The Battle for the Bible | Part 2

Guest (Male): Do you understand the dangers of apostasy? Listen to Adrian Rogers.
Adrian Rogers: Jude said, I was going to write to you concerning our common salvation, but the Holy Spirit of God said, warn those people that they should earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. The word apostasy means to fall away from the faith. And the apostasy, ladies and gentlemen, is upon us.
Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the dynamic messages of pastor and Bible teacher Adrian Rogers. The book of Jude calls believers to contend for the faith against apostates, those who have fallen away and deteriorate the integrity of God's word. In part one of today's message, we learned of the dangers of apostasy. Apostates lack reverence for God. Apostates freely mock holy things. And because they deny God as Lord of their lives, they exercise no rule or regulation. What's our defense against apostates? How can we stand in truth? If you have your Bible, turn now to the book of Jude as Adrian Rogers shares part two of The Battle for the Bible.
Adrian Rogers: There is a battle for the Bible that is going on, whether you know it or not. There is a fight for the faith. And the fight for the faith is a fight to the finish with no holes barred. And the child of God cannot afford to be ignorant. And he certainly cannot play neutral. For the scripture says that we should earnestly contend for the faith. And that word earnestly contend in the Greek language has right in the middle of it the word from which we get our English word agony. We're to agonize for the faith. There's no easy way, uh, no simple way. And I want to be known as a gospel preacher. And there's some people who say, well, you don't digress into any kind of a battle. But that's exactly what happened to Jude. Jude said, I was going to write to you concerning our common salvation. Look in verse three. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith. That is, Jude said, I was going to write about salvation by grace and the power of the blood. I was going to write about being born again. I was going to write about the security we have in Jesus. I was going to write about our deliverance from sin and our home in heaven. It was going to be wonderful. I was going to write about our common salvation, but the Holy Spirit of God said, warn those people that they should earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. So, we're going to think about apostasy today. The word apostasy means to fall away from the faith. And the apostasy, ladies and gentlemen, is upon us. First of all, I want you to think of what I call the danger of apostasy. Look in verse four. For there are certain men crept in unawares. It has the idea of being able to slip into water without even making a ripple. Another way this word was used in the language of that day was someone who would come in uninvited through a side door. For example, everybody comes in through the front doors, but there are certain people who are uninvited who just slip in and make themselves a part of the party. They sort of crash the party. Another way in which this word was used, it was used in a law court for a very clever lawyer who, when he was arguing a case, would slip certain thoughts into his argument, certain words into his argument. He would just place them there and drop them there. And at the time, they seemed to be of no consequence. But what he was doing was putting things into the mind of the judge and the jury that later he would come back and play upon. And he would just plant a thought. He would just slip it in. A very clever lawyer. Or else this word was also used of a person having been deposed and exiled from a country and banned from a country who would somehow just slip across the border and come back from exile and enter that country again. It is a very sinister word. And so, what is the danger of apostasy? Number one, it is the danger of deception. But it is also the danger of destruction. Apostasy is very deadly. And that's the reason that Jude is giving us this warning. That's the reason that Jude is sounding an alarm. And how tragic it is when warnings are not heeded. I was reading again about Captain Smith, who was the captain of the Titanic, that great ocean liner, luxurious and beautiful. How beautiful she was, how strong she was. It was called unsinkable. As a matter of fact, it is reported that one of the crew members said, even God Almighty couldn't sink this ship. That's about all it ever did was sink. I mean, it went out on its maiden voyage and went down. But Captain Smith had received on the radio a message that warned him that he was sailing through iceberg laden waters. Before the Titanic struck that iceberg, he slipped that message into his pocket and the ship continued full speed ahead. And that night, a number of people went down. 1,490 people went to a watery grave because there was a warning that was unheeded. Now, not only does Jude speak of the dangers of apostasy, but he gives us a description of the apostates. Look, if you will, in verse four. