Protecting yourself from the Apostasy
Jude 17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
The first sixteen verses hit the apostasy very hard, now Jude turns to the saints. The first thing he does is to tell them to remember the word of the apostles. This epistle has hit the Old Testament, both the history and the prophecy as well as the spiritual books from the saints that are not in the Old Testament and now he turns to the New Testament Apostles. All of these words can help you set your mind on the spirit. Every word of God is profitable for instruction. In particular the words of the apostles are the protection against apostasy. You can't remember them if you don't know them and you will not know them if you don't read them, study them, and meditate on them. The word of God is not according to natural wisdom. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. We need a renewed mind and we will only get that through the transformation of the Spirit. The cross of Christ is foolishness to the apostates but to us it is the wisdom of God. That is because we are saved through the cross and this indicates the apostates do not know God's salvation through the cross. Paul warned that grievous wolves would come in and not spare the flock. Wolves are not sheep. Paul also said that men would arise from among the church speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. There are Christian cults and they focus on members of Christ's body, they don't go after the unsaved. These cults are built around an exaggerated truth and they do not embrace the whole counsel of God. The epistle to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2, representing the apostolic church, appears to have been faithful to Paul's admonition. They try those who claim to be apostles and are able to determine the false ones. However, they had left their first love. Doctrinally sound but without love, the first love that they had for the Lord. This is how the apostasy operates, get you unbalanced. Scoffers can be very insulting, if you descend to their level all of a sudden you find yourself having left your first love. When they walk according to their own lusts you can become quite offended, but be careful, remember the admonition "hate the sin, love the sinner". Our first love is the Lord who came to call all men to repentance. The Lord gave Himself that all men might be saved. So then how do we respond? First we listen to the Lord and learn from Him. Everything we endure He endured. Second we obey Him, we don't run after our own desires. The process of transformation involves the Lord revealing if we are otherwise minded in anything and the reality is we are otherwise minded in many things. Third, we need to be content with our station. You don't need a title, or a position to speak the word of God. All things that have come into being have come into being through the word of God. If you have that faith then the word you speak can be very powerful even if you are nothing and no one. Now, if you can follow with these steps you will enter into the spiritual warfare and will then learn we are a corporate body. If you are divided, separated out from the body you can become prey. I have seen 20 hyenas surround a full grown male lion and if it were not for other lions coming to his aid they would have killed him. Someone who is truly knit into the Body would not murmur against the brothers and sisters because they would realize they are often his salvation as they have his back. Then you see that the warfare is like an army, each person is fitly framed in the body, uniquely positioned to help in the warfare. Instead of complaining about your position you come to appreciate the role all of your brothers and sisters play. Only then can the church truly be the city of God. This is why Satan's strategy is to make factions, divide the body. A heresy is a school of thought, just like all the various denominations and cults. Each one has their own special teaching in order to divide the saints. These doctrines come from them following their natural wisdom rather than the wisdom which is from above. Now this will actually help you grow in grace. It may sound strange but remember Paul says to "give thanks for all things" and that includes these heresies. The way I understand this I like to illustrate with Michael Jordan. When he came into the NBA he was a very gifted scorer and dominated the league in scoring. As a result teams put their best defender on him, and since that didn't work they began to design their entire defense to stop him. The Pistons had something called "the Jordan rules". They were brutal, eventually the league changed many of the rules because of that, but this made Jordan a better player. Everyday he was being tutored by the very best in the NBA on how to play defense. After a little while he became one of the very best defenders in the league. To have a guy that was dominating on both ends of the court was very unique. But even so they were unable to beat the Pistons, forcing him and the whole team to hit the weight room. He had been quick and agile, but now he added strong as well. He could play against the LA Lakers and the NY Knicks. He could play fast paced game of the Lakers and the half court game of the Celtics. But he still needed to improve his game even more because teams double teamed him during the 4th quarter