Let's continue to pray for those that have lost loved ones recently. The Osgood family, the Haines family. Let's pray for this family of the one who passed at the fair this week. Does anybody have a name of that family? Okay, let's pray for the Horner family. What a just tragic thing. And along with that, I know there were some here this morning that were there front and center with caring for and witness of that which happened and understand this woman who passed. has a couple of young children and family there, you know, husband and whatnot. So just pray for them and everyone else as well. I'm sure that it was difficult to deal with those things. Kev Sher will be this morning, another young man. Do you have a name there, Kev? Okay. Sure. Again, another young man passed this week. So preparing for for these families. Also ask that you continue to pray for Brother Lance Fessler, him and his team, Henry and Joe, as they're still in Africa. I believe they'll be traveling home sometime this coming week. So be praying for them. And he said to extend his thanks for your prayers. They've been having a really good trip there in Africa as they are training pastors. And on the Lord's Day, they actually go into the villages and preach in their churches. So he says thank you for your prayers and continue to remember him as you'll be traveling home. Continue to pray for Ed Zellers. Let's pray also for Patrick Mosley. We mentioned Patrick last week. He's going to be finding out some test results this Tuesday. Let's pray for the people in Hawaii, the wildfires there. Again, just devastating things and tragedies. And I could not help but think about the reality of this lady that passed and the folks there in Hawaii. God is no respecter of persons, and we ask the question, why does bad things happen to good people? And one person put it this way, that that's only ever happened one time, that Christ was the one that was truly good and that the bad thing that happened to him was indeed for our good. But nevertheless, you know, I can't help but think about the reality that, you know, seated in the crowd there at the fair could have been anybody. Could have been anybody, including us, right? It's hard. It's hard to comprehend. It's hard to process. And there's where we trust and lean upon and cling to God and His sovereignty and His mercy and grace. Let's pray also for just the church in general, each other, and that God would continue to help us and lead us and guide us. Some praises, though, I wanted to share as well. Janet shared with me this morning that her 16th great-grandchild was born this week, a little boy, and so praise God for that. Truly a blessing. I also want to praise God this morning as we look across the land, we drive by. Maybe some of you, it doesn't get as exciting to you as it does to me, but I love to see tall corn and big ears and bean fields that are just, it is a blessing. Those things sustain our lives and the crops that God is providing for us and his sustaining grace, his faithfulness, and also his encouragement. God encourages us, and he does through by his spirit and through his word, but he also does so through the means of his people. And many of you are great encouragers, and if you are a great encourager, continue to be an encouragement. And if you're not an encourager and somebody else encourages you, reciprocate that encouragement. Folks, people need to be encouraged. Amen? And God uses us to do that. And thank God for the ability that he gives us to be an encouragement. And so let's pray to that end this morning. Father, We do wanna just again give you thanks and praise, Father, for who you are, for what you have done, for your faithfulness, for your providence, God, for your sovereignty. God, we thank and praise you for the abundance that we see in the land. Lord, not so many weeks ago, we can recall how dry it was here and Lord, how bleak it looked. And God, you have answered the prayers of your people and sent rain and you have done so in abundance. Thank you. And God, we just thank you for that. And Lord, we know that that you are a sustaining God, that God, you promise to supply our every need. You you you you feed the bird, you clothe the flowers of the field. And God, this this same kindness that you show to your creation in in the world around us, we have the assurance of of even more so to those that you have that you've shed your own blood for, that you have adopted into your family by your own son. And so, God, we just want to thank you and praise you for your goodness and your faithfulness. We thank you also, Lord, for the gift of life. We thank you, Lord, for this child, and we pray, God, your blessing on this child and the child's life. And for others as well, Lord, we think about the children as they will be returning to school. And God, we pray for them as well, that Father, you would help them as they go and they learn. We pray, God, that you would help the learning to be a foundation for their lives. And especially, God, we pray for those that are influenced by bad teaching as well. We ask God for your protection. And that, God, you would give them eyes to see and ears to hear truth. And, Father, that these children would engage the culture around them with the truth. That, Father, they'd never shy away from standing up for what is true and for what is right and for what is good. Lord, we pray for