The letter of Jude, start with verse 22, read two verses tonight. In the letter of Jude, once again, verse 22, and have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. May the Lord uplift and bless His word. Tonight's message is titled, Reach Out. Reach out. Tonight, we've arrived at the last phase of the battle plan. Judah's laid out here in verses 17 to 23. This morning, of course, if you recall, there were two main parts. Verses 17 to 19, we looked at the first, which was the call to remembrance, to remember, to remember the predictions of the apostles, the fact that false teachers are coming. We looked at how we are to be both ready for that, and of course, I guess say ready to spot those who may come, look for the signs of a false teacher. The second was a defense plan, and the three ways we looked at to keep ourselves in love of God to remain. Of course, there was, let's see, studying, of course, studying the Word of God, praying in the Holy Spirit, and last but not least, waiting for the return of Christ. That was the three keys to remaining in the faith. And tonight, lastly, we'll look at the last part, reaching out. you could say the attack phase of the battle plan, of what to do when we are on the offensive, when we are called to witness to false teachers, to deal with false teachers, because they come in many shapes, forms, and sizes, and often they even come to your front door. And to me, this is probably, and I keep saying this, of course, the most important passage in Jude. This entire part's important, of course. If you haven't listened to anything else, though, if you were fuzzy this morning, whatever reason may be, I encourage you to paid heed here. And I say this in part because I really feel like verses 20 and 21 are the, which Jude itself is neglected, rarely does anyone ever preach out of it, but also it's the most neglected part of Jude. Very rarely does anyone actually follow out these steps laid out when it comes to evangelism, when it comes to dealing with false teachers. Very rarely do Christians tend to go on the offensive. Typically, we're always reactive instead of proactive. Very often, we're not even in the preparatory phase. For the most part, we ignore this. But we are called to be on the offensive, to be proactive with the gospel. Whether it's among family or friends, whether it's among our co-workers, which is not always easy, I can attest to that, or whether it's even in the church itself. But more often than not, we are very passive. We tend to be. It's our human nature. We sit and twiddle our thumbs. We sit on our hands. We may inwardly even ask, is that really my job? Is that my responsibility? Am I my brother's or sister's keeper? Am I responsible for them? easy to ask that. Especially in American culture, it's none of my business. I shouldn't get involved. We're taught that a lot to each his own. However, when we do that, when we basically ask that question or inwardly or outwardly even, really we're committing one of the first sins. We're committing, in my opinion, the sin of Cain. It's what came to my mind as I was studying this. Upon being asked by God where his brother Abel was, Cain's response, right after he had killed his brother, was, I do not know, am I my brother's keeper? The problem was, yes, he was his brother's keeper. He was responsible for the well-being of his brother. He was both, well, one, to make sure physically he would stay alive, obviously, you're not supposed to kill your brother, but also to ensure his spiritual livelihood as well, his responsibility to treat him well. If we're ordered not to kill, as God laid out officially in the Ten Commandments, Implicitly, we're ordered also to protect life. That's our responsibility as humans to other humans. That's the problem for us. We are brothers and sisters keeper. We are supposed to be involved. We are supposed to be proactive when it comes to decisions of those around us. We're not to sit oddly by, twiddle our thumbs, make excuses, or even, of course, the extreme, murder somebody. That's what Cain committed, the first murder. We are ambassadors of God's kingdom, and as ambassadors, we are to proclaim a message. That is our responsibility, to herald what we have heard, whether it's now or later. You could say we are doctors without borders. The French organization, Medicines Sans Frontieres, that's a philosophical, it's not philosophical, philanthropic organization that seeks to help anyone of any need physically. And just as they have been charged to, well, treat, we are charged to preach. We are charged to treat sin. The sickness is sin and the cure is the gospel. That is our objective. And if we fail, the consequence, of course, is more severe than just a physical death. It's more severe than just killing your brother physically or not helping out someone in need. If someone happens to die because you may have failed to help them, that's a physical death. That's only temporary. However, if we fail in our duty, Christians, it's a spiritual death, it's an eternal death. The letter of James, this always comes to my mind when it comes to this, the letter of James ends with this statement, this verse, my brothers if anyone wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. When we're doing what we're supposed to do, we're not saving someone from physical torment or physical death, but a spiritual one. And though medical help is needed, not neglecting, of course, physical needs of people, the torment of eternal death for the soul, that is much, much worse than anything man could ever do to you. That's why Christ says, you're not worried about what men can do, worry about what God can do. Do consider when we neglect this sacred duty, what will happen. Like Cain, in a sense, we are killing somebody, but it's even worse. We're not killing our brother physically, because