The Character of Apostates

Transcript

GR 804
11/27/1988
The Character of Apostates
Jude 8-10
Gil Rugh

We're in the Book of Jude in your Bibles. Little one-chapter book just before the Book of Revelation at the back of your New Testament. We're talking about the subject of apostates. Satan is the master counterfeiter. It is his plan and purpose to counterfeit the work of God in this world. And his purpose in counterfeiting that work is to draw the worship of the world to himself. He began very early with the church to develop a counterfeit. That counterfeit involved false religious leaders and teachers who would turn people away from the true God and thus follow doctrines of demons. As Jude writes, the church has already been infiltrated by apostates. Apostates are men who have been exposed to the truth, who profess to believe the truth, but in reality have no relationship with the living God. Now for a time they may look very genuine. But in their true character they are unbelievers. And with the passing of time, often, but not always, their real character is revealed. We say often but not always because the Scripture does indicate that for some false believers, if I can use that connection of terms, they will not be revealed until the judgment day. The wheat and the tares will grow together and be sorted out by Christ Himself. Some of the counterfeits are so good that only God is able to discern and separate them. However, for others, they can be recognized by carefully scrutinizing them and sifting them through the Word of God.

For many apostates their character unfolds with the passing of time. Their doctrines are found to conflict with the Word of God. Their moral character is found to be deficient. Their motivation is found to be one of greed and lust for money. And thus we as believers are to mark them out, do battle with them, and stand firm for the faith. This is the subject of the Book of Jude. One of the areas that we battle constantly and this is a bottom-line issue always, but it's resurfaced again in our day in a way that's very shocking. We hear today that there are no absolutes, that there is nothing that is right or wrong. Many leading and well-known figures and celebrities are traveling the country today promoting this idea. That there are not opposite ends, right and wrong, but there is a blending and there is no real truth in saying this is right and this is wrong. That is the substance of what we call the New Age Movement today. It's at the heart of pantheism. If God is everything and everywhere, we are God and God is us and God is everything, the logical conclusion of that is, there is no opposite. Everything is God. Now that kind of thinking we would not expect to affect us as believers, but it does.

Not that we would say we're pantheistic. We recognize, there is a God. He is separate and distinct from us and from all His creation. But we begin to waver on the issue of right and wrong and on the finality of right and of wrong. We see this affecting our young people today as they grope with issues, moral issues. Is it wrong or is it right? And yet often we as parents have subtly begun to model for them that really you don't need to draw a line. We need to draw our attention back to the Scripture, and that's what Jude is doing. When God speaks, that is the absolute, final standard. Anything that disagrees with what God says is wrong. We've used the example before. The Bible says that sex outside of marriage is sin. Therefore, there is never a time, never a situation where sex outside of marriage is not sinful. Now sometimes in our thinking as believers we begin to adjust and think well, I know that God says sex outside of marriage is wrong. Adulterers and whoremongers God will punish, the Book of Hebrews says.

But, in this situation, and as soon as we begin to think like that we can see we are manifesting the influence of this world system. All of a sudden there is not a standard right and wrong. But there is just the situation and we've come to what? Situation ethics, where the situation determines for us the rightness or the wrongness.

And my fear for the church of Jesus Christ today is, it is rapidly losing its foundation of the Word of God. And now people's experience is put on the same level and in reality supersedes what the Word of God says.

And we will listen to people relate their experience, and if they relate it in a convincing enough way, we begin to think that perhaps that is truth, rather than saying the Word of God determines the truth. When the Word of God speaks, that is all there is to be said. Where the Word of God does not speak, then there is liberty, there is freedom. Where the Word of God does speak there is no liberty. What is required is obedience.