teachers as well, as there's some even in our midst, that God, you would bless them and use them, God, as salt and light wherever they go. And Father, that you would just help them, Lord, to be a blessing and an encouragement to these young lives. And Father, we pray for our homes and our families, that God, you would continue to strengthen us and encourage our hearts And Father, you would give us a hunger for your word. God, you would feed us and strengthen us and grow us. And that, God, we would be presented mature in Christ. And Father, we pray, especially this morning, for those that are dealing with difficulties of life and going through hard trials, Lord, with the loss of loved ones. Lord, for these families that we have mentioned, God, each one of them, we just pray for your comfort and your grace upon their lives. We pray, God, especially that there would be times of opportunity for the gospel to be heard and to be trusted in, and that Christ would be exalted through the pain of loss. Father, that we who have been born again by the Spirit of God would use these times and opportunities of great hope, knowing, God, that this world is not our home, that this is a temporary dwelling and these bodies which we live in now, although they perish and decay, that we will once again be raised. We will be raised unto eternal life with a body that shall never see corruption, that our spirits will forever be alive with you. And God, we just praise you for that truth. We praise you for that hope and assurance that you give to us by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Pray also, Lord, for these that are going to be baptized next week. We ask God that you would just continue to help them and to strengthen them and encourage them, Lord, in their walk of faith. And Lord, we're just so grateful for the blessings that you have poured out so graciously, so wonderfully upon this body. We pray also, Lord, for those that are traveling. We thank you, Lord, for those that have traveled and have returned safely. It's so good. And so, Lord, we just pray that you would continue to lead us, to guide us, and direct us. Father, for those that are maybe brokenhearted or in distress this morning, we pray for your peace and comfort and that, God, your spirit and your word today would bring encouragement to hearts and lives And Father, we pray especially for fruit for the gospel, Lord, as we proclaim the good news of salvation in Christ, that God, you would bring forth a harvest of those who would trust and believe. And Father, for all these things, we'll be sure to give you the thanks, the honor, and the praise. And we ask it in Jesus' name. who taught us to pray, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Man, if you have your Bibles this morning, would you turn with me once again to the book of Jude? The book of Jude, next to last book in the Bible. And we have made ourselves or made our way to chapter. Yeah, chapter. There's only one chapter, but we've made our way to verse eight. And we're going to be looking this morning at verses 8 through 10, 8 through 10 of the book of Jude, the letter of Jude. If you found that and you're able, would you stand with me this morning in honor of reading God's word? This morning, for the sake of context, we're going to read from verses 3 through 10. The Word of God says, Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 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. Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt afterward, destroyed those who did not believe. The angels and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness, until the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Verse eight. Here's our text for today. Yet in like manner, these people also relying on their dreams defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. This is the word of God. Let's pray. Father, we pray that this morning you would strengthen us and encourage us once again by your word. And Lord, that you would lead us in paths of righteousness and in truth. Father, this morning as your servant, I pray that you would cleanse me of sin and empty me of self. Fill me, Lord, with your spirit. Help me to be a blessing to these, your people. And we'll give you the thanks and praise for it all in Christ's name. Amen and amen. Thank you for standing. You may be seated. By way of introduction, would you turn with me, hold your place there in Jude, let's go to the Old Testament, to the book of Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah is immediately after Isaiah in the 23rd chapter. I read a portion of Ezekiel here a couple weeks ago that was very similar to what Jeremiah writes here in chapter 23, and you'll understand why. Take us there. But as you're turning to Jeremiah 23, This book of Jude is what I would classify as very polemical. It is very polemical in the aspect that it's dealing with an argument, it's dealing with a controversy in such a way that it's calling out a wrong and instituting a right in the same breath. And these things can be very challenging. You would not believe some of the encounters that I have had. Just in this short time we've been in Jude, there's been things that have been challenging me as I preach through this text. And I'd like to share this with you if you have the mind to do so. There are some discernment ministries that are helpful in exposing