Sin is creepy!
Series: Hey Jude! part 1
Open with video clip: You tube “What is Sin??” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZcSFWimRzY
Thesis: Sin has crept its way into our society and it is driving God out and replacing God with evil ways. But Jude tells us to contend for the faith because sin always costs people their lives.
Introduction:
Opening thought of where this sermon idea originated:
I was sitting in a local coffee shop reading my daily devotional when I overheard three older ladies discussing their children. The one lady was upset that her granddaughter was moving in with another young man and not even contemplating marriage. The other lady said she was experiencing the same disgust with her grand children as well. The one said what ever happened to morals? The one older lady who had been quiet for a while listening to her friends spoke up, “Ladies don’t you understand that’s the way it goes today!” She added, “Everyone does it that way today. Remember we live in a different time and that’s just how it is, so we just have to accept it!” The ladies got up shaking their heads and agreeing with their friends thoughts on the subject of immorality. As they departed I sat their thinking to myself, “How fooled many are becoming today to sin.” In essence they said, “Sin, what’s the big deal! Everyone is doing it that way today so just accept it!” Well my heart and mind turned to Jude 3, 4 and it was like the text rose off the page and said, “Read this, ‘3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”
After reading this text many times I took a look around me and had to say that I saw many people saying “Sin, what’s the big deal? That’s the way it is today!” I guess I expected this from the people who did not claim to be Christians, but I discovered many who were saying this and also saying “I am a Christian!” I was also disturbed by how many Christians did not even care that sin was being accepted as that’s the way it is in our society. Sin did not scare them or disappoint them. They even seemed ambivalent toward it. When I asked some people what they were going to do about this attitude toward sin most of them suggested it was not their problem.
I am reminded every day on the news how our nation has digressed away from truth and the faith and embraced the deceit of sin.
Robert Leroe stated:
Moral relativism is becoming the norm. A group of college students were asked their opinions on the media, specifically the R-rated kinds of situations being shown on TV and the movies. When asked why sex and violence were so prevalent, one student answered, “Because it’s no big deal.”
Scripture Text:
Jude
1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:
2Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
4For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
5Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
8In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. 9But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.
11Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
12These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
17But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
I. Jude compels us to contend for the faith (Jude 3, 4).
a. We do this one way by being aware of the deception of evil minds and the promotion of sin as normal and right.
b. He tells us that these evil minds have already slipped into the circle of influence in the Christian church and in Christian society.
i. Jude 3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
1. He warns us that they are not representing God even though they say they are but they are Godless. Truth is they have no relationship with the Lord Almighty.
ii. He also warns that they will use the gift of Grace as a license to sin.
1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called this mindset the mindset of Cheap Grace:
a). Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.
b). Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian "conception" of God.
c). Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. "All for sin could not atone." Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin. That was the heresy of the enthusiasts, the Anabaptists and their kind…. Page 46
d). Capital Hill notes: Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.
e). Cheap grace is ultimately belief without obedience, hearing without doing, intellectual assent without life commitment.
f). Cheap grace says you don’t have to be concerned about purity, holiness, and obedience—Jesus already did all that so that you don’t have to. Absolutely not! He did all that, empowered by the Holy Spirit, so that His life could live again through us. God’s grace has everything to do with our position in Him, our relationship with Him, our salvation in and through Him, our standing before Him, and our identity as new creations in Him.
g). Cheap grace operates not in those things, but in the deceitful workings of a person’s behavior. Cheap grace can never accomplish what God’s grace can. Cheap grace allows you to justify your behavior; God’s grace justifies your person.
h). Cheap grace will center its focus and attention on the "things" of God, and not God Himself. It will focus on "behavior" instead of relationship. It concentrates on a "life-style" instead of a life of obedience. The grace we bestow on ourselves is ultimately self-centered no matter how "Godly" it may appear. So when someone says that grace is just a license to sin, that is correct assessment of cheap grace.
i). Cheap grace is grace that does not require death, that is death to the flesh and the self-life.