We come to verse 8 in the Book of Jude where Jude is going to draw application to present-day apostates. He's given three examples from the Old Testament in verses 5, 6 and 7. These examples were Jews (Israel), angels and Gentiles (with Sodom and Gomorrah). But let's bring it up to date. There was the danger for the people of Jude's day just like there is for us, that we study the Old Testament and we look at it as an historical book, but we fail to see that the same things are happening right in our own day in our own situation. So verse 8 begins: Yet in the same manner, these men also. So don't think there is any difference between the apostates of our day and the apostates of a thousand years ago, two thousand years ago, four thousand years ago. That's Jude's point. His readers would say, oh, yes, Israel. Apostasy characterized them. Those apostate angels, I can see it. Sodom and Gomorrah, repulsive. The difficulty often is, then, to make the connection, and that's what Jude is doing in verse 8. Yet in the same manner these men also. The character of apostates does not change. They are angels of darkness disguised as angels of light. These men also by dreaming defile the flesh, reject authority and revile angelic majesty. You ought to note, perhaps underline, "by dreaming" in verse 8. The foundation for their theology and their lifestyle is not ultimately the Word of God. It's something they have conjured up in their imagination. They have dreamed it.

And interestingly enough, this is a different word that's used of the dreams that were given to God's prophets often through the Old Testament. But here is the confusion of their own minds, not just a dream as we think of when we sleep at night. But it's something that they have just conjured up, science fiction, if you will. Interestingly, one of the major movements of our day and his books are promoted widely in television and on our book store, is a religious movement founded by a man whose expertise was in writing science fiction. Here's a prime example of an apostate. He has simply moved over and begun to write religious material. He's dead now, but we still see his books promoted. They do it by dreaming. They conjure it up in their own imagination. They live in a world of fantasy. Now the danger of these men is they impact and infect the church of Jesus Christ. Because keep in mind behind them is tremendous supernatural power, the power of Satan. And so their minds come up with tremendous ideas and concepts that impact people and impress people, but there is not truth rooted and grounded in the Word of God. And so it's just a man's idea, a man's dream, no matter how impressive. It's still just a man's dream. The result of it will be depravity in their conduct.

What do they do? They defile the flesh; they reject authority and they revile angelic majesties. They defile the flesh. That word "defile" means to stain with a dye. They stain or mar the flesh. The picture here is of the immorality that they get involved in. False doctrine inevitably leads to immoral conduct. Now this doesn't mean that every apostate teacher is practicing immorality. But the general pattern leads to that, and we have seen examples of apostate teachers who over time seemed all right, but eventually what was revealed? Immorality. Greed. Along with the deficiencies in their doctrine. This connects to Sodom and Gomorrah in verse 7. They were cities that indulged in gross immorality. What happens is, their dreaming gives them a distorted concept of their grace. You know, we believers wrestle with the relationship of law and grace. And what does it mean to have freedom in Christ? What does it mean to live under grace? And unless you adhere very closely to the teaching of the Word of God, your dreaming will lead you to licentiousness in the handling of grace. And there's been abundant examples of this kind of activity in church history as well as in our own day. They defile the flesh.

Second thing that these apostates do is that they reject authority. Back in verse 4 we read that these men deny, the end of verse 4, our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. They have a problem with authority. They submit to their dreams rather than to God's Word. Which is another way of saying what? They want to do it their way. They want their own ideas to be the standard rather than God's Word. They don't submit to God's Word. They don't submit to the authority that God has established, either in His Word or in His leaders, which will come out in a moment. They reject authority. The word "to reject" means to declare invalid, to nullify, set aside, not recognize. You know what we come to? At heart, every unbeliever is lawless. What are we going to call the antichrist, Second Thessalonians 2, he is the man of lawlessness. Even though, as he rises to power, he's evidently going to be a law and order man. But at heart toward God he is lawless, and that eventually breaks out. They reject authority. Why are we having such a problem with authority in our world today, in our own society? Because at the heart fallen man rejects God's authority. He wants to be his own God. Why do multitudes of millions flock to the New Age Movement? They love to hear, I am God. I was reading one of our celebrities who holds meetings and has everybody in the auditorium then say, repeat after me, "I am God." We say that's blasphemy! But really what is happening is, here you have sinful, fallen man simply giving words to what he really wants to believe in his heart. I am my own authority. It must be my way. They reject authority. It's spreading throughout. What do we have? We have a problem. Children don't want to submit to parents' authority. Parents don't want to submit to the government. Our churches, we have a problem, believers don't want to submit to the authority God has appointed. It just pervades every aspect: home, government, church, all the areas where God has established authority, what do we find? We find people rebelling against it. And it spreads. Again, apostasy affects the church. We look in the realm of the unbeliever, and the children don't want to obey the parents. The parents don't require the children to submit and obey. And what do we find having problems in our churches, in our home, the homes of people in our churches? Same kind of issue. The world, we look around. People don't want to submit to the authorities God has established in government. Pretty soon that begins to affect us as believers. Then we come to the church and say, why should I have to follow them? I don't agree. I don't like what they decided. Here's what I think it ought to be. Need to be careful. At the heart of an apostate is a rejection of authority, which is the root of sin, pride.