and also helping us to see the contrast between false teachers and true biblical teaching. And I just want to share two of them. Both of these ministries have YouTube channels. And I would absolutely encourage you to go there and and to look at these things to to see some of the uh, see some of the false teaching that exists and also see some of the the proper and biblical teaching that is Challenging these false teachers and the two i'd like to point you to specifically Again, these these ministries have websites and they have youtube channels. The messed up church is one of them the Messed up church if you just put in messed up church, you're going to see a lot of messed up church And you will find oodles and oodles of things that will waste your time. And I don't encourage you to spend the bulk of your time looking at these discernment ministries, because it can become very, very frustrating and disheartening. But the Messed Up Church is one, and another is a man by the name of Justin Peters, Justin Peters Ministry. Both of these places, you will find discernment ministries that expose false teaching, and encourage people in biblical truth. So, Jeremiah chapter 23. I want to read here verse 16 down to 22 and then verse 28 through 32. The prophet of Jeremiah says in verse 16, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, it shall be well with you. And to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, no disaster shall come upon you. "'For who among them has stood in the counsel of the Lord "'to see and hear his word? "'And who has paid attention to his word and listened? "'Behold, the storm of the Lord, wrath, has gone forth, "'a whirling tempest. "'It will burst upon the head of the wicked. "'The anger of the Lord will not turn back "'until he has executed and accomplished "'the intents of his heart. "'In the latter days, you will understand it clearly. I did not send the prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds. Verse 28, let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. what has straw in common with wheat. declares the Lord. Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that beats the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, declares the Lord. Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit, this people at all, declares the Lord. pretty clear teaching there from Jeremiah on dreams and visions and false prophets. And these are some of the things that we will see as we look at Jude now this morning. There's five characteristics in verses 8 through 10 of false teachers. And the first characteristic is that they are disregarding of the past. They would be disregarding specifically of portions of scripture, which we just read in Jeremiah chapter number 23. But even more specifically than that, if we look back to verses five through seven, as we studied last week, that they would be disregarding of these truths that have been taught to them, that have been established in their minds. Now, remember that the false teachers are not people who are completely ignorant and oblivious to what the Word of God says. They know it, sure enough, and they know it in such a way that they can twist it into saying whatever they really wanted to say. But also, even in knowing it, and this is an essential thing to remember, even in knowing it, it doesn't mean that they believe it or that they obey it. You understand that? You can go to Sunday school every single week as a child, all the way up to and including your adult life. and learn all kinds of things. Now, we're a little bit hindered in our Sunday school, and Lord willing, someday we'll be able to develop that ministry more, but nevertheless, you understand what I'm saying, that we can be faithful in learning and knowing a lot about the scriptures, but unless we believe them and obey them, we can fall into the same traps of these false teachers that Jude is talking about. They were disregarding of the past. It says that, in like manner. That is to say, they're seeing the wilderness generation, which would be the Israelites. They were seeing the angelic beings that forsook their position of authority. They would see Sodom and Gomorrah and the immorality of the Gentile. They would remember those things. They would know those things and then completely disregard and ignore the warnings that come through their lives. How and why would anybody hear and know those things and completely disregard them? What kind of a heart is so hardened and what kind of a heart is so cold and indifferent to God's word that they would know those truths and completely disregard them? The Apostle Paul gives us the answer to that, and he does so to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, Paul writes, Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith. How? By devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared. Their consciences are seared. A seared conscious, a conscious is, it's literally a cauterized mind, right? If you have somebody who gets excessive nosebleeds, the doctor will cauterize the inside of your nose so that the bleeding will stop. It sears the blood vessels, the skin, so that it will no longer take place. And this is the imagery that Paul is using of somebody who knows the truth, who's learned the truth, who's rejected the truth to the place that they have become seared, they've been cauterized in their mind, and