Abel went to heaven, I believe went to heaven. Probably the first person to go into heaven as far as we know. Like Cain, or unlike Cain in a way, we're killing them spiritually. That's what happens when we neglect this duty, when we don't respond or deal with a false teacher or evangelize when we can. Here we find Jude command us to reach out. to help out those in need, those who have been corrupted or may be the corrupters of false teaching. We are to react. John Calvin, who I've already quoted once today, but I'll quote twice, had this to say about heresy. And of course, he was experienced well with it. When it comes to heresies and wicked perversions of the truth, we should distort everything. We should react as we've been punched or stabbed in the stomach or neck. For in what does the life and well-being of the church consist if not the pure word of God? If someone came and poisoned the meat which we needed for food, we tolerate it? No, we would make a strike out. The same reason applies to the gospel. We must always raise our hands to defend the purity of its doctrine and we must not allow it to be corrupted in any way whatsoever. When there is a false teaching in your midst among your friends, your family, and especially family because usually that's one of the main ways We tend to see things when we meet family, we may not be around as much. We should raise our hands, not literally, of course, symbolically, to defend the Word of God. Otherwise, they will continue in what? What they've been taught. And as we will cover more extensively, the culture teaches something very contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. You may ask, why? Why does it matter? Hopefully you already know that, but if not, disease and sickness, that is false teaching. It does not isolate itself. is like a little disease, that's what heresy is, and it will spread just like a virus. It will make its way through a church locally, nationally, and internationally. Like a real plague, it must be quarantined. It must be isolated and dealt with, eliminated to the best of our ability. Otherwise, it will spread. Arianism did this in early church. It spread. Even after Athanasius thought he had won his victory, it came back, thanks to the emperor. The heresy has a tendency to repopulate itself. It must be dealt with, however. Jesus had to do this constantly, of course, with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a heretical organization. The some, typically those hard in heart, he outright rebuked them. There wasn't a any soft kind of easy stepping into it and saying, hey, maybe you're doing wrong. He just came out and said it to those who were very hard in heart. Look more at that a little bit later. However, to those others like Nicodemus, who was genuinely seeking the truth, who were interested, who seemed just a little bit more confused, Jesus responds in a different way. He's more compassionate. He's more, I guess you could say, neutral. There's not a clear kind of strikeful tone behind what he's saying. And just as there was, you could say, different categories of false teachers Jesus dealt with, who Paul dealt with, Jude here really lays out, I think, different categories of false teachers that we are to deal with in different ways. Just like there are different ways of handling a physical disease, there are different ways of handling a spiritual disease, as heresy, once again, is a corruption of the Word of God, the cure, the gospel. In verses 22 and 23, Jude specifically, I think, identifies three categories of false teachers who are to be evangelized, who are to be dealt with, who are to be taught properly. The first group is what we will label the confused in verse 22, the confused. The second is the convinced, who are found in verse 23, and the last is the committed. Committed. So we have confused, convinced, and committed. And really, as we'll cover later, I would say the convinced and the committed, there's not much difference. There's just a slight level. we'll talk about later, I say the committed or just the more hardcore higher-ups of maybe a false teaching, but we'll get into that a little bit later. But before we jump ahead, as I tend to like to do, we will find ourselves first off in verse 22 and look at the first group, the confused. In verse 22, Jude says, and have mercy on those who doubt. Jude first calls us to have compassion or mercy on those who may doubt, who are, you could say, confused. And confusion is typically the result when there is false teaching. You have a view here that says this, another view says the opposite comes in. Some people may become confused or torn between those two views. And the lies and sinful lifestyles of false teachers can easily confuse people in the church. And this is probably, I believe, because of our natures. We have two natures, you could say, as a Christian. A dualistic, I guess you could say, bent, so to speak. We have the spirit that's been given within us, a new heart that God's placed within us, but at the same time, we still have our flesh. We still have our body. We still are corrupted, in a sense. Yes, we have a spiritual side now. We've been regenerated, we've been justified in the eyes of God, and we're in a continual process of sanctification that will not be perfected until Christ returns. However, we still have that carnal flesh, and it's always a struggle, sometimes more than others, and we're all going to struggle in it. Even Paul, the great apostle, seen as a superman when it comes to missionary work, he commented while writing in Romans chapter 7, I believe it's verse 15, that I do not do what I want, but that I hate, the very thing that I hate, that I do. Even though Paul, great man, great man of God, did all these wonderful things, Even though he did all that, he still said himself, I still