The Sin and Doom of Godless Men

I read a devotional resource recently which used as the kernel for its brief message Jude 16:

These men are grumblers and fault-finders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

It was a be-a-better-person message recalling the image of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Don't be a grumbler, boasting about yourself like Scrooge. There was redemption for him. He changed to be more likable. Because of Christ's birth, we can be transformed too.[1]

Indeed, we may be transformed by Christ. But what kind of transformation? Christ wasn't born into this world to provide us with a good example to follow, though He certainly also is that. Christ was born into this world to die on the cross as the ransom for many, the sinless sacrifice for our sin. Jesus was born into this world so that we could have eternal life.

The transformation we have in Jesus is from being dead in our sins, to being alive in Him. The being-nicer is a by-product of that, and it certainly isn't of primary importance.

Be advised: I say this, of course, being a cantankerous person.

Anyway, Jude 16 isn't about people who are crabby during the holidays. It isn't about Scrooges being convinced to treat their Bob Cratchets better. It's about false Christians. Apostates. The final judgment. It's about the Christian life in this fallen world and calling us Christians to persevere in the faith in the midst of it.

Jude is talking about the sin and doom of godless men.

Jude is warning the Church about apostates. Jude is reminding all of us of the warnings of the Apostles: that false teachers, false prophets, false apostles, and false christs would come and would deceive many people.

This is the consistent message of all the Apostles: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. He did this for you. Now, act like the new man that you are. Love and serve your neighbor. Gather together to hear God's word. Pray. Baptize. Eat Our Lord's body and blood, proclaiming His death until He comes. Watch your life and doctrine. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing.

The men who are, as Jude calls them, grumblers and fault-finders who follow their own evil desires; who boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

We can rest assured, however, that these godless men will be convicted of all their ungodly acts when the Lord Jesus returns with thousands upon thousands of His holy ones to judge everyone on the Last Day.

He calls us to persevere. What does that look like? First off, according to Jude, it looks like remembering what we have been told already about the state of things and acknowledging it is true. We have been told that scoffers would come, and follow their ungodly desires. They would divide the Church. Second, knowing and acknowledging this, "build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit." Gather together to hear God's word and to receive His gifts in His sacraments. Call upon His name in trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

End Notes

[1] Gunn, Scott, editor. 2021. "Forward Day by Day: Daily Devotions for Disciples." Devotion for Friday, December 3. Cincinnati: Forward Movement, an agency of the Episcopal Church. www.forewardmovement.org.

Let the Truth Abide in You

Sermon and Deeds of the Antichrist by Signorelli.

These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him (1 John 2:26-27).

Read 1 John 2:18-29 here.

People, Christian and non-Christian alike, are fascinated with the end of the world. Men write books telling us the social, economic, and political events that will precede the last hour. Sometimes these men work out their elaborate end times scenarios by painstakingly – or to be more accurate, excruciatingly – excising bits of Holy Scripture from here and there, and piecing those bits together, out of context, to support their vision of how and when Christ will come. Others are lead by the stirrings of their heart. Still others claim to have seen a vision, or to have received some other direct revelation from God Himself. St. John, however, tells the Christians to whom he writes, including us, that it is the last hour, currently. We don’t need to look for signs of the end times because we are living in them right now.

St. John reminds his readers that the Antichrist is coming; indeed, St. John says that many antichrists have already come. It is for that reason, the apostle says, that we know it the last hour. What does it mean to be antichrist? St. John explains: They went out from us but they were not of us; for if they had been of us they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that non of them were of us…Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.[1] To be antichrist is to deny Jesus, to not have faith in Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. To be antichrist is to teach against the teachings Jesus has entrusted to His Church, and commanded us to teach.