it's a dangerous place to be. In other words, if you promote and believe a lie long enough, there comes a point in time where you cannot unbelieve that lie. Do you understand how that works? If you know something to be true and reject it over and over and over again and believe a lie instead and promote that lie, sooner or later you will live as though that lie is reality. You're seared in your conscience. Your mind has become hardened, and your heart has become indifferent. And that's a dangerous place to live, especially concerning with the Word of God itself. That is a dangerous place to be, and that's exactly the nature that we see in the heart of these false teachers. They're disregarding of things in the past. They, just in like manner, they will look at what has happened and they will go on in their pride, in their arrogance, against the will of God. They're disregarding. Secondly, they are dreamers. They're dreamers, relying on their own dreams. As it says here in verse eight, yet in like manner, these people also relying on their own dreams. This word dreams is an interesting word, and I'm not about to try to pronounce it. It's extremely long and it's crazy what it looks like. But suffice it to say, it just simply means to dream. However, it's used only one other time in the New Testament, and it's in the reference in Acts chapter two, verse 17. I'll read that for you. It says, and the last days that shall be God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams and and Peter here is using or I'm sorry Peter is alluding here that they rely on their own dreams and there is a distinct contrast between these two texts in that in one case it's a fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel and in the other case it's a fulfillment of a prophecy that there's going to be false teachers. And so there's a double fulfillment here in this idea. Joel's prophecy, Peter declared that what was going to be expected was what took place on the day of Pentecost. In other words, the day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy back there in Joel chapter 2 and verse 28. We've seen that on the day of Pentecost. Peter literally says, you remember what Joel said? And he says, this is that, right? It was a clear fulfillment of what Joel had said. But what was being uttered here, what's being talked about here is something much different. Now, there's two ways that this text or this phrase has been commonly interpreted. And we will look at both of them just briefly. I think you understand that even though it's interpreted two different ways, they both actually lead us to the same truth in the end. So in other words, we can interpret relying on their dreams in a literal sense, that they're talking about a literal dream that people have, and they come and they share to you, and they're sharing it to you as Jeremiah is talking about, and they're saying, this is what God says, right? and they share their dream as though it was the literal word of God. So that's one interpretation. The other way that we can understand this relying on their dreams is that it's figurative. It's figurative. And we would use it or think of it in this way. When someone says something outlandish, like if somebody says something so out there and so ridiculous, we would respond possibly, at least I would, you must be dreaming, right? It's an exaggeration about what they're saying, that how it's being communicated, you would respond in a way that says you're relying on your dreams, you're imagining something, you're fascinating, and your mind is warped, right? So one of the word studies resources that I use, I put it this way in describing Jude's usage of this word. It says Jude uses this word in connection with the wrong kind of dreaming. This hoping and desiring that opposes God's kingdom and then expects such personal aspirations to be granted by him. This shows someone who is completely out of touch with the principles of God's kingdom. In other words, that their imagination is leading them as a supposed follower of Christ, it's leading them into materialism, it's leading them into immorality, it's leading them into the passions of the flesh, rather than leading them by the Spirit of God into the will of God. And the contrast we would mark there is what we would find in Matthew chapter 6, And verse 33, Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount, he says, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. And so again, we're thinking about these false teachers and we're thinking about how they're being led astray by their dreams, their visions. And often, if not exclusively, they're pointing to something earthly and temporal rather than something eternal and intangible. And we connect this with the first description, that they disregard the warnings of the past. Not only do their consciences become seared, but their minds also become warped. You understand how that works? When your mind is, or your conscience is cauterized, it is seared, your thinking becomes obscure. and warped. And this is completely the pattern that we see. Again, if you go to those discernment ministries and you watch those videos and you hear the things that these people say, you can tell that they're very into what they're saying. They're very into the message that they have. And the message that they have is all about what they want and what they got