The Dangers Of Idolatry

Jude 3 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 ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

If You Don’t Stand Strong For The Faith,
The Devil Will Damn You And Your Efforts

Word Study: As Jude writes the Church, he calls it “BELOVED”, the Greek agapētos. The Church is “BELOVED” of God. Why? The word agapētos is first found in the Bible – not to the Church – but it is what God the Father calls His Son Jesus at His baptism:

Matthew 3:17 (KJV) And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My BELOVED {agapētos} Son, in whom I am well pleased.

The Old Testament Prophets spoke of God’s Beloved Son, Who would come into the world to save whosoever will. The Apostle Matthew quoted Isaiah 42:1 when he wrote of Jesus:

Matthew 12:18 (ESV) Behold, my Servant whom I have chosen, My BELOVED {agapētos} with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

Preach! Jesus is God’s BELOVED {agapētos} Son, in Whom He is well pleased (Matthew 17:5). He is the fulfillment of the prophecies of God, the one and only Messiah. The Church is BELOVED because we have received Jesus as He is, THE BELOVED of God. We are loved, because we love Him Who is loved. We are loved, because we have RECEIVED Jesus Christ as the One and only Savior and Lord.

As Jude writes the Church, he says “I gave all diligence to write unto you of the COMMON {koinos} SALVATION”. When he says “COMMON”, he does not mean it is mediocre or low quality. He means that this salvation is offered to ALL PEOPLE {koinos}. There is only one way that God offers a person to be saved. Or, as the Apostles preached, “Salvation is found in no One else, for there is NO OTHER NAME under Heaven GIVEN TO MANKIND by which we MUST BE SAVED” (Acts 4:12, NIV). When the Father looked at the earth, He sees nothing or no one worthy to enter His Kingdom. So He sends His Son to rescue humanity. There is no other way, no other Person Who is “BELOVED” but Jesus (John 14:6).

When you REPENT and RECEIVE Jesus as Lord and Savior, you become BELOVED because Jesus is BELOVED.

The devil knows this. The devil is constantly trying to find a way to draw people away from the common salvation in Jesus Christ, and into some idol. Jude warns the Church that to get away from the Beloved and into an idol, or a mimic of Christ rather than the True Christ – this will be disastrous. Idolatry is disastrous! Jude EXHORTS or COMMANDS the Church to

earnestly contend {epagōnizomai} for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints

When it comes to our Christian walk, God has commanded us to remember that we are not to take attacks against us and our faith personally, but to

2 Timothy 2:24-25 (NKJV) … not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth

The lost are to be encouraged – not brow beaten – into coming to Jesus. But when it comes to the faith once delivered, God tells us to “earnestly contend {epagōnizomai}”, to refuse to give in to, to set our teeth and say “absolutely NOT!”. In our world today the lost love to throw around phrases like,

“Don’t be hateful”
I was called “hateful” by a so called member who no longer comes when I pointed out scripture to her. She thought this made her sin right. It didn’t.

“Don’t be intolerant”
The world – and false pastors – will tell you there are many ways to God.
This is idolatry!

“Don’t be _phobic”
The world – and false pastors – will tell you to accept what God has forbidden, just as Satan did in the Garden of Eden.

“Don’t be ignorant”
The world – and false pastors – will have you deny the teachings of Scripture, calling it outdated, outmoded, or just out.

The Holy Spirit through Jude calls every Christian to carefully examine anything that comes into your life in the light of God’s Holy Word. We must EARNESTLY CONTEND (this is only found here in the Bible) or refuse to compromise …

Jude 3 for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

The faith that makes “SAINTS” or Children of God was “ONCE DELIVERED”. We did not earn our faith – it was DELIVERED to us. This Gospel and this Scripture is entrusted to the Church as a stewardship. False gospels either add to or subtract from what the Scripture has clearly stated. False gospels undervalue what Jesus Christ did for us on Calvary. False gospels present alternate views of Christ not supported by the Biblical text. Jude warns us, WATCH OUT for idolatry.

The Devil Introduced Idolatry In The Garden.
His Servants Introduce Idolatry In The Church.

Jude 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you ever wondered why the Devil assumed the guise of a “Serpent” in the Garden of Eden? The Bible says “the SERPENT was more CUNNING than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made”. We know this is the devil or Satan because the Bible calls him “that OLD SERPENT” (Revelation 12:9; 20:2). The snake is very cunning, very tricky. I have often been hiking in the woods, and stepped over a snake, not even seeing it. The serpent blends in with the creation.

