Apostate Dreamers

Jude 1:8-11

Jude 1:8-11, Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

The truth wars. Terrorism in the World. Suicide Terrorism. Spiritual Terrorism.

How to identify them?

We as believers have been called by Jude to earnestly contend for the faith, to get our focus on fighting the battle to protect the church from the deceivers who attack the truth.

Jude 1:3, Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

Where are they? V 4, For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord [b]God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Like the suicide bomber crept in unnoticed. We don’t know who they are at first. V 12, These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; They are hidden reefs in your love feasts.

They feast with you without fear.

Because they are undiscovered, they are rubbing elbows with us in the church, and they are fearless. It is not obvious to most who they are because they don’t mind blowing themselves up with their own lies, blowing themselves into eternal hell, they are deadly dangerous.

They are headed for black darkness. V 13, raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. They are headed for the punishment of eternal fire. It doesn’t seem to bother them.

V 7, as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Very parallel to 2 Peter chapter 2. Apostasy, meaning to defect, to depart, to abandon. Apostasy is hearing of the faith, knowing of the faith, knowing the true gospel, hearing the true gospel, maybe professing

even to believe the true gospel, and then abandoning it. It is the most terrible of evils for which the hottest hell is reserved. To be exposed to the gospel truth and to reject it is to put yourself in the most severe place of eternal torment.

Apostasy or departing from the truth of God and what God requires is not new.

Deuteronomy 32:15, “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook

God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. Israel, as a nation, scorned the rock of salvation. A warning that David gives to Solomon about the deadly danger of apostasy.

1 Chronicles 28:9, “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.

Jeremiah 17:5, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord.’” Cursed is the man whose heart turns away from the Lord.

Ezekiel 18:24, “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die. In John chapter 6, we read about many of the disciples who were with Jesus, walking with Him no more, turning away.

John 6:66, From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

John 15:6, If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. Letter to the Hebrews warns over ³ times, in Chapter 3, ⁶ and 10, not to neglect so great a salvation.

Having been brought all the way to a full understanding of the gospel and to turn away and find it then impossible to be renewed again unto repentance. Again, not to trample under your foot the gospel, the blood of the covenant, and thus bring upon yourself the sorest or severest eternal judgment.

Apostasy is identified throughout the Bible as a defection from the truth, having heard it and known it and even professed, perhaps, to believe it. It is wilful ejection of the truth that is heard and known. The most serious sin bringing the most severe eternal judgment.

Now, of those who are apostate, Jude is addressing a certain segment. The apostate false teachers, those who become the instruments of Satan. While they have defected from the faith, they become deadly terrorists embedded in the church.

Not all of apostates remain in the church as terrorists, the agents of Satan disguised as angels of light. Sometimes they are dressed as, Believers, Disciples, Pastors, Bishops,

Evangelist, TV preachers, Cardinals, Bible schoolteachers, Bible College Principal etc., They are the agents of Satan, in the church to corrupt and destroy.

2 Peter 2:1-3, But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

They come in with their heretical bombs and blow themselves up in the process willingly. They are damned by their very own deceptions. Every time they are mentioned by Peter and Jude, they are quick to add their own destruction is built into what they do.

Peter says, “They are coming”.

Jude says, “They are here.” Three past judgments God has made on apostates.

1. Apostate of Jews

2. Apostate of Angels

3. Apostate of Gentiles

V 5, apostate Jews. V 6, apostate angels. V 7, apostate Gentiles. Jude’s first illustration is Israel. God delivered them out of Egypt, because they were apostate God destroyed them all in the wilderness because of apostasy.

Secondly the angels who dwelt with God in the heaven of heavens rebelled, abandoned their proper abode, and came all the way down. Once they became what we call demons, some of them came down and cohabitated with the daughters of men, as recorded in Genesis chapter 6, in one of the horrific expressions of the evil of the world that God drowned in the flood. The fallen angels possessing men and engaging with those men, as spirit influences, in marriage demon dominated, that so affected families and children as to make God drown the world.

Thirdly, Sodom and Gomorrah, the horrific sin there where the homosexual passions ran so hot that the men of the city tried to rape angels who came there to visit Lot. In each case there is judgment. Verse 5 says those in Israel were destroyed.

Verse 6 says the angels are kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of that great day. V7, Sodom and Gomorrah is awaiting the punishment of eternal fire. They were consumed by fire. They are now in burning torment and awaiting the final hell and lake of fire to come at the end.

Jude establishes then this about apostates

Whoever they are,

• Jews,
• Angels,
• Gentiles

Apostasy receives severe judgment. Jude speaks about their destruction in verse 10 and 12, 13 &15. V 8, Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. Three characteristics of apostate nature.

