Introduction:
How to Deal with Apostates at HBC: (Jude 1:17-23)
- Be Ready . (Jude 1:17-19)
See: Acts 20:29-31 | 2 Peter 2:1 | John 2:26
- Be Strong . (Jude 1:20-21)
- In the Word . (Jude 1:20a)
See: John 15:10
- In Prayer . (Jude 1:20b)
- In Obedience . (Jude 1:21a)
- In Hrayer . (Jude 1:21b)
- In the Word . (Jude 1:20a)
- Be Merciful . (Jude 1:22-23)
- To those who Doubt . (Jude 1:22)
- To those who Dabble . (Jude 1:23a)
- To those who are Deliberate . (Jude 1:23b)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:50-00:56
Let's bow our heads and I'm going to ask you to pray for me, and I will pray for you as we are turning to God's Word together.
00:57-01:00
Father in Heaven, Your Word matters very much to You.
01:02-01:08
And it matters that we communicate it clearly and accurately and urgently.
01:09-01:12
I pray, Father, that our hearts are open to receive it.
01:15-01:19
And I would be faithful to do nothing more than just communicate what you've already said.
01:21-01:25
We thank you ahead of time, Father, for the work that you're going to do through this Word.
01:26-01:27
We pray in Jesus' name.
01:28-01:54
And all of God's people said, "Amen." Many years ago when I was at North Street as an associate, I was sitting where our family sat, usually about the third pew back, "and as Pastor Bob was preaching, "he said my name and then just kept going." And I leaned over to Aaron and I'm like, "He said my name." And Aaron's like, "No, he didn't." And he just kept preaching.
01:55-02:01
And he was like, "And Jesus said in Matthew 7, Jeff," and he just kept preaching.
02:01-02:05
And I'm like, "I heard it for sure that time." And he kind of pointed.
02:06-02:09
So I'm trying to be inconspicuous as he was.
02:10-02:12
And I kind of looked over my shoulder to where I thought he was pointing.
02:12-02:17
And I saw a guy sitting on the other side most of the way back, and he didn't have a shirt on.
02:19-02:23
And I'm like, ah, Bob wants me to take care of that.
02:26-02:27
That's where I got to the big buck.
02:27-02:35
So I recognized the guy, he actually, I met him in prison and he got out of prison and he came, which was great.
02:35-02:43
But I went up and I said, hey, can I, I said, "Can I talk to you for a second outside?" So he comes outside with me on the porch out there.
02:44-02:59
And I said, I said, "I know it's hot." I said, "But you know, I was just kind of thinking it might be distracting for people who are trying to listen to the Bible with a guy without his shirt on.
03:00-03:21
So if you could do me a favor, and do you have a shirt?" He's like, "Oh yeah, I got a shirt." I'm like, "Great." I said, "If you could do me a favor and put your shirt on." I said, "It's not a huge deal, but I'm just thinking it might just lessen distractions for people." He goes, "Well, yeah, I got a shirt." And he kind of pulled it out.
03:21-03:23
He kind of had it tucked in the back of his pants.
03:23-03:24
He pulled it out and put it on.
03:24-03:30
And the shirt was, you know, the Led Zeppelin shirt with like the naked angel guy making this pose.
03:31-03:32
You know what I'm talking about?
03:33-03:34
Don't Google it now.
03:35-03:48
But like, it's like this naked guy, so he puts a shirt on, he goes, "Yeah, I got a shirt." So I'm standing out in the porch with him, and I'm like, like, you know what, it is kind of hot.
03:50-03:50
(congregation laughing)
03:50-03:52
Why don't you just go ahead and pop that shirt off?
03:52-03:58
And there's some things that they don't cover in Bible college.
04:00-04:01
And that was one of them.
04:01-04:42
But you realize there are certain people certain scenarios that come up in the church that has pastors and elders like "I'm not sure how to handle this." But when it comes to people coming into the church to promote false teaching, we're told exactly how to deal with those people. Okay, there's no guesswork work there, and for the leadership of this church, we don't have to wonder what should we do if somebody comes in and starts teaching an unbiblical message.
04:42-04:45
And really, that's what the book of Jude is all about.
04:46-04:48
It's to contend for the faith.
04:49-04:57
And he describes these apostates, these people that are infiltrating churches, preaching their own little anti-gospel agenda.
04:58-05:06
He describes them by their conduct and he gave us a blast of illustrations from the Old Testament and a blast of illustrations from nature.