and he famously passed to Paxson in the fourth quarter because they were leaving him open and so after making himself a fully rounded player he learned to add assists to his arsenal and to trust his teammates. He didn't need the preeminence. When Phil Jackson became the coach he instituted a strategy that took the ball out of his hand and resulted in him scoring fewer points. However, it also made it very difficult for teams to double team Jordan without paying the price. This is how I understand Paul's word that it is necessary for there to be heresies so that those who are approved would be manifested. Think about the result. Several of the other players also became hall of fame players. Pippen had an extraordinary career, looking at his stats he was a truly all time great player. Would that have been the case without Jordan as a teammate? He still would have been great but maybe would not have ever won a championship. What about Rodman? His career had hit the rocks when the Bulls picked him up. I don't know if he would have been hall of fame if he hadn't gone to the Bulls. He was great with the Pistons but with the Bulls he was a champion and a hall of famer. The apostasy divides us, the Spirit knits us together. The apostasy is based on human intellect and thought, the Spirit lifts us to a higher plane. The apostasy is soulish, the true church is spiritual. To be soulish is to be self conscious, to be spiritual is to be God conscious. The apostasy is the natural man, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. For example, a hologram is a technique where we can create a 3 dimensional image and put all the information on a 2 dimensional sheet. If you look at it with your natural eyes it is foggy, not clear. But if you illuminate it with lasers designed to see it then you will get this dramatic 3 dimensional image. In the same way the natural man can only create two dimensional images but if you are in the spirit you will be getting these three dimensional holograms. This is why those in the apostasy see the Bible as myths, old stories that are no longer relevant, etc. They are looking at the Bible with natural eyes and the Bible can only be seen properly with the Spirit. When you look at the Bible with the Spirit the image of Christ will be alive.
Believers have the spirit. These ones may be on a very high plane naturally but they don't have the spirit, so they are not saved. They receive not the things of God for they are foolishness to them. Let's spend a 100 years to build a boat to save 8 people. Let's defeat this army with the jawbone of an ass. Or how about this one, some carpenter's son is crucified 1900 years ago and as a result the entire universe is redeemed.
Jude 17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
The first sixteen verses hit the apostasy very hard, now Jude turns to the saints. The first thing he does is to tell them to remember the word of the apostles. This epistle has hit the Old Testament, both the history and the prophecy as well as the spiritual books from the saints that are not in the Old Testament and now he turns to the New Testament Apostles. All of these words can help you set your mind on the spirit. Every word of God is profitable for instruction. In particular the words of the apostles are the protection against apostasy. You can't remember them if you don't know them and you will not know them if you don't read them, study them, and meditate on them. The word of God is not according to natural wisdom. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. We need a renewed mind and we will only get that through the transformation of the Spirit. The cross of Christ is foolishness to the apostates but to us it is the wisdom of God. That is because we are saved through the cross and this indicates the apostates do not know God's salvation through the cross. Paul warned that grievous wolves would come in and not spare the flock. Wolves are not sheep. Paul also said that men would arise from among the church speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. There are Christian cults and they focus on members of Christ's body, they don't go after the unsaved. These cults are built around an exaggerated truth and they do not embrace the whole counsel of God. The epistle to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2, representing the apostolic church, appears to have been faithful to Paul's admonition. They try those who claim to be apostles and are able to determine the false ones. However, they had left their first love. Doctrinally sound but without love, the first love that they had for the Lord. This is how the apostasy operates, get you unbalanced. Scoffers can be very insulting, if you descend to their level all of a sudden you find yourself having left your first love. When they walk according to their own lusts you can become quite offended, but be careful, remember the admonition "hate the sin, love the sinner". Our first love is the Lord who came to call all men to repentance. The Lord gave Himself that all men might be saved. So then how do we respond? First we listen to the Lord and learn from Him. Everything we endure He endured. Second we obey Him, we don't run after our own desires. The process of transformation involves the Lord revealing if we are otherwise minded in anything and the reality is we are otherwise minded in many