do, well, I don't do what I'm supposed to do, and I do the very thing that I hate. Why? Because he still has that flesh. He still has that corruption within him. And because of our flesh, we're still, of course, going to slip and fall sometimes. There are things we will get ourselves into, times we'll start off the path. That's going to happen. We're not perfect yet, in a sense. But, with that in mind, because of our flesh, we often will find false teaching possibly appealing, even interesting. And it's because false teaching typically centers around one thing, which we covered extensively this morning. It centers around pleasure, self. It's self-centered. It promotes you and your pleasure, you and your desires, you and what you want. And in turn, typically downplays God and His desires. That will lead, of course, to a lax or low view of God. Rather than see Him as an almighty God who will, of course, demand holiness, who judges you, who loves you, and wants you to be the best, who calls us to be holy as He is holy. As Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 1, people tend to see God as some cool and loving cat who's just happy to see us chill and have fun. That's how people tend to see God. That laid-back cool uncle, you could also say. And that in turn leads to what? Lack of church discipline. People don't take the church seriously, take their responsibilities seriously, so you see what happens. You look at the American church. I'm sure we've all been to churches or seen churches where it's more of just a ritual. People just come in and go out. Why? Because they have a lax view of God, a lax view of church and its responsibility. You can recall, for instance, if you're familiar with the book of Corinthians, the first letter, that's what happened in the church of Corinth. They had members in their church in different sins, incest, fornication, greed, idolatry, brailling. I think pretty much you name it, you throw a rock at it, you'll find some type of sin in the Corinthian church. And you could ask why, the reasons could be many. It could be maybe they're apathetic and they just didn't care. Maybe they were just being lazy that period of time. Maybe they found that sin that was going on and it was wrong. Maybe they found the appealing and wanted to do it themselves. Maybe they were already in it and they didn't want to be hypocrites. Either way, I believe really the one main cause, we look at the Corinthian church or typically most churches when it comes to heresy, there's one root cause for that, and it goes back to pleasure of self. It goes back to our flesh. When you look at the Corinthian church, The reason why they were in sin is because they loved themselves more than God at that time. It's that simple. They placed themselves above God. And I think every church that really enters into false heresy, some type of falsehood, it usually centers back around that simple fact. It's because of our weakness. I believe that's why Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, 6, in reference to false teachers, for among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins, and led astray by various passions." Notice the group Paul identifies as false teachers there. Those who they come after and attack, they creep. He uses the word creep. Weak women. The key word there is weak. Weak Christians and weak sinners is typically what false teachers will first draw in, who they'll first hook, line, and sinker, and bring in to their fold. And why? Why is it that they go after them, and why is it that they naturally come? It's because they're weak. They're already being led astray by various passions and desires. They're already looking at themselves, doing what pleases them. You have a guy or even girl who rolls in and offers something pleasurable, something of desire, and what's going to happen? They're naturally going to do what? They're going to flock to that. And this is because they don't do those three commands that was laid out by Jude earlier that we looked at this morning. They're not studying the Word of God, they're not praying the Holy Spirit, and not waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. And when you don't do that, if you're a Christian, that's what's going to happen. And in turn, if you're just a regular old sinner, or you're just going to get caught up in it anyway. You don't have any hope at all to make it out, to not be ensnared. You're a slave to sin already, as Paul talks about extensively. That's the key to staying strong in the faith. And when you don't do that, when you are not doing those three keys—praying, waiting, studying— In turn, you're basically feeding the flesh. The spirit needs to be fed. That's why I think Peter used the metaphor of milk, and we'll also use later, we'll use meat, because your spirit needs to be fed, replenished, renewed by the Word of God. That's our lifeline. So if you're feeding your flesh side, that's what's going to be stronger. As a result, it's what's going to be your decision to be made more by. It's not complicated, really. Even though I despise the subject of math, it's very simple. If your spirit is weak, the flesh is strong. It doesn't matter if it's 51% to 49% or 75 to 25. Any type of imbalance, you could say, is dangerous, because it only takes, well, once for you to be led into something, and then just to multiply and to snowball into something even worse. That's what happened with the Corinthian church. It started, I'm sure, with one sin, one little mistake, and it just got to the point where Paul had to write a letter to them about it and even come in person. Because then people may think, Maybe homosexuality isn't wrong. Maybe it's fine. Maybe just let them do what they need to do, do what they want to do, and just don't worry about it. It's not our business anyway. What happens in the