Jude chapter 1 and verse 17. But beloved, remember ye the
words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus
Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the
last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves,
sensual having not the spirit. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. We have spent several weeks thinking
about Jude's little epistle, where he enjoins the Lord's people
to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints,
or what the Bible elsewhere calls the gospel of Jesus Christ, because
that's what we're talking about here. Jude is encouraging, the
Lord's people to earnestly contend for the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the true gospel of Jesus Christ, against those ungodly men, against
those false teachers who creep into churches unaware, secretly,
and cause trouble. Our fight for truth is principally
doctrinal. And it is against these ungodly
men who damage the fellowship of the Lord's people, who disrupt
our peace and stability by sowing false ideas and spreading corrupt
doctrines. Now we've learned from this epistle
that this was a problem already present in Jude's day. And the spread of false doctrine
by false teachers has afflicted the churches of Jesus Christ
ever since. Jude, as we have read, as we
have learned, rebukes these ungodly men in strong terms. And remember, he is writing to
the believers in these churches. It is the believers, it is men
and women of faith who will receive and hear and take on board Jude's
epistle. And so he is showing them, in
a sense, degree to which their fight,
their battle, must be real and genuine and sincere. By the strong
terms that he uses, he is energising the Lord's people in their fight. And we've seen also that Jude
uses powerful Old Testament examples to show how these men ultimately
will be judged in line with the past precedent for the hurt and
the damage that they have caused to Christ's people. And in our
verses today, Jude explains what lies at the heart of this false
teaching. What it is that distinguishes
these false teachers and the conclusions that we can draw
from that. Jude is going to go on in the
coming verses to kind of wrap up his little epistle with a
number of encouragements and blessings for the Lord's people.
So really this is the end of this denunciation of these ungodly
men. And Jude gives us the reason
why they are what they are. Crucially, though perhaps to
no one's surprise, he points out that these ungodly men have
no spiritual life in them. They are sensual. That is, they
are taken up with worldly priorities and practices that appeal to
physical sense. They have not the Spirit of Christ
in them. They are not indwelt by the Holy
Ghost. They are not renewed from above
with spiritual life. They are unbelievers. They have
no faith. and we're going to come back
to that in a few moments. Before I touch on that though,
I want to share how much I admire the way that Jude frames the
conclusion of this denunciation of these ungodly men. He begins
by addressing the saints to whom he is writing as beloved. He has a pastoral heart, and
he is being careful for the feelings and the spiritual wellbeing of
the people to whom he is writing. He tells them they are beloved. They're beloved by Jude, Certainly
they are. He is writing to them for their
good. He is writing to them for their protection, for their benefit,
for their help. He has an affection for these
people. But more importantly, they are
beloved of God. And I mentioned before that Jude
does not wish to frighten the Lord's people. He does not wish
to scare the Lord's sheep. Timorous and feeble and weak
as sheep are, the parallel to the Lord's people stands good. And Jude does not want to frighten
the Lord's people. He knows that when a child of
God hears about false professors inside the church, their very
first reaction is, Is he talking about me? Is it I? Am I one of
the troublemakers? Am I one of the problems? And
so Jude, in framing his argument against these ungodly men, takes
time, pauses in his discourse to make sure that the Lord's
people remember that they are beloved of God, to reassure the
Lord's Church that God's love distinguishes them from these
ungodly men amongst them. All God's elect are beloved of
God. They are loved everlastingly. They are foreknown by God. They are set apart in Christ. They are chosen to salvation. They are predestinated to be
conformed to the image of God's Son. And so beloved is a very
apt and suitable identifier of the Lord's people. In a sense,
beloved summarizes all our divine blessings in a kind of shorthand. If you can think about all the
blessedness that flows to the Lord's people. whether it's the
eternal purpose of God, or whether it's the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ for us, or whether it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit
to us in these last days. Everything that God does for
our good can be gathered up under this one term, beloved. Beloved of God. It reassures. it comforts, it encourages our
souls when the devil tempts us, when we doubt, when we have trial,
when we have trouble, when we have problems. And when we are
attacked, be it from the outside or the inside, it is to remind
ourselves of the love of God for us. And Jude's epistle isn't
simply a tirade against error, useful as that might be. While his epistle is certainly
pointed and sharp, he brings this pastoral touch to his admonition
to the Lord's people to contend for the faith. He reminds us
that we are loved by God and being so loved, we are justified,
redeemed, preserved, protected, secure, and soon to be ushered
into the glory of Christ's presence when our service here is done. Few of us enjoy confrontation. but it is our obligation to stand
up for the truth when we discern and discover error. And so Jude
