Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: If you take your Bibles and turn to the Book of Jude, chapter eleven.
Jude chapter eleven.
Not verse eleven. Not chapter eleven.
Jude verse eleven.
If you can find chapter eleven, let me know. We'll. We'll expound it, too.
Jude verse eleven. For the past couple of months now, Judah has been describing these false teachers.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Who manage to creep into the Church.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Of Jesus Christ, gain positions of spiritual.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Leadership, and then they can teach doctrine.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: So false doctrine, so cleverly, so subtly, that they go unnoticed by many in the Church.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: And strangely enough, these false teachers can.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Appear to be, I believe, godlier than the real teachers to a lot of people. So much so that I believe it would be difficult for many Christians to imagine God sending them to hell because they seem so sincere.
But God doesn't Judge man based on his appearance.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: He judges him based upon his heart.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: Where only God can see. And seeing the abominations of the creepy.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Clergy'S heart, his self centered religious hypocrisy, God will condemn these false teachers who occupy the Church, just like he'll condemn.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: The unbelievers who've never gone to church. After describing these creepy clergy, Jude says, look now with me in verse eleven.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Woe unto them.
Woe unto them.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: The word woe is a declaration of grief.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Jude is pronouncing grief, anguish upon these.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: As Jude described, filthy dreamers, these vain, hypocritical, false religious people.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: And as Jude pronounces this woe, it.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: Highlights for us the stark contrast between.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: Those who follow Jesus and those who.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Follow their own lusts in Jesus name. Because the Gospel pronounces what peace.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: It pronounces peace to those who trust in Jesus as their Savior. Romans chapter five, verse one says, therefore, being justified by faith, we have what.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We just finished up our Christmas celebration, or rather celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, however you want to put it.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: And on the announcement of the birth of Christ, the heavenly host proclaimed peace to the world.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: They said, at their savior's incarnation, glory.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: To God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. So peace unto those who humble themselves to acknowledge God and accept his son. But woe unto them who speak and act in God's name, but do not.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Trust in God's word and share God's heart.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Now, so there'll be no confusion as to the type of people that Jude is speaking about. He is going to use three men in the Bible to describe these creepy.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: Clergy, one of which we'll look at, Lord willing, this morning.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: But he's going to use three biblical examples, three men that we find in the Bible. And the first example that Jude is going to give us is a man.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: We all know, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the man Cain.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: Jude says woe unto them. Look back in your text, for they have gone in the way of Cain.
Creepy clergy are people who've gone in the way of Cain, meaning they've taken the same path that Cain took.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: And what path was it that Cain took? Well, we need to first understand that.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: The three men that Jude is using.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: As examples here were all three very religious men. Very religious men.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: In fact, I believe we could safely.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: Say they were devoutly religious men, at least for the time.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Men who believed in the one true God.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: After all, if a false teacher is.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: Going to creep into a church without being noticed, he would have to pass.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: The scrutiny of its members, right?
[00:04:28] Speaker B: And so it stands to reason that the false teacher would have to be a devoutly religious person, at least profess to believe in the one true God.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: The same God as the church members.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: Right? And Cain was that kind of man. Cain didn't just talk about religion. Cain practiced his religion. The Bible says, if you'll take your.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: Bibles now and turn to the Book of Genesis, keep your place here. Well, you don't have to keep your place in Jude. You can just go ahead and turn to Genesis, chapter four now, please. Genesis, chapter four.
The Bible says in Genesis four.
Excuse me, verse one through three.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: And Abel was a keeper of sheep. But Cain was a tiller of the ground.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: And in process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: Fruit of the ground and offering unto the Lord.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Cain was a tiller of the ground. Cain was a farmer. Boy, I tell you what, we get tired of watching the people who sit at home and collect a paycheck today for doing nothing. We get tired of slackers.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: But I tell you what, Cain was no slacker.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Cain was a hard working man. And Cain took a portion of the crops that he grew, and he brought that fruit of the ground. Whatever it was, the Bible doesn't say. But he brought of the fruit of the ground.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: An offering to the Lord.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: He made an offering to the one true God, the same God that you.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: And I love and worship today.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: So outwardly, Cain appeared to be a hardworking, God fearing, devoutly religious man. If we could have met Cain, I believe that we would have considered him.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: To be the salt of the earth kind of fellow.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: But inwardly, where only God could see.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: There was something terribly wrong with Cain spiritually.