and how they're going to get more. Right? That is the force and the thrust. But here's the real concern. The real concern with dreaming, whether literal or figuratively speaking, is that an experience or an imagination becomes the source of authority rather than the Word of God. Full stop. Listen. The danger, the danger of this is that specifically, that when somebody is coming to you and they're saying, well, God told me this, or God showed me that, and they are presenting that over and above what the word of God says, it should immediately raise what? A red flag, right? We should say, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it, hold it, hold it. Now, I'm not saying, I'm not saying they didn't have an experience, because a lot of times I believe they do. But at the very same time, we should ask ourselves, which are we more interested in? The experience of a fallible man or woman? or the truth declared by the infallible Word of God, right? That's the question we have to ask. False teachers who, rather than following the clear teaching of God's Word, they dream up a fantasy version of God and Christianity, which does not serve Christ nor glorify Him, but rather serves the passions of their own sinful hearts and all those who are like them. In other words, false teaching is always and forever man-centered. It focuses on me rather than on Christ. So, so easy to spot. So, so easy to identify. Wow, this preacher, he likes to talk about his stuff a lot. This preacher likes to talk about what he wants God to do for him. and he spends all his time emphasizing us than he does speaking about the Christ who loved us and gave himself for us, right? Again, again, just another perfect and golden opportunity to plug in for expository preaching, right? When we buckle ourselves in and commit to preaching through God's word verse by verse, This kind of thing can't happen, right? Listen, let me just be honest as a preacher. I have hobby horses. And if it was up to me, I would come here every week and I'd preach on whatever annoyed me the week before, right? That's what I would do. But I won't allow myself to do that because if I do, not only will it not help you, but it will also shape you in a negative way. In other words, whatever comes out of the pulpit is what ends up being in the pew. Amen. I can tell you, I know some dear brothers in the faith and their message is basically the same every week. And it's usually about country or their guns or something going on in politics and current events. And don't get me wrong, current events and things of our culture are important and they're relevant. They are. But if that's all we hear about, that's all we'll think about, right? And so it's essential that our message is the Word of God, not our message comes from the Word of God. Our message is the Word of God. Amen? That's the difference. These people are dreamers. And I'm going to give you an example. I could give you many, but I'm going to give you a specific example of how people can get sucked into, wrapped up into a false religion. There's a man by the name of Joseph Smith. Anybody know who Joseph Smith is? Yeah, got some shakes of the head. Mormonism, Church of the Latter Day Saints. OK, listen to this. This is this is a historical account verified over and over. I'm not not giving you some kind of made up story. Joseph Smith was confused about theology and which denomination he should follow. He should be a Baptist. I just said, never mind. In 1820, In this time of confusion, Smith read James chapter one, verse five, which instructs those who lack wisdom to request it from God. Fair enough. He immediately withdrew to a wooded area near his home to pray for wisdom. And it was at this point that he recalls having a vision of a pillar of light coming down from heaven and God the Father and Jesus, his son, standing above him in the air. Okay, there's the dream, right? Here's the vision. This is what takes place. Smith asked them which of the denominations or sects were right and which he should join. This is the response. He was told that all the denominations were evil and corrupt. So what do you do if you're a good searcher? It was at that time, at this time of his experience, that Smith became convinced that he had been called as God's prophet. These guys are all wrong. Joseph Smith, you're my man. You go and set everybody else straight, okay? And on September 21st, 1823, while praying in his room, he received, here it goes again, an angelic visitation. This angel, and you can't make this up, named Moroni, Moroni. Anybody ever read about the angel Moroni in your Bible? It's because he doesn't exist. The angel Moroni told him that he had been chosen by God for a great work. He told Smith about a book written upon gold plates that had been buried alongside the Urim and the Thummim of the Old Testament. Smith immediately found this book and using the Urim and the Thummim, translated it and published it in 1830 as, you guessed it, the Book of Mormon. This was the same year that he formally organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now, I do not have time to pick apart the theology of Mormonism, but suffice it to say this, they are not biblical Christians. They deny the Trinity, they have a wrong understanding of Christ, they do not understand the atonement of Christ, and it is a false religion. Plain and simple. Now, again, when