reminds us that being loved of God, we shall know God's comfort
and presence when we are called to contend for the cause of God
and truth. Actually, Jude began this little
letter with a beloved in verse three, and here is another one
for us today. It's not the last. There will
be another yet to come, but this one is to be going on with. When
we know we are loved by God, it is a great incentive to stand
fast in the truth and to resist the errors of our day. And let me just say, I hope that
you have a sense of the love of God. I hope that you know
something by personal experience in your own soul of the work
of grace and redemption that is occasioned by the love of
God. And if you do, you are numbered
amongst those to whom Jude writes, because he's addressing it to
those who are beloved of God. And you may be confident that
the Lord will hold you firm, despite all the attacks that
happen against his church. Christ tells us, it is not possible
for the elect to be totally and finally deceived. Even when false
Christs arise, even when false prophets arise, showing great
signs and wonders, he specifies this in Matthew 24, even when
so many would seem to be taken along and carried along by the
false Christs and false prophets and the signs and the wonders,
the true people of God, will not be deceived. And this is
a promise of Christ who loves us and loves our souls. I want to return to mention what
I made earlier reference to, which is the spiritual state
of these ungodly men, or rather not their spiritual state, their
sensual state, for they are not spiritual at all. And Jude tells
us that they are motivated and controlled by their own sensual,
natural desires. serving their own lusts. So that all the things that he
has written about the various ways in which these people act,
how they come into the church in the first place, how they
act, how they will be exposed and uncovered and how they will
be judged is culminating now in Jude telling us The reason
and motivation for the way in which they act. What it is that
motivates and controls their conduct. And it is simply this. They don't have any faith. They
don't know the Lord. They are sensual, natural, fleshy
creatures serving their own lusts and without any true spiritual
nature. They are pursuing an anti-God
and anti-Christian agenda, though they do it using the vocabulary
and using the disguise of religion and even spirituality. And this is the great difference
between the flesh and the spirit in the world of men and women,
in this world in which we are a part, in this world in which
the church lives. This is the great difference
between the flesh and the spirit. The Lord Jesus spoke about this
to Nicodemus. Nicodemus was one of the most
prominent Pharisees in the Jewish nation at the time of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In fact, he was a believer. He
came to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal
saviour and we find Nicodemus standing up for the truth on
several occasions during the Lord's ministry. But the Lord
ministered to Nicodemus personally in the early chapters of John's
Gospel and he said this to Nicodemus That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel
not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. This is so crucial to our understanding
of the difference between the flesh and the spirit, the difference
between the natural, the carnal, and that which is born again. There is a natural birth by which
all people are brought into this world, but our natural state
is fallen, sinful, self-serving, and without power to change its
nature. Flesh is always flesh. It can never, by an act of itself,
generate spiritual life or attain spiritual existence. It just
cannot do so. Every child born into the world
possesses natural life but everyone being in Adam is also subject
to spiritual death and there are no exceptions. If this were
the end of the matter, we would all be going to hell and there
would be no hope in this world. But thanks be to God there is
hope and there is mercy with God that he may be feared, or
rather that he may be worshipped and that he may be praised, that
he may be reverently loved and honoured. Because not only is there in
this world a physical birth, there is also a spiritual new
birth. And this is what the Lord was
speaking about with Nicodemus. Sometimes it's called the second
birth, sometimes it's called the new birth, but it's this
spiritual birth and the spiritual life that follows that is gotten
and can only be gotten by the quickening power of God's Holy
Spirit or the Holy Ghost. We call this the work of regeneration
or the work of renewing of the Holy Ghost. And where this work
occurs, the soul worked upon becomes a new creation, becomes
a living spirit and the person is converted to be partaker of
the spirit of Jesus Christ. They come to a knowledge of sins
forgiven and they are united to Christ and brought into his
body as part of the church. Now, one of these two states,
sensual or spiritual, natural or spiritual, is the condition
of every man, woman, boy and girl in this world. And that
is what Jude is saying about these ungodly men. They are not
spiritual. They don't have that new creation
within them. They do not have that new birth. They are still fleshy, they are
still carnal, they are still opposed to God, even although
they have all the trappings of being church members. Paul tells
the church at Rome in chapter eight, verse five, he says, they
that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For
to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Now, I'm going to read some more
verses from this passage, but I just want you to realise that
this is exactly the same as what Jude is saying, only he is applying
it to these particular individuals within the church. Paul goes