Third area. They revel, revile angelic majesties. To revile, that's the word to blaspheme, we just carry this Greek word over into English as blaspheme uh to revile. They speak evil of something. What they speak evil of is angelic majesties. Now the word here is doksas, just one word, it means glories. They blaspheme glories. And there's some discussion of whether we're talking about glories referring more to Jesus Christ and His character. They speak against Christ and His character. Or, we're moving on to angels in verse 9, and you'll note verse 9 begins with But Michael and how he responded to angels. It's caused our translators to translate it by inserting the word angelic majesties. Either way, we're continuing the same idea that they do not recognize the authority that God has established, the order that God has established. And ultimately when they do that they are rejecting Jesus Christ. That is the supreme rejection. The authority of Jesus Christ and His Word in their life. Now a follow-through and a carry-through on that is their attitude toward angelic authority as well. You ought to note one more thing before we note verse 9.

Each of these things: defile, reject and revile, you ought to underline each of those, what apostates do, are all in the present tense. It's not saying this is something they have done, this is their ongoing attitude and character. And we ought to be looking for it. It will manifest itself in a large number of the cases. But, look at the contrast in how one who truly belongs to God responds. Michael the Archangel. And Michael is the only angel identified as the Archangel in Scripture. Archangel is always singular, not plural. Michael is not identified as one of the Archangels. So evidently Michael occupies the position of great authority, even among the angels. We get glimpses of Michael in the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament.

Maybe we ought to turn there quickly, even though the time is brief. Turn to the Book of Daniel. Toward the back of your Old Testament. Daniel chapter 10. One of the things about the spirit world that makes it difficult for us to grasp what goes on there is, God has not developed a doctrine through the Scripture of the spirit world. But every once in a while there's a window opened where we look in and see angels and demons functioning. And it gives us a glimpse into what is going on in the spirit world, but a full unfolding is not developed for us. In Daniel chapter 10. What has happened, Daniel has prayed. God has sent the answer to Daniel's prayer at that by the hand of an angel. The angel says to Daniel in verse 12, Then he said to me, Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God your words were heard. I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for 21 days. Here you get a glimpse into the battles going on in the spirit world. An angel is sent from God, probably Gabriel here. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstands him. Obviously not the physical prince can't withstand an angel.

Evidently ruling over the kingdom of Persia is a fallen demonic being. We get some glimpse perhaps into the order of demonic beings in the world. That there would be a demon in charge of the United States of America. A demon in charge of Russia. A demon in charge of this country and this country and this country, arranged under the authority of Satan. When the angel from God comes into this country, this territory, overruled by this demonic being, he withstands him. Three weeks, 21 days. Finally, Michael, verse 13, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been there with the kings of Persia. Gabriel had been tied up with these demonic beings in charge of Persia. Michael comes. Evidently an angel of greater authority and Gabriel is able to continue his way. Uh. It raises a lot of questions in your mind, doesn't it? Get some idea that there is warfare and battle going on in the spirit world that you and I are totally unaware of. Gives you a greater appreciation of Ephesians 6 that we do battle, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies. But here you see Michael with the great authority from God that is able to overrule these other beings.

