Protecting the Truth ~ God's Truth (Part 2)

Part 7 TRUTH February 14, 2021 The Answer to Every Test & Trial in 2021 ~ Know God’s Truth Protecting the TRUTH ~ God’s Truth Protecting God’s Truth Within Enemies of Truth – God’s TRUTH JUDE ~ NKJV 1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. Apostates Predicted 16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you Page | 1 that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. Maintain Your Life with God 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. Glory to God 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 To [n]God our Savior, [o]Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and [p]power, Both now and forever. Amen. John 8:31-32 NKJV The Truth Shall Make You Free Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 31 Then GM, GP Today’s message: Protecting the TRUTH ~ God’s Truth Protecting God’s Truth Within Page | 2 This morning we’re returning to the Book of Jude to finish the unfinished business of driving home to Believers why it is so important for us to not only take seriously our salvation, but to also take equally seriously the TRUTH of God’s Word that brought us knowledge of our need for salvation. That’s the knowledge we placed our faith and trust in to bring us salvation. It showed us that our only hope was/is Christ and we believed and now are saved. It is this TRUTH that we have come to know makes us free from the deceptive dirty tricks and schemes, and false teachings of Satan’s agents. Jude was compelled to warn us in the 3rd verse of the Book of Jude -from the New Living Translation, he said . . . Jude 3 3 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the common salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people, the Saints in Christ. In this verse, Jude saw something that he couldn’t ignore. First, he saw a strong need to write to Believer’s about our common salvation that we all have in Jesus Christ; but then a compelling urgency came over him to alert us to the importance of fighting persistently for Page | 3 the TRUTH which had been once and for all committed to those who belong to Christ. This was a call to put up a real fight to protect and guard the Truth of God against all forms of error and everything that would try to discredit it. Today’s message is intended to show us what we are called to defend and why. The wake-up call from Jude is extremely serious as he warns us to contend earnestly for the faith principles – the Truth of the Gospel that we responded to when we gave our lives to the Lord. The warning is to us to wake up to Satan’s schemes and his sophisticated system of using a massive group of cunning agents called apostates to infiltrate the church and God’s business to confuse and convolute, even replace, God’s clear gospel message of: Jesus Alone Saves. Only He can and will save any man, woman, boy or girl who believes on His Name according to the Scripture. [SLIDE] And to be sure: Acts 4:12 says . . . 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” This is the simple message that Satan is out to deceive anyone he can into doubting God and getting them to believe his narrative. How is he doing it? By using what Jude calls apostates. Page | 4 In general, an apostate is defined as a person who professes to be a true believer but who, as a matter of fact, has never been regenerated, that is, divinely cleansed for sin and having received God’s Spirit. But lets go deeper in our exposing them. Jude 4 says: (NKJV) 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. The New Living Translation says it this way: 4 I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. The Amplified Bible says: 4 For certain people have crept [tiptoed] in unnoticed [just as if they were sneaking in by a side door]. They are ungodly persons whose condemnation was predicted long ago, for they distort the grace of our God into decadence and immoral freedom [viewing it as an opportunity to do whatever they want], and deny and disown our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Page | 5 Notice some key characteristics of the apostate from God’s perspective: • Of course, they come in unnoticed, undetected. Why? Because the look the part. They act the part. They know the part they are called to play. They’re undercover for the devil. o In Galatians 2:4 the Apostle Paul pointed out agents of Satan: He said 4 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), o Peter also saw uncover agents of the devil in 2 Peter 2:1-3; there he says: 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies [deviations], even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. • who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, - these double-agents volunteered to work as apostates long before it became popular. They were on the job centuries before the birth of the church. • ungodly men – their nature is demonic which makes them impious or without worship. Their lack of reverence for God was Page | 6 demonstrated by the fact that they infiltrated the church of God to corrupt it. • who turn the grace of our God (that is, the Truth of God) into lewdness - lewdness is a nasty, unrestrained vice or gross immorality, which describes the shameless lifestyle apostates irreverently flaunted in the church and in the face of God by erroneously mis-applying God’s grace. • and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ – by their wicked behavior, apostates disowned Christ as sovereign Lord, and disdained any recognition of Christ as honorable Lord. Their job in the kingdom of Satan is to keep people from believing in God’s grace whereby through faith a person can be saved. It is always true of apostates, false teachers, and false religions that they pervert what Scripture declares is true about the Lord Jesus Christ. [SLIDE] In Titus 2: 11 & 12, Paul says: 11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, Speaking of grace, Ephesians 2:8 & 9 says . . . 