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Well, I'm glad to see that some of you got yourselves out of your driveways and got here

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for tonight.

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It's a little bit snowy this morning, but thank the Lord that that makes green springs,

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eventually.

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We are tonight going to continue this series in the book of Jude.

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As I do this, I want us to remember the theme that Jude takes up in his writing.

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Jude had hoped to write to the people about the salvation that we share in common in Jesus

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Christ and to give a treatise glorifying Christ and explaining the doctrine of this glorious

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salvation that we have in Him.

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Although he wants to do that, he feels compelled to write to them regarding false teachers

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of their day.

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And he says to them, you must remember that you have to earnestly contend for the faith.

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In other words, there are those who are out to destroy the faith.

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And it is your job as believers, says Jude, to earnestly contend, struggle for the advancement

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of our faith.

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Often, I think that we get to the point that we think we live in a dream world where there

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are no real enemies and where we don't have any real opposition in our day.

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When we read about false teachers, we think of other ages or the early church, but we

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neglect to realize that there are those in our day who are also leading people astray.

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I want you to look at a verse in Romans chapter 16 for just a minute where the apostle writes

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to these believers and he says in verse 17, I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those

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who cause dissension and hindrances, contrary to the teaching which you have learned.

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In other words, the apostle says, brothers, sisters, watch out for those people who try

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to pull you out of what you've been taught.

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Keep your eye on them.

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Mark them out.

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And he says, turn away from them.

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One of the responsibilities of a pastor or a church leader, in my opinion, is to warn

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the people of God regarding false teachers.

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I think that Paul does this splendidly in Acts chapter 20 when he meets with the elders

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at Ephesus and he tells them about wolves who would enter in among them, not sparing

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the flock.

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He warns them.

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Part of my responsibility is to warn you of wolves.

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What would you think of a shepherd who warned his sheep about wolves, told them to be careful

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because they're mean critters, but never described what a wolf looked like, never showed

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the sheep a picture of a wolf, and therefore the sheep had no idea what a wolf was except

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it was a wolf and it was mean?

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You say, well, that shepherd needed to step up a little bit to his responsibility, and

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I agree.

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Obviously, sheep can't look at pictures and they don't understand language, but God's

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people do.

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The apostle Paul, in his writing to the early church, at times warned them of specific individuals.

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Now, I realize that there are some people today who say, well, you should never say

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anything ill about anybody.

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To do that is to bear an evil report, a bad report.

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I disagree with that.

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We need to be careful of bad reports.

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But there is a time and a place when individuals ought to be marked out so that God's people

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will be warned and can turn away from them.

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The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, and he in essence said to him, look out for Alexander

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and Hymenaeus, and he names them, and they're forever named in the word of God.

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He says they have made shipwreck.

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In his last letter to Timothy, he says, look out for Alexander the coppersmith.

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He did me much evil.

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God will repay him according to his deeds.

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He named him.

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The apostle John, in writing to the early believers, warned them about diatrophies.

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A man in their midst who sought to have preeminence among them and was a divider, a false leader.

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And so it is not unbiblical or without precedent that specific false teachers at times should

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be named so that God's people can be warned.

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Now as we come to our passage in Jude tonight, we're going to be looking at some of the

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characteristics of false teachers.

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There are times when this seems to become almost academic, unrelated to our world.

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And we understand what the word of God is saying, but we're not quite sure how that

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fits in with the present scene of religion.

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Well, I want to just give you three examples tonight of false teaching in our day.

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Those of you who are visitors will have to take my word for it that we don't usually

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get to the point of naming people and movements, but as I say, there are times when that needs

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to be done.

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When you hear a man say, I had a vision of Christ and he was 900 feet tall, and he told

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me in a conversation to tell you, my followers, that you should give several hundred dollars

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to my cause for a specific purpose, you marked that man.

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And when he later says that he sat down and had a personal face-to-face conversation with

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Jesus Christ, you mark him for what he is.

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His name is Oral Roberts.

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When you read in a book statements like this, what do I mean by sin?

