May 18, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The grace of God is to move you to live better,
not okay, you living worse.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Doctor Tony Evans says, grace isn't a past to stay
where you are, but rather power to become who God
calls you to be.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Grace addresses wrong, Grace confronts wrong, Grace will forgive wrong.
But grace and Power's right.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. In today's world,
it's not always easy to tell what's true and what's not,
especially when the lies come dressed in religious language. Today,
doctor Evans takes us to the Book of Jude to
show how spiritual lies can sound convincing, even godly, and
(00:41):
why discernment is essential to avoid being misled. Let's join
him as he begins.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
The Biblical writer Jude wants to make sure that we
are being delivered from deception. There was a concern when
the church began about the rise of false teachers who
would infiltrate the church and deceive God's people. The reason
I chose the Book of Jude is because we are
(01:09):
living in that day when the church is being infested
and infiltrated with false teachers, teaching false doctrine and deceiving
people in the name of God, and one of the
jobs of the pastors in scripture. According to the apostle Paul,
(01:32):
in Acts, chapter twenty, verse twenty eight, he tells the
leaders to be on God. He says, beyond God, because
wolves were trying to sneak in and devour the saints,
and so he wants you and me to discern have
a spirit of discernment so that we are not duped
(01:54):
by deception of false teachers. We're introduced now to Jude.
First of all, the person verse one, Jude a bond
servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. So Jude
is a half brother of Jesus. He also defines himself
(02:15):
as a bond servant or a bondslave. To be a
bond slave means to be a slave in shackles. Jude says,
I am a bond slave of Jesus Christ. That is,
his relationship with Jesus Christ is one who had radically
(02:37):
submitted to Jesus's lordship. Paul uses his phrase about himself
he is a bond servant or bonds that he's shackled
by Jesus Christ. He's owned by Jesus Christ. One of
the problems today is that there is a large percentage
of Christians who have not submitted to the lordship of
(02:59):
Jesus Christ. They're not bond servants, they're not bond slaves.
They may have accepted Christ as their personal savior, but
they're not yet following Christ as their lord. They have
not become his slave. And to the degree that you're
not a slave of Christ, only a son or daughter
(03:22):
of Christ. To that degree you are more liable to
deception because it's hard to go. But so far if
you in change. See, if you're in change, you can't wonder,
but so far, like having a dog on a leash,
the can't go, but so far, because you are holding
it hostage. Well, this is the issue or the goal
(03:45):
of God for every believer, and that is that Jesus
is Lord, that Jesus is master if you will, and
you are his servant or slave in the sense of
yielding to his will. So Jude tells us he's a
bond servant. He now comes and he wishes a blessing
(04:06):
on those who he is writing. This is called a
general epistle. It floated around the churches so that it
was read everywhere. It wasn't just written to the church
at Ephesis or the church at Thesaloniko or the church
at Colossae. Those were specific letters to specific churches. This
is a general letter, so it's circulated to all the churches.
He says, Mercy, peace, and love Verse two, be multiplied
(04:31):
to you. In other words, I want God to give
you as much mercy, peace and love as you can handle.
That's his prayer, his request, his desire. It's a common
one that mercy you're not getting what you do deserve. Peace,
that God's calm and tranquility were ruling your heart and life. Love,
(04:54):
that you will experience God's best for you, because love
is seeking the best of another person. And I don't
just want you to God to give you more of it.
I want him to use the multiplication table. May be
multiplied to you. May you see more of it and
more of it, and more of it and more of it,
And may there be expidential growth in your experience of
(05:16):
God's reality. But remember he's praying this, requesting this as
a bond slave, make the connection. You are able to
get this multiplied in your experience to the degree that
God has shackles on your life, your heart, your mind,
your soul, your will. Okay, So that's the context of
(05:40):
his introduction, and that's the man you, the half brother
of Jesus. Now he comes in verses three and four
and gives the reason why he is writing. He moves
we move from the person to the purpose of the
book or the letter. Why is he writing this, beloved,
that's an intimate term of relationship. Beloved speaks of intimacy,
(06:02):
a heart of concern, but love. While I was making
every effort to write to you about our common salvation,
let me pause there, He says, I was planning to
sit down and write to you about our common salvation,
the great salvation that we have through faith in Jesus Christ.