things. Third, we need to be content with our station. You don't need a title, or a position to speak the word of God. All things that have come into being have come into being through the word of God. If you have that faith then the word you speak can be very powerful even if you are nothing and no one. Now, if you can follow with these steps you will enter into the spiritual warfare and will then learn we are a corporate body. If you are divided, separated out from the body you can become prey. I have seen 20 hyenas surround a full grown male lion and if it were not for other lions coming to his aid they would have killed him. Someone who is truly knit into the Body would not murmur against the brothers and sisters because they would realize they are often his salvation as they have his back. Then you see that the warfare is like an army, each person is fitly framed in the body, uniquely positioned to help in the warfare. Instead of complaining about your position you come to appreciate the role all of your brothers and sisters play. Only then can the church truly be the city of God. This is why Satan's strategy is to make factions, divide the body. A heresy is a school of thought, just like all the various denominations and cults. Each one has their own special teaching in order to divide the saints. These doctrines come from them following their natural wisdom rather than the wisdom which is from above. Now this will actually help you grow in grace. It may sound strange but remember Paul says to "give thanks for all things" and that includes these heresies. The way I understand this I like to illustrate with Michael Jordan. When he came into the NBA he was a very gifted scorer and dominated the league in scoring. As a result teams put their best defender on him, and since that didn't work they began to design their entire defense to stop him. The Pistons had something called "the Jordan rules". They were brutal, eventually the league changed many of the rules because of that, but this made Jordan a better player. Everyday he was being tutored by the very best in the NBA on how to play defense. After a little while he became one of the very best defenders in the league. To have a guy that was dominating on both ends of the court was very unique. But even so they were unable to beat the Pistons, forcing him and the whole team to hit the weight room. He had been quick and agile, but now he added strong as well. He could play against the LA Lakers and the NY Knicks. He could play fast paced game of the Lakers and the half court game of the Celtics. But he still needed to improve his game even more because teams double teamed him during the 4th quarter and he famously passed to Paxson in the fourth quarter because they were leaving him open and so after making himself a fully rounded player he learned to add assists to his arsenal and to trust his teammates. He didn't need the preeminence. When Phil Jackson became the coach he instituted a strategy that took the ball out of his hand and resulted in him scoring fewer points. However, it also made it very difficult for teams to double team Jordan without paying the price. This is how I understand Paul's word that it is necessary for there to be heresies so that those who are approved would be manifested. Think about the result. Several of the other players also became hall of fame players. Pippen had an extraordinary career, looking at his stats he was a truly all time great player. Would that have been the case without Jordan as a teammate? He still would have been great but maybe would not have ever won a championship. What about Rodman? His career had hit the rocks when the Bulls picked him up. I don't know if he would have been hall of fame if he hadn't gone to the Bulls. He was great with the Pistons but with the Bulls he was a champion and a hall of famer. The apostasy divides us, the Spirit knits us together. The apostasy is based on human intellect and thought, the Spirit lifts us to a higher plane. The apostasy is soulish, the true church is spiritual. To be soulish is to be self conscious, to be spiritual is to be God conscious. The apostasy is the natural man, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. For example, a hologram is a technique where we can create a 3 dimensional image and put all the information on a 2 dimensional sheet. If you look at it with your natural eyes it is foggy, not clear. But if you illuminate it with lasers designed to see it then you will get this dramatic 3 dimensional image. In the same way the natural man can only create two dimensional images but if you are in the spirit you will be getting these three dimensional holograms. This is why those in the apostasy see the Bible as myths, old stories that are no longer relevant, etc. They are looking at the Bible with natural eyes and the Bible can only be seen properly with the Spirit. When you look at the Bible with the Spirit the image of Christ will be alive.
Believers have the spirit. These ones may be on a very high plane naturally but they don't have the spirit, so they are not saved. They receive not the things of God for they are foolishness to them. Let's spend a 100 years to build a boat to save 8 people. Let's defeat this army with the jawbone of an ass. Or how about this one, some carpenter's son is crucified 1900 years ago and as a result the entire universe is redeemed.