Don't Kid Yourself, is Lord! – A Talk Based on Jude 5 – 16: Oct. 27, 2019

Good morning! How is everyone today? I want to personally thank each of you for making the choice to be here today – making the choice to surrender this time to Christ and let Him be in control for a change  --- Isn’t that the reality though – it is a choice – it doesn’t come naturally to us --- we would like to think it is easy for us to give Jesus control of our lives – but it is way easier said then done and more often than not – we are the roadblock.

Show Video – The Stool

Does that look familiar to any of us – does that look like any of us? I know it does me 

You know the first Sunday of every month we celebrate communion and in doing so we remember the sacrifice Christ gave on our behalf, thanking Him for becoming sin so that our sins may be forgiven – the act of partaking in communion is our way of connecting with Christ – becoming one in remembrance with Him and proclaiming Him as Lord and Savior. But do our actions match our words? We proclaim Him as Lord – with celebrate His atoning gift and give thanks with our lips, but do we give obedience with our hearts and with our deeds?

We have been studying the Book of Jude and that is the question Jude asks – that is the warning he shouts at full voice as he gives us example after of example and warning after warning. We have broken the book down into a few smaller bits the last few Sundays I have taught and today I want to dig deeper into verses 5 – 16 and look at the thread Jude has been weaving that shouts out loud and clear this warning to each of us – Don't Kid Yourself, Jesus is Lord!

Don’t be fooled by others and don’t be fooled by ourselves. And don’t think we can fool Christ – He ain’t fooled – we may have everyone else fooled; we may even have ourselves fooled, but trust me – Jesus ain’t fooled in the least☺

Open you Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Jude and follow along with me as I read aloud verse 5 – 16:

Jude 1:5-16 (NIV) Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of , but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. But even the , when he was disputing with the about the body of , did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into 's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion. These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

Enoch, the seventh from , prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

Okay – a big chunk – but I want us to focus on a few key points and we will see a theme that is woven through those points. First I want to look at verses 5 & 7:

In verses 5 through 7 we find an historical record of judging apostasy:

Jude 1:5-7 (NIV) Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

God delivered Israel from the land of Egypt by a series of miracles, freeing them from 's hand. The young nation entered into the wilderness, having passed through the midst of the Red Sea; its waters had rolled back and then closed upon Pharaoh's army. On the way to the Promised Land, they were granted the law of God at the foot of Mt. Sinai. However, in the process of their journey, Israel turned their backs on God, becoming apostates. Therefore, God let them wander in the wilderness for forty years until the older generation had died off so that they would not enter the Promised Land. - They had seen the mighty hand and power of God – yet the turned their back on Him when they thought He wasn’t looking – they wanted the things that fit their own hearts and desires and even though God saved them out of the bondage of Eden – even though God called them His chosen people – God was not fooled by their apostasy and God did not let them enter into the promised land. --- The same is true for the angels that turned to their own desires and for the example set before us of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is a timeless yet effective tactic of ’s – God loves you – God is a forgiving God – when you sin His Grace abounds – go ahead and Sin – God wants to give you the desires of your heart --- and we fall for it time and time again – but don’t Kid Yourself – God’s not fooled – the more we think we can play with Satan’s fire, the more we are going to get burned.

Hebrews 3:7-9 (NLT) That is why the says, “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness. There your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years.

Don’t be fooled – Don’t Kid Yourself!!! Satan will try all he can to pervert God’s Word – to twist it just as he did with in the Garden of Eden.

Know this – God will not lead us astray - all false teaching – all doctrinal error is has Satan as its source!

And so, it is a rather amazing irony that these false teachers – these mystics – these perpetrators of apostasy proclaim to have a special revelation from God – that they speak to the Angels – when the reality is the Angels they are speaking to are the fallen angels of Satan’s demonic realm.

Because the point is so unusual, Jude gives a further consideration by way of contrast into the seriousness of this sin. In verse 9 Jude is helping us to get a sort of a consummate perspective on the horror of apostasy. It defiles the flesh. It is corrupt morally. It denies authority. It therefore denies the Lordship of Christ! Let’s look at verse 9 again:

Jude 1:9 (NIV) But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

The point that Jude makes here is very powerful because he says Michael who is himself a Holy would not even revile Satan who is a fallen angel. Michael was God’s particularly powerful angel for the purpose of protecting Israel and defeating Satan’s purposes against Israel, against the people of God. That’s why he’s called Michael, your prince, the prince of Israel, the protector of Israel. He is also mentioned in Revelation chapter 12 verses 7 through 9. He is seen with very important responsibility as a protector. In :7 Michael and his angels are waging war with Satan and his angels. And, of course, Michael and his angels defeat Satan and his angels and throw them out of heaven and throw them down to earth. He is indeed a powerful heavenly holy angel and yet there are limits to his power and there are limits to his knowledge. He is not omniscient, or is he omnipotent. His power as a Holy Angel is delegated and his function is to do whatever God tells him to do and not act independently on his own. He will not usurp divine authority. Michael, in a sense, does what Jesus did. Jesus said He only did what the Father commanded Him to do, right? He only said what the Father told Him to say.