I was going to write to you about maybe he
(06:23):
was going to talk about He doesn't go into it,
but maybe he's going to talk about justification or redemption,
or maybe he was going to talk about salvation, presence, sanctification.
Maybe it's going to talk about propitiation. Maybe he's gonna
talk about grace. Maybe it's gonna talk about faith. Even
he was going to talk to him about the great
common salvation that we all share by faith in Christ.
That's what he planned to do when he sat down,
(06:45):
picked up his pen and began to write. I planned
to write to you about our common salvation. I felt
the necessity, I felt burdened in the way to write
to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith
which was once for all handed down to the saints.
(07:09):
In other words, he says, I switched. I sat down
planning to write to you a boy one thing. Then
I got so overwhelmed by this other thing. I switched
from the first thing and went to the other thing. Okay,
it's like me planning a sermon to preach on Sunday,
and it when Sunday comes in and I switch because
(07:29):
something has happened, something, something has been seen, something has
been done as something that's happened in society. Maybe that
has now overwhelmed me and taken me from what I
plan to do to what I'm now doing. And that's
why you always by the way, it's a side note.
There'll be a lot of side notes as we go through,
I'm sure, but the side note is you always have
(07:50):
to be open to the Holy Spirit, adjusting your plans. Now,
that's what he does, because he can turn on a dime.
You got Philip hold An evangelistic, say, the Holy Spirit comes,
whips him up and then takes him to talk to
the Ethiopian Unity, got of nowhere, just switches the plan
all of a sudden. That's why the Bible says, say
if the Lord wills, because you always give God the
(08:14):
right to change the plan. And that's where the Holy
Spirit comes in. And unfortunately a lot of believers don't
give God that freedom. Give God the freedom to switch
the script if the script needs to be flipped. Okay,
give him that freedom, because that may he's leading you,
he's guiding you, and you give him that permission, and
he'll change something, change your mind, change circumstances, bring somebody
(08:37):
in your life. He'll do something. You got to ask God,
is this you? Are you making a turn here that
I didn't plan on? So make your plans just leave
room for a switch. So he gets a switch. I
plan to talk about our common salvation, but when I
sat down to write, I went went another direction. And
what I want to talk to you about, he says,
(08:57):
And without a necessity, and that's what ways the spirit
does it. He puts a burden on you. You can't shake
it without a necessity. I couldn't shake it. To write
to you, appealing to you, a begging you, insisting that
you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for
all handed down to the saints. He wants you to
(09:20):
fight for the faith. The word contend earnestly refers to
an athlete striving with great intensity for victory. So he's
calling for intensity of protecting the faith that has been
once and for all delivered to the saints. What that
(09:41):
means is the body of doctrinal truth that has been
written in scripture that is the guide for life and
practice of the believer. That's what he means by the faith.
He's talking about what was delivered. He says, what was delivered,
the faith that was delivered. He's talking about the body
of truth that's written in scripture that was delivered to
(10:04):
the church, starting with the prophets in the Old Testament
and the apostles in the New Testament, bringing together sixty
six books in the Bible. That is the basis of
our faith through which life and practice is to be determined.
So scripture is to be the deciding factor in decision making.
(10:27):
That's the bottom line here. Scripture is to be the
deciding factor in decision making. What you're going to discover
in a moment is what the false teachers want to
do is dilude Scripture's authority in the life of the believer.
If he can shrink scriptures authority in the life of
(10:52):
the believer, in your life, in my life, he can
delude its effect and benefit to us.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
When doctor Evan returns in a moment, you'll show how
embracing scripture for what it truly is can transform everything. First, though,
today's presentation is the opening message in a short but
timely series from Tony called Jude Delivered from Deception. In
these three powerful lessons, you'll learn how to identify spiritual counterfeits,
(11:20):
stand strong in the truth of God's word, and live
courageously in a culture that often compromises biblical values. If
you'd like to experience the full length version of these messages,
they're available as instant digital downloads as well as on
CD or a USB flash drive. They're are gifts to
you when you make a contribution to help keep the
(11:42):
Alternative on this station and others like it around the world.