05:09-05:14
And church, listen, we are not exempt here.
05:16-05:18
Our church has dealt with this in the past time.
05:19-05:28
People who have come into this church, gone through small groups, tried to push some unbiblical doctrine, that has happened here.
05:31-05:36
And there are no issues right now that I am aware of.
05:38-05:52
And I'm hoping that this sermon series is a serious preventative word from God for us at Harvest Bible Chapel, because if apostasy is not dealt with when it arises, it will do major damage to the church.
05:52-05:53
It will lead people astray.
05:55-05:57
This is serious business, church, all right?
05:57-06:03
So on your outline, if you're taking notes, which I always encourage, how to deal with apostates at Harvest Bible Chapel.
06:05-06:08
Again, Jude gave us the call to arms, contend for the faith.
06:08-06:11
He gave us the description, you gotta know the enemy.
06:11-06:14
And now, here it is, this is how you deal.
06:14-06:16
First of all, number one, write this down, be ready.
06:18-06:19
Be ready.
06:21-06:23
Look at verses 17 and 18.
06:23-06:29
He says, "But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
06:30-06:37
They said to you, in the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions." Stop there.
06:38-06:47
He says, when this happens, when people come into the church to teach an unbiblical message, causing problems, he goes, "You shouldn't be surprised at this.
06:47-06:50
And don't think that you're doing something wrong." Right?
06:50-06:52
Like, "I thought this church was solid.
06:52-06:53
Why is this happening?
06:53-07:00
Don't be surprised, don't think you're doing something wrong, and don't think that this is like God abandoning you or anything like that.
07:01-07:09
He's saying, look, God told us repeatedly through the apostles and told us through the word of the apostles, this is going to happen.
07:09-07:14
As I said, it's happened here, it's going to happen again here.
07:17-07:19
The apostles told us this, he told us, right?
07:20-07:24
So many places, but the apostles told us, Paul talked about it in Acts 20.
07:26-07:39
Paul said, "I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.
07:39-07:48
Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears." So Paul talked about it, that's one of many places.
07:49-07:51
Peter talked about it, didn't he?
07:51-08:09
2 Peter 2.1, "But false prophets also arose "among the people, just as there will be false teachers "among you, who will secretly bring in "destructive heresies, even denying the master "who brought them, bringing upon themselves "swift destruction." So Paul did, Peter did, John, John talked about it.
08:10-08:23
This is 1 John 2.26, he says, "I write these things "to you about those who are trying to deceive you." So he goes in with some more descriptions of these people.
08:25-08:26
He calls them scoffers.
08:27-08:32
They're going to mock God's word, they're going to mock you for believing God's word, they're going to belittle you.
08:32-08:35
"Oh, you believe, I can't believe you believe that." Oh, come on.
08:36-08:38
It's so much deeper than you realize, man.
08:38-08:40
They're scoffers.
08:41-08:43
It says they follow ungodly passions.
08:46-08:47
They follow their ungodly passions.
08:48-08:52
That basically in the Greek means, it points to being self-centered.
08:54-08:56
That's the root of all sin, by the way.
08:57-08:58
Being self-centered.
08:59-09:03
It's, I don't really care what God wants, what I care is what I want.
09:03-09:04
That's sin.
09:05-09:07
You see, the Gospel message is this, church.
09:08-09:37
That Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came and died for your sins, and He rose from the dead give you the promise of eternal life. And you are called to turn from your sin, that's repentance, and receive Him. That is the gospel message. And the evidence of truly receiving Jesus. How do you know somebody actually, really, truly, genuinely, sincerely did this? How do you know? Here's the evidence. He changes you.
09:37-09:48
Now look, none of us are perfect because we still live in this sinful flesh, but the gospel teaches when you receive Jesus Christ, God's Holy Spirit comes in and dwells you.
09:49-09:53
And don't tell me that the God of the universe has taken residence in your heart and you're no different.
09:55-09:56
He radically changes you.
09:56-09:58
He changes your appetites.
09:58-10:01
He changes your desires.
10:01-10:08
And these people that he's talking about here haven't been changed by Jesus because all All they have are ungodly passions.
10:09-10:18
In other words, he's saying you'll know that they don't know Jesus because they act like people who don't know Jesus.
10:20-10:21
Look at verse 19.
10:22-10:32
It says, "It is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the Spirit." Now it says they cause divisions.
