In August my wife and I enjoyed a week vacation at a Christian Camp along with other preacher friends of ours and their families. One night as it was getting late, the owner of the camp was making sure everyone was keeping the noise down. Next to our cabin was a “so-called” Christian family. I say that because the kids had long hair, dressed immodest and listened to “so-called” Christian rock music. She said to them, I thought you folks were Christians. Having experienced this attitude today, I thought about how all of us who are truly Fundamental, Independent Baptist seek to honor our dear Lord in every area of our lives.
The Book of Jude predicts what will happen in the latter days of the Church age. In fact, Jude seems to be writing about the very days in which we are living! Jude’s purpose in prophesying is to encourage the Church to discern apostasy when it raises its divisive and destructive head so that it might earnestly contend for the faith.
It is clear that because Satan has not succeeded in destroying the Church from without through persecution, he is now at work to destroy it from within by means of apostasy in the pulpit and apathy in the pew. Satan is Not Fighting The Church today – He is Joining It.
Jude is sounding the alarm for us, that in the latter day’s apostates will go the way of Cain, who perverted the mode of Worship, the way of Balaam, who perverted the motive of Worship, the way of Korah, who perverted the manner of Worship. So we as believers of the Church of Jesus Christ cannot afford to ignore Jude’s Message.
Jude prophesied that in the last day’s apostates would do two things. First, they would pollute the witness of the Church. They will do this in body by defiling the flesh, that is, by immorality. They will do this in soul, by being insubordinate, that is, they will “reject authority.” They will do this in spirit by being irreverent, that is, they will speak evil of dignitaries. Second, he says they will pervert the Worship of Christ in mode, motive, and manner…
APOSTATES WILL POLLUTE THE WITNESS OF THE CHURCH
Apostates pollute the witness of the Church with every fiber of their being. Man is made up of 3 parts – body, soul and spirit. Those elements make up his identity. Although he lives in a body, the real man is that which lives as long as God lives – his spirit. Apostates pollute the Church with body, soul and spirit.
In (V 8) Jude tells us that Apostates are dreamers. They live in an unreal dream world. They bought into the lie Satan first used in the Garden, when he said to Eve, “Ye shall be like God” (Gen 2:5). Jude speaks of Apostates, “But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts in these things they corrupt themselves. (V 10)
Immoral actions that would have been openly rebuked in pulpits just a generation ago are today accepted in many of those same pulpits. Dreamers are rocking to sleep their congregations while helping them to feel comfortable in their sin. When preachers pollute their pulpits by discounting such crucial doctrines as the Infallibility and Inerrancy of the Word of God, it is not long before their moral code goes along with it – body, soul and spirit.
APOSTATES WILL BE IMMORAL
After rejecting truth, apostates many times have a tendency to become involved in sensual sin. And sooner or later, most false teachers are exposed on a moral level. We all can recall some of them that come to our mind over the past 20 years. Apostasy and defilement of the flesh are Siamese twins; they are linked together in Scripture. Read (2Peter 2:20-21).
The new morality we hear about is nothing more than the old immorality. People making light of marriage vows, living in open adultery, joining homosexual clubs and bath houses are not new concepts. Jude prophesied more than 2000 years ago that these kinds of things would signal the age of Apostasy.
Here’s a word of caution…As we seek to heed Jude’s warnings against imposters, we must be careful not to judge others too quickly, because if one falls into sin that does not mean that person is an Apostate. Before we look down our noses at anybody else, we need to remind ourselves of (1Cor. 10:12) “Let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall.”
APOSTATES WILL BE INSUBORDINATE
In the well-known Great Commission passage Jesus tells us how All Authority had been given to Him both in Heaven and on Earth. (Matt 28:18) The only authority He has is what we allow Him to have over our lives. All Authority originates with God; whether it is the Authority of the Home, the Church, or the Government, it has its source in Him… He has chosen those Institutions to be guardians of His Authority, and to carry out His will.
Rejecting the Authority that God has established is dangerous business indeed. In spite of that, many folks today flat out reject God’s Authority. Jude tells us that the apostate is Subordinate in his soul, but emotionally, by an act of the Will, he rejects God’s authority.
1. Authority of the Home:
God instituted the authority of the Home. Should we not be surprised that many leaders of the feminist movement do not pay heed to the teachings of the Bible on the home? Even worse, liberal theologians who support the modern feminist movement
neglect and reject the teaching of Authority in the Home, found in (Eph 5).