To learn more and request your copy of the Jude series,
whether for yourself, a friend, or a small group, visit
Tonyevans dot org. You'll find the offer featured right on
the homepage. Or speak with one of our friendly, resourced
he members anytime, day or night by calling one eight
(12:03):
hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two. That's one eight
hundred eight hundred three two two two. I'll share that
contact information again after part two of today's teaching.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
And this it's beyond a Sunday sermon, a chance to
really dig into the Bible and the Kingdom in a
new way, anytime and anywhere. Because it's all online. The
Tony Evans Training Center in depth courses on all kinds
of topics, cultural transformation, intro to expository preaching, Jude, John, Hebrews,
(12:36):
Old Testament, New Testament, and so much more. These aren't sermons,
they're teaching courses to help you engage understand scripture and
not just to hear about, but to explore the Kingdom
of God on your own. Find out more at Tonyevans
Training dot org. Tonyevans Training dot org.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Notice first Thessalonians two thirteen. Let me just turn there
and read that to you. For this reason, we also
constantly thank God that when you receive the word of
God which you heard from us, you accepted it not
as the word of man, but for what it really is,
the word of God, which also performs its work in
(13:18):
you who believe. He says, the word of God works
for people who accept it as the word of God
and not as the word of men. Many times Christians
want to know why is the word not working? Well?
One reason word may not be working is that you're
not receiving it as the word from God, but the
(13:39):
word either of man or been convoluted by man. So
he says, I want you to contend earnestly for the
body of truth that has been delivered to the saints,
which of course is the word of God. We do
not believe that the Bible is merely words about God.
It is the word of God in print. We're living
(14:02):
in a day when people are bringing man's word into
the church, putting it alongside of God's word and wanting
it to have transforming authority. And it won't okay. As
Jesus said, you do nullify the scriptures with the tradition
of men. You can cancel out God's effective word if
(14:24):
you bring in man's word and make it of equal authority,
even when it contradicts God's word. So I want this
body of truth to be the standard that was once
for all delivered to the saints. His purpose is further
developed in verse four. Why are you telling us this?
(14:46):
What's the big deal that you switched your writing, Jude
for certain persons? Certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those
who were long before marked out for this condemnation, ungodly
persons who turn the grace of our God into a lewdiness.
(15:10):
That's what that word means when it's a license. You
see the word license in there. It's a lastidiousness that
is lewed in its nature and deny our only Master
and Lord Jesus Christ. You see the bond servant theme again,
Master Lord Okay, because he's a bond servant, and he's
(15:32):
writing to them as people who are to be bond
servants or enslaved to the lordship or the rulership of
Jesus Christ in their life, submission to his will. His
concern is certain folk have snuck in the church and
guess what they've snuck in unaware, so folk don't know
(15:52):
that it okay, they are like a thief who has
snuck in through the side door, pulled up a window dark,
you don't know they're there. So he introduces this danger
of the creepers. Okay, they look like something they were not.
So his concern is that they are not misguided by
(16:14):
what he calls ungodly persons. And here's what they do.
They turn the grace of God into a license. Now
let me show you Romans Chapter six, Chapter six, Verse
one of Romans says, what shall we say, then? Are
we to continue in sin that grace may increase? In
(16:37):
other words, watch out for folks who take the word
grace and use it to say it's okay to do wrong.
That's what Paul says in Romans six 's one. He says,
so we use grace so that sin can increase. Okay,
(17:00):
shall we say, since God's gonna forgive you, it's okay.
Do we justify our sin or the sin of others?
Or do others justify it for us to make us
feel okay about evil because of the grace of God?
Do they use grace to excuse evil? He says If
(17:22):
they use grace to excuse evil, they are evil because
the whole point of grace is not to excuse us.
It's to lift us out of it. That's what the
rest of Romans six says. To lift us out of it.
He says, makenoiter is the Greek phrase, and he uses
in Roman six meaning God forbid heavens. No, you don't
(17:44):
use grace to excuse sin. God does forgive sin. But
the point of grace. Titus two eleven says, the point
of grace teaches us to deny ungodliness because grace is
supposed to teach us to live better, not okay, us
living worse. Be sensitive to the misuse of grace to
(18:06):
excuse wrong. That's grace does not do that. Grace address
is wrong, Grace confronts wrong, Grace will forgive wrong. But
grace and power is right. The grace of God is
to move you to live better, not okay, you living worse.