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. Page | 7 More specifically, here are some of the very God-TRUTHS apostates are trying to turn believers and would-be believers away from: (Quick Pick 6) [SLIDE] John 3: 16 ”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 5:34 “Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.” John 10:9 “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” 1 Timothy 2:3-5 3 “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,” Titus 3:4-6 Page | 8 4 “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,” Apostates hate these verses. Their mission is to take the TRUTH of God and make it look like a lie or a half-truth (which is a lie – a chocolate covered bugger). The spirit of apostacy goes back to the beginning of time. It was at work in the Garden of Eden when Eve spoke the Truth in Genesis 3:2-5 . . . but Satan twisted it . . . Listen to the conversation: 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The job of the apostate is to disguise the lie of Satan and make it look and sound like the truth; however, his real motive is to divert our attention away from the real TRUTH, God’s Truth. He or she will use anything and anybody to dispense their message of deception. Page | 9 In our times, every thing is fair for Satan to use. Here are the top 5 things he is using today: [SLIDE] 1. “Marked Out Bonafede Apostates” who creep in to churches unawares / infiltrate solid religious circles 2. False Preachers, Cults and False Religious Organizations Preachers and teachers with a pulpit or platform to propagate the Satan’s Lie 3. Internet, Social Media Platforms, Mass Media 4. Educational Institutions – esp. College Classrooms/ College Professors (Philosophy/ Religions Books and Other Printed 5. Politicians, Politics, Legislation, Government; Separation of Church and State. Here’s an example of apostacy in two select religious circles: Take for instance, the Jehovah’s Witness’s bible which is called the . . . New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. It says of Jesus in John 1:1 . . . In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word as a god. But the real Truth in John 1:1 says: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Page | 10 In Christianity and the Bible, Colossians 1: 15 – 20, Jesus is the selfexistent creator of all things. vv15-18 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. In Mormonism, Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer who was conceived in heaven by a celestial Mother and come in flesh as the result of the Father having sex with the Virgin Mary. Furthermore, in Mormonism, they hold to a plurality of gods (many gods) and contend that “as a man is, God once was; as God is, man may become. Let me remind you that our fight is not against flesh and blood . . . 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood [according to Ephesians 6:12], but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Page | 11 Therefore, we must be careful to know that our fight is not against people, but against the power of apostacy. This demonstrates the extent to which fake agents of Satan will go to make the TRUTH of God powerless. But it remains that the most courageous things Jude has did in his letter was to uncover the imposters and haters of God’s Truth. And he started at the House of God. Why is that so significant? The answer is found in First Timothy 3:1416 NKJV [SLIDE] 15 15b “ . . . I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The church is God’s guaranteed dispenser and disseminator of TRUTH in all the world. If Truth can’t be found ministered at the House of God, we are doomed. [SLIDE] What has this to do with us today? It should convey to us that the war against the very Truth of God we stand on today is still being attacked at the same level of intensity – Page | 12 probably even more greatly - than it was when Jude insisted that the saints Contend Earnestly for the faith that was once for all time delivered to the saints. When Jude wrote his letter to us, he wasn’t worried about us losing our salvation, but rather he was concerned about the number of apostates dispatched to the church to attempt to cast seeds of doubt and deception among the saints. We must remain woke and call them out. We must Wage war against error in all forms, and fight persistently for the Truth, like a soldier who has been entrusted with a sacred task of guarding a holy treasure. (A holy treasure). We must put up a real fight for the faith which has been once and for all committed to those who belong to Christ. As the fight continues, we can rest on God’s historical promise that He will one day judge all apostates for their deeds. Jude 5,6 &7 cites three illustrations of God’s imminent judgment upon disobedient false teachers who spread lies among the people – including Israel failure to possess the Promised Land (just 2 spies agreed with God), the case of Fallen Angels and the wicked immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah. If TRUTH messages from previous weeks revealed to us the importance of knowing the Truth and living by it, then this week’s message is about showing us how precious, yet [how] threatened the truth that we stand on is by envious Satan and his imposters. Page | 13 Together, they only want to entice me and you into abandoning God’s Truth, which leads to a “false truth” that daily renounces our Savior. That false truth is lived out every day by any and everyone who has not yet accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. So, like Jude I want to leave you with two final reminders from this message: [SLIDE] Notice in verse 5where Jude says: “But I want to REMIND you” . . . though you once knew this . . . ; Then in verse 17 he comes back and says: 17 But you, beloved, REMEMBER the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. All of this “reminding” and “remembering” is critical because it is connected to helping us protect the Truth we have been made free by through Jesus Christ. We cannot forget it! It is what will sustain us when the devil starts talking. So, Jude said contend for the Faith by standing for the Truth, fighting for the Truth and living out the Truth. And how do we do that? By following Jude’s final instructions: Listen to Jude 20-25 . . . these are our further instructions: Page | 14 [SLIDE] Jude 20-25 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen. Protecting the TRUTH ~ God’s Truth Protecting God’s Truth Within %%%%%%%%%%END%%%%%%%%%% Page | 15