1. Immorality,

2. Insubordination, (Disobedience) and

3. Irreverence. (Blasphemy)

Likewise They were identified in verse 4. Israel engaged in immorality. When Moses came down from the mountain, they were engaged in immorality. They engaged in insubordination. They did not obey the Word of God, and they murmured and complained against God.

They engaged in irreverence. Worshipping an idol and violating the very command that God had given on the mountain. The fallen angels engaged in immorality. The fallen angels engaged immorality with the daughters of men.

The fallen angel’s insubordinate. The angels that fell certainly fell because of their insubordination. They did not maintain their proper abode. They did not stay in the domain where they were created. The fallen angel’s irreverence.

Angels engaged in irreverence. They defied God, led by Lucifer. They would not give God the honour and glory to which God is due. Sodom and Gomorrah they engaged in immorality. The men of the town wanted to have physical union with men.

Sodom and Gomorrah they engaged in insubordination. They were insubordinate to the truth of God that had been told to them by Lot, and the law of God which had been written on their hearts. They went against the law of God in the heart in their own homosexuality. They went against what Lot had told them about the true God.

Sodom and Gomorrah they engaged in irreverence. They engaged in horrific irreverence, even assaulting to rape holy angels who had taken on human form. “Likewise” is the key that pulls all of that right into the description of these men.

Apostates are just like immoral, irreverent, and insubordinate. Israel, angels, Sodom, and Gomorrah. Apostates do the very same thing.

• They defile the flesh that is immorality.
• They reject authority that is insubordination.
• They revile angelic majesties that is irreverence.

And there are the three characteristics of apostate nature. V 8, Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. It categorically says that apostates are dreamers.

What do you mean they are dreamers? The normal word for dream is onar, and it is used in the New Testament to speak about a dream. But this very long word is not the normal word enypniazomenoi used only one other place in the New Testament, and that one other place is in the book of Acts.

Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, after the Spirit of God had come, and the people had heard the wonderful works of God in their own language. Because God gave them the ability to speak in all different languages.

Acts 2:14-17, But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet

Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.

Peter quotes from Joel 2:28-29. This is the word used here and only there. It’s not the normal word for dream. It’s a word in the New Testament associated with visions and prophesies. It refers to revelatory dreams associated with visions and prophesies. There may be some uses of it for dreams as dreams, but the Holy Spirit was very careful to use this word in a special way because it connected to those dreams which, by the prophesy of Joel and the affirmation of Peter have to do with revelation.

What it’s says is in the future prophecy, which is now ceased, and revelation which is now ceased, and visions which have now ceased, with the completion of the New Testament, will come back again in the glory of the kingdom.

Again, there will be prophecy, Again, there will be visions, and Again, there will be revelatory dreams.

That is God will reveal Himself not only through visions and through prophesies when people are awake, but even through dreams. We know God did that in the Old Testament. Certainly, Joseph is a great illustration of that.

• The false teachers inevitably must have a source for their deception.
• They must have a source that’s believable.
• They must have a source that has some authority or that is convincing.

The false teachers and apostates will inevitably tell you God communicates to them in secret ways, in their dreams, in their visions. These are revelatory experiences. Apostate false teachers claim that God speaks to them in their dreams, in their visions. Of course, transcends the necessity to be submissive to the Word of God, which is not in their heart anyway, and it give them the illusion of authority.

God gets blamed for all their deviations. They reject the Word of God. Now, that is a fair way to interpret that.

The dreamers teach is nothing but the figment of their own imagination. These apostates, with their evil, corrupted minds, who stay in the church to destroy. These spiritual terrorists controlled by Satan have nothing but perverted, sensual ideas running around in their minds, and they become the authority for their own deceptions.

False teachers must have a source for their deceptions.

Deuteronomy 13:1-3, “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. It’s a test. You follow a false prophet, you fall a dreamer of dreams, and you have proven you do not love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. Pretty strong!

Deuteronomy 13:4, You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst. Don’t go walking off with some dreamer. I don’t know how you could say that any stronger? If anybody comes along and tells you God talked to him in a dream, cling to the Word of God. Do not follow that dreamer.

Jeremiah 23:1, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:23-27, “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord, “And not a God afar off? 24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord. 25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 27 who try to

make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbour, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. Don’t be listening to anybody who’s telling you God talked to him in a dream. You listen to those who teach you the Word of God.

The New Testament warns us about this too.

Colossians 2:18, Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, Because of people who make such claims, Christians are lead astray. We are warned again and again about that. They lead people astray.

1 Timothy 4:1-2, Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

They are unconscionable liars.