That's why, in some cases, not all cases, people will
(18:29):
flock to a church that will not deal with sin,
because then they can go to worship and be comfortable.
They know nobody's gonna mess with them. They know nobody's
gonna say nothing. They know they're not gonna hear any
strong sermons of conviction. They know that's not gonna be
a that's not gonna be an issue. I'm gonna feel good,
I'm gonna be entertained. I'm gonna like the singing, like
(18:52):
the preaching. You know, I'm gonna shout. I'm gonna do
all that, but I'm not going to be made to
feel guilt. And what they didn't need to do with
the end of the Firse is they misuse the grace
of God and deny our only master and lord. In
other words, see, if Jesus is lord, he makes the
(19:12):
final decisions. If he's lord, if you're bond slave, the
master tells you what to do, but Jesus does not
make the final decisions because they deny him that right
and that role. Jesus is after lordship. Yes, by faith
in him, he becomes your saf The Lord Jesus Christ
(19:32):
becomes your savior. But the Lord Jesus Christ becomes your
savior does not necessarily mean that you're functioning in recognition
of that lordship. This leads him. Then, after establishing what
his concern is, certain men have snuck in, he says
in verse five, now I desire to remind you, though
(19:58):
you know all things, once for all aw that the Lord,
after saving a people out of the land of Egypt,
subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. He goes now
to the penalty. He says, I want to give you
a number of illustrations of watch this the penalty on
(20:18):
false teachers and those who follow them. He says that
even though you know this, the Lord saved the people
out of the land of Egypt. So the exodus subsequently
destroyed those who did not believe. So the illustration number
(20:40):
one is Israel dying in the wilderness. That's illustration number one.
Israel died in the wilderness after having been delivered or
saved out of Egypt. So they were saved out of Egypt.
But that generation did not get into the promised land.
The question is why. Well, number is fourteen. God sends
(21:06):
twelve spies into the land to spy out the land.
Two come back and say, let's go. God promised, let's
go take it. Joshua and Caleb Ken came back and
said there are giants in the land. Okay, So we
had twelve leaders. Ten of the leaders said I don't
(21:29):
believe God. That's why you gotta have leaders who believe God. Okay,
who believe God at his word. Two of the leaders said,
God is telling the truth. We can't let the circumstances
dictate our actions. Yeah, the giants are big, but God
has already given it to us. Let's remember the definition
(21:49):
of faith. Let's act like God is telling the truth. Okay,
Let's act like He's telling the truth in spite of
how bad the circumstances. Look, here's the point. Only Joshua
and Caleb got into the Promised Land from that generation.
The ten leaders didn't get in. But here's the point,
(22:10):
neither did the two million people following them. Watch this.
The unbelief of the leaders rub off on the congregation
because the leaders did not believe God, and the congregation
followed the wrong leadership. Don't let anybody lead you, Okay,
(22:37):
don't let anybody lead you. You have to be you
have to be serious about the word of God, treating
it as the word of God. And so the leaders,
the leaders took their unbelief and got the people to
believe it. So the people so the ten word that
(23:02):
the words the ten men o the God's word and
what he's saying is, don't subject yourself to false leaders.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Doctor Tony Evans on the importance of knowing and embracing
God's word. You know here at The Alternative, our goal
is to provide resources that strengthen your faith and equip
you to live a life of purpose and impact, serving
as a conduit of God's hope and love to a
world in need of his healing presence. That's why you're
(23:34):
encouraged to visit Tonyevans dot org and explore the wide
range of tools available to support your spiritual growth. Books, CDs, DVDs, Bibles,
study guides, resources for teens and kids, and more. And
be sure to check out the special offer I mentioned earlier,
Tony's current three part audio series Jude Delivered from Deception.
(23:58):
It's our gift to you and appreciation for your financial
support of The Alternative. Visit Tonyevans dot org or caller
twenty four hour Resource Center at one eight hundred eight
hundred thirty two twenty two to get your copy. That's
one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two. Some
of the most dangerous lies in the church sound spiritual
(24:20):
on the surface, but as the saying goes not all
the glitters is gold. Tomorrow DoD d Evans reveals how
false teachers can twist grace into permission to sin, and
why defending the truth is essential to fulfilling your destiny.
