Godless Dreamers Jude 8-13 Adapted from a sermon by Steve Shepherd http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/godless-dreamers-steve-shepherd-sermon-on-false-teaching-127853.asp

1. Godless Dreamers Jude 1:8-13 Adapted from a sermon by Steve Shepherd http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/godless-dreamers-steve-shepherd-sermon-on-false-teaching-127853.asp

2. Jude 1:8 NET Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. 9But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses' body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!"

3. 10But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. 11Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain's path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam's error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah's rebellion.

4. 12These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit — twice dead, uprooted; 13wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved.

5. 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. The wife dreamed I wanted to trade her Lincoln for another Lumina Van to match the one we have. She told me I couldn’t unless I could pick it up & carry it. Somehow I did so then she was stuck with two of those ugly vans.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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. 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)

9. 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?

10. 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. 1 Corinthians 10:31 NET So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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. In our text, Jude speaks specifically about certain godless dreamers. 1- They defile themselves 2- They reject authority 3- They insult the glorious ones 4- They did/will not learn from history

14. GODLESS DREAMERS POLLUTE THEMSELVES 8Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. Notice how closely Jude writing compares with Peter’s.

15. 2 Peter 2:10 NET especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones, defile Thayer Definition: 1) to dye with another colour, to stain 2) to defile, pollute, sully, contaminate, soil 2a) to defile with sins

16. The idea of staining, polluting, ruining their bodies seems evident to me. How hard is it to pollute or stain your body? Sophronius, a wise teacher, would not suffer even his grown-up sons and daughters to associate with those whose conduct was not pure and upright.

17. "Dear father," said the gentle Eulalia to him one day, when he forbade her and her brothers to visit the volatile Lucinda, "you must think us very childish if you imagine that we should be exposed to danger by it." The father took, in silence, a dead coal from the hearth and reached it to his daughter. "It will not burn you, my child; take it."

18. Eulalia did so, and behold her beautiful white hand was soiled and blackened and as it chanced her white dress also. "We cannot be too careful in handling coals," said Eulalia, in vexation. "Yes, truly," said the father, " You see, my child, that coals, even if they do not burn, blacken; so it is with the company of the vicious.” (Dictionary Of Illustrations)

19. How about the polluting aspect this word defile could indicate. It seems everyone is on a “Green” kick these days! You can’t turn on the TV without seeing something about how this or that is destroying the earth. Environmentalists are concerned about earth’s pollution and global warming. Some go to extremes that make no sense to me.

20. A 28-year-old environmentalist from England traveled some 9,770 miles by land to be a bridesmaid at a wedding in Australia because she did not want to contribute to air pollution by flying. Barbara Haddrill’s initial plans said the trip would take her six weeks to accomplish at a cost of $3,800. (kind of silly, wouldn’t you say?)

21. If you google her online you’ll find she took a very long way to get there. At least going via Russia, Siberia & China looks like a round-about way to me. Never mind the fact that you can’t get from England to Australia by land! As it turned out she took a cargo ship from Singapore that took 10 days to get to Melbourne. Reckon that ship didn’t belch out any pollutants those 10 days?

22. According to someone’s statistics the average American each year will leave in their wake their share of the 20 million tons of paper, 48 billion cans and 26 billion bottles that litter the land. They will personally pollute three million gallons of water in a year. (Don’t know where or how these stats are figured? I can’t imagine touching, even remotely, 3 million gallons of water in my lifetime!)

23. “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.

24. 8Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones.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.

25. 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.“ (Matthew Henry Commentary)

26. The pollution of ones own body can be done in many different ways. People are guilty of both polluting and destroying their own bodies. In this text, however, it’s probably illicit sexual relations such homosexuality. But there are plenty of sexually transmitted diseases than people get. Let’s refer back to the previous verse.

27. Jude 1:7 NET So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire. In the next breath he talks about defiling the flesh. What else are we to think it means?

28. GODLESS DREAMERS REJECT AUTHORITY 8Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. 2 Peter 2:10 NET especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones,

29. A police officer pulls over this guy who had been weaving in and out of the lanes. He goes up to the guy’s window and says "Sir, I need you to blow into this breathalyzer tube." The man says, "Sorry officer I can’t do that. I am an asthmatic. If I do that I’ll have a really bad asthma attack."

30. "Okay, fine. I need you to come down to the station to give a blood sample.""I can’t do that either. I am a hemophiliac. If I do that, I’ll bleed to death."

31. "Well, then we need a urine sample." "I’m sorry officer I can’t do that either. I am also a diabetic. If I do that I’ll get really low blood sugar.""Alright then I need you to come out here and walk this white line." "I can’t do that, officer." "Why not?" "Because I’m too drunk to do that."

32. Did you ever get pulled over by the police or state trooper and try to argue your way out of a ticket? Maybe you said, "Now officer, I was only doing 74 mph in this 70 mph zone."Or did you ever reject authority in any form? School teacher? Boss? Police? How about mom and dad? Didn’t we all do that somewhat? I know I did.

33. Rebellion never pays, does it? And especially, when it comes to God. The ultimate authority that people reject is God and Christ. How do they do this? By their unbelief. And sometimes by thumbing their nose at God and everything he stands for.

34. To me, that’s rejecting authority and people of all ages and ranks do it all the time in various ways and they will be sorry. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31 NET

35. GODLESS DREAMERS SLANDER CELESTIAL BEINGS Jude 1:8 NET Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. 9But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses' body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!"

36. 10But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. 2 Peter 2:9 NET — if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and to reserve the unrighteous for punishment at the day of judgment,

37. 10especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones,11yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.12But these men, like irrational animals — creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed —

38. do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed, A man was walking in the street when he heard a voice: "Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step, a brick will fall down on your head and kill you." The man stopped and a big brick fell right in front of him. The man was astonished.