2. Authority of the Church:
The Bible is the sole Authority for rule and faith. Should we be surprised that leaders of dying denominations and Churches do not hold to the inerrancy of Scripture? Today we see imposters in our Churches and Schools undermining the Bible – Our Infallible, Inerrant, and Authoritative rule of Faith. They attack the Bible because it represents God’s Authority.
3. Authority of Government:
Apostasy in the Church has been on the rise since the turn of the century. Since then we have seen a serious and orchestrated attempt to undo the authority of Government that our forefathers established. It is interesting that many times the rejection of the authority of the Bible go hand in hand with a demand for a new social order. Of course, we know that the underlying reason that Apostates reject authority is that they reject the Authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and His rule over them. Those who have fallen away from the Faith take the precious Bible Doctrine of the priesthood of the Believer and pervert it to make it a license to believing anything they wish.
APOSTATES WILL BE IRREVERENT
If it is true that these folks who have fallen away from the Faith are immoral in body and insubordinate in soul, it is not surprising that Apostates are also Irreverent in Spirit (V 8). The word that Jude uses here [dignitaries] it literally means “Glorious Ones.” The Apostate is Irreverent toward the things of God. When Apostates seek evil of dignitaries, they do so of God’s Appointed and Anointed Leadership.
This Spirit of cynicism and accusation comes from Satan himself. One of the titles that the Bible gives him is “the accuser of the brethren” (Rev 12:10). Christians fall into Satan’s trap and do his work when they “speak evil” of each other and especially of those God has placed in a position of Authority.
Immorality, insubordination, and irreverence have their result. As Jude puts it, Apostates “like brute beasts”, In these things they corrupt themselves. (V 10). The spirit of apostasy pollutes the witness of the Church. Looking around us today we wonder if the complete fulfillment of Judge’s prophecy is near. Never before have we heard so many folks speaking evil of Dignitaries…Men who are True and Faithful to the Word of God.
APOSTATES WILL PERVERT THE WORSHIP OF CHRIST
In this I mean by The Mode of Worship, The Motive of Worship and The Manner of Worship has been perverted. Because of space I will only elaborate on all three in general.
Jude tells us Apostates go the way of Cain (Gen 4:1-7). In today’s language, the way of Cain is always of good works. Cain was the first Apostate. One of the sure signs of an Apostate is his neglect of the emphasis on the vicarious death of our Lord Jesus Christ and His shed blood and atonement for our sin. The Apostates do not preach or teach about the Blood of Christ.
And then the Motive of Worship…What should be our Motive for Worship? It is to meet God and Glorify Him. Yet, Jude tells us Apostates go the way of Balaam for profit. (V 11) and then read (numbers 22-24).
The error of Balaam was using Spiritual Motives for material gain. And his error wasn’t in just doing what he did but things he could get away with it. Balaam was in religion for what he could get out of it. He started out to please God but along the way he also decided to please man and himself at the same time. Our Lord warns us about this, read (Matt 6:24)
Now is the Manner of Worship…Paul gives us the Manner of Worship in (Phil 2:3) and then read (Eph 5:21). Paul tells us that we are to submit to one another. Whereas Cain ignored the Word of God and Balaam opposed the Word of God, Korah rebelled against the Word of God. The Apostate first ignores what the Bible says. Then he moves on to opposing it by saying that the Bible is not the Word of God, once he reaches that point it is not long before he openly rebels against God’s Holy Word.
In our Churches are men and women who refuse to be under the authority, who like Korah, gather groups about them to oppose God’s Anointed and Appointed. Only God knows how many Churches have split because of the Spirit of Apostasy that caused folks to perish in the rebellion of Korah.
Jude’s look reminds us of two questions we must ask ourselves…First, what about my witness: Is it polluted or clean? Second, what about my Worship? Is it perverted or is it clear? True believers who keep silent and compromise to avoid conflict will be held accountability for not contending for the Faith.
WHEN SATAN JOINED THE CHURCH THE SPIRIT OF GOD DIED
According to God’s Word, the danger of Apostasy is to know the Will of God and not act upon it. We all need to learn from the accounts of these three men in Jude 11. Fearful Judgments await those who know the Truth and reject it.
Pray for us as we pray for you and may God Bless your ministries is our prayer.
Love and Prayers in Christ,
Bro. Randy Davis
