Old Testament Reading – Isaiah 5:18-25
New Testament Reading – 1 Timothy 6:3-20
Earnestly Contending for the Faith
“The Corruption of Truth”
Jude 1-25
Wayne J. Edwards, Pastor
For the last 300 years, there has been an intentional, deliberate, systematic corruption of truth, even the notion of such a thing as absolute truth.
- Sadly, the truth about almost everything has been corrupted and perverted into lies so that nothing makes logical sense anymore.
- In 1882, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “God is dead, and we have killed Him.”
- Nietzsche was saying when the foundation of truth is severed from the revealed existence of a Holy and Sovereign God, truth becomes replaced by power.
- Over the last 300 years, the truth about the creation and operation of the world, the truth about the origin, meaning, and purpose of life, and the truth about the future of this world has been replaced by the pseudointellectual-theorizing by those in positions of academic and political power.
Postmodernism
“An intellectual philosophy of life that
challenges established objective truths,
even the notion that there is an absolute truth,
with the goal of maintaining their intellectual,
economic and political power over the people.”
- Postmodernism was first introduced in America through the Ivy League Schools, then into the major colleges, universities, and seminaries, and finally into the classrooms and pulpits.
- Postmodernism exploded in America in 1925 in the battle between the Bible’s account of Creation and Darwin’s theory of Evolution.
- Today’s postmodernism is expressed in whether a fetus is a human being, whether a man can become a woman or a woman become a man, or whether a child can determine their gender.
- The perversion of truth has also spread into doctrinal and theological issues, as today’s postmodern preachers twist the truth of Scripture to make it say what they want it to, to claim God’s approval for their besetting sins.
- Jesus was a good man who set a good example for man to follow, but He was not truly God in the flesh.
- All religions are pathways to the same God.
- God is so loving, He would never send anyone to hell, even if there is such place.
- What began as a covert corruption of truth, including the essential doctrines of salvation, has now become an open perversion of truth to push Satan’s agenda of the destruction of the world.
- Sadly, most of the major evangelical denominations are now supporting that agenda.
- According to Merriam-Webster, to pervert is: “To cause to turn aside or away from what is good, true, or morally right, or from that which is generally done and accepted.”
- Today, there are multitudes of people in leadership positions, including in the nation’s pulpits, whose only goal is to corrupt that which is good and true, to mislead and to deceive people by deliberately misinterpreting the truth of God’s Word to promote their worldly and ungodly ideology.
- Two thousand years ago, Jude called these perverters, “Apostates,” those who heard the truth, and embraced the truth, but then, because of their unwillingness to repent of their sins, they turned away from the truth and embraced Satan’s lie.
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Verse 4 – “Ungodly men, who turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord, Jesus Christ.”
- Apostates say, since God saves us by His grace alone, we are free to continue in our sins, without shame, for once saved always saved.
- In Romans 6, the Apostle Paul said such an idea was preposterous. “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”
- The essential evidence of our new birth is that, over time, our desire for sin will be replaced by our desire to be conformed to the image of Christ. Before we were born again, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Once we are born again, we become dead to those trespasses and sins and alive to the righteousness of Christ.
- The essential evidence of our salvation (regeneration) includes:
- A New Awareness of sin – immediate conviction by the Holy Spirit when we even think of disobeying God.
- A New Hunger for God’s Word – the strength we receive from reading the Word of God will become more important to us than eating food.
- A Desire for a Changed life – those attitudes and actions of life that once defined us no longer appeal to us.
- An Increase in Testing – even from within our own family.
- A Deeper Love for other Christians – they become our forever family.
- A Desire to tell others about Christ – at least, we want to be ready to share our faith when the opportunity occurs.
- Most people will not surrender their lives unto the Lordship of Christ because they are unwilling to give up their particular besetting sin.
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Verse 12 – “These are spots in your feasts; while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves.”
- True believers will do everything within their power to maintain the unity of the faith in the bond of peace. However, an apostate will do anything they can to call attention to themselves and divide the fellowship.
- “Clouds without water” – offer no life-giving nourishment, but they block the sun from those who want to bask in its warmth.
- “Late Autumn trees without fruit” – not having received the Holy Spirit, they cannot nourish themselves, much less provide strength for others.
- “Twice dead, pulled up by the roots” – having rejected the grace of God they are still dead in their sins. When Jesus comes again, He will pull them up by the roots and cast them into the fires of hell.
- “Raging waves of the sea,” – Apostates are always roaring about something, but the only thing they produce is the foam of their shame and the filth they stir up.
- “Wandering Stars” – they rise for the moment and deceive many with their pseudo gospel, but once they burn out, they vanish into outer darkness forever.
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Verse 16 – “These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.”
- Because they have not received the fullness of the Holy Spirit, they are never satisfied with anything, but they are unwilling to do anything to change their lives.
- Paul told Timothy, “They are always learning, but they are never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
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Verse 19 – “These are sensual persons, who cause division, not having the Spirit.”
- While it may include sexual desires, the word sensual describes a person who lives only for what they can get out of life to satisfy their fleshly desires. Life revolves around them – their motto is, “If it feels good, do it,” or, “How can it be so wrong if it feels so right?”
- It is blatant hedonism, the ultimate love of self, for they always think about carnal, fleshly, or worldly things.
- These people think they are saved by their verbal expression of faith in a false gospel, but not having the Spirit; they are not.
- These people think they are worshipping God by their physical, mental, and emotional expressions of praise unto their false concept of God, but not being indwelt by the Holy Spirit; they aren’t.
How to deal with Apostates:
- Luke 19:13 – “Occupy until He comes!” Stop whining over the loss of our way of life, and invest your time in bringing others to Christ.
- Jude 3 – “Earnestly Contend for the Faith!” We must tell people in clear terms until they receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, they will never know the true meaning of this life, nor will they have any hope of everlasting life.
- 1 Peter 3:15 – “Sanctify the Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” The goal of this life is to bring glory and honor to God, and the greatest honor we give to Him is to allow the Holy Spirit to use us to bring a lost soul to Jesus.