church? Maybe drinking, getting drunk, doing whatever else, being around those who drink and party. You know, that's socialist outside of church. It doesn't matter. It's okay. It's whatever. It's cool. It's okay, you're not participating in it. There's nothing wrong with being around that. Living together before marriage, things like that. Maybe it's not so bad either. That's okay, maybe I can do those things. It's all right, it'll be fine. Nothing bad will happen. Whatever makes me happy. Because typically when you deal with a false teacher and you're talking to them about why they do the things that they do, it always simply centers back around to what they want. Not what scripture may command, not what clearly may be laid out, but what they want. I'm sure we can imagine many people. Sadly, I did not see there was any joy. People who seem to be doing just fine, but then all of a sudden they just go off the deep end. They get caught up in something, some type of sin or whatever, and it just goes. That's because, well, they were weak. And it's not to put them down or look down upon them, but it's a reminder, one, to pray for them, of course, but two, to watch ourselves. Because never think that you are above being led in the false teaching. Peter, this just comes to my mind in Galatians 2. had a public pressure from Judaizers, from Jews in the church who thought he needed to do this, this, and this part of the law to be a Christian. He didn't eat with the Gentiles so he wouldn't be seen as unclean and disrespectful towards the Jews. And Paul rebuked him for it. Even Peter got caught up a little bit in some type of illogical or irrational teaching. And that happened because Peter at that one point, he was, well, he was a little bit weak. He wasn't doing as he was supposed to. We're to be in the words. The only thing that can keep us grounded. If it's in ourselves, in our own strength, it's not going to work out. But for those who do not do that, it is going to happen. Whether in this church or some other church, people that you may know, family, whatever it may be, for those who are in that stage of doubting, who may be confused, who may be kind of winding, supposedly, on the road to the speak, we are called to show mercy to them. For those who may be wondering, just in case, we're not called to go in them and just drop the hammer. and break them, so to speak, we're called to speak to them in love. Ephesians 4.15, Paul's dealing with, in that chapter, laying out the purpose of the church and the responsibility of the ministers and different things, and also the church body to do the work of God. And he says, when it comes to those who may be tossed to and fro and having issues, rather speaking the truth in love. That's a key word, in love. That's one of the main things people typically forget. When you see a brother or sister who's confused, who may be torn between some type of doctrine, whatever it may be, but especially if it's of salvation, that's a big one right there. You go up to them and talk to them. You go with them in love and show them the scriptures. You go and show whatever false teaching it is, whatever idea it may be, that it's wrong. It's your duty to do so. You go in a loving spirit and gentleness. I don't think you should go in a silly, rhetorically, in harshness and just sound angry. insult them or anything like that. Do it with a gentle spirit because by doing so you might save someone from a dark path. There's been many times I've seen where that's been done right and done wrong. However, not every time will someone be saved in that manner, for whatever may reason. Sometimes people may go from being confused by a false teaching, and they may go to being convinced by a false teaching, becoming enrooted in it, believing in it, and not doubting it any longer. In this category of false teachers, I don't think it's any longer just showing some mercy and talking. going in lightly, in case you say light-footed, and kind of just stepping over in there and just discussing it and kind of easing into it. It becomes a difficult task of rescuing them, rescuing those who are already convinced of this false teaching for the danger of it. And we find this in the first part, first part of verse 23. Jude says, save others by snatching them out of the fire. Notice that second statement, snatching them, pulling them out of the fire. The word snatching or pulling in the Greek itself presents a strong image of seizing something or taking something or somebody by force out of something else. And really, I think Jude here is quoting back to the Old Testament, which he does a lot throughout this letter, back to Amos, the book of Amos, in chapter 4, verse 11, where Amos is talking about Israel and its history of salvation, how it's done wrong, how it needs to get back, how God's going to judge it. And while Amos is discussing this, he says in verse 11, you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze. You're like a firebrand snatched from a blaze. In other words, Israel had once been part of the world, which is what? Condemn the judgment. The universe, the world will be reborn through fire. That's how it's going to happen. It must be cleansed before it can be made anew. And like a firebrand, it was snatched out. That's what happened to Israel. God, for whatever reason, must be for His glory and honor, He chose Israel and pulled them out of that judgment. He said, I will separate you from everybody else and I will make you my people. With that imagery in mind, God is saying through Jude here, those who have been convinced by false teachings are like Israel to us. Once they were part of the fire, and they may be part of the fire, but it's our job to snatch them from it. They may be a little singed by the fire. They may be, well, on fire, possibly, so to speak, under God's