There are other verses. Verse 20, over in chapter 12 verse 1 of Daniel, at the end time, Michael the great prince who stands over the sons of your people will arise. Michael is evidently the chief angel over Israel. Because here he is called the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people. Your people is Israel, Daniel is a Jew. So Michael is seen particularly in relation to Israel. Although what happens when we come to the rapture of the church? We're going to have the Archangel, evidently Michael, involved with the shouts, the voice and the trumpet and the calling of the church into the presence of Christ. Now the situation that Jude is interested in, come back to Jude. First Thessalonians 4:13 is the verse that you might want to jot down on the archangel in connection with the rapture of the church.

Verse 9 of Jude. But Michael the Archangel, when he disputed with the devil, argued about the body of Moses. He did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. Now we don't know anything else about this situation. We do know in Deuteronomy chapter 34 verses 5 and 6 when Moses died we're told that God buried Moses and nobody knows where the grave is. Now Jude tells us, when it came time to bury the body of Moses, there was a battle again in the angelic world over the body of Moses. Michael and Satan disputing who should get possession of the body. Now again, that's one of those areas you think, boy, what did that all entail? Why did Satan want the body of Moses? Some commentators say well Moses had murdered someone, remember, in Egypt? So Satan was laying claim to the body as his. We don't know. Would have probably been the greatest center of worship in the world through history. I mean, people will worship a splinter of the cross. They'll worship a hair that supposedly belonged to a saint. Think of the worship center that would be developed around the body of the man Moses. Would have been spectacular. But nothing is developed there. So if I'm not careful, I'll start dreaming myself. The point that is made in this conflict Michael the Archangel, supreme being that he is, when he confronted Satan he recognized his power and that only God could overrule. So he says the Lord rebuke you. He respects the power of Satan. Now that doesn't mean he honors Satan or he worships Satan. But he recognizes Satan was created and given great power by God. He is, during this time, the God of this world. Michael the Archangel does not attempt to usurp to himself power and authority over this other created being. But he does not, by the same token, allow Lucifer to have his way. He says, the Lord rebuke you. Read Zechariah chapter 3, just jot it down. You have a similar situation where you have Joshua, not the Joshua earlier in the Old Testament, but a different Joshua, standing in the presence of God. And there is a conflict.

Again, it is said, the Lord rebuke you, addressing Lucifer. The point is, there is a recognition of God's established authority, even among the angelic world. Even where you're dealing with fallen beings. I think we as believers need to be careful about our attitude toward authority, even fallen, sinful authority. Satan is my enemy. I oppose him. I hate him. But I respect him. To hear some Christians talk about Satan and the glibness that goes on in some of our television religious programs. Where they are talking to Satan and rebuking him. I rebuke you, as though they had personal authority over Satan. Michael the Archangel never took that to himself. He said, the Lord rebuke you. And you can turn on your television almost any day and hear people say, I rebuke you, Satan. Well, they've gone beyond what Michael would do. Perhaps revealing something of their character and their ignorance. The point is, there is a recognition of a God's established authority. That's why we submit to rulers, governmental rulers, who are perverted and perverse and wicked. Not that we will do the wickedness, but we recognize their authority. That's why I must respect them and obey them. Now if they command me to disobey my God, then I must draw the line. But I must be very careful that there is a conflict with what God says before I refuse to obey. And of the way I talk about them. I need to be careful to respect their position, even though their character is deplorable. That's the point being made here. You don't respect the character of Satan. His vileness. He's a liar and the father of lies, Jesus said in John 8. But here Michael the Archangel does not take that to mean therefore I have authority and power in myself that is greater than him. He still recognizes his position and calls the Lord to rebuke him.

