Sermon #29 Jude Sermons
Title: “Having not the Spirit”
Text: Jude 1:17-19
Subject: A Matter of Personal Examination
Date: Tuesday Evening — May 17, 2005
Tape # Jude #29
Readings: Lindsay Campbell and Rex Bartley
Introduction:
Turn with me again tonight to Jude 1:17-19. I want to pick up tonight right where I left off last week.
(Jude 1:17-19) "But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; (18) How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. (19) These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit."
Here the Holy Spirit tells us that it is imperative that we beware of false prophets, that we constantly hold in our minds the warnings given in the Book of God of the great dangers of false prophets and false religion, lest we be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
“Mockers”
First, he tells us that all who, by their doctrines of free-will, works religion, “turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness, denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ,” are “mockers…who walk after their own lusts.” False prophets are mockers (scoffers) in the pulpit who deceive others regarding the truth of the Gospel. Peter tells us that their ignorance is willing ignorance (2 Pet. 3:3-5). Their ignorance is not a matter of confusion, but of rebellion.
Let me be crystal clear. These mockers are men who dare to assert that…
· Election and predestination makes God a monster.
· Limited atonement, accomplished redemption leaves sinners without hope.
· Effectual, irresistible grace makes men robots.
· Salvation by grace alone leads to licentiousness.
· The believer’s freedom from the law causes people to become ungodly, lawless rebels.
· The doctrines of grace kill evangelism.
· Righteousness is to be obtained by something you do.
· The Second Coming of Christ, the Day of Judgment, and Everlasting Heaven and Hell are foolish myths and religious superstitions believed only by ignorant men.
(Galatians 1:6-9) “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: (7) Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. (8) But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (9) As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
(Galatians 5:12) “I would they were even cut off which trouble you.”
(Philippians 3:18-19) “(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: (19) Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)”
“walk after their own lusts”
False prophets, all of them, are men who “walk after their own lusts.” They are motivated by personal ambition. They derive their doctrine from their own reason, despising the authority of Holy Scripture. Having rejected the revelation of God, making their own carnal reason the measure of all truth, they are controlled by no other authority. They will not bow to even the most self-evident truths of Holy Scripture, if those truths conflict with their thoughts. Therefore our Lord tells us…
(Matthew 7:6) “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”
“Separate Themselve”
Next, Jude describes these self-serving mockers as separatists. — “These be they which separate themselves.”
That phrase, “they which separate themselves,” is found only here in Scripture. It refers to people who think that they are superior. Like the Pharisees, they want to elevate themselves as the spiritually elite. They form little cliques of followers to make them feel important, and seek to divide friends. They think they are great. If you do not think they are great, they will separate themselves from you and blubber the world over about how you have mistreated them. — Beware of those who separate themselves from…
· Faithful gospel preachers, men of proven faithfulness, who have been used of God o minister to your soul.
· God’s churches and people.
“Sensual”
Then Jude writes, “These are...sensual.” They consider themselves superior to others, but they are in reality just natural men, motivated by nothing but natural lusts, having nothing but natural knowledge. They live, operate in, and experience nothing but that which is natural to lost men.
These spiritual elitists vainly imagine that they are elevated to the highest level of life. They assume that everyone else is lost and do not hesitate to declare it, with great “humility,” of course. Jude tells us, by divine inspiration, that all such imaginary spiritual giants are less than pigmies, that they are just sensual, brute beasts, religious frauds, governed by their own lusts, and nothing else.
“Having not the Spirit”
His next word concerning these men is this. They are men “having not the Spirit.” If you want to know what that means, read the 8th chapter of Romans. When Jude tells us that these false prophets are men “having not the Spirit,” he is telling us that false prophets are lost men. They walk not after the Spirit, but after the flesh. They may appear to be very spiritual; but they are not. They are altogether without…
· The life of the Spirit.
· The conviction of the Spirit.
· The light of the Spirit.
· And the fruit of the Spirit.
Having the Spirit
Believers have the Spirit. Believers are “in Christ.” Being “in Christ Jesus” by the mighty operations of God’s free grace (1 Cor. 1:30) in eternal election and effectual grace, believers are men and women who have the Spirit of God, walk in the Spirit, and live after the Spirit.
Pay close attention to what the Holy Spirit tells us about saved sinners in Romans 8:1-17. These things are true of all who are born of God.