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained or marked out to this condemnation. That is, they haven't taken God by surprise. And then he describes them. Number one, ungodly men. Number two, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. And number three, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And in those statements, Jude speaks first of all of their character, then he speaks of their conduct, and then he speaks of their creed. But I want you to see the destruction of the apostates. And I'm going to give you three instances of where God destroyed apostates. And first of all, he talks about the children of Israel who came out of Egypt. Look, if you will, in verse five. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though once you knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. That's a very interesting thing. When the children of Israel left the land of Egypt, they all went out together. And they went out under the blood of the lamb. They went out through the Red Sea. And there were miracles. And they all looked alike, and they all traveled together. But there was a mixed multitude. And some of them who had had that experience, and some of them who had gone through that form, some of them who seemingly were delivered, yet they perished. And they perished at the hand of God. And it was God that destroyed them. Now, they were destroyed in spite of their experience. That is, they had come out of Egypt. But they did never truly believe. The Bible says they believed not. Now, let me tell you something. There's some of you here today who may be apostates. And you may be lost. And you're going to be destroyed, and you don't even know that you're an apostate. And you need to be reminded of what happened to the children of Israel. Outwardly, they were saved, but inwardly, they were not. They had an experience, but they did not have life. They had never truly been born again. Now, that's the reason I preached the first message on the security of the believer, to let you know that a person who is truly saved can never again be a lost sinner. But I'm telling you, dear friend, there are a lot of people who think they were saved, who never were saved and are lost. These people came out of Egypt, but they did not believe. And God destroyed them. Now, you can go out today and and go from door to door and do personal work as I've done many times. And you find a person, he says, oh, yes, we I tell you, we just don't go to church anymore. And you know, I I I I'll admit I'm not living a a Christian life. And there are a lot of things in my life that are not right. As a matter of fact, I'm in pretty bad shape. But but preacher, I won't tell you one thing. At least I know I'm saved. I remember I was a nine year old boy at my country church. I walked down the aisle and I got saved. One thing I know, I know I 'm saved. Well, I won't tell you something, friend. The important thing is not backsliding. The important thing is right now. Now, the question is, is the person sitting in your seat right now, is he trusting Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior? For example, the important question is not were you married. The important question is are you married. If you are you were, right? You see, you say, well, I came out of Egypt. I want to know do you believe. I know there were people who came out of Egypt. There were people who had an experience, but the Bible says God destroyed them. They were apostates. They had a form of godliness, but they denied the power thereof. They came up to the borderline of truth, but they never entered into truth. They never had that heart faith. And sad it is, sad it is for people to have that kind of religion. And Jude says, I remind you of those people, they came out of Egypt. But God destroyed them because they believed not. And so, there was destruction in spite of profession. Secondly, there was destruction in spite of position. I want you to notice in the next verse, and the angels, which kept not their first estate that's verse six, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. There were certain angels who committed horrible sin. I believe the sin they committed was to cohabit with the daughters of men before the flood. They produced a race of monsters, Nephilim, giants. The Bible called them men of renown. These specially vile and wicked angels who went after strange flesh are put into a place. Peter calls it Tartarus. A special place. They are chained within vile chains, reserved in darkness. This not speak of ordinary demons here because ordinary demons are not chained. Amen. You ought to know that. The devil is not yet chained. This is a special class of those who sinned while the ark was being prepared. I don't have time to get into all of that, except to say that it is almost unbelievable that bright, shining, glorious angels who are ministering spirits next to the throne of God could have sunk so vile and so low. And what is Jude telling us? Jude is telling us, ladies and gentlemen, if you do not have the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in your heart, regardless of your position, beware lest you fall. You can be a bishop. You can be a pastor. You can be an elder. You can be a deacon. You can be a professor. And you can go down and you can fall. You can have position without possession. Here were angels next to the throne of God who apostatized and fell. What a warning. What a solemn warning in spite of profession. Israelites fell. In spite of position, the angels fell. In spite of possessions, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah fell. Look, if you would, in verse seven, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. What was the going after strange flesh? What is he talking about? He's talking about