on to say, the carnal mind is enmity against God. Now enmity
just means an enemy or opposed, rebellious, completely antagonistic. The carnal mind or sensual mind,
or natural mind, or fleshy mind. The words are slightly different
as far as Paul and Jude is concerned, but the meaning is exactly the
same. The carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so that they that are
in the flesh cannot please God, but ye are not in the flesh but
in the spirit. if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. And these men, says Jude, have
not the Spirit. They are unregenerate. They are
not Christ's people. They are not of Christ's church. They are after the flesh. They mind the things of the flesh. They are carnal and at enmity
against God. They cannot please God. And yet
here they are, in church, in the church fellowship, enjoying
church membership, sitting at table with the Lord's people,
and even preaching in their pulpits. Sensual, fleshy, carnal, ungodly
men, presuming to teach God's word and preach Christ's gospel
to Christ's little flock. when they understand nothing
of what spiritual life is and have no experience of grace in
their own lives. It wasn't just the apostles,
we mentioned this yesterday, or we have done previously, all
the apostles wrote of these things, Paul, John, Peter, James as well,
speaking about the fact, and that's what Jude is referring
to here, how that the other apostles also taught this. So did the
prophets of the Old Testament, speaking about the last times,
speaking about the end days. Isaiah spoke of these men like
this, chapter 56, verse 11. Yea, they are greedy dogs which
can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand. Why can't they understand? Because
they're not spiritual. They're carnal, fleshy, natural,
sensual individuals. There's no spiritual understanding
in them. Shepherds that cannot understand,
they all look for their own way, every one for his gain from his
quarter. And Jude calls them mockers,
mockers in the last days, who have crept into congregations
of the Lord's people to do damage, for they walk after their own
ungodly lusts. Note, too, what Jude says of
these people. They separate themselves. How is it that they separate
themselves? Not from the congregations of
the Lord's people. They have worked hard to get
in amongst the congregations of the Lord's people. So they're
not separating themselves from the Lord's people. On the contrary,
they are in for the long run. How then do they separate themselves? They're not separating themselves
for shame. They're not separating themselves
for the lies and deceits that they teach. They separate themselves
from the truth. They separate themselves from
the true doctrine of God's gospel of grace. That is what distinguishes
these men. They preach another gospel. and
they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. While
ostensibly preaching Christ, they are actually denying Christ. That's what Jude is telling us.
And how is it they do it? By preaching a false Christ. By preaching a false gospel. A gospel of creature duty. A gospel of creature free will
and works righteousness. And here's the irony. In so doing,
they force us to separate from them. and then they accuse us
of being schismatic and divisive. Such is the state of the sensual
preacher, not having the Spirit of God. Now, as we have seen,
Jude calls these men mockers. And we're talking about, we're
not just talking about the time of Jude, the first century, and
what he is seeing in the churches around about him. We're talking
about you and me, and we're talking about what is going on in churches
today. Jude calls these men mockers
in the last time. And some of them are literally
mockers. They're comedians who tell funny
stories. They tell anecdotes. and they
do little more than entertain their itching ear hearers. But that's not the real sense
of what Jude is saying. These ungodly men are mockers
because they make a mockery of their role and their responsibility
and because what they say mocks God and Christ and the Gospel. Here's how these men might be
termed mockers in the last time. They mock God the Father. They belittle God the Father. Now, of course, they would contend
against us, they would deny that they do any such thing, but this
is the reality. When they preach another gospel,
this is what they do. They deny God's sovereign purpose
in salvation. They belittle God the Father
by denying his sovereign purpose in salvation. They undermine
the uniqueness of redemption's plan. They rob God of his authority
and his glory They refuse God's right to choose a people for
himself from amongst his own creation and they insist instead
that they will choose who he will have, who he will save and
by what means. They mock God by denying that
sin is sin and that God is offended by it. They contend that man
is able to please God despite his fallen condition and contrary
to the clear testimony of God's Word. They compromise sovereign
love, sovereign grace, sovereign mercy, and God's sovereign will. And in many other ways, they
mock God the Father. they mock God the Son, they diminish
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, treading underfoot
the blood of Christ, making his blood and his death essentially
ineffectual to save anyone until A person agrees to be saved and
allows Christ's sacrifice to accomplish its original purpose. They mock the Saviour by making
him a co-worker with themselves to obtain redemption and reconciliation
and peace with God. They mock the King of Glory by
insisting that His work on the cross is incomplete, inefficient
and ineffectual. They rob the Saviour of His power. They disparage His affection
and His sacrifice and His suffering for His people. They demean all
that makes him glorious in the eyes of his regenerated people. And they mock the Holy Spirit.