1st. He tells us in verse 1 — “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
2nd. He assures us in verse 2 that this declaration is and must be true, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” — The Gospel of God’s free grace in Christ is “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” It is by the Gospel that Christ brings life and immortality to light in our souls (2 Tim. 1:9-10).The Gospel of Christ, Paul says, “hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” — What does that mean? It is not the Gospel applied to our hearts in regeneration and faith that makes us free from the curse of the Mosaic law. Christ died that at Calvary, when he justified us from all things written against us in the book of the law. This “law of sin and death,” from which we are set free by the Spirit of God is that of which Paul has been speaking in chapter 7 — Our old, Adamic, carnal nature.
(Romans 7:21-24) “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. (22) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: (23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
3rd. The basis of our deliverance from the bondage of sin and death in which we were born is the fact that Christ redeemed us and delivered us from all possibility of condemnation, when he put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself and fulfilled all that the law required of us as our Substitute (vv. 3-4).
(3) “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (4) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
4th. In verses 5-17, the Apostle Paul shows us the blessedness of life in the Spirit, that is to say, the blessedness of faith in Christ, which is the sure result of blood atonement. — All who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and thereby delivered from the curse of the law, shall be delivered by the Spirit of God from the law of sin and death (the bondage of our fallen nature) in the new birth, delivered into life in and by God the Holy Spirit. All who are born of God live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, looking to Christ alone for redemption and righteousness.
(5) “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
5th. Now, look at verses 9-10. As old Bro. L. R. Shelton used to say, “Hang on to your seat. We’re fixin’ to jump a creek.” — Here, Paul tells us a radical thing that is true of all believers, true of all who are born of God.
(9) “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (10) And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
We live in this body of flesh, and we live with our old Adamic nature; but we do not live in the flesh. We live in the Spirit. The body is dead in that it is the seat of sin and death. The Spirit is life because it is the seat of life and righteousness. The believer, the person who is born of God, is one in whom Christ dwells by his Spirit. We have been made “partakers of the divine nature.” Christ dwells in us, lives in us, and reigns in us. This is our hope, — “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The basis of our hope is the doing and dying of our Lord Jesus Christ for us. The assurance of our hope is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” We have a parallel passage in 1 John 3:1-10.
(1 John 3:1-10) “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (3) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (4) Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (5) And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (6) Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (7) Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. (8) He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (9) Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (10) In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”
6th. Go back to Romans 8, again (vv. 11-17). — This life of faith in Christ, walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, is the witness of the Spirit “with our spirit that we are the children of God.”
(11) But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. (13) For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (15) For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (16) The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (17) And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
When God the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, by giving us life and faith in Christ (Gal. 4:1-7), then our Savior’s great intercessory prayer is answered and fulfilled in us (John 17:17-23).
(Galatians 4:1-7) “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; (2) But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. (3) Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: (4) But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (5) To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (6) And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (7) Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
(John 17:17-23) “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (18) As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. (19) And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (20) Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; (21) That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (22) And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (23) I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”
Let’s read Jude 17-19 one more time, and I will wrap this up.
(Jude 1:17-19) “But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; (18) How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. (19) These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.”
· Those who have religion, but have not the Spirit, are “mockers.” Those who have the Spirit of God are believers.
· Those who have religion, but have not the Spirit, walk “after their own ungodly lusts.” Those who have the Spirit of God are walk by faith, walk after the Spirit, trust Christ.
· Those who have religion, but have not the Spirit, “separate themselves” from Christ, his Gospel, his church, and his people. Those who have the Spirit of God cling to Christ, hold firm the Gospel, love his church, and love his people.
· Those who have religion, but have not the Spirit, are “sensual.” Those who have the Spirit of God are spiritual.
In the light of these divinely revealed facts, it is no wonder that Jude says, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (v. 3). Let us therefore “remember the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
· Divine Sovereignty
· Effectual Substitution
· Free Justification
· Imputed Righteousness
· Salvation by Grace Alone
Application:
I call upon you who hear my voice to trust Christ. Believe on the Son of God. May God the Holy Spirit graciously cause you to see, and hear, and trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Romans 9:33) “As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”
(Romans 10:1-13) “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. (2) For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. (3) For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. (4) For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (5) For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. (6) But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) (7) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) (8) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; (9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (12) For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. (13) For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
You came here an unbeliever, lost, under the sentence of death, walking after your own ungodly lusts. But, if you now trust the Lord Jesus, you will go home an entirely new creature in Christ, — Having the Spirit! — Singing with joy, “There is therefore now no condemnation!”
Complete in Christ alone I stand,
Who met for me the law’s demands:
When He had brought in righteousness,
Christ died in this poor sinner’s place!
Freed from the-law, in Christ I’m free!
Its curses shall not fall on me!
Since Jesus lived and died for me,
O hallelujah! Now I’m free!
Amen.