the sin of sodomy. But these were once cities that knew the truth. They'd heard the truth. As a matter of fact, one of the sons of Noah was still on the earth when Sodom was destroyed. They had known of the judgment of God in the flood. God had even sent angels to that city to warn that city. But they apostatized and they fell and they turned in spite of possessions. You say, pastor, why do you say possessions? Let me tell you something, friend. If you could have picked out the most beautiful spot on earth in that day, it would probably have been Sodom. Why? Well, the Holy Land was God's land that flowed with milk and honey. I mean, that was the beauty spot of the earth, more beautiful than our Switzerland of today was that land that flowed with milk and honey that God gave to his people. And in the land that flowed with milk and honey, do you know what the choice spot of it all was? Sodom. You remember when Lot had his choice? Abraham said, just choose. He said, boy, I want that. I want Sodom. He saw the well watered plains of Sodom, glorious, beautiful, luxurious. If you were to go today to the end of the Dead Sea, you would find a place with charred remains, bitumen, rocks, salt, desolate, buried under the Dead Sea. That's what happened. People became apostate in spite of profession. People became apostate in spite of position. People became apostate in spite of possessions and the goodness of God upon them. They turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. What a warning. And God has left Sodom with its smoking fire as an example of those who afterward will suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. This is the destruction of the apostates. Now, one last thing. Let me talk to you about the defense against apostasy. Defense against the apostates. Now, the Bible says that we are to earnestly contend. Now, how therefore are we to contend for the faith? Let's get this out of the realm of the theoretical and let's get it down to the practical where we live today. What should we do with the faith? How do we contend for the faith? Number one, you should submit to the faith. That is, you need to be born again. You need to receive the truth of God's word, get it down in your heart, not deny the only Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, but receive the only Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Have you done that? Is he your Savior? Are you born again? Have you repented of your sin? Are you saved? Do you know that you know? Are you 100% certain if you died tonight you'd go to heaven? I'm not asking what happened to you in the past. I'm saying is the person in your seat right now, is he trusting Jesus Christ? I'm not saying that your experience in the past didn't save you, but I 'm saying if it did save you, dear friend, it'll be real in your heart right now. You'll know it. All right? You need number one to submit to the truth. Number two, you need to study the truth. You need to study the faith. You see, there are a lot of people who wouldn't know the apostles from the epistles. As a matter of fact, they think the epistles are the wives of the apostles. They don't understand. They don't understand this book. You ask them, do you believe the Bible's word of God? Oh, yes, I believe the Bible's the word of God. If you tell them, turn to the book of Hezekiah, some of them would start looking. Some of you try and find Philippians 66. You better get in this book, learn what this Bible says. The Bible says, study to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed. And I'll tell you there are three great areas of the battlefield when you're studying the truth. Number one is the inerrancy of the scripture. Number two is the deity of Christ. And number three is salvation by grace through faith. And you better learn those things and learn how to handle them because almost every cult, every apostate is going to be wrong in these areas. And so, you need to submit to the faith. Number two, you need to study the faith. Number three, you need to show the faith. That is, you need to live it out. You need to flesh it out. And how are you going to contend for the faith? One of the greatest arguments for what I preach is the way you live. Do you understand that? My authenticity as a preacher of the gospel is right out here. Now, folks, you make me look bad or good. You. The way you live. Show the faith. The biggest argument for Christ or against Christ is the life of a Christian. Show the faith. I'll tell you something else. You need to stand for the faith. Be bold. Speak up. Don't be ashamed. When the name of the Lord Jesus is being ridiculed and when this Bible is being maligned, speak up. Sure, there are people who are not going to like you. We're not here to win a popularity contest. You don't do that in war. We're to earnestly contend for the faith. That doesn't mean that we're to be feisty and pugnacious and ugly and rude. Bible says a servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, but still stand. Stand like Gibraltar. Get a bulldog grip on the truth. And don't be blown about by every wind of doctrine. And then support the faith. Be in a church that preaches the truth. Support the faith. Now, if you're a a part of a church, that church does not stand for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. If your church has become apostate, get out of it. But you find a church somewhere that's preaching the gospel and do not lend by