they despise the person and work of the Spirit. By dispensing
with the need of conviction for sin, by insisting that man is
able to quicken himself by an act of his free will, and by
usurping the Holy Spirit's express role of comforter. Who needs to be comforted? Who
needs a comforter when a man can pull himself up by his own
bootstraps? These mockers in the last time
mock the Father, mock the Son, and mock the Holy Spirit. But
it doesn't stop there. These sensual mockers that have
not the Spirit They mock Christ's church as well by creeping in
unawares into the church and ascending into its pulpit and
directing its affairs. They mock Christ's church. They mock by offering free membership
to it. without the need for forgiveness
and without newness of heart, without holiness of life, without
purity of spirit. They allow free entrance to the
wedding feast without a wedding garment. They deny the need for
imputed righteousness. They teach progressive sanctification
that makes a man the author of his own faith and the creator
of his own glory and the designer of his own crown. Instead of
leading the Lord's sheep and pointing them to peace in Christ,
they drive the Lord's sheep with a rod of duty and by returning
them to the law like wild goats. So they mock God and they mock
God's people. And they also mock the unbelievers
to whom they are ostensibly ministering the gospel and evangelism. What
do I mean by that? They preach a gospel that cannot
save. They preach a Christ that cannot
deliver salvation. They preach a God who is subject
to his creatures and a spirit who awaits the sinner's permission
to make him spiritually alive. When it is a spiritual impossibility
for the sinner to do so, They conceal the true, saving, sovereign
and successful Christ because they don't know Him. They have
never seen Him for themselves and they are blind leaders of
the blind. The free will religion and human
works religion so prevalent in churches today is the parody
of the true gospel with which these mockers in the last time
mock Christ's saving work and his death on the cross. It's
this false gospel, call it free willism, call it Arminianism,
call it Pelagian, it doesn't really matter what titles it
goes under and what definitions we give it, descriptions we give
it. It is this false gospel that
ungodly men present as truth. And this folly, is the great
distinction by which they separate themselves from the true church
and distinguish themselves as Christ's enemies. How do you know if a man is a
deceiver? Listen to what he preaches. These men won't separate themselves
from you physically, but they separate themselves from your
gospel. They separate themselves from
your God. They separate themselves from
your hope. They separate themselves from
your Christ. And they separate themselves
by abandoning the truth for human fables. We began our study in
Jude's Epistle a number of weeks ago by noting the obligation
that we all have to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered
to the saints. This contention, earnestly contend,
this contention, this struggle, it's not a physical fight. We're
not locking the doors on these people to bar them entry into
the church. It's more sophisticated than
that. It is a doctrinal fight. But it is practical and we have
to be alert. The Lord Jesus promises that
he will protect his church from false teachers who try to infiltrate
gospel congregations. And he has promised that he will
send us preachers, true preachers, to teach the truth and to feed
the sheep and to lead us by green pastures and still waters. The
Lord will forbid these men from deceiving God's elect. at least for long. I mentioned
yesterday in the little note that I sent out, men can learn
doctrine from a book, but it will soon become clear to hungry
souls if the spirit and the truth is not in them. And because the Lord's people
cannot and will not forego the doctrine of grace, and because
the Lord's people will not long be separated from the gospel
of God our Saviour, it will ultimately be necessary for us to separate
ourselves from those who have separated from the truth. We
earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints
by insisting that faith be preached to us and by refusing to support
any preacher who instead mocks our Lord, mocks us and mocks
poor sinners by preaching error and selling them a lie. May the Lord embolden us to fight
the good fight of faith. May he preserve us and feed us
with the true spiritual food from faithful gospel preachers
so that the true gospel, the message of free sovereign grace,
will continue to be heard in our land. Amen.