10:33-10:46
Now, maybe like me, the first time you read that, you're like, "Oh, they divide the church." They do, that's true, but actually that's not what Jude is saying here.
10:48-10:53
The Greek literally is translated this, they make distinction.
10:56-10:57
Like, what does that mean?
10:58-11:01
That means they make a distinction between themselves and everybody else.
11:01-11:02
In other words, they think they're superior.
11:03-11:05
We talked about this a little bit last week.
11:05-11:11
You've got to watch out for the guy that's like, or the girl, "I'm on a higher spiritual plane.
11:11-11:13
I'm so much more enlightened.
11:13-11:14
I know so much more than you.
11:14-11:18
Just sit down and listen to me, because I will teach you.
11:19-11:21
I will teach you the right ways of the Lord.
11:21-11:23
There's more to it than what you see here.
11:23-11:27
Let me teach you." You've got to watch out for the people that make distinction.
11:28-11:29
You're down here.
11:29-11:30
They're up here.
11:32-11:36
He says they're worldly and devoid of the Spirit.
11:37-11:47
And really this is the bottom line, like Jude you really could have led with this, but under inspiration of the Holy Spirit this was like last and most important main event teaching here.
11:47-11:48
This is the bottom line.
11:49-11:50
They don't have the Holy Spirit.
11:52-12:02
They're trying to do ministry apart from the pure truth of God's Word, and they're trying to do ministry apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, And that never works.
12:03-12:04
Alright?
12:07-12:08
The point here is this, be ready.
12:11-12:11
Be ready.
12:13-12:18
Look, I've told you this before, but I absolutely love this church.
12:19-12:23
Because this church, you have a sincere love for the Lord.
12:24-12:27
And I know you have a sincere love for His people.
12:28-12:33
I know you have a sincere love for the Word of God being upheld for what it is.
12:35-12:45
So since all those things are true, don't you think Satan's going to send some missionaries here to try to cause problems, to try to get us off track?
12:46-12:47
That's why he says be ready.
12:47-12:49
Don't be surprised, we know this is going to happen.
12:51-12:52
All right, secondly, be strong.
12:54-12:55
Be strong.
12:56-12:58
We're aware of the danger, right?
12:59-13:06
The absolute best way to be prepared to deal with these troublemakers is to be strong in the Lord yourself.
13:08-13:09
That's how you have to be prepared.
13:10-13:11
Be strong in the Lord yourself.
13:12-13:25
And Jude here reminds us, he goes, "Look, you've got to go after, in your own personal walk with Jesus, you have to go after what's probably the four most important spiritual disciplines." He lists them here for us.
13:26-13:28
First of all, be strong in the Word.
13:29-13:30
We'll go to the first part of verse 20.
13:33-13:41
He says, "But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith." Stop there.
13:43-13:46
He says, "You need to be built up in your faith." Question, how does that happen?
13:47-13:47
The Bible's clear.
13:48-13:50
There's only one way that your faith gets built.
13:51-13:59
comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. Oh yeah, this is why I love this church.
13:59-14:03
Yes! So if you're going to grow in your faith, you have to grow in the knowledge of God's Word.
14:04-14:16
Right? And that's where he starts. You've got to be built up in your faith. And church, I'm going to tell you, that's how ministry is designed here. That's why this church goes verse by verse, Book by book.
14:16-14:18
That's why we do expository preaching.
14:20-14:27
As I want you to know what the Word of God actually says, not what I think it says, not my little spin or creative twist on what it says.
14:27-14:29
I want you to know what it actually says.
14:29-14:36
Whether it's me or Richard, whoever else stands up here and declares the Word of God, we want you to know what the Bible actually says.
14:36-14:36
Right?
14:37-14:43
Then we have the small group ministry, and the intention of small group ministry is to To dig deeper on that truth.
14:44-14:51
To say, "Okay, because of what the Bible says, how does this apply in my home, in my workplace?" Let's think deeper.
14:51-14:55
What does God say and how does this look when I apply this in the context of my own life?
14:56-15:03
That's how ministry is designed in this church, is to help you grow in the knowledge and application of the Word of God.
15:06-15:07
So how are we doing there, church?
15:07-15:08
How's your Bible study?
15:11-15:13
Just on that last little exercise, it sounds like pretty good.
15:14-15:15
How's your small group involvement?
15:16-15:23
It's important in order for us to grow, as he says, in your most holy faith.
15:23-15:26
Secondly, he says, "And praying in the Holy Spirit." Did you see that verse 20?