Be sure to join us
The grace of God is to move you to live better,
not okay, you living worse.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Doctor Tony Evans says, grace isn't a past to stay
where you are, but rather power to become who God
calls you to be.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Grace addresses wrong, Grace confronts wrong, Grace will forgive wrong.
But grace and Power's right.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. In today's world,
it's not always easy to tell what's true and what's not,
especially when the lies come dressed in religious language. Today,
doctor Evans takes us to the Book of Jude to
show how spiritual lies can sound convincing, even godly, and
(00:41):
why discernment is essential to avoid being misled. Let's join
him as he begins.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
The Biblical writer Jude wants to make sure that we
are being delivered from deception. There was a concern when
the church began about the rise of false teachers who
would infiltrate the church and deceive God's people. The reason
I chose the Book of Jude is because we are
(01:09):
living in that day when the church is being infested
and infiltrated with false teachers, teaching false doctrine and deceiving
people in the name of God, and one of the
jobs of the pastors in scripture. According to the apostle Paul,
(01:32):
in Acts, chapter twenty, verse twenty eight, he tells the
leaders to be on God. He says, beyond God, because
wolves were trying to sneak in and devour the saints,
and so he wants you and me to discern have
a spirit of discernment so that we are not duped
(01:54):
by deception of false teachers. We're introduced now to Jude.
First of all, the person verse one, Jude a bond
servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. So Jude
is a half brother of Jesus. He also defines himself
(02:15):
as a bond servant or a bondslave. To be a
bond slave means to be a slave in shackles. Jude says,
I am a bond slave of Jesus Christ. That is,
his relationship with Jesus Christ is one who had radically
(02:37):
submitted to Jesus's lordship. Paul uses his phrase about himself
he is a bond servant or bonds that he's shackled
by Jesus Christ. He's owned by Jesus Christ. One of
the problems today is that there is a large percentage
of Christians who have not submitted to the lordship of
(02:59):
Jesus Christ. They're not bond servants, they're not bond slaves.
They may have accepted Christ as their personal savior, but
they're not yet following Christ as their lord. They have
not become his slave. And to the degree that you're
not a slave of Christ, only a son or daughter
(03:22):
of Christ. To that degree you are more liable to
deception because it's hard to go. But so far if
you in change. See, if you're in change, you can't wonder,
but so far, like having a dog on a leash,
the can't go, but so far, because you are holding
it hostage. Well, this is the issue or the goal
(03:45):
of God for every believer, and that is that Jesus
is Lord, that Jesus is master if you will, and
you are his servant or slave in the sense of
yielding to his will. So Jude tells us he's a
bond servant. He now comes and he wishes a blessing
(04:06):
on those who he is writing. This is called a
general epistle. It floated around the churches so that it
was read everywhere. It wasn't just written to the church
at Ephesis or the church at Thesaloniko or the church
at Colossae. Those were specific letters to specific churches. This
is a general letter, so it's circulated to all the churches.
He says, Mercy, peace, and love Verse two, be multiplied
(04:31):
to you. In other words, I want God to give
you as much mercy, peace and love as you can handle.
That's his prayer, his request, his desire. It's a common
one that mercy you're not getting what you do deserve. Peace,
that God's calm and tranquility were ruling your heart and life. Love,
(04:54):
that you will experience God's best for you, because love
is seeking the best of another person. And I don't
just want you to God to give you more of it.
I want him to use the multiplication table. May be
multiplied to you. May you see more of it and
more of it, and more of it and more of it,
And may there be expidential growth in your experience of
(05:16):
God's reality. But remember he's praying this, requesting this as
a bond slave, make the connection. You are able to
get this multiplied in your experience to the degree that
God has shackles on your life, your heart, your mind,
your soul, your will. Okay, So that's the context of
(05:40):
his introduction, and that's the man you, the half brother
of Jesus. Now he comes in verses three and four
and gives the reason why he is writing. He moves
we move from the person to the purpose of the
book or the letter. Why is he writing this, beloved,
that's an intimate term of relationship. Beloved speaks of intimacy,
(06:02):
a heart of concern, but love. While I was making
every effort to write to you about our common salvation,
let me pause there, He says, I was planning to
sit down and write to you about our common salvation,
the great salvation that we have through faith in Jesus Christ.