[00:06:39] Speaker B: Genesis four, four and five now, says Cain's brother Abel. And look says also brought the first.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: Things of his flock and of the fat thereof.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: And the Lord had respect unto Abel, unto his offering, but unto Cain unto his offering. He, that is, God, had not respect. God accepted Abel's offering. But God did not accept Cain and his offering. The Bible says Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. And that means that Cain became angry because God didn't accept his offering.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: And you could see it on his face.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: He had that smutty look on his face. He was all upset because God would not accept his offering like he did his brothers. Now, what's the difference between Cain's offering and Abel's offering? The Bible tells us in the Book of Hebrews that the difference between their.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Two offerings was faith.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Cain was not a believer. Hebrews eleven four says, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Now, you may be thinking, but Cain.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: Had to believe in God. Cain talked to God. He spoke to God.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: And that's right, Cain did believe in God. He believed in God's person. Cain knew who God was. But though Cain believed in God's person, he did not believe in God's redemptive plan. Like Esau, Cain only thought of the here and now. He didn't care about being saved. He only cared about God promoting him to rule over his younger brother here on earth. That's what I can tell here in scripture. When God rejected Cain's offering, Cain was angry at God because Cain wanted God to accept him. On Cain's terms, Cain was like the people the apostle Jude is warning us about. Like the apostle Paul described when he said that they had a form of.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: Godliness, but denying the power thereof.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: There was no reason for Cain to.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Be angry with God.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Cain wanted to accept God. I'm sorry. God wanted to accept Cain. God loved Cain. But Cain had his own version of Christianity, and he wanted God to conform to his religion instead of him conform to God's.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: Of course, it's not God's place to.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: Conform to our will as his creatures. It's our place to conform to God's will. So in Genesis four, six through seven, God began reasoning with Cain. And God said unto him, why are you angry? And why is your countenance fallen if you do well? If thou doest well, shall you not be accepted? And if you do not well. Sin lies at the door, and unto you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him. From what I can tell there in Scripture, part of it's a parenthetical statement that God is saying, if you do well, I'll accept you. Now, if you don't do well, Cain, sin lies at the door.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: I won't accept you.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: But if you do well, I'll accept you. And unto you shall be your brother's desire, and you'll rule over your younger brother. It's natural for the firstborn son to enjoy a high rank in the family. After all, Cain did come first. But there are several instances in the Bible where the younger Son was promoted above the older son because that younger Son was spiritually minded. He was More eternally minded than his older sibling. So God would have accepted Cain. He would have promoted him above his younger brother, Abel, if Cain would have only come God's way, the way God prescribed. But rather than coming to God on.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: God's terms, Cain killed his little brother instead.
The Bible says in Genesis four, verse eight, that Cain talked with Abel, his brother.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him. Now, I want you to think what we're learning about here in the Book of Genesis. I want you to get into the mind of Cain, listen to the dialogue between him and God. Here in Cain's mind, it was easier to kill his little brother and cut out the competition rather than to submit to God's wise and loving authority over him.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: That's amazing.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: And this clearly shows us that Cain was not interested in God's redemptive plan. Cain did not care about God's plan of salvation. How do we know? Because Cain just killed his brother. He just destroyed what God desired to save. Cain came to take life. Christ came to give life. Now watch what happens next. In Genesis four, verse nine, it says, the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel, thy brother?
[00:11:50] Speaker A: And he said, I know not.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: Am I my brother's keeper?
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Look at him, getting smart with God and lying to God.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: And he said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood cryeth.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Unto me from the ground, and now.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: Thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Not henceforth yield unto thee her strength.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Now watch the response.
And Cain said unto the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: Behold, thou hast driven me out of this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. And it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: Let that soak in just a little bit.
AmazingLy, when God confronted Cain about the offense of murder, when God confronted Cain about killing his little brother, there is no documented sign of remorse in the Bible from Cain.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Did you notice that?
It appears that Cain was a religious narcissist.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: That's what I gather from this.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: A religious narcissist. That's what a creepy clergy is. Someone who worshiped God only for what he thought he could get out of the deal.
And when Cain didn't get what he wanted, he was willing to bypass God.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: So he could get it some other way.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: God said, Cain, if you do well, don't you think I'll accept you?
[00:13:41] Speaker A: And under you, it shall be his desire, and you'll rule for him.
Cain goes, nah, no, I think I'll just kill him. Nobody will rule over me. I'll do it my way. I'll still be the number one.
It's amazing.
When confronted by God about the murder of his brother, the only response recorded for Cain in the Bible is him complaining that his punishment was too harsh. Think about it.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: We don't read about Cain breaking down in tears and asking God for forgiveness.
We don't read about Cain saying, oh.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: God, what must I do to be saved?
[00:14:24] Speaker B: How can I be redeemed from my.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: Sin, O God, and forgiven and inherit eternal life that you've promised to our parents? No, the Bible says only that Cain was worried that somebody someday may kill him like he killed his brother. That's it.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Now, think again about this hardworking religious man.
Think back from the beginning, when we first learned about him. And in your mind's eye, watch him as he, with calloused, hardworking hands, offers.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: His offering to God.