Beware of those people who are dreamers. Either they are telling you God is speaking in their dreams, or they are inventing out of their own minds their own view of everything. Church acquitting and appointing a lesbian minister. They do this because they wanted to maintain the love of the Christian Church. Their opinion is that when the Bible speaks against that sin, it’s not from God and it’s not authoritative. They have another view that’s come out of their own imagination.

Inevitably these dreamers are immoral, insubordinate, and irreverent.

1. Immoral

V 8, Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. “These dreamers defile the flesh” Flesh means here the physical body. It’s not talking about the essence of depravity in Romans 7.

This is talking about sarx, the actual body. The word “defiled” is from a verb miainō. It means to stain, to dye something, like you dye clothing material. It means to pollute. It means to corrupt.

When you link staining, polluting, corrupting with the word it speaks of sexual sin and immorality. Apostate false teachers are inevitably immoral. It may not be publicly visible because they cover it up, but the corruption is unrestrained. It must be because they have abandoned the truth.

Jude 1:19, These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

They are not having the Spirit. They do not have the Holy Spirit. Therefore, there is no divine power to restrain their flesh. Apostate false teachers are immoral at heart and in conduct. There is no work of regeneration, and there is no work of sanctification in those who are devoid of the Holy Spirit.

They may claim to be virtuous. They may claim to be righteous. They may wear the clerical garb. They may take the title of priest or minister or preacher or whatever, but they love lust. Jesus spoke about this.

John 3:19-20, And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

They are soiled. They are polluted.

• They are like Israel, committing adultery at the foot of Mount Sinai.
• They are like the angels, coming down, taking human form and cohabitating with women, leaving their own appropriate estate.
• They are like Sodom and Gomorrah and the homosexuality there. They may mask it for a while, but they are immoral.

2 Peter 2:10, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,

They indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires.

2 Peter 2:18, For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.

They are immoral inside and outside. Eventually they are revealed to be so. Given enough time, the truth comes out. They are of the flesh, and so they do the deeds of the flesh.

Galatians 5:19, Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, First three. That’s where it all starts.

• It was for immorality that Israel was left in the wilderness.
• It was for immorality that the angels were bound in chains.
• It was for immorality that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

2. Insubordination, (Disobedience) and

They reject authority. Obviously, if you are going to live an immoral life and love your lust and love your sin, you are going to have to reject authority. That is divine authority. V 8, Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.

The word “authority” kuriotēta in the Greek related to the word Kurios.

Kurios means Lord. They reject lordship. They reject any rule over them. It is even a word used of angels. V 4, They deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. They will not come under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are their own self-styled authorities.

This is arrogant rejection of God’s rule and authority and the lordship of Christ over His Church. As a Christian, I am not against my will bound to the authority of Christ. I am blessed and delighted and joyously committed to the lordship of Christ as my greatest desire. These people are not. They do not submit to Christ’s revealed lordship, revealed through Scripture.

Rather they have their own theology and their own views spun out of their own dreams, and imagination. This is so arrogant. Israel rebelled against Christ because Christ was the rock in the wilderness.

1 Corinthians 10:1-5, Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all

passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

The angels rebelled against the Lord Christ who was the Lord of heaven. Sodom and Gomorrah rebelled against the divine Sovereign of heaven who shares His rule with His eternal Son. It’s nothing new to reject lordship. Israel had contempt for God’s rule.

• They complained.
• They murmured.
• They disobeyed.
• They sinned, and
• They worshipped an idol.
• Angels had contempt for God’s rule.
• Satan and his followers revolted to dethrone the Holy Sovereign.
• Sodom and Gomorrah had contempt for the true law of God and the true God.

Immorality and insubordination always go together. Because if you are subordinate to the Word of God and the authority of God, and you submit to the lordship of Christ, then you are not going to be immoral because you are going to do what He tells you to do.

The false teachers are like the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. On the outside they were painted white. Inside they stink.

Matthew 23:27-28, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

This issue of lordship! Jesus is Lord in the church. You must uphold the lordship of Christ against its detractors in the church. The battle still goes on today. Once, when we started this battle for protecting the lordship of Christ, the argument was, “if you just ask Jesus to save you

from your sin, you don’t have to believe He’s Lord. You don’t have to make Him Lord. You don’t have to confess Him as Lord. I mean He doesn’t ask that. That’s asking too much that would be a work.” Lot of good Christian people bought into that. And I was so suspicious of that.

If you are going to live an immoral life, you are going to have to find a false doctrine to salve your conscience. So, inevitably, those people who are apostate are immoral and insubordinate to the Word of God because the two go together because immorality is disobedience.

So, the lie that Jesus is not Lord is a comfortable lie for immoral people who reject biblical authority and want to feel better about their sin.