I began this message, I said that Jude is very polemical. That was a very polemical statement. We have got to be willing, as Jude calls us to do, to contend for the faith, to be willing to say, you're wrong. Hello? We gotta be willing to say that. Why? Because truth is on the line. And there are times when people need to be told that they are wrong. And if you have a Mormon or a Jehovah's Witness show up on your doorstep, you better be prepared. Now, most of you are going to slam the door and not even let them in, but you can have a lot of fun if you would study their religion, understand what they believe, and be prepared to engage them, right? maybe you would just open their eyes to search the scriptures for themselves, rather than taking the word of somebody like Joseph Smith or Heidi, Eddie Baker, and a plethora of other false teachers like them. They're dreamers. They disregard the past. They dream. They dream up lies, and they're led by evil spirits. And there's no doubt that Joseph Smith probably had an encounter, but it was most likely a demon named Moroni. Third, third characteristic is that they're defilers. Defilers. Notice again, it says now I want to, I'm sorry, verse eight, like in like manner, these people relying on their dreams, defile the flesh. The word defile means to pollute or corrupt. And it's, it's a corruption in a moral sense. The word flesh, it can refer to either the human body or it can refer to the human nature. Well, which is it? Is it the human body or is it the human nature? Well, the truth is that the two go hand in hand. When the body, that which is physical, is defiled, So is the nature. So is our soul. So our body and our soul, our physical and our spiritual natures are completely connected together. And one of the clearest examples we have of this, of those that would defile the flesh, we can go to the church at Corinth. And the church at Corinth was full of all kinds of really, really big issues of not just their day, but even in the day in which we live. There was a man who was sleeping with his stepmother. And Paul, in dealing with that, he says in chapter six of verses 15 to 20, do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For as it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have Whom you have from God, and you are not your own, for you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. They defile the flesh. False teachers, and I know a lot of you know this, false teachers are very infamous for their immorality. And it's not just sexual immorality, but they're also immoral in their power, hungriness, and also for money. Now, back to Joseph Smith. We'll just keep using him as our example this morning. Joseph Smith had between 30 and 40 wives. Is that a problem? Yeah, I think so. I think so. I tried my best to verify this story, and I believe it to be true. Joseph Smith was so immoral that he would send men from his church to the mission field. He would tell him again, God told me you should go here, go there. Right. And these people were they were lock, stock and barrel committed to the cause to stand alongside of Joseph Smith. And so these men would take off and they would go halfway around the world. And what would Joseph do? Steal their wives. Wow, what a nice guy, right? You can't make it up, right? This is the kind of thing that we see and that history calls us to. There are so many. There are so many false teachers that that tarnish their own reputation by their immoral lifestyle. And we got to keep moving. Fourthly, they're disobedient in that Jude says they reject authority. The King James translates that phrase. They despise dominion. The root word of authority or dominion is the word that we would translate curious, which is Lord. So some commentators want to point to a rejection of angelic authority based upon the following phrase. Others point to a rejection of ecclesiastical authority, but contextually it would make the most sense, referring back to verse 4, that their rejection of authority was to the lordship of Christ, where it says in verse 4, they deny our only master and lord Jesus Christ. In other words, rejection of Christ is a rejection of His authority. It's a rejection of His Word. So they reject authority. It means they set it aside. They nullify it. They refuse to recognize it. They refuse specifically to recognize the Lordship of Christ. The authority of the Word of God. The binding sufficiency, infallibility, and inerrancy of God's Word. They reject all kinds of authority, and they will say things like this. Well, the Bible says X, Y, and Z, but I say one, two, three, right? You get it. Or worse yet, they will twist what the scriptures say in order to make it fit their agenda. Most false religions have their own book that must be used in conjunction with their teachings. Not all, but many do. The Book of Mormon is not the Bible. Amen. It's not. Their extra biblical writings are adhered to with the same or more authority than the Bible itself. These extra biblical writings are adhered to with, I'm sorry, of their writings, they are propagated as the key to understanding the Bible, okay? If anybody ever tells you, well, you can't understand the Bible unless you read this. No, it's not right. It's wrong. It's false. It's a false religion. It's false teaching. We would echo the sentiment of the reformers of the 16th century, that it is