judgment, but they aren't fully there yet, and there's still time to get them out. But it must be quick. It must be fast. The only way to rescue those people is to crush their false ideology before it's too late. And once again, the only thing that can do this, and it centers all back towards this, the only way sufficiently to rebuke, to reprove, to correct someone is the Word of God. Logic and philosophy can only take you so far. That's why Paul said, I came to you and preached Christ in him, crucified in him alone. He didn't come in speaking rhetoric and Greek philosophy, because philosophy can only do so much. The Stoicism in that time period in Greece, it pretty much said, life sucks, it's terrible, take it like a man, that's it. That's its answer to life, that's it. The opposite, Epicureanism, if I believe correctly, it pretty much said, life is terrible, so have as much fun as you can, and that's it. Philosophy has no answers for man. It either centers around two things usually, suck it up, or have as much fun as you can, that's it. That's not an answer, that's not something we can take comfort in. Humanism's no different. It teaches, try to be rational and be reasonable with man and try to make him better, but that doesn't work either. Two world wars and the Cold War and what's going on right now, all in parts of the world, what's in Europe or Middle East, it tested that. That does not do you any good. The only hope that we have is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why Paul came preaching that. That is a message needed to combat false views. That is what the only thing that will ever combat false views is that simple fact. And I believe Jesus modeled this, these approaches, during his early, excuse me, earthly ministry, not early ministry. If you recall, to those who were maybe confused, and hop back for a second, they were unsure, maybe filled with doubts, like Nicodemus. He dealt with them in a different way. He patiently, I think, and genuinely and earnestly and sweetly presented the gospel. I think there's much that can be learned from Jesus' discourse with Nicodemus. We read it this morning, but just to read it again, In John chapter 3 with verse 2 continuing, this man Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with them. Nicodemus came asking questions. He was curious. He had heard. Jesus answered him, truly I say to you, unless he is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? He's having a hard time understanding that. He is not saved yet. He's having a hard time understanding that concept. Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? We might find that silly, that idea. But Jesus answered, what truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And Jesus will continue to give him more and more answers. That's where the famous John chapter three, verse 16 verse comes from. But you notice, more importantly, as people tend to ignore, how Jesus dealt with Nicodemus. He came genuinely seeking truth. He was confused. He was torn between the message of Christ and the message of the Pharisees, which taught what? Self-righteousness. Be a good person. Do this, this, that, that, that, and that, and you'll be A-OK. Dip your hands in water and let it dry, and then you can eat. Things absurd like that. But notice how Jesus handles it. He knows them nicely. He tells them clearly, succinctly. He doesn't scoff, belittle, sigh, anything like that. He answers in clarity and in truth. When it comes to the confused, that's how we should deal with them, I believe. Harsh rebukement, probably not the best thing to do. You don't want to come to somebody who's just curious and just say, come out with that kind of a, basically, I guess you'd say tone. I don't think that's how it's to be done. The gospel is presented in love and in truth and gentleness. But those who's convinced false teachings, like the Pharisees, the hardcore Pharisees. How did he approach them? He tended to be more blunt. Not so that he didn't speak in hate, but he bluntly and clearly and unquivocally said what was the truth. And later in John, just a few chapters later, we find another good example. In John chapter 8, verse 38-39, the Pharisees make the claim that response to Jesus saying, I'm a son of God, and kind of hinting that Satan is their father, that they're sons of the devil, they'll rebuke or rebuttal and say they're the sons of Abraham, our father is Abraham. And this is when Jesus goes into a somewhat long discourse into his, well, disagreement with that. In John 8 39 it says, they answered him saying, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works our father did. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It's because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of the father, the devil, And from the beginning, excuse me, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. Jesus very clearly denies their claim that they are Abraham's children, for their behavior contradicts their claim. Abraham, as we know, was a man of faith, not a perfect man, but he was a man of faith. And he contrasts that, he tells them they're basically liars, they're teaching a false gospel. They added all these rules and traditions, you've got to do this, you've got to do that, otherwise if you help out someone on Sunday, or excuse me, Saturday is Sabbath, on a rest day, that's bad. Essentially, they over time began to teach that works is righteousness, not faith. They were convinced of their teaching, and that teaching, as Paul himself eventually learned, he discusses in Philippians 3, he learned that would send me to hell. all that hard work I'm doing, it means nothing in the eyes of God. That's why Paul so dedicatedly, I believe, attached and grasped towards the gospel, because he knew that was the only way he could be saved, the only way in turn anyone