I was going to write to you about maybe he
(06:23):
was going to talk about He doesn't go into it,
but maybe he's going to talk about justification or redemption,
or maybe he was going to talk about salvation, presence, sanctification.
Maybe it's going to talk about propitiation. Maybe he's gonna
talk about grace. Maybe it's gonna talk about faith. Even
he was going to talk to him about the great
common salvation that we all share by faith in Christ.
That's what he planned to do when he sat down,
(06:45):
picked up his pen and began to write. I planned
to write to you about our common salvation. I felt
the necessity, I felt burdened in the way to write
to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith
which was once for all handed down to the saints.
(07:09):
In other words, he says, I switched. I sat down
planning to write to you a boy one thing. Then
I got so overwhelmed by this other thing. I switched
from the first thing and went to the other thing. Okay,
it's like me planning a sermon to preach on Sunday,
and it when Sunday comes in and I switch because
(07:29):
something has happened, something, something has been seen, something has
been done as something that's happened in society. Maybe that
has now overwhelmed me and taken me from what I
plan to do to what I'm now doing. And that's
why you always by the way, it's a side note.
There'll be a lot of side notes as we go through,
I'm sure, but the side note is you always have
(07:50):
to be open to the Holy Spirit, adjusting your plans. Now,
that's what he does, because he can turn on a dime.
You got Philip hold An evangelistic, say, the Holy Spirit comes,
whips him up and then takes him to talk to
the Ethiopian Unity, got of nowhere, just switches the plan
all of a sudden. That's why the Bible says, say
if the Lord wills, because you always give God the
(08:14):
right to change the plan. And that's where the Holy
Spirit comes in. And unfortunately a lot of believers don't
give God that freedom. Give God the freedom to switch
the script if the script needs to be flipped. Okay,
give him that freedom, because that may he's leading you,
he's guiding you, and you give him that permission, and
he'll change something, change your mind, change circumstances, bring somebody
(08:37):
in your life. He'll do something. You got to ask God,
is this you? Are you making a turn here that
I didn't plan on? So make your plans just leave
room for a switch. So he gets a switch. I
plan to talk about our common salvation, but when I
sat down to write, I went went another direction. And
what I want to talk to you about, he says,
(08:57):
And without a necessity, and that's what ways the spirit
does it. He puts a burden on you. You can't shake
it without a necessity. I couldn't shake it. To write
to you, appealing to you, a begging you, insisting that
you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for
all handed down to the saints. He wants you to
(09:20):
fight for the faith. The word contend earnestly refers to
an athlete striving with great intensity for victory. So he's
calling for intensity of protecting the faith that has been
once and for all delivered to the saints. What that
(09:41):
means is the body of doctrinal truth that has been
written in scripture that is the guide for life and
practice of the believer. That's what he means by the faith.
He's talking about what was delivered. He says, what was delivered,
the faith that was delivered. He's talking about the body
of truth that's written in scripture that was delivered to
(10:04):
the church, starting with the prophets in the Old Testament
and the apostles in the New Testament, bringing together sixty
six books in the Bible. That is the basis of
our faith through which life and practice is to be determined.
So scripture is to be the deciding factor in decision making.
(10:27):
That's the bottom line here. Scripture is to be the
deciding factor in decision making. What you're going to discover
in a moment is what the false teachers want to
do is dilude Scripture's authority in the life of the believer.
If he can shrink scriptures authority in the life of
(10:52):
the believer, in your life, in my life, he can
delude its effect and benefit to us.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
When doctor Evan returns in a moment, you'll show how
embracing scripture for what it truly is can transform everything. First, though,
today's presentation is the opening message in a short but
timely series from Tony called Jude Delivered from Deception. In
these three powerful lessons, you'll learn how to identify spiritual counterfeits,
(11:20):
stand strong in the truth of God's word, and live
courageously in a culture that often compromises biblical values. If
you'd like to experience the full length version of these messages,
they're available as instant digital downloads as well as on
CD or a USB flash drive. They're are gifts to
you when you make a contribution to help keep the
(11:42):
Alternative on this station and others like it around the world.