15:27-15:28
And praying in the Holy Spirit.
15:30-15:31
This is a whole other sermon.
15:33-15:34
But here's the short version.
15:34-15:36
He's basically saying praying according to God's Word.
15:38-15:39
Praying according to God's will.
15:40-15:42
That's praying by the Holy Spirit.
15:43-15:48
I could spend a lot of time telling you what that means, but for the sake of time, I'm going to tell you what that's not.
15:50-15:55
That's not just - hear me - that's not just praying the sick list.
15:55-15:56
We've talked about this before.
15:56-15:58
Yes, should we pray for the sick?
15:58-16:00
Yes, absolutely, 100%.
16:00-16:02
But I've seen this in every church.
16:04-16:27
We spend just this crazy amount of time talking about people's sniffles and ailments and very little time talking about spiritual warfare, talking or praying about spiritual warfare, praying about souls being saved, praying about leaders standing strong, praying about the church taking a stand, praying about the war for the unborn, these really deep spiritual things.
16:27-16:34
We spend very little time on that, but we'll spend a lot of time talking about, you know, "Ethel has the gout," or whatever.
16:36-16:47
Yes, pray for that, but whatever happened to praying for the deep spiritual things, especially in a world that's just falling apart?
16:49-16:51
How's your prayer life right now?
16:53-16:56
Do you say your prayers or do you pray?
16:57-16:58
There's a difference.
17:00-17:01
Praying is praying in the Spirit.
17:02-17:07
"according to his will, according to God's word." So be strong in the word, be strong in prayers.
17:08-17:11
Thirdly, he says, be strong, write this down, in obedience.
17:12-17:26
Look at verse 21, he says, "Keep yourselves in the love of God." "Keep yourselves in the love of God." He's not saying, "Stay saved," as if you could lose your salvation.
17:26-17:29
So make sure that you do your part to stay in his love.
17:29-17:31
That's not what he's saying at all.
17:32-17:35
Because if you're truly saved, you cannot lose your salvation.
17:35-17:39
You can't be unadopted, you can't be unsealed by the Spirit, you can't be unregenerate.
17:40-17:42
If you're truly saved, you are saved, you are a child of God.
17:43-17:48
What he's saying here is simply this, keep yourself in a position where you'll experience His blessing.
17:49-17:51
And that's obedience, right?
17:52-18:08
Jesus talked about this, John 15.10, Jesus said, "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love." Look, He's our Heavenly Father, we are His children, and we get it, right?
18:08-18:17
Kids want to do what pleases their parents, because they want to feel the expression of that relationship.
18:20-18:21
So He says, "Look, obedience.
18:21-18:22
How's your obedience?
18:22-18:35
Is there any area of your life right now where you're like, 'Man, I am not obeying the Lord right now.'" you're not feeling like you're keeping in the love of God right now, because there's an area of disobedience in your life.
18:36-18:38
And that's why he says, "Keep yourself in the love of God.
18:38-18:41
You're a child of God, act like it." All right?
18:42-18:47
And then finally, he says, "Be strong in hope." Be strong in hope.
18:48-18:50
Look at how he words this closely.
18:50-18:57
He says, "Waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
18:58-19:03
Waiting for the mercy, he's talking here about living in the expectation of Jesus' return.
19:06-19:10
He's coming to give the greatest mercy, which is eternal life in all its fullness.
19:11-19:15
And knowing Jesus is coming to take us to heaven motivates us to holiness right now.
19:15-19:20
It motivates us to obedience, to serve Him right now while we wait.
19:21-19:25
And again, I have to ask, How often do you think about and long for the return of Jesus Christ?
19:26-19:28
How much have you thought about that in the past week?
19:28-19:31
How many times have you looked to the sky and said, "Today?
19:31-19:32
Is it today, God?
19:32-19:33
Is it today?
19:33-19:34
I'm watching.
19:34-19:42
I'm waiting." Your ultimate priority, listen, your ultimate priority is your personal walk with Christ.
19:44-19:54
And Jude is reminding us that that applies here because, listen, you're going to fall victim to these spiritual predators that come into the church if your walk isn't strong.
19:56-19:57
So you've got to be ready, you know they're coming.
19:57-20:07
And secondly, he says, "You've got to be strong yourself or you're going to get eaten alive." So how to deal with apostates at Harvest Bible Chapel, be ready, be strong.
20:07-20:09
Number three, write this down, be merciful.