I am always profoundly disturbed, especially in the Charismatic Movement, when I hear people pronouncing judgment on Satan, when I hear people telling Satan what to do and where to go and binding him and binding . - We need to be very careful when we presume to act in Christ’s sted. We are Christ’s body here on earth and we are given the power to act on His behalf – but that is just it – we need to be in communion with Christ – be one with Christ – so we can know what His will is – just like Michael – we and not omniscient – we are not omnipotent – to take upon ourselves the presumption of what Christ would or would not do is apostasy and it is dangerous!!

It’s like the said to the sons of Sceva, “Jesus we know, and Paul we know, but who are you?” Why should we do what you tell us to do?

Remember - God sent Satan to and gave him permission to inflict Job - Should we then presume to know better than God?

God turned Peter over to Satan, God sent a messenger from Satan to put a thorn through Paul’s flesh. We don’t know what God is doing with Satan – Satan is still God’s servant and can do nothing without God allowing it first. So we need to be careful when we presume to take action in Jesus’ name – doing so without being in true communion with Christ – without being in Him and Him in us – is just as much a rejection of Christ’s Lordship as the man who stands on the corner and teaches false doctrine.

Michael’s response in this conflict is very telling and very directed. -- “The Lord rebuke you.”

Let’s turn to the Book of Zechariah to get some insight here – turn to chapter 3 verses 1-2

Zechariah 3:1-4 (NKJV) Then he showed me the high standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan!

We have a very wonderful, powerful and very often overlooked scene playing out right here.

Joshua is standing before the Angel of The Lord - He is standing before Christ Jesus – this is a pre-incarnate Jesus – in the Old Testament we very often find ourselves in the presence of “The Angel Of The Lord” and every time you do – realize you are witnessing the pre-incarnate Christ – how do we know this – easy – all throughout the Old testament, every time someone tries to worship an angel – the angel stops them from doing so – but at the Battle of Joshua sees the Angel of the Lord with His Sword drawn and Joshua falls at his feet and worships him saying Lord what would you have me do – the Angel of the Lord does not stop him from worshiping Him, but rather tells him to remove his sandals for he is standing on holy ground. Anyway, back to the scene playing out in Zechariah – Satan is standing at his right hand to accuse him. This is the age old scene that goes on in heaven all the time; it’s sort of a repeat of Job, right? Satan goes into heaven, he comes to God, he starts accusing. In this case, Satan is standing at the right hand of Christ, accusing Joshua, or better, accusing the nation he represents, namely Israel, and what’s he trying to do? He’s trying to get God to break His covenant with Israel. He’s trying to get God to deny His promises to sinful Israel. And the Angel of the Lord, who in verse 2 is called the Lord because it is the Lord Himself, listen to what He says. “And the Lord said to Satan...what?...The Lord rebuke you.” How interesting is that? Here in almost a preview of how Jesus would act when He was on earth, He defers to His Father and His Father gives Him the authority over Satan. God says – “The Lord Rebuke You” - He didn’t say no Satan – He didn’t say get out of here Satan – He said “The Lord Rebuke You”! God has given Jesus authority over Satan – and God Himself defers to that authority.

We would do well to remember that. When enough is enough – Jesus will settle it – Jesus will put an end to it – not us – not even the Arc Angel Michael.

I think it is funny – one of God’s Holy Angels battles with one of Satan’s demons for 21 days before the Arc Angel Michael comes to his aid and the Holy Angel can finally make his way to Daniel and he tells Daniel he must return to continue the fight:

Daniel 10:12-13---20-21 (NLT) Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the , came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. ---- He replied, “Do you know why I have come? Soon I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and after that the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece will come. Meanwhile, I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one helps me against these spirit princes except Michael, your spirit prince.)

If it was time for the battle to stop – if Michael heard from God that is was time for the battle to end – Michael or any other of the hosts of Heavenly Angels would simple say “The Lord Rebuke You” and that would be the end of it. But God is doing something we aren’t in on and the battle goes on and we are foot soldiers in the battle and we need to be obedient to do our part.

Apostates not only rebuke Satan with amazing presumption, but they teach other immature believers to do it as well. Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying not to rebuke Satan – I am saying the only power we have is in Christ Jesus and we have not even surrender ourselves to Christ Jesus – if we haven’t yet given Jesus full Lordship in our life’s – how can we presume to think that He would give us Power in His name to do anything – we need to Let Him Change us – before He can use us to Change the world and to do that – He needs to be in full control!

Don’t Kid yourself, Don’t be fooled – not by Satan and not by yourselves!! Jesus is either Lord of Everything or He is Lord of Nothing!!

Let Us Pray

End with Song Control by For King and Country