39. He went on, and after awhile he was going to cross the road. Once again the voice shouted: "Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step a car will run over you and you will die." The man did as he was instructed, just as a car came careening around the corner, barely missing him.

40. "Where are you?" the man asked. "Who are you?" "I am your guardian angel," the voice answered. "Oh yeah?" the man asked. "And where were you when I got married?“Do you believe in angels? You’d better, because they are real and they are talked about in the scripture in many places.Hebrews 1:14 NET Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation?

41. Our text says that these godless dreamers insult the glorious ones. And we assume this refers to angels, etc. And why would anyone slander an angel? And how would they do it? I think when it comes to anything pertaining to God and His angels we need to be careful what we say and what we do.

42. I don’t know if people specifically slander angels but many people have sure used the Lord’s name in vain ways without giving these words any serious thought at all. AND THAT’S DANGEROUS TERRITORY!

43. Hebrews 12:28 NET So since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us give thanks, and through this let us offer worship pleasing to God in devotion and awe.29For our God is indeed a devouring fire. And we certainly don’t reverence angels over God because this would be wrong but God’s angels certainly deserve a certain amount of respect.

44. 9But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses' body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!" 10But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend.

45. Warren Wiersbe said, "We have no information about the conflict between Satan and Michael over the body of Moses. When Moses died, the Lord buried him and no one knew where the grave was located. (Deut. 34:5-6) No doubt the Jewish people would have made a shrine out of it and fallen into idolatry, so God kept this information to Himself.

46. The text tells us that Michael…did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!""It is a dangerous thing to confront Satan directly and to argue with him, because he is much stronger than we are. If an archangel is careful about the way he deals with the devil, how much more cautious ought we to be!"

47. Satan is a celestial being, though evil. We need to be careful how we talk about him or deal with him. When it comes to God, Christ or any celestial being all people had better keep their mouths shut if they ever had the thought of saying anything slanderous or evil!

48. They DID/will not learn from history Jude now goes to Hebrew history for parallels to the wicked men of his own day; and from it he draws the examples of three notorious sinners. (DSB)

49. 11Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain's path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam's error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah's rebellion. Many people assume that because Abel brought a blood sacrifice and Cain brought a grain sacrifice, that the difference between the two offerings was sacrificial blood. But the real difference was between faith and unbelief.

50. Hebrews 11:4 NET By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faith he still speaks, though he is dead. Jude says that Cain typifies a way that the certain menfollow in. It is the way of unbelief and empty religion, which leads to jealousy, persecution of the truly godly, and eventually to murderous anger.

51. There is no greater curse on the earth than empty, vain religion; They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these. 2 Timothy 3:5 NET No wonder Paul added, “So avoid people like these.”

52. Many Christians are afraid of secular humanism or atheism or the world. But dead religion is far more dangerous, and sends more people to hell than anything else. These certain menwere in the way of Cain, the way of dead religion. The greedy error of Balaam was that he was willing to compromise everything for money. The certain menJude warned about had the same heart.

53. Many Christians would never deny Jesus under persecution, but might deny Him if offered a large sum of money. There is not a single sin that corrupt man will not commit for the sake of money. Covetousness is such a dangerous sin that it killed Jesus - 30 pieces of silver helped put Jesus on the cross.

54. Have run greedily is literally "they were poured out" (Robertson). This is a strong picture of excessive indulgence. But Paul also uses the same term for the extravagant way God loves us: And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.Romans 5:5 NET

55. The rebellion of Korah: Korah's story is found in Numbers 16. He was a prominent man in Israel. And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the LORD?" Numbers 16:3 NET

56. Korah and his followers resented the authority God gave to Moses and Aaron. When Korah said this, Moses fell on his face, knowing God's judgment would soon come. Moses then proposed a test: each group took censers (for burning incense) and came before the Lord. The Lord Himself would choose which man He wanted to represent Him: Moses or Korah.

57. When they both came before God, the Lord told Moses to step away. Numbers 16:31 NET When he had finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open,32and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with their households, and all Korah's men, and all their goods.

58. Rebellion: Korah was a Levite, but not of the priestly family of Aaron. As a Levite, he had had his own God-appointed sphere of ministry, yet he was not content with it. He wanted the ministry and the authority of Moses. Korah needed to learn this essential lesson: we should work hard to fulfill everything God has called us to be. At the same time, we should never try to be what God has not called us to be.

59. The rebellion of Korah: This was also a rejection of God's appointed leaders, especially God's appointed Mediator. When the certain menrejected authority and spoke evil against dignitaries, they walked in the rebellion of Korah. The rebellion of Korah "lies in the broader idea of a contemptuous and determined assertion of self against divinely appointed ordinances." (Salmond, The Pulpit Commentary)

60. These three men came from quite different backgrounds: Cain was a farmer, Balaam was a prophet, Korah was a leader in Israel. Apostasy is never confined to one group of people. "There are apostates in the pulpit, in the palace, and in the poorhouse." (Coder)

61. Who were these godless dreamers? Jude 1:4 NET For certain men have secretly slipped in among you — men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe — ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

62. These godless dreamers were false prophets! And they are not complimented in this book at all!They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit and twice dead. The list goes on and on.

63. 12These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit — twice dead, uprooted;13wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved.

64. There may be many "godless dreamers" in our world. And if you think you heard one speaking then stop listening. And if you think you ever ran into one then turn the other way.1 Peter 5:8 NET Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, strong in your faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are enduring the same kinds of suffering.