20:12-20:21
Now, Jude addresses actually dealing with these apostates.
20:23-20:26
Some of you are like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, you know what they say, right?
20:27-20:35
When your only tool is a hammer, you treat every problem like a nail, right?" No.
20:36-20:39
We can't approach them all the same way.
20:41-20:45
What we're going to see here is we have to discern where they are.
20:47-20:55
We have to see how committed these people actually are to the false teaching, and we need to deal with them accordingly.
20:58-21:11
And if your immediate reaction is, "Oh, you know what, Pastor Jeff, if somebody's teaching false doctrine, we should immediately grab them and throw them right through that window, just throw them right out." immediate reaction, then I would say you're not thinking like Jesus.
21:16-22:09
Because I need to remind us that the enemy is our mission field, right? And we need to meet them where they are. So you need to be merciful. He breaks it down for us into three categories. First of all, be merciful to those who doubt. Look at verse 22. He says, "And have mercy on those who doubt." These are people that are confused, right? They know what the Bible says, and then they hear this false teaching, and they're "Yeah, that kind of makes sense too." And they don't know what to think, right?
22:10-22:11
You know what I'm talking about?
22:11-22:15
They're like, "I kind of see what they're saying.
22:16-22:23
You know, I hear what they preach to church and I kind of hear this." And they're not sure what to think.
22:26-22:28
And apostates go after the weak.
22:29-22:34
Somehow they figure out real quick who the immature believers are.
22:36-22:43
And they sink their hooks into them and make them begin to doubt God's word as presented.
22:44-22:48
Like, yeah, I know the preacher gets up and says this, but actually it's a little deeper than that.
22:48-22:49
There's a little more to it.
22:49-22:51
Let me share with you this.
22:51-22:57
I got a pamphlet for you that explains, you know, so much deeper than what the preacher is saying.
22:59-23:02
What do we do with these confused people that the Bible says to have mercy on?
23:05-23:06
We have to give them the truth.
23:09-23:11
They don't need a harsh rebuke.
23:12-23:13
They don't need church discipline.
23:14-23:16
They don't need made to feel stupid.
23:18-23:24
You just need to sit down with them and show them the truth directly from God's Word.
23:24-23:30
"Look, I know you're hearing these other things, and I know there's a lot of confusion right now.
23:30-23:33
Let's just sit down and see what God's word actually says.
23:33-23:35
Let's take it straight from here." That's what they need.
23:35-23:43
They need a friend to sit down and, let's just talk about what the Bible says, about who God is, who Jesus is, how we're called to respond.
23:45-23:47
You need to have mercy on them.
23:48-23:50
So have mercy to those who doubt.
23:50-23:51
Be merciful to those who doubt.
23:51-23:55
Secondly, be merciful to those who dabble.
23:58-23:59
Dabble, look at verse 23.
24:00-24:12
It says, "Save others by snatching them out of the fire." This is a tougher group, right?
24:12-24:16
Because according to this, they're already being singed by hell.
24:16-24:16
Do you see that?
24:17-24:19
They like have one foot in hell already.
24:22-24:24
These people bought the lies.
24:25-24:29
Somebody came along with this false teaching and they're no longer in the confused state.
24:29-24:30
They're buying it.
24:31-24:31
They're sold.
24:32-24:33
They're like, "Oh yeah, yeah, I see what you're saying.
24:33-24:35
That makes a lot of sense.
24:35-24:36
Now I understand.
24:36-24:37
Yeah, I'm with you.
24:37-24:39
I totally… Yeah, I'm understanding now.
24:39-24:42
Yeah, yeah, yeah." They have totally bought it.
24:44-24:49
Judah's saying it's time to up the urgency because now it's a mission.
24:49-24:55
And understand when he says snatching them out of the fire in the Greek, that is not a gentle term.
24:56-24:58
Like put your arm around them, lead them by the hand.
24:58-25:04
And that word literally means to grab somebody and take them by force.
25:04-25:06
It could also be translated attack.
25:06-25:12
That means like they got a foot in hell and you grabbed them and I'm getting you out of there, man.
25:12-25:14
No, we're not doing this.
25:16-25:17
Again, we're not being harsh.
25:18-25:19
It's not a call to be jerky.
25:19-25:26
It's not a call to be condescending, but listen, church, you have to be as blunt and direct as possible with the word of God.
25:27-25:31
And you're like, well, what's the difference between the doubters and the dabblers in our approach?