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Answer, any human condition or act that robs God of glory by stripping one of his children

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of their right to divine dignity.

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Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem.

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And what is hell?

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It is loss of pride that naturally follows separation from God.

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When he says, what we need is a theology of salvation that begins and ends with a recognition

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of every person's hunger for glory.

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When he says, what is the basic flaw of modern Christianity?

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I believe it is the failure to proclaim the gospel in a way that can satisfy every person's

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deepest need, and this is what it is, one's spiritual hunger for glory.

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In other words, what he is doing basically is redefining sin, and he's saying that sin

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is loss of personal pride and self-esteem.

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Basically it's a psychological definition of sin that falls far short of what the Bible

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has to say about it.

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And his definition of salvation comes completely short of what God says salvation is.

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I quote from a book called Self-Esteem by Robert H. Shuler, the most listened to television

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program on Sundays in the United States of America.

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This book, in this book, he reveals himself for what he is.

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Someone gave me some tapes several weeks ago on which I heard several interviews of a lady

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named Constance Cumby.

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Mrs. Cumby is an attorney in Detroit, Michigan.

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In the printed material that I got subsequently, I learned that she is a member of a certain

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church that I know in Detroit.

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I called her pastor yesterday to confirm whether she's legitimate.

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And basically what I heard was that her research is legitimate, though she may have looked

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in the microscope so long that she's lost some perspective on the larger picture of

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things that can happen.

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But Constance Cumby has specialized for the last several years in investigating what is

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called the New Age Movement.

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Now you may not be aware of what the New Age Movement is, but you may have noticed a full-page

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ad in the October 1982 edition of Reader's Digest, page 203.

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It is a prayer called the Great Invocation.

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And this is what it says, From the point of light within the mind of God, let light stream

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forth into the minds of men.

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Let light descend on earth.

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From the point of love within the heart of God, let love stream forth into the hearts

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of men, may Christ return to earth.

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From the center where the will of God is known, let purpose guide the little wills of men,

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the purpose which the masters know and serve.

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From the center which we call the race of men, let the plan of love and light work out,

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and may it seal the door where evil dwells.

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Let light and love and power restore the plan on earth.

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And it says, This great invocation belongs to all humanity.

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Will you join the millions who daily use this prayer to invoke peace on earth?

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Become a co-worker of God's plan, for only through humanity can the plan, capital P, work

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out.

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That ad was sponsored by Lucius Trust in New York City.

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There was also a full page newspaper advertisement with the headline, The Christ is Now Here.

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Have you seen that?

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It appeared in newspapers across the United States in 1982.

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And basically what it says is that the Christ is on the earth now.

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His name is Lord Metreia.

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And it goes on to talk about the time of his appearing.

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These ads are the promotion of what is called the New Age Movement.

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This movement is a network of literally hundreds and hundreds of organizations, many of which

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seem to be legitimate.

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There are thousands of people who are part of these organizations who know nothing of

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what the network is that they're supporting actually.

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In the research that Mrs. Comby has done, she has found that organizations ranging from

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amnesty international to zero population growth are part of what is called the New Age Movement.

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It includes cult type organizations such as the Church Universal and Triumphant, the Christian

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of God, Unity School of Christianity, 3HO, which is a Buddhist Hindu Seekers sect.

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This is Indian Ashram of Bhagwam Sri Rajneesh, which is a syncretic mixture of Buddhism, Hinduism,

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holistic health, Trantic sects, etc.

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And besides the cult type organization, it includes health organizations including most

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holistic and many homeopathic medicine practitioners and organizations.

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It also includes political organizations such as the California New Age Caucus, the New

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Organization for American Revolution, the New World Alliance, Planetary Citizens, etc.

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The New Age Movement is also known as the Aquarian Conspiracy, the Age of Aquarius,

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Humanistic Psychology, New Thought Religion, the Third Wave, the Third Force, the New Spirituality,

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the New Wave, Human Potential Movement, Secular Humanism, and Humanism.

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All of those terms mean exactly the same thing.

