — that salvation is only through Jesus Christ. Now is an opportunity for you to experience true hope and true salvation. Now is an opportunity for you to respond by repenting of your sins and turning to Jesus as your Lord and Savior and to rest in him and him alone for salvation.

So that’s how we can respond to this message today.

And I believe it’s important for us to respond because we’re not just here to get some knowledge. That’s not what discipleship is all about, it’s not just about us gaining knowledge. Discipleship is about us being obedient to God‘s word.And responding in these ways is a way for you to be obedient to God‘s word and to truly be a disciple of Jesus.

I’m going to pray. Afterwards, I want us to take a moment to respond to this message in one of those two ways.