25:34-25:35
It's kind of like this.
25:35-25:37
You know, we talked about rat poison a couple of weeks ago.
25:38-25:40
Let's kind of revisit that as an illustration.
25:42-25:49
Using rat poison as illustration, the doubter is somebody that is looking at the box of rat poison.
25:51-25:57
And they're like, "You know, I never considered eating this for breakfast, but this person says that it's good.
26:00-26:04
I'm thinking about trying some of this." How would you address that person?
26:05-26:11
You would come alongside them and say, "Look, I know you're thinking about eating that, And let me tell you why that is a terrible idea.
26:12-26:14
Because do you know it contains arsenic?
26:14-26:15
And do you know what that's for?
26:15-26:17
That's the part that kills the rats.
26:17-26:19
And you don't want that in your body, do you?
26:19-26:23
And you're just gonna come alongside and explain as they're looking at the box and debating, right?
26:24-26:25
That's the doubter.
26:25-26:32
The dabbler is the person that's like, you know what, so-and-so told me this stuff was great and I can't wait to try it.
26:32-26:37
And they got a handful of it in their hand and they're about to put it in their mouth.
26:37-26:40
Now, do you see where the tone gets ratcheted up a little bit?
26:41-26:42
Just to get that out of your, no!
26:43-26:44
You don't eat that!
26:44-26:45
What are you thinking?
26:47-26:52
You're not gonna address them like the doubter because there's a real danger right now, isn't there?
26:52-26:54
You don't eat that stuff.
26:54-26:56
No, that stuff is going to kill you.
26:58-26:59
You see the difference?
26:59-27:00
Much different tone.
27:02-27:09
And then finally, to those who doubt, to those who dabble, and finally to those who are deliberate.
27:10-27:11
To those who are deliberate.
27:12-27:13
Look at the end of verse 23.
27:15-27:31
He says, "To others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh." These people are kind of the heart of the problem because they're infecting the doubters.
27:31-27:33
They're infecting the dabblers.
27:33-27:35
Now we're getting to the source of the problem.
27:38-27:44
And he says, look at this very closely, he says, "Show mercy," do you see that "with" fear?
27:46-27:51
In other words, he says, listen, in dealing with them, you have to tread very carefully.
27:53-27:53
Like why?
27:54-27:57
Why should I be more careful in treading with them than the others?
27:58-28:00
Well he gives us a clue as to why.
28:00-28:09
He says, look at this, hating even the garment stained by the flesh." What does that mean?
28:11-28:14
I'm going to tell you what that means and I'm going to explain it.
28:15-28:26
What he's saying is, when you deal with these kinds of people, you don't want to get yourself dirty in dealing with them.
28:29-28:30
How does he mean that?
28:33-28:35
Look, this is what the Bible says, alright?
28:36-28:43
You were praying for me to accurately communicate what the Bible says, and I'm praying for you to receive it.
28:43-28:46
I'm going to tell you this is actually what the Bible says here, alright?
28:48-28:54
In the day this was written, much like in our day, they wore outer garments and they wore inner garments.
28:56-28:59
you could say they wore outerwear and they wore underwear.
29:00-29:05
And the Greek word here for garment literally is underwear.
29:07-29:22
So when he talks about a garment stained by the flesh, when he talks about underwear being stained by the flesh, that is a very nice way of saying what?
29:24-29:25
You can say it, go ahead.
29:26-29:27
You don't want to say it.
29:28-29:29
You want me to say it.
29:30-29:30
All right, I'll say it.
29:31-29:32
He's talking about pooping your pants.
29:35-29:36
That's what he's saying.
29:38-29:42
A garment stained by the flesh is underwear that's been pooped in.
29:45-29:54
And without going into a deep biology lesson here, when that event occurs, what happens is you have this nastiness inside of you that comes out.
29:56-29:58
And he's saying that's what's happening spiritually.
29:59-30:01
These people have nastiness inside of them.
30:02-30:05
And it's coming out of them.
30:08-30:18
So when you deal with these people with their spiritual nastiness coming out of them, look, you don't want to touch that just as you wouldn't want to handle somebody else's poopy pants.
30:19-30:23
Why? Why wouldn't you want to handle somebody else's poopy pants?
30:24-30:26
Because you don't want to get poop on you.
30:27-30:28
This is what he's saying.
30:32-30:34
I have a great illustration for this.
30:37-30:41
And for the last couple days I've debated on whether I should share it or not, or if I should just move on.
