FILTHY DREAMERS

Jude 1:1-25

INTRODUCTION: General William Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army. Booth had great insight into the future of the church in the United States and this is what he said: “That the great danger facing the future of the church was having religion without Christ; Forgiveness without repentance; Salvation without regeneration; politics without God; heaven without hell.”

I.   CONTENTING FOR THE FAITH!

The type of apostasy that General Booth was talking about was the same type of apostasy that Jude, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ warned us about: Jude 1:4. The word “lasciviousness” here means “unbridled lust.” The word “apostacy” means “to slip away or to fall away from the truth.: An apostate is somebody who has received the truth, but now he rejects and ridicules the truth: Jude 1:3; Jude 1:8. Why would an apostate be called a filthy dreamer? His apostacy is something he dreamed up in his own mind. Our Lord Jesus contended for the faith in His day: Matthew 15:1-9. There has always been a fight for the faith. Filthy dreamers are talked about in Deuteronomy 13:1-5. What is the “dream” he is talking about? It is a subjective religion that does not conform to the Word of God.

  II.   THREE DISCRIPTIONS OF FILTHY DREAMERS!

Filthy dreamers defile the flesh: Jude 1:8. Apostates usually go into deep sexual sin or some kind of other fleshly sin and immorality and try to convince others to do the same. Jude had just discussed about Sodom and Gomorrah in Jude 1:7-8; 2 Peter 2:1-22: They return to the wallowing in the mire. Something happens to an apostate, one who makes a profession of faith, but has never been possessed by the Holy Spirit. As people get away from the Word of God, they give way to their imaginations and dreams and defile their flesh.

III.   APOSTATES MAKE A PROFESSION OF FAITH, BUT NEVER ARE POSSESSED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

Apostates defy the Father in heaven: Jude 1:8; Jude 1:25. Hosea 13:4; Apostates come to hate Jesus Christ: Jude 1:4 and deny Him in the Church! These people teach in our seminaries and churches and yet deny and despise dominion: anyone over them. Apostates disgrace the faithful: Jude 1:8. There is nothing and no one too holy that these men and women will not ridicule. These people ridicule in their churches: 2 Peter 2:10-11; Jude 1:9. Apostates enter every church and must be exposed by the Word of God: Romans 16:17-20. These filthy dreamers will one day have to give an account of themselves to God: Romans 14:10-12. We must truly believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, not the way some filthy dreamer has dreamed up!