else could be saved. And when it comes to those who are convinced so much of a falsehood, especially of that nature, of a salvation nature, who are on that path of doom, I think to an degree there needs to be a frankness about it. They are in the fire, well, or near it. And there's no gentle or nice way to pull someone out of a fire. You don't beckon with a finger and say, hey, you're on fire, you need to come here. Or, hey, you know, you're kind of getting burnt, maybe you should hop out, and you can, no big deal. No, you snatch them. That's what the Greek word is saying. You pull them out. There's no easy way to do it. That's the only way you can do it. Now, that does not mean you should just go in and drop a hammer and say that they're stupid and things like that. He does not insult necessarily the Pharisee's character. He's not saying, you know, you're a bunch of idiots who are trying to belittle them. He's just telling them the truth. You're not what you claim to be. You say that you're saved and good, but you're not. That's just not how it is. There should always be, of course, a balance. And depending on the person, different approaches may be better. Some people may deal better with a little bit more kindness. Some may just need it right off the bat. I respond better to blunt, honest truth. That's just how I am, how it usually works with me. But either way, the Pharisees needed some tough love, and they got it. Some of them will respond to that. Some of them will not. Paul will. He told them clearly, and some might say offensively, that they were basically sons of the devil. Not the nicest thing you could ever say. Very politically incorrect. Very, very incorrect. Wouldn't get you much points at all. But we are not in the business of politics, but in the business of spirituality. Being the elect, we don't have to worry about elections. There's no need to appeal to masses, or to worry necessarily about what the world may think when we preach the gospel. Because the gospel is a stumbling block, both to the Jews and to the Gentiles, and always will remain that way. We have to be clear about our message and not necessarily be light-footed about it, the tiptoe on it. But moving on, before we get too much into that, we find the last group in the latter part of verse 23. which can be, well, simply read, to others show mercy with fear, even the garment stained by the flesh. Really, you could say the committed here, as I would call them, they're just convinced to have been more entrenched in their views. They've been there longer. Maybe there are those who actually spread them. Maybe they're the head false teachers. I think that's the reason why we have a warning here. The phrase, on some have mercy with fear, I think that indicates clearly there's to be a fear, a worry, a sense of, I guess you could say, protectiveness when dealing with those people. Maybe getting too close you could get tainted in a sense. It says, garments stained by the flesh, which we'll dive into in just a second. And I think this goes back simply to how people we're around shape our behavior in part. Proverbs 27, 17, iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another. Who we're around, who we spend our time with determine how we act. There's traits that I picked up from Justin, there's traits that I pick up from Jake and vice versa. Who you're around determines how you act. It's just part of it. We all shape each other. Other words, If you're exposed to false teaching, if you closely associate with it, if you're immersed in it, over time that's going to affect you. It's just going to, it's just how it works. It could easily corrupt anyone. Peter was around Judaizers and what happened? Even the mighty Peter became what? In essence, he, for a time period, approved of some type of false ideology. Spending much time with them is a dangerous game. I believe that's why John, and once again, as I've said, false teaching is everywhere, and you really start digging, you find it. John states strongly, very strongly, when I first read this little letter, I wasn't expecting something that serious to come out. Usually, first, second, and third John are kind of saying these light little letters to an extent by some. He says, I believe in verse nine, that whoever abides in the teaching, that is the gospel, the teaching he's referring to there, has both the Father and the Son. If you're in the Word, you are of the Word, you are of God. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, Do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting. Whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works." Now John, real quick, he's not saying you're like to avoid and reject and not associate with anyone who's not a Christian. He's not exactly saying that. That's going too far. Paul criticized the Philippian church, excuse me, Philippian, the Corinthian church, and I believe in chapter 5, of entirely removing themselves from all contact with the world in the sense of trying to be pure, a monastic kind of thing, and that's going too far. We're not to be of the world, but we are to be in the world. We have to maintain some contact, otherwise the gospel cannot be shared. Rather, the situation John was discussing, I think, was not interactions of everyday sinners, but showing approval to false Christians. If you invite a traveling minister who he's talking about to your house or in your church, agree to them, essentially you're giving your approval. That's what you're doing by doing that in that culture. By showing approval to a false Christian, those who teach a false gospel, you're giving them credence possibly to others. But if anyone teaches a gospel contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ, they're to be what? To be accursed, to be pronounced anathema. And we don't do that out of hate. We