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And some of the people involved in writing the materials for New Age include Helena Petrovna

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Blavatsky, Alice Bailey, H.G. Wells, David Spangler, and a man named Benjamin Crane.

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Now you say who are all these people and what do they represent?

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Well, they represent the New Age Movement, which is at least a prototype of what it's

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going to take to bring the Antichrist into the world.

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It is their claim that they will, within this year, establish a New World Order.

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That is their goal.

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And it includes the annihilation of every Jew, every Christian, evangelical Christian,

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every Catholic, and every Muslim committed to the concept of monotheism.

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You say that sounds far out.

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It sure does.

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And if I did not have some appreciation for the research done by Mrs. Comby, I would not

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tell you this, but I share it because I believe that what she has uncovered is significant.

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You may hear her on some talk programs.

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I mention the name of Benjamin Crane and some of these others because they are coming to

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Minneapolis within a few weeks to have one of their seminars to indoctrinate and to bring

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people into the New Age Movement.

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With that kind of a background, folks, we come to the book of Jude to see how Jude describes

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false teachers.

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The last time we were in Jude, and it's been several weeks ago now, we began to see some

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of the descriptions in verse 8.

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And just by way of review, we noticed that they were immoral dreamers.

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That is, they live in a dream world of unreality.

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They are impious rebels.

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They despise the authority of God, or for that matter, any authority.

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Verse 10 says they are like insolent animals.

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They live only as beasts, like on an instinctive level of animal passion.

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Verse 11 tells us that they are insensitive followers of three other false teachers who

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have gone before, Cain, Balaam, and Korah.

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Cain known for his jealousy.

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Balaam for his greed.

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Korah for pride.

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Those were the three main motives of false teachers.

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Jealousy, greed for money or things or position, and pride.

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Now tonight we're going to begin with verse 12, and I'm going to ask you to follow along

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as I begin to read.

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Verses 12 through 16.

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These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you

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without fear.

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Caring for themselves.

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Clouds without water.

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Carried along by winds.

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Autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted.

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Wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam.

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Wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

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Without these also, Enoch and the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, Behold,

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the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict

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all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and

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of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

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These are grumblers finding fault, following after their own lusts.

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They speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.

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This is not exactly a positive message tonight, but it's one that's needful in our day as

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we understand what false teachers are like.

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I've mentioned four words of description about them.

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Let me pick it up with the fifth one as we begin with verse 12.

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They are intruding defilers.

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He says, these men, these false teachers, are those who are hidden reefs or rocks in

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your love feasts when they feast with you without fear.

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In other words, they intrude into the most intimate fellowship of believers, the love

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feast.

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Just referring to the agape, which the early church practiced, what is that?

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It was a meal, a meal to which those who had food brought everything they could and those

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who perhaps didn't have any just came, and they all shared together, hence the name agape

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they gave for the others.

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A part of the agape was the observance of the Lord's Supper, that very special ordinance

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that we will observe together Thursday night.

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They combined it together in what was called the agape.

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What Jude is saying is that these false teachers dare without any fear to come into the most

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sacred, intimate times of fellowship with God's people.

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They intrude, but he calls them here hidden reefs, or perhaps a better translation is

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spots.

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It's difficult to know which way that word should be rendered in the original language.

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If it's hidden rocks, Jude is warning those believers that these false teachers are like

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rocks below the surface of the water, which a ship may hit unsuspectingly and go down.

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He says, be careful of those people, even those who come into your fellowship, who are

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false teachers because they are like hidden rocks that can send you to the bottom spiritually.

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But as I say, I think the better rendering of the word is spots or blemishes.

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He's warning them that these people come in, instead of the pure fellowship that there

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ought to be, they stand out as stains and as spots among God's people.

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So he tells us that they are unafraid to come right into the church and there to disseminate

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their false teaching.

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He tells us again in verse 12 that they are indulgent shepherds.

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He describes them as those caring for themselves.

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The word caring means feeding or shepherding for their own sake.

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And the thought is that these are like shepherds who do not care for the flock, but care only

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for themselves.

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In other words, they use the church or their followers, they use the flock in order to

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promote themselves and their own ends.