Who, beside God, would have ever known that this hardworking, devoutly religious farmer on the outside could have been so cold, selfish, godless and cruel on the inside?
[00:15:16] Speaker B: How can men appear to be so.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: Holy, but inwardly and actually be so unholy?
[00:15:24] Speaker B: Well, here's what happened.
[00:15:25] Speaker A: Cain mimicked Godly worship. Cain mimicked godly worship. His altar probably looked very similar to his brother Abel's.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: May have been the same altar. We don't know.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: Could have been the same altar.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: BuT you know what? I have the idea that if Cain.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: Had his own altar, it might have looked even better than his brothers.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: His religion mimicked godly worship in the same way lost people can mimic godly worship.
Had his offering in the altar. Abel had his offering in an altar. They both brought an offering to God. And people can come into church and they can mimic what we do in.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: The church as well.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: They can raise their hands and praise. They can bow their head and pray. They can get up in the choir and sing. They can put money in the offering plate. They can open their hymnals. They can serve. They can do all the same stuff. Outwardly, Cain's religion mimicked the worship of God, but it mocked the way of God.
Cain went through the same motions of offering something to God on the altar, but he offered something that God did not require in order to obtain something.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: That God did not promise. You get it?
[00:16:41] Speaker B: He offered something that God did not require in order to obtain something that God did not promise. Cain wanted to give God vegetables in exchange for earthly promotion.
That's not the gospel.
Cain wanted God to accept an unrighteous man without him having a righteous substitute. Now, listen, in the Bible, there is food offerings. In the Bible, they did take of the first fruit of the ground, and they would bring those first fruit offerings to the Lord. But you know what? When you see them offering the first fruit offerings in the Bible, every time there's going to be something else offered along with those vegetables. And you know what it is? It is a blood sacrifice.
You can't have a food offering without having a blood sacrifice.
I went and looked it up just to make sure before I came and preached this this morning. I preached about Cain and Abel for.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Many years, but thought, you know what I want to see?
[00:17:41] Speaker B: Because some people, well, he brought a food offering. He brought the first fruits of his farming and everything.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: But, boy, when they bring that, God says, you offer this, too. You offer this along with it.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Why? Because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sins. Cain wanted to give God vegetables in exchange for earthly promotion. That's not the gospel. Cain wanted God to accept an unrighteous man without having a righteous substitute to die in his place. That's not the gospel. That's the way of Cain.
When God slew animals to clothe Cain and Abel's parents in the garden of Eden, he demonstrated to them, he demonstrated to mankind how he would one day save the world through the death of an innocent substitute. Like the animals God slayed and clothed, guilty Adam and Eve and the innocence of the animals who died for them. And by faith, Abel's offering, I believe, was based on God's covenant promise of the gospel.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: But Cain's offering was not based on the pattern that God had shown. Cain had his own spin on God's covenant promise. But, folks, the gospel is not subject to our modifications.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: We either come to God in the manner he prescribed, or we don't come at all. And when pressed on the matter, when confronted about the matter by God, Cain was more comfortable destroying what God was trying to save than he was repenting and coming to God the way God prescribed.
It's amazing to me. Jesus said, I am the way Cain said, I've got my own way.
I've heard people just like Cain before. I've heard people say, well, me and.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: God, we've got something worked out. Let me tell you something.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: Everything that needs to be worked out between God and man was worked out.
[00:19:39] Speaker A: By Jesus on the cross where he died.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: And if you don't come to God through the salvation Jesus worked out, then nothing's going to work out for you, not between you and God. Cain, the religious hypocrite. He persecuted God's religion. I'm sorry.
[00:19:57] Speaker A: He perverted God's religion and he persecuted God's people. Think about that.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: He perverted.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: This is the hallmark of a creepy clergy.
[00:20:08] Speaker B: He perverted God's religion, had his own.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: Spin on the sacrifice.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Unwilling to come God's way, he perverted God's religion.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: And then when pressed, he persecuted God's people. He killed Abel, the first Christian martyr.
Christians go on the way of the cross, but creepy clergy and those who follow them, they go in the way of Cain.
Cain did not offer to God a blood sacrifice. Again, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins.
A false preacher can be distinguished from a true preacher by the message they preach.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: A false preacher will not preach the cross of Jesus Christ as given to.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: Us in God's word.
He may preach something close to it, he may talk about it, but the.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: False preacher is going to preach the way of Cain. Something that closely resembles God's redemptive plan, that comes short of putting your faith.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: In God's redemptive man.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: You get that? Something that comes close sounds like God's redemptive plan, but comes short of putting.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: Your faith in God's redemptive man.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: The cross of Jesus Christ is the great division between the preachers of darkness and the preachers of light. That's why the Pharisees, once again, the Pharisees, like Cain, devoutly religious people. But what did the Pharisees do? They rejected the salvation Jesus came to give. And then they persecuted the people who accepted it. That is the way of Cain. Peace unto them who go in the way of Christ. But woe unto them who go in.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: The way of Cain.
