More on the Apostates
Jude 16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
Introduction
We have talked about Enoch last week, how special he is, and how to walk with God including his prophecy. This morning, we will be discussing more about this apostates.
I. They are murmurers
A. To murmur means to grumble; to complain; to utter complaints in a low, half articulated voice; to utter sullen discontent (Webster)
B. Murmuring is the characteristic rebellion of Israelites against God. It is used in connection with the complains of the Jews against God, and against Moses and Aaron (Ex. 15:24, 16:2, 17:3)
C. Here in our text, the murmurer is a person who discontentedly complain against God.
D. The Apostates who murmurs is a faultfinder who look for things in the Bible to criticize.
E. Apostates grumble, they are problem people, they are the thorn in the flesh of the church of Jesus Christ.
F. Thomas Watson said, ‘Our murmuring is the devil’s music!’ if we murmur, whether as apostates or as Christians, we are dancing to his tune. We are doing his work!
Illustration:
A puritan used this illustration: ‘Murmuring is the mother sin of many sins, just as the Nile brings forth scorpions, crocodiles, serpents and snakes of every kind, by one rush and one flood, so the sin of murmuring brings forth other sins’. It is like the mythological creature ‘Hydra’, that when you cut off her head three heads grow, four heads grow and the more you cut off, the more grows – and this is the mother sin to so many. For it breeds disobedience, contempt, ingratitude, impatience, distrust, rebellion, cursing, carnality and in the end it breeds blasphemy against the name of God.
II. They walk on their own lust
A. Lust means strong desire; longing. The Greek word translated lust, epithumetes, is also translated “covet” (Rom. 7:7), “concupiscence” (Col. 3:5; 1Th. 4:5), and “desire” (Lk. 17:22; Heb. 6:11). The term “lust” is used:
1. In a general sense of desiring (Deut. 12:15; Jas. 4:5);
2. Of sinful desires in general (Rom. 13:14; Ga l 5:16; Eph. 2:3; 4:22; 1Tim. 6:9)
3. Of immoral desires (Pr. 6:25; Mt 5:28; Rom. 1:24, 27; 1Cor. 10:6; 1Th. 4:5)
4. Jesus said that if a man looks upon a woman to lust after her he commits adultery with her in his heart (Mt. 5:28; Pr. 6:25).
B. The apostates want to move the bounds of marital morality
1. They want to let the homosexual into the pulpit
2. They want to canonize, and make holy, and sanctify a live-in relationship of an unmarried man and woman.
3. And now they are solemnizing the relationship of two men and two women. They want to see it as morally correct, and they will even move the bounds of the word of God and misinterpret it, in order to allow their own perversion, wandering and pornography.
4. Somebody have said, ‘What lust is so sweet, or so profitable, that it is worth burning in hell for? Sin starts from the lust within, not just sexual lust, but lust for money, lust for drink, lust for food, lust for pride, lust for status or business, lust for anything, all of it starts from within.
Illustration: You’re In Trouble
While my wife and I were shopping at a mall kiosk, a shapely young woman in a short, form-fitting dress strolled by. My eyes followed her.
Without looking up from the item she was examining, my wife asked, “Was it worth the trouble you’re in?” Drew Anderson, (Tucson, AZ), Reader’s Digest
III. Their mouth speaketh great swelling words in other terms, they are flatterers. Look at the verse 16, at the end having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage’. They flatter. Some years ago a man told that “Talk to a man about himself, and he will listen to you for hours”
A. Flattery is an insincere praise used to further one’s selfish purposes (Job 32:21-22; Pr. 28:23; 1Th 2:20). “To please a person by applause or favourable notice, by respectful attention, or by anything that exalts him in his own estimation, or confirms his good opinion of himself” (Webster).
B. Flattery is contrasted with sincere praise and thankfulness (Rom. 16:1-16; 1Th. 1:2).
C. The devil uses flattery in your life – men may say that you are a good person, and you do good things but, it is very deceiving.
D. Flattery is telling a person exactly what he thinks of himself. That is why so many don’t like the Gospel because it tells it as it is.
E. It tells a man in his sin where he is heading, what is going to happen to him if he does not repent of his sin.
F. It tells people what we are really like in the inside – the Word of God does not flatter, the Lord Jesus did not flatter, but apostates flatter that’s why they have many “recruits” who believe their lies.
G. Examples of flattery in the Bible: 1Kings. 22:11-12; Pr. 2:16; 6:24; 7:5,21; Dan. 6:6-7; 11:21,32,34; Mt. 22:16; Acts 12:22.
H. God’s judgment of flattery: Job 17:5; 32:21,22; Ps. 12:2,3.
I. Flattery practiced by false teachers: Rom. 16:17-18; Gal. 4:17; 2Pet. 2:1-3..
IV. Conclusion:
Apostates murmurs, and uses flattery to fulfil their insatiable lusts. Inside the church, some have already infiltrated and may have even started making trouble. We should be able to detect them. Pray for the Holy Spirit that He will enable us and guide us in doing this.