never condemn someone out of hate. Athanasius didn't condemn Arius because he was a bad guy, necessarily, because he hated the guy. his guts for whatever reason. He condemned him because he taught something bad, something false. We do that to keep ourselves holy. That's the point of that. Remember the sin of Achan in the Old Testament that brought judgment upon the entire host of Joshua, that one little sin, and God demanded purity. Or Paul's command in 1 Corinthians 5, to purge the evil person from among you. God is a holy God and he demands us to be the same. What does that mean? It means we're to be holy, to keep ourselves pure the best that we can. Otherwise, a little leaven leavens the entire lump. The church should be both keen to protect itself locally, I think, from danger, but also from anyone else who may try to come in the church. And though there may be denominations, and obviously that's true, there's different views on different things, and there are some respectable differences, I think, on certain issues, there are some things that cannot be compromised. A Mormon should never stand behind a pulpit and preach to true Christians. Why? Because they preach a different gospel. I don't think we should hold hands and pray or have services with Jehovah's Witnesses. I don't think that should happen either, which I doubt they would want to with us either. They see us as false teachers, of course. But if they teach a gospel contrary to one we received, once again, Paul says what? Let them be a cursed anathema. Do not associate with them. I came to preach Christ and Christ crucified alone. Anything else is to be rejected. If a pastor whose name I will not mention directly, but you may know who I'm talking about, says that God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny he has laid out for us. Do we associate with him? No, we do not. That's not something we associate with because our teachings lead people to hell. The prosperity gospel is something that is highly, deeply entrenched in America, but also is spreading. And the saddest thing is that really American Christianity in general is drifting towards that idea that God just wants us to be happy and he's going to bless us financially, which runs well with our very consumerist culture. God's just our cool dad who wants us to have fun. He's just our ATM bank. He's just going to give us everything that we need and want. That's how people treat God typically. This is the, in my eyes, this is the homegrown heresy of America that will have dire effects in the future. Prosperity Gospel is already deeply entrenched in Africa at the moment. It will continue to grow and to spread. Why did it happen? Because the American church has failed in its duty to deal with false teaching. Not just Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses that we produced, it's also Prosperity Gospel. And you see pretty much in any TV screen or any, some of the major churches, that's what's being taught. And that's gonna have a deep, deep legacy. And we might have blood on our hands for that. It's gonna affect everything. It's like a disease, as we said earlier. It will spread like a plague. and consume everything in its path. We're not to treat Paris as some far-off threat, something someone else has got to deal with. It's to be rejected and condemned fervently. I've come into contact with it myself, even in schools with kids. Really, from the time we've conceived and been born, by the age five, we're already indoctrinated almost in a way to that view. The American dream is a byproduct and why I think the prosperity gospel appeals so much to people here. We're taught from when we're little, you can be and do and have anything you want. That's essentially what America teaches us. We cannot associate necessarily with such talk to that extreme. No one must be close to those who advocate that, especially within churches, because you're not necessarily going to have everything that you want. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. That's how it is. You're not promised a wonderful life. You may be blessed, that may be great, but you may not. And when you teach somebody that, typically it's centered around themselves and their works and what they can do. And it leads into works-based salvation, or it leads to people confess to be Christian just because they don't get cool, free stuff. That's not what Christianity is. Paul would have a heart attack. Christ himself probably cries over that fact. And it shows the degree of danger of involving yourself with teachings like that, whereas American heresy, such as that, or any type of heresy, when you look at the entire history of the church, and trust me, if you look in the church history, you'll find all sorts of fun, interesting little tidbits about the church. Jude uses very specific terminology in the latter part of verse 23. He says, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. The word garments doesn't refer just to some clothing like a tunic or a cloak or pants or shorts or anything like that. Garment itself literally refers to underwear in Koine Greek. The word stained by the flesh means literally to be stained by bodily function. Other words, feces or urine. In other words, you're handling dirty underwear. That's basically what Jude is saying. And just as no one wants to handle anyone's dirty underwear or dirty diapers, especially for parents who have to deal with that, alright, just as no one wants to do that because you're going to get defiled, you'll be unclean when touching that, so should we avoid getting close to false teachers? That's what spiritually happens to us when we associate with that, when we're extent, immersed in that. Our spirit is being corrupted in the worst form possible. That's how serious it is. Jude is talking about that, something some people