scripture alone, sola scriptura. It is the scriptures alone that are sufficient and authoritative for all things pertaining to our faith and our practices. They disregard authority. Lastly, they disrespect. Disrespect what? The word is translated, blaspheme the glorious ones. In the Greek, it's blasphemeo doxes. Now, to blaspheme, it means to revile, to speak evil of, or to slander. And the word doxes, it means glories. And to understand what Jude means by they blaspheme the glorious ones, we have to do some critical thinking, OK? This is something that some of us struggle to do. Critical thinking is essential for all of us. It is good for me as your pastor to challenge you in thought, okay? So let's do some critical thinking together. This critical thinking is the translators are pointing to some sort of an angel here that they are blaspheming. Some translations literally say they blaspheme angelic beings or angels. Verse 9. It has to be taken in account to this. Verse nine is taken according to the writers of, I'm sorry, the writing of the church fathers, specifically Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Didymus of Alexandria, from a non, this verse nine, so let's read verse nine. And when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. Okay, pause. That sentence, that verse, verse 9, is believed to be taken from a non-canonical writing. In other words, it's not part of the canon of scripture. You will not find that account in your Bible, okay? It's believed to have been part of what is called the Assumption of Moses, or the Ascension of Moses, or another phrase that's given to it is the Testament of Moses. It's part of what we would call the pseudepigrapha. Does that mean that we should disregard what Jude is saying because he is using a source outside of scripture to make his case? I don't believe that's so because you and I can use outside sources that have either a story that illustrate the truth of the word of God, or in fact, there are historical events that are recorded outside of the Bible that are true, okay? That's the difference. When we read a textbook, we don't read a textbook in order to learn about God, but we can learn about history and how God operated in history through that textbook, but we don't look at that textbook as scripture, right? And so Jude is using this example. The point that Jude is making is that these men or women were slandering angelic beings. And how can we be sure about that? Well, let's turn back to Jude, or I'm sorry, 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 2. I promise we're almost done. 2 Peter and chapter 2. I've stated before that Jude's letter and the second chapter of 2 Peter are nearly identical. There's so much that is similar here. In verse 10, 2 Peter 2. Peter writes, and especially those who indulge, he's speaking of false teachers, especially those who indulge in the lusts of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones. Okay, it's the same phrase, blasphemeo doxis, verse 11. Whereas angels, now there, There, the word angels is angelos. It is the word we translate angels. So, Peter is connecting blasphemyodoxes with angelos in verse 11. He's saying that it's the same thing. Whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction. So the connection is that these are this is the angels that false teachers will blaspheme angels, angelic beings. Now, again, I can't run every rabbit trail that's here. But suffice it to say this, there's also a debate over whether Jude was talking about good angels or fallen angels. That would be angels that are faithful to God and have not left their position of authority. But it could also mean angels who have become what we call fallen angels or demons. Again, context here. I don't think it matters. I think it would be far worse for one than the other, but maybe not. Because Jude's point, he uses Michael the archangel, right? He would not rebuke, but instead he says the Lord rebuke you. And it is a demonstration of Michael's reverence or respect for God's creation, even in the instance of an evil angel, right? Michael himself, as an angel, would not rebuke a fellow angel, although fallen, Satan. And his response was, the Lord rebuke you. False teachers are regularly regularly rebuking Satan and demons, and just as bad, if not worse, speaking of angels in perverse and irreverent ways. I could tell you, listen, you watch those videos, you'll have stories to tell too. There is just some absolutely ludicrous things that people say about angels. They make up stories, and it is so, so frustrating. because they are misrepresenting who God is and how God operates. They don't just misrepresent angels. They misrepresent God. They misrepresent Christ. And this is the tactic that false teachers use. In other words, listen, I would dare say that all of us have heard somebody say that they pray, man, I might even have been guilty of this at one time, and we pray that God would bind the devil or bind the demon, right? He's like, no, that's not how we talk. If we're going to call out a rebuke, we ask the Lord to rebuke the evil spirits. What does the Bible tell us to do if Satan tempts us? We're to resist the devil and he will what? Flee from you. It doesn't say rebuke him. It says resist him. How do we resist him? We resist him the same way that Christ resisted him. He offered as Satan on the, in the 40 days in the