To learn more and request your copy of the Jude series,
whether for yourself, a friend, or a small group, visit
Tonyevans dot org. You'll find the offer featured right on
the homepage. Or speak with one of our friendly, resourced
he members anytime, day or night by calling one eight
(12:03):
hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two. That's one eight
hundred eight hundred three two two two. I'll share that
contact information again after part two of today's teaching.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
And this it's beyond a Sunday sermon, a chance to
really dig into the Bible and the Kingdom in a
new way, anytime and anywhere. Because it's all online. The
Tony Evans Training Center in depth courses on all kinds
of topics, cultural transformation, intro to expository preaching, Jude, John, Hebrews,
(12:36):
Old Testament, New Testament, and so much more. These aren't sermons,
they're teaching courses to help you engage understand scripture and
not just to hear about, but to explore the Kingdom
of God on your own. Find out more at Tonyevans
Training dot org. Tonyevans Training dot org.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Notice first Thessalonians two thirteen. Let me just turn there
and read that to you. For this reason, we also
constantly thank God that when you receive the word of
God which you heard from us, you accepted it not
as the word of man, but for what it really is,
the word of God, which also performs its work in
(13:18):
you who believe. He says, the word of God works
for people who accept it as the word of God
and not as the word of men. Many times Christians
want to know why is the word not working? Well?
One reason word may not be working is that you're
not receiving it as the word from God, but the
(13:39):
word either of man or been convoluted by man. So
he says, I want you to contend earnestly for the
body of truth that has been delivered to the saints,
which of course is the word of God. We do
not believe that the Bible is merely words about God.
It is the word of God in print. We're living
(14:02):
in a day when people are bringing man's word into
the church, putting it alongside of God's word and wanting
it to have transforming authority. And it won't okay. As
Jesus said, you do nullify the scriptures with the tradition
of men. You can cancel out God's effective word if
(14:24):
you bring in man's word and make it of equal authority,
even when it contradicts God's word. So I want this
body of truth to be the standard that was once
for all delivered to the saints. His purpose is further
developed in verse four. Why are you telling us this?
(14:46):
What's the big deal that you switched your writing, Jude
for certain persons? Certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those
who were long before marked out for this condemnation, ungodly
persons who turn the grace of our God into a lewdiness.
(15:10):
That's what that word means when it's a license. You
see the word license in there. It's a lastidiousness that
is lewed in its nature and deny our only Master
and Lord Jesus Christ. You see the bond servant theme again,
Master Lord Okay, because he's a bond servant, and he's
(15:32):
writing to them as people who are to be bond
servants or enslaved to the lordship or the rulership of
Jesus Christ in their life, submission to his will. His
concern is certain folk have snuck in the church and
guess what they've snuck in unaware, so folk don't know
(15:52):
that it okay, they are like a thief who has
snuck in through the side door, pulled up a window dark,
you don't know they're there. So he introduces this danger
of the creepers. Okay, they look like something they were not.
So his concern is that they are not misguided by
(16:14):
what he calls ungodly persons. And here's what they do.
They turn the grace of God into a license. Now
let me show you Romans Chapter six, Chapter six, Verse
one of Romans says, what shall we say, then? Are
we to continue in sin that grace may increase? In
(16:37):
other words, watch out for folks who take the word
grace and use it to say it's okay to do wrong.
That's what Paul says in Romans six 's one. He says,
so we use grace so that sin can increase. Okay,
(17:00):
shall we say, since God's gonna forgive you, it's okay.
Do we justify our sin or the sin of others?
Or do others justify it for us to make us
feel okay about evil because of the grace of God?
Do they use grace to excuse evil? He says If
(17:22):
they use grace to excuse evil, they are evil because
the whole point of grace is not to excuse us.
It's to lift us out of it. That's what the
rest of Romans six says. To lift us out of it.
He says, makenoiter is the Greek phrase, and he uses
in Roman six meaning God forbid heavens. No, you don't
(17:44):
use grace to excuse sin. God does forgive sin. But
the point of grace. Titus two eleven says, the point
of grace teaches us to deny ungodliness because grace is
supposed to teach us to live better, not okay, us
living worse. Be sensitive to the misuse of grace to
(18:06):
excuse wrong. That's grace does not do that. Grace address
is wrong, Grace confronts wrong, Grace will forgive wrong. But
grace and power is right. The grace of God is
to move you to live better, not okay, you living worse.
