The Contradiction Of Ungodliness Series

SERMON OUTLINE:

CONDUCT (vs 7-10):

Israel in the wilderness (vs 5)

Angels at Hermon (vs 6)

Sodom and Gomorrah (vs 7)

CHARACTER (vs 11):

Cain – anger (vs 11a)

Balaam – avarice (vs 11b)

Korah – ambition (vs 11c)

SERMON BODY:

• Ungodliness is the state of believing in God,

• While adopting a lifestyle which seems to deny this.

Ill:

• As a family we have often gone on holiday to Turkey,

• To the town called Kalkan.

• If you head into the town centre, and go right to the sea front,

• You will come across a Jewellers shop,

• In the window of that shop is a great big sign that says; ‘We sell genuine Fakes’.

• Their watches may look like a Rolex or a Versace on the outside;

• But if you removed the cover on the back;

• You would find cheap parts and probably the words made in China.

• TRANSITION: In todays, study,

• The apostle Jude is dealing with the signs that mark out a false teacher;

• On the outside the look like the real thing, but on the inside, they are genuine fakes!

• He says there are three key areas where they give themselves away;

• Three clear ways to spot them: their Conduct. Character and conversation.

(1). CONDUCT (vs 7-10):

• Now, because these false teachers were corrupt in their doctrine;

• That then evidenced itself in their corrupt lives!

Ill:

• A little girl said to her mother; “Mum, my stomach hurts”

• The mother replied, “That’s because it is empty,

• You’ll feel much better when you’ve got something inside it!”

• Later that evening the vicar popped in the house;

• When he was offered a cup of tea, he replied;

• “I can’t stop I have a headache; my head is hurting”

• To which the little girl pipped up:

• “That’s because it is empty!”

• TRANSITION: Well, Jude is not going to leave his readers theologically empty!

• These verses are full of material that we could spend several weeks on;

• But don’t panic, we are only going to pull out a few threads.

• In verses 7-10. the apostle Jude gives three examples from the Old Testament;

• Regarding corrupt or wrong living.

Example #1: Israel in the wilderness (vs 5)

“Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe”

Jude’s first example comes from the Torah; the book of Exodus:

• God took the Hebrew people out of slavery in order to bring them to a place of freedom.

• From a land that oppressed them to a land of milk and honey.

• He took a rabble of slaves and made them his own people!

• They went from bondage to blessing.

• But when these Hebrew people got within sight of Kadesh-Barnea,

• They hit a problem.

• In Numbers chapters 13&14,

• Moses send out twelve men to spy out the land of Canaan,

• He was preparing for when Israel would enter and settle there.

• These spies saw how the land looked exactly as God said it would.

• However, they also saw the inhabitants—and fear gripped them;

• “The people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large”

• Instead of trusting the God who had defeated the mighty Egyptians,

• On this occasion they started to doubt.

• In fact, more than doubt, they displayed unbelief!

Note:

• There is a difference between unbelief and doubt.

• Unbelief is always wrong, in fact it is sinful,

• Genuine doubt is not sinful, it is part of our make up and often leads to a deeper faith.

• Doubt is when you want to believe but you are not sure you are able to.

• You are uncertain in your trust, which is weak and wavering, but you try to trust anyway!

• And I do not believe that doubt is a sin.

• In contrast to doubt, unbelief is always wrong, and is a very much a sin:

• Unbelief is when we know what is right but refuse to obey and trust.

• “Unbelief is when God says something clearly to us, but we refuse to do it.”

• That is always wrong and ‘unbelief’ in the Bible is a sin.

• Because it is disobeying God.

• So, from this first example: Israel in the wilderness (vs 5)

• The sin Jude focusses on is unbelief.

• Refusing to obey the truth.

Example #2: Angels at Hermon (vs 6)

“And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling – these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.”