would find too far. But that's how serious it was to Jude. That's how serious it is to God. That's how unclean you are. And when you're surrounded by someone who's deep in that false teaching, where it's of a sexual nature, because I've been exposed to that in college, people have different views on that and dealing with that and how it's corrupt people, or something of a moral matter, something with salvation, especially salvation, one of the key issues we have to protect. We have to be cautious when we reach out to those people. Otherwise, we can become corrupted ourselves. One, they may be deeply entrenched in their arguments. Jehovah Witnesses, for instance, they teach a very works-based gospel. but they're not necessarily someone you can just easily just, I don't know, convince necessarily with the gospel. They're trained, literally, to respond to any type of question. Yes, their Bible, they may have a Bible, but it's been changed and completely corrupted, and verses referring to Christ the Son of God has been removed by their head guys many years ago, by the Watchtower group in the 40s and 50s, maybe 30s, forgive me. They know. So one, we may come in contact and try to roll in all confidently, and we may get ourselves, well, in a corner. That may happen, but also, too, you may just get, well, corrupted by it. It sounds impossible to think of, but once again, Peter, the great apostle Peter, probably my favorite apostle, he made a very big mistake in Galatians. Paul, before he was a Christian, he was a man deeply entrenched in his works by righteousness, salvation. That's what he believed would get him to heaven. We have to be careful. Especially when it comes to those that we know, because those that we know, we want to do what? Please them. And we don't want to offend anybody. We all like to get along to an extent. It's our human nature. But at the same time, too, that weak old flesh of ours, sometimes it likes those ideas. Those ideas that may appeal to our desires. Very, very easy. I think it's why Paul also even say this again. He says in Galatians 6, 1, regarding to restoring or evangelizing those who may become corrupted or are corrupted, keep watch on yourself lest ye too be tempted. Keep watch on yourself. Be careful. We have a duty. It's always a fun duty. We have a duty to reach out to different categories of false teachers, whatever they may be in. Where if someone is confused about something, go to them in love and talk to them about it. Find a time, find an opportunity. Sometimes the opportunity will be thrust upon you, so to speak. If there's someone convinced or committed to it, and you have an opportunity, and you are prepared and ready, you've been doing the steps you're supposed to have been doing, preparing, at the same time getting ready for defense, launch into that third phase if you can. God will present the opportunities. I'm sure you've had it happen to you before, hopefully, and as have I. Show them scripture. Try to get them on the right path. And of course, we cannot deal with every type of way to deal with a false heresy. We discussed before with Islam and Jehovah Witness some different things, but that will come at a later time. The importance of this task that we have is never to be underestimated. Once again, Hal James closes out his book. He says, My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns the sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. When we reach out, we can save someone from death, from eternal death. Do not commit the sin of Cain. You are your brothers and sisters' keepers. They are people, just like anybody else. Always remember, those same teachers at one time, those false teachers, that may have been you. They are people just like anybody else, and they, too, need the gospel, even if it does aggravate us when Jehovah's Witnesses may come knocking on our doors. We have that responsibility. Otherwise, we are no more than weak cowards, too scared to say anything. But as Calvin said, I'd be a coward if I saw a dog bite my master and I did nothing. It is my duty to protect my master. It's our duty to respect, honor, and revere God through our actions, both within the church and without. When you can, be willing. Be willing to reach out. Let's bow and pray. Father, we'd ask, Lord, for your guidance, your blessings, Lord, upon this church, that she be with us, Lord, both tonight, of course, throughout the rest of the week, and through the lifetime of this church, that she will give it, Lord, the time and you will allot to it. Father, we pray for all those collectively gathered here, Lord, that you'd be with them, Lord, that we'd all grow together, Lord, in the faith, that we'd, if we're not on the throne just to milk, Lord, as newborn babies, we would soon transfer to the meat, Lord, if we're on the meat, Lord of the Word, that we continue, Lord, on that feast, continue to grow in the faith. Father, we'd ask that if anyone here is not saved, Lord, that you, in your due time, would come upon them and call them, Lord, for salvation, that they would answer. We call for those that are already in the faith, already in the fold, one of your sheep, that they will continue, Lord, to persevere and endure it to the end. If they are straying at this moment, Lord, we pray that you would guide them back onto your path through your word, your wisdom, and your might. We ask finally, Father Lord, for forgiveness, Lord, of our sins, both collectively and individually, that just as you've forgiven us and shown us grace, Lord, that you have loved us, Lord, we would also Sincerely love those around us. Show us a sincere brotherly love to those around us, Lord, and be quick to forgive and apt to forget, Lord, others who have wronged us. Father, we'd ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Any thoughts, comments, questions?