Why?
For the preaching of the cross, the apostle Paul said, is to them that perish foolishness.
But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. Remember how Paul described the creepy clergy? They have a form of godliness right here.
[00:22:25] Speaker B: They come up to the altar. Here they come here, God. Here's my offering.
Look at me.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: I'm religious just like you. They have that form of godliness. They get all dressed up for church and everything. They speak religious and everything. They have a form of godliness. But Paul said, they deny the power thereof.
What is the power thereof?
He says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it. The cross is the power of God.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: They have everything there is but the cross of Jesus Christ. And Paul went on to sAy, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. And will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that, in the wisdom of God.
[00:23:29] Speaker A: The world, by wisdom, knew not God.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: In other words, they thought, I can think my way around this. I don't need the cross. I don't need to humble myself before God, my creator. I don't need to accept his terms and his will for my life. I don't need to confess that I'm a filthy, rotten sinner. In need of complete, redemptive salvation. From the Savior that he sent. I'll think my way around it. I'll educate my way around it. I'll moralize my way around it. But where is the disputer and where is the wise? God has made foolish the wisdom of this world, he says. For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world, by wisdom, by their.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Own way of thinking, knew not God.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The foolishness to the world. The cross is foolishness to the world.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: I remember talking to so many people over the years. And one I wrote about in my book. And I may have shared with y'all, but I remember going to a church one time there in Middle Oathian, Texas, not too far from here. I was looking for a church to go to hadn't been a Christian too long at the time, and my job had moved me up there. You've probably read about it in my book. But I remember going up there, and I remember sitting down with that pastor, and I said, I want you to pretend like I'm lost, and I want you to lead me to the Lord.
I want to know what his gospel was like. And he starts talking and he tells me what all I need to do and how I need to pray, this prayer and everything. And when he got through, he got through, and he looked at me and he smiled. He goes, well, how did I do? I didn't want to hurt that older man's feelings. He'd been a preacher for a long time.
I said, well, sir, you left one thing out.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: He said, what's thAt?
[00:25:28] Speaker A: I said, the cross.
You never told me what Jesus did for me on the cross.
God chose the foolishness of preaching. Save them that what?
[00:25:40] Speaker B: Believe what? Believe what's being preached and what is being preached. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
So God chose the foolishness, the foolishness of the world to preach the foolishness of the cross to save the people that believe the message of the cross. And without that message, there is no redemptive power. There's power, power, wonderworking power in the blood of the lamb. But you take that blood of the Lamb out, you have a form of godliness. You have the way of Cain, but you are denying the power of God to redeem you from your sin, deliver you from the grave, raise you up to heaven and restore unto you eternal life. Woe unto them, for they have gone.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: In the way of Cain. If you go to church and you.
[00:26:42] Speaker B: Don'T have a pastor that hits you square between the eyes with the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ, and that doesn't cause your faith to rest on Jesus where God caused your sin to rest. You get out of that church and you find you a place that preaches.
[00:26:58] Speaker A: Jesus Christ in him crucified. With that, we'll go ahead and stand.
We'll be dismissed with a word of prayer. Thank you for coming.
[00:27:06] Speaker B: Be in prayer for those who are.
[00:27:08] Speaker A: Out sick, those who still may be traveling over the holiday weekend.
Be in prayer for those who are coming to the website and who are coming into contact with the hundreds of tracks and mission mail stamps and things like that.
We got a Christmas card from Pete and Michelle Lake here at the church today, and I'll try to make sure and lay it out for everybody and I noticed on the back it had eternity is too long to be forward slacks Gospel so I appreciate them making use of the mission mail. We'll go ahead and be dismissed. Father, we thank you so much for everything you've done for us. We love you and we thank you for your wonderful church and letting us be a part Dear Lord God, of a place, dear Lord God, that has been called out from this world and called unto the body of your Son and Lord, we thank you, Father God, for delivering us from our sin, from delivering us, Lord, from death and giving us the great promise of everlasting life in your son. And Father. I pray, dear Lord God, you'll continue to enlighten us with your word and give us wisdom, Father, as we continue to go through the book of Jude and the Book of Proverbs and to.
[00:28:35] Speaker B: The Old Testament and the chronicles of the kings.
[00:28:37] Speaker A: Dear Lord God, and we learn your precious word together. I pray for all the prayer requests that have been made over the past week. Dear Lord God, all the unspoken and spoken requests alike, may your mercy and grace be upon us all in Jesus.