Verse 10. But these men revile the things which they do not understand and the things which they know by instinct like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Apostates don't understand anything, ultimately, about God's revelation, about the spirit world. Where else can you find out about the spirit world but from God and His Word? Any other information you get is suspect at best, is corrupted. You can get information from the spirit world, but you can't get information that's reliable from the spirit world. I have no question that many of the people today who are claiming they're getting dreams and visions, who are claiming supernatural power have it, they're just not getting it from God. The result is corruption and distortion in the thinking. So they revile things which they do not understand. So you have multitudes of people today rejecting any idea of evil. Rejecting any idea of a personal devil. And a personal God that is separate from His creation. They revile things they don't understand. They're speaking evil about things they have no concept or understanding of. They're speaking out of their ignorance. But in their dreams they've come up with systems. Go to the bookstore at the local mall. I was there the other day. As is my practice, I'm there a lot of days, heh. They've got a whole section now, the new age movement. It's that popular, there's that many people buying this material, that now you can go in and ask them, do you have any books on the new age and they'll point you over and you can go over and there listed, with its own title, is that whole section: new age. What's the importance of that? All built upon the idea that we've been talking about. Not a personal God separate from His creation, no real evil, because we are all god. There is simply the difficulty of realizing our identity and expressing that in a harmonious way with one another. But we don't have opposites. We don't have right and wrong. Some people revile things they don't understand. I mean, really, they're saying the devil doesn't exist. Like saying God doesn't exist. They're speaking evil of things, they're talking out of their ignorance. But what happens? Multitudes of millions of people buy this. We have Christians listening to tapes that are based upon new age theology. And they think it's just helping them be a more positive person. Better in their thinking. Need to realize this all comes out of their ignorance. How do we know? Come back to the Word of God. Have to sift it carefully.

There is right and there is wrong, and this is the standard by which everything and everyone must be measured. I realize I'm repeating myself. But I am concerned. We were talking uh not too long ago about being black and white. Someone was saying I'm a black and white person. I am a black and white person, and so are you if you're a consistent believer. Everything that God says is right, is right. Everything that God says is sin, as sin, is sin. There is no middle ground. There is no gray in those areas. The gray, in those areas where God has not spoken. Where God has spoken, that is black, that is white. That is right, that is wrong. No middle ground. No variation. They revile things in their ignorance, things which they do not understand.

Strong language here. When I talk like this people get upset. But keep in mind Jude is writing under the inspiration of Scripture. You know what he says apostates are like? They're like unreasoning animals. Animals can't think. There's another characteristic of our day. Watching on the news this weekend all the marching for animal rights. Now it's all done under the preservation of life. Why? There is no marked distinction. Some of you saw the article in the paper here a month or two ago where there was a group that stood against an animal dying when they thought that it would preserve the life of a human being, a child that was dying. They said, wait you can't draw a distinction between life. It's wrong to take one life to preserve another life. You want to kill that animal in the name of saving that baby. That's just as wrong as killing that baby to save that animal. You see what has happened? Why? Everything is god, god is everything, life is life, and there is no distinction. What a travesty. You know what uh Jude says, these apostates are like unreasoning animals. Now I had to give that clarification because people, some people would get up at arms and say, well our animals, who says they're unreasoning? Well, God does. So that ought to help us as believers. The point is, do animals have any understanding of spiritual things?

Go home and talk to your dog. Ask him what he thinks of the Book of Jude. That's the point. They don't have any understanding, any concept, of spiritual reality and spiritual truth. That's just like apostates. So impressive as they are, as interesting as they might be, God says about them, they're just like animals. They don't know any more about spiritual truth than your dog does, or your hamster or whatever else you have. They're like unreasoning animals. And they should influence our thinking? They should influence the church. Now the concern we have with apostates is not that the world is going after them. Jude's concern is, that they have infiltrated among believers. Unreasoning animals who know nothing about spiritual truth. But they're having an impact upon God's people. That's the seriousness of the matter here.

Like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. First Timothy 2:14 says that the man apart from the Spirit of God, the natural man, cannot know the things of God. He cannot understand the things of God, because they are spiritually discerned. It takes the presence of the Spirit of God to enable a person to understand the things of God. Unbelievers don't have the Spirit of God so they don't have understanding of the things of God.

