“How To Identify a False Teacher” Jude 1-25

TRANSCRIPT

Date: January 8, 2023 Author: Wayne J. Edwards

By every measure, the evangelical church in the West is dying. On average, nine churches close their doors daily in America, as over 3,500 people decide to discard the church as being relevant to their needs. According to the most recent survey, over 30% of Americans now have no religious preference or denomination identity. The church is reaping the fruit of the man-centric church-growth movement that began in the early 19th century but exploded exponentially in the 20th century as the younger Pastors abandoned the teaching of sound doctrine and tried to keep attendance up through Christian entertainment. Therefore, the most significant issue facing the church today is not how to attract the next generation to get involved in a dying denomination but whether the church can survive another generation without the proclamation of the uncompromised gospel. We will explain this further in our next sermon, “ Earnestly Contending for the Faith – Holding to the Truth in the Midst of Apostasy. ” In this sermon, we will look at the characteristics of a false teacher. (Jude 1-25)

By every measure, the evangelical church in the West is dying. On average, nine churches close their doors daily in America, as over 3,500 people decide to discard the church as being relevant to their needs. According to the most recent survey, over 30% of Americans now have no religious preference or denomination identity.

The church is reaping the fruit of the man-centric church-growth movement that began in the early 19th century but exploded exponentially in the 20th century as the younger Pastors abandoned the teaching of sound doctrine and tried to keep attendance up through Christian entertainment.

Therefore, the most significant issue facing the church today is not how to attract the next generation to get involved in a dying denomination but whether the church can survive another generation without the proclamation of the uncompromised gospel.

We will explain this further in our next sermon, “ Earnestly Contending for the Faith – Holding to the Truth in the Midst of Apostasy. ” In this sermon, we will look at the characteristics of a false teacher. (Jude 1-25)

Download the following translated Sermon guides:

Old Testament Reading – Jeremiah 23:1-40 New Testament Reading Acts 20:28-38

The greatest question facing the Church today is not Calvinism versus Arminianism, contemporary versus traditional, or the King James versus the New International translation of the Bible. The main question facing the Church today is whether it can survive without truth.

The History of Biblical Truth:

While it is not within our purview to stop the apostasy, for God has ordained it to take place at the end of the church age, as Jude said, it is our responsibility to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

According to the latest survey, the Church of the 21 st century is shrinking rapidly.

Jude, one of the four half-brothers of Jesus, lived in a time when Christianity was under attack politically from the Roman government and doctrinally from false teachers who had infiltrated the churches to nullify the work of Christ.

From verses 4-16, Jude lists 18 characteristics of an apostate. He divided them into three major categories:

The Bible says apostasy will increase and become widespread just before the end of the Church age. (Matt. 24:11, 2 Peter 3:3-4, 1 Timothy 4:1-2, 2 Thess. 2:3)

How can the church “contend” for the faith today? Where should we focus our energies and our resources?

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