your life and your support, your influence, and your money to an apostate denomination or an apostate church. Dear friend, support the truth. That's the way to earnestly contend for the faith. Do you know what our job today is? To get good people out of bad churches. You say, well, I'm standing there. I am staying there for my influence. Oh, you are? Well, that's exactly what you're doing. You're influencing other people to be in that same kind of church. You say, well, I'm being a missionary to them. Yeah, you're being a missionary to bring other people in. And they say, well, he's a good man and he belongs there. Oh, dear friend, listen. We need to get good people out of bad churches. And we need to get people to earnestly contend for the faith and to take a stand for the faith that was once for all delivered. We have in our church a man who's in retirement age. Several years ago, he came to me and he said, pastor, I'm a member of a certain denomination. And he named that denomination, a once great denomination that was born in a revival, but now is only living in the smoke. And he said, my pastor doesn't preach the word of God, my denomination. But he said, I love it. We worked in that church. We put so much into that church. And now, pastor, what should I do? And I said, friend, I want to tell you, I earnestly am not trying for the aggrandizement of this church because we're not the only one preaching the gospel. But you better get somewhere where the gospel is preached and put your life and influence behind it. This dear man became a part of Bellevue Church. He and his wife now are going to Uganda as missionaries in retirement age. And there is happy as they can be. And here's a man who is so enthused and so thrilled, one of our deacons who came out of an apostate denomination. And he said, pastor, you don't know how it hurt. But I want to tell you don't know how happy that man is today because he took a stand and God blessed him and God has opened up doors and vistas of service for him. You need to support the faith. One last thing. You need to share the faith, folks. Share the faith. I mean, listen, if it is real, one of the ways to fight apostasy is to get people in the truth because if you're believing the right thing, then you can't be believing the wrong thing. And the real proof as to whether or not you believe this Bible is, what are you doing to share it with somebody else? We say, keep the faith, baby. I'd say, give it away, friend. Give it away. If you can't give it away, maybe you ought to give it up. Maybe you don't have the real thing. Now, we are to earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Now, friend, I want to tell you the devil is so clever. The Bible says he would deceive the very elect if it were possible. And it is possible that some of you, if you don't get saved, can become apostates and be forever lost and suffer eternal destruction. We're talking about serious matters now. We're talking about knowing Jesus Christ. And if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I want to tell you he died to save you. He rose to save you. He lives to save you. He promised to save you. He will save you if you're trusting. The Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. No ifs, ands, and buts about it. You shall be saved. Would you call on him today? Would you say, oh, Lord Jesus, come come into my heart, forgive my sin, and save me. Lord, I'm praying that many today will trust in Christ, that they will be saved, born again. Amen.
Guest (Male): Amen. And if you prayed to receive Jesus just now, let us celebrate with you. Go to our Find God's Love page on our website and you'll discover answers you may need about your newfound faith. Go to lwf.org/radio and click the tab that says Find God's Love. Welcome to the family of God. We can't wait to hear from you today.
Adrian Rogers: Hi, this is Adrian Rogers. And this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a nonprofit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters just like you. To give a gift today, call 1877 Love God. That's 1877 Love God. Or write to us at Love Worth Finding, box 38-600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. You can also connect with us online by going to lwf.org/radio. There, we offer helpful resources inspired by the timeless teachings of pastor Adrian Rogers. Additionally, you can sign up for daily emails, donate to the ministry, and learn more about how to become an ambassador of the word. Thank you so much for listening today. Be sure to join us next time for more profound truth simply stated right here on Love Worth Finding.
Guest (Male): What should your attitude be this Thanksgiving season? Listen to Adrian Rogers.
Adrian Rogers: As a wise man has said, we need to be humbly grateful, not grumbly hateful. So, may God help you to be very grateful this Thanksgiving season for blessings seen and unseen.
Guest (Male): At Love Worth Finding, it's our privilege and joy to provide resources that will help you grow in your spiritual journey. This Thanksgiving season, we want to bless you with this new printed resource, Thanksgiving Grace, a 30-day devotional on gratitude from the Thanksgiving messages of Adrian Rogers. Request your copy when you call with a gift to 1877 Love God. That's 1877 Love God. Or you can give online at lwf.org/radio. Ask the Lord to turn your Thanksgiving into thanks living. Request your copy of Thanksgiving Grace today.