Reject Deceivers and Demonic Doctrines
- Destructive Doctrines (1 Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Peter 2:1-3)
- Depravity of False Teachers (Jude 8-16, 19)
- Contend for the Faith (Jude 3-4, 20-25)
Central Truth: Christians are to contend for the Faith through God's Word in the power of Jesus Christ.
Focus: Discern and reject false teaching through the power of Jesus Christ.
Evangelism Emphasis: Jesus Christ is the Truth that sets the captive free.
Key Scripture (1 Timothy 4:1): “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils."
1. Destructive Doctrines
a. Hypocrites and liars
Key Scripture (1 Timothy 4:1-5): The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
b. false prophets and false teachers
Key Scripture (2 Peter 2:1-3): But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
Spirit of Error
The spirit of antichrist is at work in our nation. This spirit denies the deity of Christ and stands against everything we believe in. It breeds lawlessness and the breakdown of society. Secular humanism is the polite name we give to the spirit of error.
-- Ron Phillips
2. Depravity of False Teachers
a. self-absorbed rebels
Key Scripture (Jude 8-11): 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. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them. 11 Woe 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.
b. clouds without rain
Key Scripture (Jude 12-16): These people 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. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. 14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”[a] 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
c. creating divisions
Key Scripture (Jude 19): These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
Dishonest or Confused
Those who claim to be doing miracles by the power of the Spirit but who exhibit no fruit of the Spirit in their lives are either lying or confused.
-- Charles Stanley
3. Contend for the Faith
a. a shared salvation
Key Scripture (Jude 3-4): Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[a] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
The Nicene Creed
In AD 325, the bishops of the Church gathered in Nicaea to discuss a controversial teaching about Jesus. Artius, a deacon in the church at Alexandria, Egypt, taught that Christ was not eternal with the Father, but created by the Father. As Arius was explaining his doctrine, one bishop, Nicholas of Myra, became so incensed that he accosted and even slapped Arius. Nocholas was jailed overnight and forced to publicly apologize. The bishops condemned the teaching of Arius and formulated the NIcene Creed, which stated the teaching of the Church since the days of the apostles.
b. praying and waiting
Key Scripture (Jude 20-21): But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
c. practicing mercy
Key Scripture (Jude 22-23): Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
d. giving glory to god
Key Scripture (Jude 24-25): To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.s
