Jude Part 3 Series

Jude 1:8-11 (Part 3)

Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

3-3-2024

Rob Bell

In the early 2000s, I saw Rob Bell preach several times, in large and small settings. A graduate of Wheaton and Fuller (you can’t get much more solid than that) he was funny, Uber-creative, and presented the Gospel in ways that were winsome and effective.

In 1999, he and his wife started Mars Hill Church in Michigan which quickly grew to over 10,000 attendees.

He started releasing books that my brother and I both enjoyed, at first.

He made a series of short films called “Nooma” that my young group and many other student ministries watched.

Then came “Velvet Elvis” and “Sex God” and the innocent-sounding title “Love Wins.”

My brother Mark called and asked if I had read Love Wins, which I was doing then. We both agreed that Rob had wandered out into left field and left the stadium.

In the book he questions the existence of hell and that you have to be a follower of Jesus to get to heaven. He writes:

"It's been clearly communicated to many that this belief (in hell as eternal, conscious torment) is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus' message of love, peace, forgiveness and joy that our world desperately needs to hear.”

In June 2011, Time Magazine named him to the list of the most influential leaders in the world.

Three months later, Rob Bell resigned from Mars Hill due to the backlash from his false teaching in Love Wins.

He is now an author, speaker, filmmaker, podcaster, and spiritual advisor to Oprah and other celebrities.

In 2018, a film documentary about his life was released entitled, “The Heretic,” a title he gladly embraces.

A blurb from the documentary states:

“Bell believes that so much of organized religion today has become corrupted and needs to be torn down. Today, he states, that religion and spirituality need to be inclusive, not exclusive, and that so much of what goes on in Jesus' name is actually anti-Christ in its energy and direction.”

One ministry leader was asked how a person survives for decades in Christian ministry. He answered that “they believe two things about the gospel: that is both true and wonderful.”

Rob is just another person on the long list of apostates who

Revere the truth

Reject the truth

Ridicule the truth

Replace the truth

This is nothing new, as Jude told us the last two weeks.

Review

Last week, Jude gave his readers three examples of how God will judge those who reject Him and lead others to do the same.

Jude wants us to remember the:

The danger of unbelief.

Over a million Israelites died in the desert due to their stubborn, will-fill stiff-necked refusal to trust God and do what He said.

The disgrace of rebellion

Angels don’t get a hall pass. The angels that joined in the rebellion of Satan were kicked out of heaven and were kept in chains and darkness until the time of judgment.

The Destiny of the Immoral

Sodom and Gomorrah, and the surrounding towns, were wiped off the face of the earth with fire because of their outrageous sexual immorality.

Peter and Paul shout, “The false teachers are coming!” Jude’s message is, “The false teachers are here!”

If you weren’t here last week, you can always watch the sermon on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and on our website. All the sermon manuscripts can be found on SermonCentral.com.

Could you turn with me to Jude?

Prayer

The Body of Moses

Jude loves threes. He gave us three examples of judgment against apostates. This morning, he will give us three characteristics of false teachers, and three representatives of their influence and destruction.

In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams, these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority, and heap abuse on celestial beings. 

Jude begins with “in the very same way” or “likewise,” pointing us back to the stubborn Israelites, the rebellious angels, and the immoral cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Who are “these people?” Jude writes that they

slipped in among you. They slid in through the side door.

their condemnation was written about long ago.

they are ungodly

they pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality

they deny Jesus Christ, our only Sovereign and Lord

Jude gives us a snapshot of three characteristics of these people. But first, he says that they are “dreamers.” These aren’t the normal dreams that each of us has at night. These dreams are visions of new revelations.

They say things like “God spoke to me in a dream.” Or “God gave me a vision.” Or “I’ve got a new take on that verse.”