30:44-30:45
Do you want me to share it?
30:47-30:48
All right.
30:50-30:51
Jack, are you on board with this?
30:56-30:56
All right.
30:58-30:59
Just remember, you asked for this.
31:00-31:21
But several years ago, when we still lived up in Prospect, picture this, it's three in the morning, it's dark, Aaron and I are sleeping, and our beloved Doug Gordy, rest his soul, we talked about him recently, but he was a boxer, and he came over to my side of the bed.
31:22-31:23
It was again about 3 in the morning.
31:23-31:26
He came to my side of the bed to tell me that he was having some tummy troubles.
31:29-31:36
And he wanted to tell me that he needed to go out, but the problem was the event happened much quicker than he was expecting.
31:37-31:46
So he came over to my side of the bed, and in the silence of the 3 a.m. morning in beautiful prospect, there was this sound.
31:50-31:52
It was like...
31:52-31:55
Did you ever blow up a balloon and then let it go?
31:56-31:59
You know that sound it makes as it's flying across the room?
32:01-32:02
It was like that.
32:04-32:06
But imagine that balloon was filled with pudding.
32:08-32:10
That was the... You wanted to hear this.
32:10-32:12
That was the sound.
32:14-32:15
And it was so loud.
32:16-32:17
But I immediately sat up.
32:18-32:19
Like, oh my gosh.
32:22-32:24
Erin immediately sat up.
32:24-32:28
And she turned and looked at me and she goes, "What did you do?"
32:28-32:29
(Laughter)
32:30-32:31
(Applause)
32:35-32:35
(Sobs)
32:36-32:37
(Laughter)
32:38-32:39
(audience laughing)
32:46-32:48
She thought that was me.
32:48-32:49
(audience laughing)
32:56-32:59
Oh, and I was like, yeah, Erin.
33:01-33:05
I hung my backside over the side of the bed and let it go.
33:08-33:12
Well, okay, so you turn the light on to assess the damage.
33:14-33:20
And well, you know, on our bed, we had these beautiful decorative pillows.
33:20-33:22
You got the decorative pillows, ladies and gentlemen.
33:23-33:24
You know what I'm talking about?
33:24-33:25
You never lay on them.
33:26-33:27
You're not even allowed to really look at them.
33:27-33:30
They're just like there as decoration.
33:30-33:33
And then you carefully lay them beside the bed.
33:33-33:37
Well, let's just say one of those decorative pillows took the hit.
33:39-33:39
Bad.
33:44-33:47
And I'm going to tell you what I asked Erin next.
33:48-33:55
And in telling you this, I want you to keep in mind that it was three in the morning, and I was tired, and I also want you to keep something else in mind.
33:55-33:56
I knew Erin loved these pillows.
33:59-34:08
So my question to her was, "Do you want to try to salvage this pillow?" Like I said, it wasn't a very smart question.
34:11-34:13
Let's see how you think at three in the morning.
34:14-34:17
But you know, as a husband, my immediate response was just throw it away.
34:17-34:19
And I'm thinking if I do that, she's like, "No, you can't throw that away.
34:19-34:23
I love that pillow." So this whole like conversation happened in my head.
34:23-34:33
And I'm like, "Do you want to try to salvage this pillow?" And she was like, "No, throw it away." And that's a husband's job, of course, was to clean up after that.
34:35-34:37
But here's the point in that story.
34:38-34:43
Even though she loved that pillow, it was how you say defiled.
34:45-34:58
And she was like, "I no longer want anything to do with this because I can't risk the thought of even letting that thing get me dirty.
34:59-35:09
I don't even like the thought of possibly being contaminated by this." And this is what Jude is saying here.
35:10-35:22
When you deal with people who are deliberately sold on this false teaching, he's like, "Look, when you deal with them, you've got to deal with them in fear because you don't want to get contaminated.
35:23-35:26
You don't want their poop on you," is what he's saying.
35:28-35:32
And you're like, "Well, contaminated how?
35:33-35:40
What does that mean?" Okay, please don't do any more stories, but I understand you don't want contaminated, but contaminated how?
35:40-35:42
And I've been thinking a lot about that this week.
35:44-35:45
Well, contaminated how?
35:48-35:51
And then it occurred to me exactly what Jude's saying.
35:53-36:03
You see, when you're addressing people like this, while you're trying to reach them, they're trying to reach you, right?