wilderness, every time Satan would tempt Christ, what'd he do? He'd respond with scripture. He would respond with scripture. How do we resist the devil? We resist his lies with truth. Amen? That's how we battle. We don't rebuke him. Who are you? Right? I think of the account in the book of Acts where the man goes, I'm having a hard time remembering, but there was the seven sons of Seba. Sceva, they go to cast out a demon from this man and it says that the demons overtook these seven boys and beat the snot out of them and they ran away naked. He says, Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you, right? They show up there trying to perform something, rebuking the devil. They're not Christians and they get made a fool of. They had no power over those demons. It was through the power of Christ and Christ alone that a demon can be rebuked and be removed. These people, they blaspheme glorious ones, the angels. Verse 10, Jude says, these people blaspheme all that they do not understand. Why do they do the things they do? They do it because they're ignorant. Ignorant not in the sense that they're rude, ignorant in the sense that they don't know. They're unknowing. There's ignorance. They lack understanding. The point being made here is their judgment is settled, that they are destroyed and their destruction is due to their animal-like behavior. In other words, they do and say whatever their wicked hearts lead them to say and to do. These false teachers are indeed dangerous. I don't believe we can overstate that truth. The most severe danger is that all of their antics and it is a distraction from the one true purpose of our faith. What is the thesis of Jude's letter? He says, I'm writing to you about our common salvation so that you would contend for the faith. It's about the gospel. We're contending for the faith because people need to hear the truth concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the sideshow is a work of the devil who will use every trick in the book to draw people away from God and to lead them to destruction. Destruction. Folks, I don't know if it stirs your heart, but the reality that there's people that can go out and enjoy a night just watching a tractor pull can lose their life. Just like that. You say, why is it so important what happens in this church service? Why is it so important what happens when we read and study God's word? Because every single one of us One day, we're going to be in the same place that that woman is, the same place that this man is, the same place that your sister-in-law is, the same place that Mike is. Every single one of us are one day. One day. The heart's going to stop. The lungs are going to cease from breathing. And what's done is done. We don't have time for games. We don't have time for shows. We need truth. We need the gospel. And if you're here today, listen, if you don't get anything else, you need to know that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. That he lived his life in perfect, sinless perfection in order that he could satisfy the righteousness of God. And then as he lived that perfect and sinless life, he died that substitutionary death that you and I deserved. that He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we could be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and that by the resurrection, God accepted His sacrifice on your behalf, and He has raised Him to life so that you too can be raised at that last day, so that by grace alone, that is, you can't earn it, through faith alone, that is, you simply trust in Christ, you can experience the salvation that is only in the name of Jesus Christ. everlasting life. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We who have been born again will know, will never, will never experience the wrath of God, the wrath of God's punishment. But we experienced the gift of eternal life through Jesus, the one who loved us and gave himself for us. That's the message that people need to hear. Not that God's going to make you happy, healthy and wealthy. You need to be saved. You need to trust in Christ. Let's pray. Father, these things are weighty. And God, I'll be honest to say that I'd just as soon preach other things. But Lord, we need to hear this. And God, we pray that you would strengthen us through these things. God, again, not to win arguments. This is not about winning arguments. This is about propagating the truth and exposing lies. And so Father, I pray that every heart that is here today and every heart that maybe would listen to this message some other time, that God, their hearts would be stirred. Maybe they've bought into a lie. Maybe they've fallen for the traps of the drama of the prosperity movement or some other false religion. God, I pray that you would help us to snatch them from the flames. that you would help us, Lord, to throw out the lifeline. God, that they would be saved. God, they would look to Jesus, that they would find true faith, satisfaction and joy that comes through knowing Christ, not through any kind of earthly gimmick or means, things that are temporal, things that are tangible. God, we believe in a gospel that is incorruptible. things that cannot tarnish or pass away. But Christ, his blood, his righteousness has sealed our redemption. So, Father, we pray that you would bless your word today. Encourage us, we pray in Jesus name. Amen and amen.