Looking around the landscape of the church today, one can see that there is no shortage of antichrists. There are many teachers who have gone out from Christ’s church and have been made manifest by their false teaching. They teach that Jesus has not come in the flesh, that Jesus is not God, that Jesus is not the complete atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world, that man is good already and needs no redemption, that we must make a sacrifice for sin in addition to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, that Jesus did not really rise from the dead, that He will not come again. And, these men and women gain for themselves large followings and great wealth; we are surely, just as St. John was, in the time when men do not endure sound doctrine, and heap up for themselves teachers, and turn away from the truth.[2]

But we are called to abide in that which we heard from the beginning; if we do, then Christ abides in us and we have what He has promised us – eternal life.[3] St. Paul says the same thing about the teaching: As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.[4] We have received, through the Word working in our baptism, an anointing; God gives us His Holy Spirit. He now abides in us. St. John says, because the Holy Spirit abides in us, we do not need that anyone teach us, because He teaches us all things. This is not to say we should rely on, or seek, a direct revelation from God; He does not wish to deal with us in any other way than through means, such as word, water, bread and wine.[5] Rather, this is the fulfillment of God’s promise through the prophet Jeremiah: But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.[6] St. John is telling us that true Christians abide in Christ through faith in Him and all His teachings. In God’s word, and by the working of the Holy Spirit we have everything we need to discern the truth from a lie, and we have as our present possession God’s gift of eternal life.[7]

---

[1] 1 John 2:19, 22-23

[2] 2 Timothy 4:3

[3] 1 John 2:24

[4] Galatians 1:9

[5] Romans 10:17; SA III, VIII 10-11

[6] Jeremiah 31:33-34

[7] Engelbrecht, Edward, et. al., eds. The Lutheran Study Bible: English Standard Version. Saint Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 2009.

The Great Apostasy

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach (1 Timothy 4:1-11).

Paul echos Jesus’ words about the latter days. We call them the End Times, or at least popular culture does. American Evangelicalism teaches to be vigilant for the rise of the Antichrist as some national ruler (rather than arising out of the Church), to give the modern secular nation of Israel some biblical significance, and to be prepared for the rapture when the signs all align. As a consequence, well-meaning people focus on these fables and wive’s tales, rather than on Christ crucified and risen from the dead. They end up following wolves dressed in pastor’s clothing; men who teach false doctrines about Israel, Jesus’ return, and the Judgement, either because they have unwittingly strayed from the Word of God and a plain reading of it, or in order to line their pockets with the proceeds from their latest book about how the End of Days will play out.

Still others follow phony faith healers, lying prophets, and various other types of health and wealth heretics, all in an attempt to live their best life now. They want their breakthrough. They want their miracle. They want God to bless them. What they really mean, is that they want God to make them rich and give them a life free from hardship and pain. They abandon the call of Christ to take up their cross and follow Him to send money to some TV preacher in order to fix their problems. What they don’t realize, is that their main problem is their own sinful flesh; it is a problem we cannot solve by doing good works, sending money to a televangelist, or even by drinking Peter Popoff’s Miracle Spring Water. They don’t hear the preaching of the Law, and so they don’t recognize their sin; they don’t hear the preaching of the Gospel, and so they don’t know that Christ defeated sin, death, and the devil on the cross; that He washes away their sin in Holy Baptism, uniting them with Him in His death and resurrection; that crucifying our old man with Him we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

This, however, is what we were told to expect. Some would fall away. Some would depart from the faith and follow deceiving spirits and the doctrines of demons. Jesus told His disciples, us included, that many false prophets would rise up and deceive many and, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.[1] It would be the false teachers, not the faithful ones, who would perform great signs and wonders. Jesus warned that false christs and false prophets would rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.[2] And such things do we see in the world, from the time of Christ’s resurrection and ascension even to the present day. We are living in the last days. But we are to hold fast to Christ and His pure doctrine, which He has graciously preserved for us in Holy Scripture; He transmits this doctrine to us in His body, the Church, by the faithful preaching of the Word, by faithful pastors such as Timothy, and the faithful administration of the sacraments. Our pastors teach us the good doctrine of Christ; To reject profane things and old wive’s tales. They teach us to cling to the cross of Christ, trusting in Christ alone, who is the savior of all men, for the forgiveness of our sins, and not in our own works, which are as filthy rags before God. So, rejoice in your baptism. Do not despise preaching and God’s word; that is where He gives you the gifts He has won for you by His death and resurrection. Hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it. Christ has joined you to Himself. He became the ransom for all your sins. He has given you His righteousness, and made you a new creation, so that you might go and do good works for your neighbor.

---

[1] Matthew 24:11-12

[2] Matthew 24:23-24