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They are indulgent, self-indulgent shepherds.

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These are like the hirelings that Jesus warns about in John chapter 10, which do not care

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for the sheep, but only for themselves.

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These are like the false shepherds that Ezekiel speaks about when he talked about the leaders

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of that day, the kings, who had no thought for the people of God, but were concerned

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only for themselves.

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And God through Ezekiel is grieved because the leadership is selfish, indulgent, and

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uncaring.

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John in verse 12, he describes them as unproductive clouds.

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He says these false teachers are like clouds without water, carried along by winds.

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In other words, they are windy and waterless.

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Instead of bringing refreshment, instead of producing what they promise, they in fact

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cannot pull off what they say.

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It's as though you were in an arid land and you see clouds coming and your heart leaps

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with the thought that here comes rain, and yet the clouds pass overhead and produce nothing.

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He says that's what the false teachers are like.

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They promise this, they boast that, but they don't produce unproductive clouds.

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And he pictures them as being blown with the wind.

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It's as though they themselves are carried along by that force that holds them captive,

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that is evil.

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They appear as though they have a word from God, and yet they are dry, unproductive clouds.

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Again in verse 12, he says they are like autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted.

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Unfruitful trees.

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He says they are twice dead.

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In other words, there's no fruit, there's also no root to them.

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One commentator suggested it means that they are dead in sins, but they are also dead in

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apostasy.

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Their second death confirms their first death.

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Unfruitful trees.

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And then in verse 13, he uses this phrase to describe them.

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He says they're like wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam.

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Today the ocean is kind of romantic to us, isn't it?

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We think about walking along the ocean hand in hand with our sweetheart and the waves

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rolling at our feet.

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My, what a nice thought that is.

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Boy, it is, isn't it?

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But you know, it wasn't so much that way in the ancient world.

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To them the sea meant separation, and the sea was terrifying when it was rolling in

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in its fury.

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Have you ever seen the ocean that way?

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I remember several years ago we were on vacation in Florida and we had arranged a room that

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faced the Gulf at St. Petersburg Beach.

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Beautiful.

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We would look out our window just about 50 yards down the beach.

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The beach started about three feet out from our door and 50 yards down to the water's

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edge.

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It was a paradise kind of a situation.

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We got word though that there was a hurricane out in the Gulf.

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And they said, don't worry, it's not coming here.

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It's going to strike north.

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It's moving north into Alabama and the Panhandle.

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You will not feel it.

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Just a few high waves.

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So we went to bed that night and about three o'clock in the morning we heard the garbage

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cans and the lawn chairs all flying up against the building.

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And it caught my interest.

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So I awakened.

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I was not even stupid.

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I awoke immediately and went to the window and looked out.

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The ocean that used to be 50 yards out there tame and calm was at my door.

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And I began to wonder how fast I could climb to the next floor of that building.

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It was a wild night.

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And when we got up in the morning, the foam from the ocean was all over the front of our

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motel.

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And the waves were still billowing in.

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It was unbelievable because the hurricane had taken a course they hadn't expected.

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Well I know what he's talking about.

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He talks about wild waves and the foam.

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He says that these false teachers are like that.

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They have a lot of noise and wind.

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But what they produce is only foam.

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It's scum.

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It's rubbish on the shore.

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They are wild and ceaseless in their fury like waves.

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They are impelled by their restless passions, he says.

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But they only produce foam.

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It reminds me of what Isaiah says about the wicked being like the restless sea.

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And then again in verse 13 he says, they are wandering stars for whom the black darkness

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has been reserved forever.

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Unchartered stars is the thought here.

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They claim, in other words, to be guides.

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More I suppose in that day than today, but still today we depend upon the stars for guidance.

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The most modern jetliner often locks into a particular constellation or star and uses

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that for on board navigation.

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And what Jude is saying is that these false teachers claim to be guides for people spiritually

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to show them the way to God.

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But in fact they themselves are like wandering stars.

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They've gone off course.

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They're unpredictable.

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There's no secure guidance from them.