36:04-36:18
In other words, while you are trying to persuade them regarding the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they are trying to persuade you concerning their weird extra biblical heretical thing.
36:21-36:25
You're trying to convert them, but they are trying to convert you.
36:25-36:26
They see you as their mission field.
36:27-36:29
So their false teaching, here's what he's saying.
36:31-36:35
With their false teaching, you need to view it and react to it for what it is.
36:35-36:36
It's filth.
36:37-36:42
He goes, "As you deal with them, don't get contaminated.
36:44-36:55
Don't let their poop get on you." And still, even people this committed, the calls to be merciful, but the tone gets ratcheted up again, doesn't it?
36:57-36:59
It's like, "I'm going to make this as clear as I can.
37:00-37:02
This is what the Bible says.
37:02-37:05
And they're like, well, I've learned some of these other, no, no, no, no, I'm not, no.
37:05-37:07
I'm not being contaminated by that garbage.
37:07-37:10
I want to, all I care about is what the Bible says.
37:10-37:14
All right, I don't want to hear your extra stuff that somebody somewhere said.
37:14-37:16
All I want is this.
37:16-37:19
And if you're not willing to talk about this, then we're not talking about it.
37:21-37:22
Not gonna get contaminated.
37:24-37:27
As stern and straightforward as possible.
37:30-37:33
There is zero tolerance for somebody messing with the message.
37:35-37:50
And while they are all ultimately victims of the enemy, there is a big difference in the way we approach somebody who is confused over doctrine, versus someone who is committed to promoting it.
37:53-37:56
I'd like to ask if the worship team would please come up.
37:58-38:00
if our elders would please come up.
38:01-38:06
We're going to close this time in a word around the Lord's table.
38:09-38:17
Because really the word of the day in dealing with these apostates, the word of the day really is mercy, right?
38:18-38:18
Mercy.
38:21-38:23
And that absolutely has to be our attitude.
38:27-38:29
Because the question is, how do we treat enemies?
38:31-38:32
How do we treat enemies?
38:33-38:39
Well, my response to that is, how did God treat His enemies?
38:42-38:47
The Bible says by nature we are enemies of God.
38:49-38:50
And what was God's response?
38:53-39:16
response was to show us mercy, by sending his son to die for our sins. So we want to gather around the table to celebrate his mercy. And today, there's another reason we're gathering around the table.
39:18-39:20
This is about being motivated.
39:22-39:27
Because I could give you all these reasons why we should show mercy to enemies of the gospel.
39:28-39:32
You know, they're not that bad, maybe they don't deserve it, let's give them a second chance.
39:33-39:44
But the bottom line biblically is this, there is one reason, one compelling reason, one biblically God motivated reason to show mercy to someone, and that's because we have been shown mercy.
39:45-39:46
This is our motivator.
39:47-39:55
And this should determine, in following our Father's example, how we deal with troublemakers.
39:57-40:00
We show mercy because He showed us mercy.
40:01-40:02
I'd like you to stand.
40:03-40:17
And as the worship team plays, we're going to ask, when you're ready to receive the Lord's Supper, you come down these middle aisles, you receive the elements from Dan, from Boyd, and I'm going to ask that you take the elements back to your seat through the outside aisles.
40:17-40:21
And I'm going to ask that you be seated and hold on to them.
40:22-40:28
And as a sign of unity in the church, after everyone receives, I will lead us in taking the Lord's Supper together.
40:29-40:30
So please come.
40:32-40:37
We show mercy because we are the recipients of mercy.
40:39-40:45
The Bible tells us that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, He took bread and He broke it and He gave thanks.
40:46-40:48
And He said, "This is My body which is given for you.
40:49-41:02
Eat this in remembrance of Me." After the meal, Jesus took the cup and He said, "This is the blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sin.
41:03-41:10
Drink this in remembrance of Me." Would you please stand as we worship?
Small Group Discussion
Read Jude 1:17-23
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Which spiritual discipline do you most need to tighten up in your own life (Jude 1:20-21): the Word, prayer, obedience, or hope? How will you go about that today?
How can you distinguish between:
who is deceived,
a backslidden believer,
and a “committed to error” apostate unbeliever (Jude 1:22-23)?
Be specific: what are some practical ways you can show mercy to those who are teaching / promoting / believing false doctrine while confronting them over their error (Jude 1:22-23)?
Breakout
Pray for one another to have wisdom and discernment when dealing with apostates when they show up at HBC!