Godless Dreamers

INTRO.- Dreaming isn’t bad, depending on what you dream for. And I’m not talking about night dreams because we all have some crazy night dreams.

ILL.- For example, I had a crazy dream that some people were trying to kill me and I defended myself by stabbing my attackers with a set of deer antlers. Now how crazy is that?

The other side of the coin is where people dream about accomplishing something in life.

ILL.- Here’s a good dream that someone had: "American history shall march along that skyline," announced Gutzon Borglum in 1924, gazing at the Black Hills of South Dakota. In 1927 Borglum began sculpting the images of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt on the granite face of 6,000-foot Mount Rushmore. Most of the sculpting was done by experienced miners under Borglum’s direction. Working with jackhammers and dynamite, they removed some 400,000 tons of outer rock, cutting within three inches of the final surface. When Borglum died in March 1941, his dream of the world’s biggest sculpture was near completion. His son Lincoln finished the work that October, some 14 years after it was begun. A DREAM COME TRUE! And many of you have seen that dream in person.

ILL.- T.E. Lawrence (British soldier considered to be the "Lawrence of Arabia") once said, "All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to the day to find it was all vanity. (in other words, night dreamers) But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for the many act out their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible."

Not all day dreamers have their dreams come true but some do. Did you ever dream something that you wished had come true?

It’s ok to dream good dreams and even try to accomplish them in life as long as we include the Lord in those dreams. Remember that text in I Cor. 10:31? "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

There are both good dreamers and bad dreamers in life. When it comes to bad dreamers in life we don’t want them to accomplish anything.

ILL.- Hitler, for example, once dreamed of world domination or so it seemed. Thank God it didn’t happen. The generally accepted cause of the death of Adolf Hitler on Monday, 30 April 1945 was suicide by gunshot and cyanide poisoning.

Hitler was raised by Roman Catholic parents, but after he left home, he never attended Mass or received the sacraments, Hitler often praised Christian heritage, German Christian culture, and professed a belief in Jesus Christ.

Hitler advocated a "Positive Christianity", a belief system purged from what he objected to in traditional Christianity, and which reinvented Jesus as a fighter against the Jews.

Thank the Lord that Hitler’s evil reign didn’t continue. At least, not with him. But there plenty of others today who try to fill his shoes and dream evil things.

PROP.- In our text, Jude speaks specifically about certain godless dreamers. 1- They pollute themselves 2- They reject authority 3- They slander celestial beings

I. GODLESS DREAMERS POLLUTE THEMSELVES

ILL.- A 28-year-old environmentalist from England is planning on traveling some 9,770 miles by land to be a bridesmaid at a wedding in Australia because she does not want to contribute to air pollution by flying.

Barbara Haddrill said the trip would take her six weeks to accomplish at a cost of $3,800. (kind of silly, wouldn’t you say?)

Environmentalists are concerned about earth’s pollution and global warming.

ILL.- Meet the average American: Every year he will leave in his wake his share of the 20 million tons of paper, 48 billion cans and 26 billion bottles that litter the land. He will personally pollute three million gallons of water in a year.

“Measured in terms of destructive effect on the environment, biologist Wayne David estimates that 1 American is equivalent to at least 25 citizens of India."

But there is a worse pollution, however, than mankind (or Americans) polluting our lands, air and water with junk stuff. What’s that? It’s listed in our text.

8In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.

What’s the meaning of this text? How do godless dreamers pollute their own bodies? We’ve heard of stories about people who have ruined their health through sinful living: drinking, drugs, immoral living, etc. CEV reads: 8The people I am talking about are behaving just like those dreamers who destroyed their own bodies.

ILL.- Bible Commentator Matthew Henry wrote: Sin is filthiness; it renders men odious and vile in the sight of the most holy God, and makes them (sooner or later, as penitent or as punished to extremity and without resource) vile in their own eyes, and in a while they become vile in the eyes of all about them. These filthy dreamers dream themselves into a fool’s paradise on earth, and into a real hell at last." Wow! Matthew Henry’s words are powerful and condemning.