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Turn back to 2 Peter just a minute and let's let Peter say a word.

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After 2 verse 4, Peter's just dying to say this.

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He says, if God did not spare the angels of sin, but cast them into hell and committed

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them into the pits of darkness, reserved them for judgment, did not spare the ancient world

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and so on.

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He says God will not spare these false teachers.

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Look at verse 10, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and

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despise authority.

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Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels

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who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before

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the Lord.

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But these, like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed,

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reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also

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be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong.

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They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime.

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They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they corrals with you,

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having eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having

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a heart trained in greed, accursed children, forsaking the right way.

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They have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved

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the wages of unrighteousness.

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And on he goes, these are springs without water, mist-driven by the storm, for whom

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the black darkness has been reserved.

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That ties together perfectly, doesn't it, with what Judas told us about false teachers.

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He says they are wandering stars, and for them the black darkness has been reserved

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forever.

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Same thing Peter says.

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That is the awful judgment of eternal hell.

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Just as there are going to be varying degrees of reward in heaven, so there are going to

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be varying degrees of punishment in hell.

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And I agree with Dante that the deepest part of hell will be reserved for those who have

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let others astray in false religion and teaching.

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That is what Judas is saying.

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And then if you skip down to verse 16, you find that he says they are ungrateful grumblers.

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This word grumblers is used only here in the New Testament in its noun form.

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It's used in 1 Corinthians 10, 10 as a verb where it speaks about the ancient people of

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Israel grumbling against the Lord.

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The word is one of those that has automata-pia.

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Is that the right word?

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Is that the one I'm looking for?

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That's close anyway.

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If you want to know how to spell it, look it up in the dictionary.

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Don't you hate answers like that.

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You ask your teacher how to spell a word, well go look it up in the dictionary.

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Well if you knew that, you'd know how to spell it.

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Well this word is one of those words in its original that sounds like what it says.

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It's muttering.

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It's an undertone of murmuring and speaking against.

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And he says that's what these people are like and they find fault.

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That is they are habitual complainers.

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They follow their own lust.

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They live by their passions, in other words.

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They have a critical attitude, habitually complaining.

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It involves the idea of passionate living, bombastic speech.

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They are mercenary.

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He says they flatter people for the sake of gaining an advantage.

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I hate flattery.

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There's nothing wrong with a genuine compliment, but flattery.

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And he says here that these people go around patting others on the back and speaking well

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and never saying an evil word for the sake of gaining an advantage.

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They are the proverbial politicians, venal in their attitudes, mercenary.

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That's what false teachers are like.

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Now my friend, I do not encourage you to investigate deeply false teaching, but to the extent that

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you do and to the extent that you become acquainted with false teachers, you put them beside what

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Jude says and you will maybe be amazed to see how accurately the Holy Spirit tells us

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what false teachers are like.

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Now I want to close with an encouraging word from the standpoint of God and those of us

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who love the Word of God, and that is the damnation of the false teachers.

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Their description, but their damnation is given in verses 14 and 15.

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He says about these, Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam had something to say.

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Enoch was that man, you know, who walked with God and was not for God took him.

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Didn't die.

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Didn't want to be with the Lord without going through death.

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You can read about it back there in Genesis.

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00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:52,760
Well he says that Enoch said this, and by the way this quote comes from a book called

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00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,960
the Book of Enoch.

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It's what is called a pseudepigraphal writing.

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00:34:57,920 --> 00:34:59,720
That is a false writing.

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00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:07,280
Those were a number of writings that were produced between 200 BC and 200 AD.

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There are a number of them.

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The Book of Enoch is one of them.

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00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:16,160
They claim to be the writings of biblical characters, but they were actually falsely

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produced, hence their name pseudepigrapha, false writings.

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00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:29,320
But the Holy Spirit causes Jude to pick out a statement from the Book of Enoch, which

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apparently was legitimately from Enoch.

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In other words, that Book of Enoch must have been written around this saying that had been

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passed down from Enoch.