The same thing is true of the devil’s servants. We are told that they have “there are certain men crept in unawares”. False teachers don’t wear a sign saying “I’m a false teacher”. They look good on the outside. They often have titles, and have gone to the best seminaries. They slither into the Southern Baptist Convention. They sneak into Baptist Churches. C.H. Spurgeon wrote:

“Satan knows right well that one devil in the church can do far more than a thousand devils outside her bounds.”

The phrase:

who were before of old ordained to this condemnation

Means that these people have been around from the very beginning. Their ways were condemned by God in the Old Testament (see Deuteronomy 13:1-11). As Solomon said, “there is NOTHING NEW under the Sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). These false prophets and false leaders sneak into God’s work, and the people of God often don’t see them – but God does. God knows what they are doing, and they will be found out and condemned. Their actions are not God honoring, but they are “ungodly men”. They do not live so as to bring glory to God, but to idols.

Illustrate: I was listening to a Church concert the other day, when the lead singer of the main group singing introduced another singer. He told the cheering audience, “Let’s give it up for so and so”, and the crowd went wild! I felt disgusted. Were they there to worship Jesus, or to worship this created being? This is idolatry, no different from what the world does.

ungodly men, TURNING the GRACE of our God
into lasciviousness

Word Study: The word “lasciviousness” is the Greek aselgeia, which means sensual pleasure. Grace is only received when you practice self denial. Jesus said: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24, ESV). Our Lord Jesus denied Himself in order to save us. Grace is not about your own sensual pleasure.

The more you are focused on yourself, the less you will be focused on God, and the further from God you will be. Lasciviousness and Grace do not mix!

The Apostle said in Philippians 3:7-8, “whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ”

Godless men bring in idolatry, twisting Grace and making it something that blesses you and your pleasures. This is NOT Grace! It’s the opposite of Grace. The Bible says:

Galatians 5:24 (ESV) … those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires

Idolaters and false pastors tell you that God has saved you so that you can freely sin, and freely follow the desires of your flesh. But the faith once delivered to the Church is to remember that …

Colossians 3:3-5 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Grace does not bestow salvation on the believer so that we can sin freely, but so that we can serve our God freely.

We are told in Titus 2:11-13, (ESV) “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”

God did not save us so that we can be like the world. God saved us so that we can “walk in the Light” (1 John 1:7; Isaiah 2:5).

Idolaters and false pastors teach that we do not have to obey God, and that Jesus is not Lord. They make statements like “You only need to receive Jesus as Savior – then later you can choose to receive Him as Lord, if you want”. This is a lie from hell. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS” (John 14:15). Jesus said,

John 15:9-11 (KJV) As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. [10] If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. [11] These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.

We who are saved, are saved into the Kingdom of God. Jesus is LORD. There is no salvation to those who receive Jesus as “Savior”, but deny Him as “Lord”. This is clearly presented in

Romans 10:9 (ESV) if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

It is God’s will that “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ IS LORD, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11). The early Church preached “Believe in the LORD JESUS, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). It is the Holy Spirit of God acting in our lives that convicts us that Jesus is Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3). When the Apostle Thomas saw Jesus after His resurrection, he said “My LORD and my GOD” (John 20:26-29). In the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 13:1-11 God warned His people to avoid idolatry and those who are “filthy dreamers”. God told Israel:

Deuteronomy 13:1-4 (NKJV) 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. 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.

Idolatry keeps people from salvation, and it keeps those who are saved from the blessings of salvation

Jude 5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

When God saved Israel from Egypt, when they left the Bible says “a mixed multitude went up with them” (Exodus 12:38, NKJV). The tares are often mixed in with the wheat. On the way to the Promised Land, the Bible says:

Numbers 11:4 (NKJV) Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat?

Those who were not believers continued to complain and murmur. Though God blessed Israel with the mixed multitude, the Bible says “In spite of all {God’s blessings}, they still sinned; despite {God’s} wonders, they did not believe” (Psalm 78:32, ESV). At Mount Sinai it became apparent that the unbelief had horribly infected Israel. When Moses went into the Mount to receive the Law from God, we read:

Exodus 32:1 (NKJV) when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

The believers in Israel had kept quiet in the face of false religion, so the whole congregation became flooded with unbelief and godlessness. They demanded idols to follow, rather than God Himself. Aaron, who should have stood up for the Lord, instead refused to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered. He made them their golden calf.

Aaron and Israel compromised with idolatry. Their doom was sealed long before they reached Canaan.