That's why, in some cases, not all cases, people will
(18:29):
flock to a church that will not deal with sin,
because then they can go to worship and be comfortable.
They know nobody's gonna mess with them. They know nobody's
gonna say nothing. They know they're not gonna hear any
strong sermons of conviction. They know that's not gonna be
a that's not gonna be an issue. I'm gonna feel good,
I'm gonna be entertained. I'm gonna like the singing, like
(18:52):
the preaching. You know, I'm gonna shout. I'm gonna do
all that, but I'm not going to be made to
feel guilt. And what they didn't need to do with
the end of the Firse is they misuse the grace
of God and deny our only master and lord. In
other words, see, if Jesus is lord, he makes the
(19:12):
final decisions. If he's lord, if you're bond slave, the
master tells you what to do, but Jesus does not
make the final decisions because they deny him that right
and that role. Jesus is after lordship. Yes, by faith
in him, he becomes your saf The Lord Jesus Christ
(19:32):
becomes your savior. But the Lord Jesus Christ becomes your
savior does not necessarily mean that you're functioning in recognition
of that lordship. This leads him. Then, after establishing what
his concern is, certain men have snuck in, he says
in verse five, now I desire to remind you, though
(19:58):
you know all things, once for all aw that the Lord,
after saving a people out of the land of Egypt,
subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. He goes now
to the penalty. He says, I want to give you
a number of illustrations of watch this the penalty on
(20:18):
false teachers and those who follow them. He says that
even though you know this, the Lord saved the people
out of the land of Egypt. So the exodus subsequently
destroyed those who did not believe. So the illustration number
(20:40):
one is Israel dying in the wilderness. That's illustration number one.
Israel died in the wilderness after having been delivered or
saved out of Egypt. So they were saved out of Egypt.
But that generation did not get into the promised land.
The question is why. Well, number is fourteen. God sends
(21:06):
twelve spies into the land to spy out the land.
Two come back and say, let's go. God promised, let's
go take it. Joshua and Caleb Ken came back and
said there are giants in the land. Okay, So we
had twelve leaders. Ten of the leaders said I don't
(21:29):
believe God. That's why you gotta have leaders who believe God. Okay,
who believe God at his word. Two of the leaders said,
God is telling the truth. We can't let the circumstances
dictate our actions. Yeah, the giants are big, but God
has already given it to us. Let's remember the definition
(21:49):
of faith. Let's act like God is telling the truth. Okay,
Let's act like He's telling the truth in spite of
how bad the circumstances. Look, here's the point. Only Joshua
and Caleb got into the Promised Land from that generation.
The ten leaders didn't get in. But here's the point,
(22:10):
neither did the two million people following them. Watch this.
The unbelief of the leaders rub off on the congregation
because the leaders did not believe God, and the congregation
followed the wrong leadership. Don't let anybody lead you, Okay,
(22:37):
don't let anybody lead you. You have to be you
have to be serious about the word of God, treating
it as the word of God. And so the leaders,
the leaders took their unbelief and got the people to
believe it. So the people so the ten word that
(23:02):
the words the ten men o the God's word and
what he's saying is, don't subject yourself to false leaders.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Doctor Tony Evans on the importance of knowing and embracing
God's word. You know here at The Alternative, our goal
is to provide resources that strengthen your faith and equip
you to live a life of purpose and impact, serving
as a conduit of God's hope and love to a
world in need of his healing presence. That's why you're
(23:34):
encouraged to visit Tonyevans dot org and explore the wide
range of tools available to support your spiritual growth. Books, CDs, DVDs, Bibles,
study guides, resources for teens and kids, and more. And
be sure to check out the special offer I mentioned earlier,
Tony's current three part audio series Jude Delivered from Deception.
(23:58):
It's our gift to you and appreciation for your financial
support of The Alternative. Visit Tonyevans dot org or caller
twenty four hour Resource Center at one eight hundred eight
hundred thirty two twenty two to get your copy. That's
one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two. Some
of the most dangerous lies in the church sound spiritual
(24:20):
on the surface, but as the saying goes not all
the glitters is gold. Tomorrow DoD d Evans reveals how
false teachers can twist grace into permission to sin, and
why defending the truth is essential to fulfilling your destiny.
Be sure to join us
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