The things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these they are destroyed. They pursue their instincts, just like the animals do. What are they after? Satisfy the flesh. Promote themselves. Get all they can. I mean, that's the way dogs function, isn't it? Turn the dog out, they go after one another. That's all. Satisfy their lusts. Turn your dog loose, he doesn't mate uh your cat, your rabbit, whatever. I mean, they'll mate with whoever. Put the bone out in the yard and then to go get it. Another dog come, what happens? It's mine. They're just like unreasoning animals; they follow their instincts. And the instinct of fallen man is to exalt himself, to worship himself, to despise any other authority. The end result of it is destruction. That's where apostates always moving.

By these things they are destroyed. Uh. Second Peter. Romans 1 is another example, but we'll just go to Second Peter chapter 2. Verse 12. Peter says the same thing. But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they carouse with you. That's the problem. It's not that these are the run-of-the-mill unbeliever out there. These are those who are being accepted and tolerated among believers, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children, and on to where Jude is going. What a description. Talk about difficulty. Look at the church of Jesus Christ today. How do they deal with those who commit adultery? Very divisive thing. I have churches that say, you practice church discipline? That'd tear our church apart. Why? You want to tolerate the kind of people that Peter and Jude are writing about? But all of a sudden the church can't even take a stand on the clear things anymore. Because it will be divisive. What do you mean divisive? Well there are always extenuating circumstances. You can't always say that that person who committed adultery was the only one guilty. You think that's a new problem? They didn't have that kind of problem when God gave His Word? But you see what we've done? All of a sudden we've got reasons not to say black is black and white is white. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Sin is sin, period. All of a sudden we have extenuating circumstances. Sounds better than saying just the refusal to obey, doesn't it? But God's Word hasn't changed. You see, our thinking has been infected by the world. Can we be so narrow to say that is always sin and must be dealt with. And besides, who made us the judge? And on we go, and you see the thinking of the world keeps pressing in on me as a believer.

Back to Jude. They are destroyed by these things. Woe to them, they have gone the way of Cain, they have rushed headlong into the error of Baalam. They have perished in the rebellion of Korah. We'll look at these three examples. You'll note, verses 8, 9 and 10 are surrounded by first, three examples from the Old Testament and then by three more examples from the Old Testament. We had Israel, we had the angels and we had Sodom and Gomorrah. Then we drew it, verses 8, 9 and 10, to our own situation. And then we come to verse 11. Cain, Balaam and Korah. Three more Old Testament examples. You see how he goes back and forth? Why? Apostates haven't changed. Let's look at history and see the character and activity of apostates. Now let's bring this to our day. Now let's go back and look at these men and see it's being repeated today. Where we, are we as the church of Jesus Christ today? How firm and strong are we really when it comes to the bottom line on the Word of God? I don't mean just to say yes, I believe this is the Word of God. Are you ready to die for what God says? Are you ready to do what God says even if no one else comes with you?

Do you really believe that everything God says is sin is sin? Period? That God's Word and God's Word alone is the standard of right and wrong? Do you really believe? Now, stop and be honest with yourself. Do you really believe God when He says that every single man and woman who does not believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for their sins personally is going to spend eternity in hell? Do you really believe that? Do you think that well, maybe, God's going to put it on the scale and when it's all said and done hopefully it's going to work out? Do you ever come to grips and say, I really believe God says I am a sinner. That means I am a sinner. The wages of sin is death. That if I don't believe Jesus is the Savior I will die in my sins. I'm condemned to hell. Do you really believe that? Have you really come to trust Him? My concern is, in a group this size, it would be amazing if there were not those who were counterfeits. Be careful you're not one who has deceived yourself. Remember Matthew 7, there will be some, right up to the judgment day who say, Lord, Lord, we did all these things and He'll say I never knew you. Be honest before God. What is your real character? Have you really trusted Him?

For those of us who say we have, are we willing to do what Jude says. To recognize apostates for what they are, to draw the line and say God's Word, God's authority, is absolute. That must rule and reign in my life, in my home. I must manifest that in my attitude and in my conduct. I must live it out day by day. If we do that, we will be a church that stands out in stark contrast to the world, and that's what makes us a light set upon a hill.

Let's pray together.