1. Romans 6:1-2: "What shall we say then? Are we to
continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"
2. Killpatrick reminds us how the Cheap Grace mindset can ruin our lives and drive us away from God.
1). Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. What starts out as a simple thought may ultimately determine our destiny, even our eternal destiny. The writer of the above statement must have heard or read the words of Solomon found in Proverbs 23:7: "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." Our thoughts reflect the person we really are. If we have thoughts which are hateful, they will manifest themselves as words--actions--habits. If, however, we fill our hearts with positive things, can anything but good actions result? Paul summed it up rightly when he wrote in Philippians 4:8, (NIV) "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Think about "these things." If we occupy our time on thoughts concerning "these things," it cannot help but result in an eternal destiny with God the Father. We are what we think.--Steven Killpatrick.
II. We must remember that Sin is deceitful and progressive (Heb. 3:13).
a. Sin’s ability to be progressive is one of its creepy characteristics because it seeks to conceal it’s true self by using deceit.
a. Hebrews 3:13: “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
b. The "blessed man" of Psalm 1 (1) walks not, (2) stands not, and (3) sits not. He stays away from evil! Observe the progression of sin in this passage.
i. Psalm 1:1-6: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
j. When Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, he did not immediately move there, this OT story is illustrative of how progressive sin is – it creeps in slowly to desensitize our hearts and minds.
a. But eventually it pulled him in.
b. Remember Lots wife who turned and looked back on sin and she was turned to stone! Sin is enticing and gripping and once it has you it will not easily let go.
k. Eve (1) heard the devil’s lie, (2) believed the lie, and (3) obeyed it.
a. Another story of how sin is progressive. It got her and Adam cast out of the Garden of Eden.
l. The prodigal son gradually went to the far country, which illustrates sin’s progression.
a. It leads you away from the ones who love you and protect you.
m. Peter (1) first deserted the Lord, (2) later fraternized with the enemy, (3) then, denied the Lord, (4) afterwards committed perjury, and (5) finally, he cursed and blasphemed. Sin was progressive in his case.
a. He even said he would not fall away! Sin is seductive and deceptive.
i. Be not deceived, for sin is still progressive and it chips at your base little by little.
1. Social drinking can easily lead to alcoholism.
a. Remember sin is progressive!
2. One look at pornography can lead to a life of addiction and the ruining of family relationships.
a. Reference the internet sting which focused on sexual predators on the internet-men coming to have sex with a 14 year old girl.
b. Men from the age of 20-72 from all different backgrounds came.
c. These men were caught on camera by a local news station and exposed.
b. Remember sin is progressive it keeps taking more and more ground in your heart and mind.
i. Dancing in bars has been the first step in some cases which lead to an ultimate destruction of one’s Christian virtues and belief system.
1. Remember little by little it will whittle at your heart.
ii. Missing the mid-week service can lead to missing the Sunday morning Bible school, then the Sunday morning worship service--yea, To missing church weekly then monthly and for some yearly. For some it has led to a complete falling away from God.
1. Hebrews 6:4-6: 4It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
c. Remember it starts slowly and continues its progression in a person’s heart and life.
i. Therefore Jude tells us to contend for the faith. Fight to protect it in your life and never let it be destroyed.
ii. Contend means to stretch out, to strive after. To combat or oppose those who come against, fight; struggle against.
iii. Therefore, resist every temptation, choosing the way of escape always provided (1 Cor. 10:13). Give no occasion to sin. Abstain from every appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22).
n. “Nip sin in the bud” as Swany would say! Otherwise, it will grow! "Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, that take counsel, but not of Me; and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit that they may add sin to sin" (Is. 30:1).
T.S. – The challenge by Jude for us today is to make sure that we contend –fight for the truth to prevail in our society otherwise we will witness the destruction of this nation and many lives.
III. Jude gives some examples as to the destruction and devastation of sin in people’s lives (Jude 5-19).
a. He enlightens us as to how easy it is to be led astray by sin- because it is seductive and inviting but it pays a great cost:
i. Jude 5Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
1. We had the ones who witnessed God’s power in delivering them out of Egypt. They saw God’s power. But they then turned on God’s leaders and God Himself and they ended up paying with there lives.
a). What happened to these people?
b. They allowed sin to take root in their heart and it spread like Cancer through their hearts and minds and it cost them their lives. Eternally!
i. He spoke of how some angels who fell into sin and ended up being bound in chains until judgment day.
a). They saw Heaven in all its glory and went against the truth and one day they pay the ultimate price.
ii. He spoke of the example of Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed by fire and brimstone for sexual immorality and debauchery.
a). San Francisco should take note of Jude’s warning about the consequence of sin.