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This is what Enoch had said, Behold the Lord came, or the Lord comes, with many thousands

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00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:57,600
of his holy ones, to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of their

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ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly

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00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:07,360
sinners have spoken against him.

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00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:17,360
What Enoch prophesied way back yonder, thousands of years before Christ, before the flood of

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Noah, way back then, Enoch looked forward by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and

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saw the coming of the Lord to the earth.

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This is similar to what Daniel pictures for us.

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In Daniel chapter 7 verses 9 to 14, as he sees the Ancient of Days sitting in judgment

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and the Son of Man coming to him.

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This is what Jesus talks about in Matthew 25-31 when he says, The Son of Man will come

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with his holy angels in his glory.

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This is what Zechariah predicts, Zechariah 14-5, in the coming of the Lord, in that great

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00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:04,880
and terrible day of the Lord.

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00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:11,560
You'll notice that there are two words used four times in verses 14 and 15, the word all.

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00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,840
In other words, this judgment will be total in its scope.

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00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:22,280
This is when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back to the earth at the conclusion of the tribulation,

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00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:30,080
when he will come back to judge all the ungodly, and that's the other word that's used four

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00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:31,080
times.

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If there's any word that describes our day, it's this word ungodly, no place for God.

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What are we to do in the meantime until the Lord comes and sets things right?

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00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:49,120
We're to do what he told us earlier, we're to contend for the faith.

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00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:51,760
Just keep on keeping on.

437
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:54,280
Don't get discouraged in the middle of the battle.

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If you look around you and you see false teachers who are being promoted and who seem to be

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00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:06,760
successful and their work is going well, and you see the world literally going to hell,

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00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:16,280
following after movements like the New Age movement, when you see that, do not be discouraged,

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00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:19,520
but know that the Lord is in control.

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00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:25,840
And let it only be a stimulation to you as a believer to live more faithfully than ever

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00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:33,520
as a child of God, as a son of light, that you may expose the darkness in the world.

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It's not going to make you popular and win you friends, but that's not why we're here.

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We are here to get a job done, to declare the gospel, to represent Jesus Christ, so

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that God can do his work in the world through us.

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It may someday result in our death.

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00:38:55,760 --> 00:39:02,040
I tell you, when I read things like I have read in these two books, it makes me wonder

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00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:07,200
if our day of freedom in this land is not nearly over.

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00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:14,040
It makes me wonder if the day of persecution, yes, even martyrdom, is not close for many

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00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:15,560
of us.

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00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:25,280
Indeed, Mrs. Comby says that there are unbelievable parallels between this movement and Nazism

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00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:30,240
in pre-World War II Germany.

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That's the course we're on today.

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00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:38,040
And I remind you that in that day, it was not many years before there was a perfectly

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00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:45,520
good excuse to exterminate millions of people, for the good of all, that they can come and

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00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:46,520
come again in the world.

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00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:52,200
And the next time, it may not only be the Jews, it may be you who love the Lord Jesus

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00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:53,680
Christ.

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So may we be faithful until Jesus comes.

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May we contend earnestly for the faith, so that when Jesus comes, we may not be ashamed

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before him.

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May we have the attitude of the Apostle Paul, that whether we live or whether we die, we're

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the Lord's.

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May we magnify Christ in our bodies, whether it be by life or by death.

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God help us to be faithful, to be worthy of our calling.

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Thank you, Father, for calling us to be your children.

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We are excited to be the called out ones.

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Thank you for the understanding that you give to us through your word of what's going on

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in our world today.

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But I pray that our response as we see the degeneration of civilization about us, as we

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see the advancement of humanism, the worship of man, as we see the clouds of persecution

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beginning to develop on the horizon, may our response not be fear, but rather faith.

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May it not cause us to be quiet, but may it on the other hand cause us only to be more

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vocal, more bold in our proclamation of the truth.

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Help us to realize that we're only pilgrims here, that we're heading for a city whose

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builder and maker is God.

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The time must end and eternity is long, and that that's where home is.

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May that encourage us.

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And we pray that the day of Jesus' return will be soon.

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Amen.

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Let's close tonight with a chorus.