What happened in Numbers 14 is explained in

Hebrews 3:16-19 (NKJV) … who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Idolatry kept the first generation of Israel out of the Promised Land. Believer and unbeliever died in the desert because of unbelief.

Jude 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Idolatry not only keeps unbelieving HUMANS out of the Promised Land, but keeps unbelieving ANGELS out of Heaven, the ultimate Promised Land. When Satan turned against God, making himself an idol, the Bible says:

Revelation 12:4 (ESV) His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.

A third of the angels rebelled against God, and were cast down to this earth. Though Satan sometimes goes into the Throne room of God (Job 2:7), the other fallen angels are not allowed back into Heaven. They will be judged one day by God(Revelation 20:10)– but for now they are confined to this earth. Why? Because they made an idol of Satan. They afflict us on this earth (Ephesians 6:12), but one day will be judged by Jesus Christ (Matthew 8:29)

Jude 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, 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.

Though Lot went to Sodom and …

2 Peter 2:8 … dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds

The people refused to turn from idolatry. They chased after sensual sins, heterosexual and homosexual, until God destroyed those cities. The three things that these idolaters did are …

Jude 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

My commentary notes:

“Jude calls the apostates “dreamers,” perhaps because they dreamed about ways to indulge their sinful appetites. They may also have claimed spiritual visions as an excuse for their action. Like the wicked inhabitants of Sodom, Gomorrah, and surrounding towns, the apostates disregard the harm their wicked habits cause their bodies. They reject authority, just as the rebellious Israelites rejected Moses’ authority. They especially reject the authority of Jesus Christ, the head of the church (Colossians 1:18). It follows that they also reject the authority of those whom God has placed in the churches to teach His Word and to guide His people. Instead of bowing to the authority of God’s Word, these apostates teach falsehood.

First Timothy 4:1–2 describes the source of the apostates’ evil teachings

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.”

Satan Is The Source Of Idolatry

Jude 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

The Prophet Moses was unable to enter the Promised Land because he made himself equal to God. When Israel was in Kadesh there was no water, and the people began to murmur and complain once more. The Bible says:

Numbers 20:6-9 (NKJV) Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.

Moses moved to do as God told him. However, he let his temper get the best of him. Rather than obey the Lord, we read:

Numbers 20:10-12 … Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. 12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

Moses departed from God’s will. He added to the Word of God, and lost the Promised Land – though not the love of God – for his disobedience. The Bible tells us that when it came time for Moses to die, that the Lord let him see the Promised Land. We read:

Deuteronomy 34:4-7 (NKJV) the Lord said to {Moses}, “This is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 6 And {God} buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day. 7 Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.

God caused Moses to go into the wilderness, and there he died, and was buried by God. Why did God bury Moses, and hide his grave site?

Because of idolatry.

Jude 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

No human knew where Moses was buried, but the devil did. The devil tried to take the body of Moses. Why? Because many false religions worship the bones of leaders, idolatrous statues, and human things. The Catholic Church keeps the bones of those they consider “saints”. Every Catholic altar contains “relics” or bones of the “saints”. The Second Vatican Council wrote:

“The practice of placing relics of Saints, even those not Martyrs, under the altar to be dedicated is fittingly retained. Care should be taken, however, to ensure the authenticity of such relics.” – Roman Missal (302)

They twist the Scripture to make these things not seem idolatrous, but they are. Catholicism worships bones, as do Tibetan Buddhists, Hindus, and other pagan religions. God forbids the worship of anything, human or human made. God says:

1 John 5:21 (ESV) Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Beginning with the Law of Moses at Sinai (Exodus 20:3-6), God forbade idolatry. I have often been asked, “Why are there no original, signed copies of the writings of the Bible?” I believe it is because – if we had signed copies or autographa, then we would put them in cases and in churches and worship them. We have 25,000 manuscripts of the Bible, 5800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and 9,300 manuscripts in various ancient languages. There are so many copies that we are assured that we have ALL of the original Bible that was given by the Prophets and Apostles. But there is no original.

The devil tried to get the body of Moses. If we had the bones of Moses today people would make pilgrimages to the “Holy Land” to worship them. God hid Moses body so it could not be misused. My commentary notes:

“There are invisible, angelic beings all around us. There are ministering spirits sent by God to assist us, and demonic spirits who want to defeat us. The devil can’t unsave a saved person; but through his deceptions he can corrupt and defile a Christian who is supposed to walk in purity and freedom. To the devil, we are time bombs, ready to wreck his work – bombs that he would like to defuse and make ineffective.”

Let us reject idols, and follow the living God!