1. Reference all their natural disasters but still in opposition to God’s Word and ways!
2. The San Francisco Examiner noted this about how there Governor is changing his mind on gay marriages: “Surprisingly, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger softened his stance on same-sex marriages during an appearance Monday on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Schwarzenegger told Leno that such unions would be "fine with me" if the courts or the voters change state law and make them legal. While he said he supports the law approved by California voters last year that proclaims marriage can only involve a man and a woman, the Republican added that if the law were changed he’d go along. "Let the court decide," he said. "Let the people decide." Until now, Schwarzenegger has sent mixed messages on same-sex marriages, ordering state Attorney General Bill Lockyer to "take immediate steps" to stop San Francisco from allowing them, but doing nothing to enforce that directive. Earlier, he was criticized by Democrats for raising the rhetoric in a nationally televised interview, when he warned of anarchy and deadly consequences if the San Francisco marriages were not stopped." All of a sudden we see riots and we see protests and we see people clashing," Schwarzenegger said on NBC’s "Meet the Press." "The next thing we know is there are injured or there are dead people, and we don’t want to have that."
3. So should all the people who think living together outside of marriage is okay with the Lord!
4. What is the worst sin? Is it destroying the life and body by drinking? Is it prostitution? Is it adultery? Is it homosexuality? Could it be murder? Could it be drug abuse? God can forgive all these sins. However, there is one sin, the worst of all sins: rejecting God’s love. Some may not be guilty of the sins listed above, but they are guilty of rejecting God’s love.--Croft Pentz
5. Here is a quote from Thomas Fleming, in The Man Who Dared The Lightning. "When Benjamin Franklin was seven years old, a visitor gave him some small change. Later, seeing another boy playing with a whistle, young Benjamin gave the boy all his money for it. He played the whistle all over the house, enjoying it until he discovered that he had given four times as much as the whistle was worth. Instantly, the whistle lost its charm. As he grew older, Franklin generalized this principle. When he saw a man neglecting his family or business for political popularity, or a miser giving up friendship for the sake of accumulating wealth, he would say, ’He pays too much for his whistle."
6. The above story has an excellent lesson in it: Too often we pay too great a price for something that looks so good and promises so much. Fish are hooked because they are attracted to something that looks like food and would make a good meal only to become food themselves. Do not be fooled, the world offers you whistle’s that are not worth the price (Stories for Preachers).
c. He paints a clear picture of how these spillers of toxic waste will do their dirty work.
i. Jude 8In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. 9But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.11Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. 12These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. 14Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. 17But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
1. They will pollute and defile their own bodies and say it is good.
2. They will reject Godly authority- really most authority.
3. They will slander celestial beings, like God!
4. They will speak abusively against things they do not understand.
a). Spiritual things
b). Movies about Jesus
c). Godly behavior
d). Morality
ii. Protecting the unborn
1. A thought on abortion: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion? If you said yes, you just killed Beethoven, it’s his mother!
2. Preaching abstinence
a. The world says it does not work because people cannot resist! It’s against their natural instincts.
b. The Good News of Jesus Christ
c. The evil minds in the world hate the Good news because they want the Bad news spread instead. But they will be judged just like the ones in the past were, they are not exempt. They will be held responsible for their ungodly ways.Their comments and actions are noted in Heaven. God sees, God knows.
d. Reference Randy’s sign on his church after being robbed.
i. Once again he points out what they will say and do.
ii. They are faultfinders
iii. They follow evil desires not Godly desires
iv. They are prideful and boastful
v. They are self-centered and motivated for what they do for self-serving purposes.
1. Note the Chief of the firemen in New York City. He accused president Bush of using his one add about 911 for political gain when he himself had endorsed Kerry and was using his attack on President Bush for his own political gain.
2. In the end times these scoffers will follow their own ungodly desires and not the plans of God.
Conclusion:
The bottom line of the lesson from Jude is simple:
• Contend for the Faith – Fight for it, hold on to the truth in spite of what others do!
• Stay away from Evil – Don’t play with it! It will bite you.
• Learn to recognize what sin looks like and acts like so you can stay away from it.
• Never allow sin to influence your choices in life.
