Sermon Overview
Scripture Passage: Jude 1:8
The Book of Jude warns us of the dangers of apostasy, which is when someone falls away from the faith. An apostate is someone who has been given the opportunity to receive the truth but has rejected it. Apostates cause great harm to the Church.

In verse 8, Jude describes apostates as “filthy dreamers,” people with imaginations that are not rooted in truth. But the church is called to contend for our faith and truth, and make sure apostates’ dreams never come true.

First, we must recognize that these dreamers defile the flesh.
Because they ridicule the truth, apostates are more prone to sexual immorality than unbelievers.

As people get away from the Word of God, they give way to their imaginations and dreams—as night follows day, they give way to their sensual sins. We see this so often with young people who have been raised in church but have never been saved. Once they enter adulthood and experience a new environment without the Holy Spirit’s restraint, they fall into ungodly lifestyles.

Apostates are also marked by how they despise the Father.
With rebellious hearts, they reject authority and despise dominion within the church. They don’t want to believe that the Word of God is truth.

The final mark of apostates is that they disgrace the faithful, or, “speak evil of dignitaries” (Jude 8).
Having rejected the truth, apostates will speak blasphemously against Almighty God and His Word.

Adrian Rogers says, “There is nothing too glorious, nothing too holy that they will not defame.”

Our world is full of these filthy dreamers, and unfortunately, apostates don’t ridicule from outside the Church—they do it from within.

With a broken heart, Jude urges us to contend for the faith, to understand it, and know how to defend it, so that we may stop these filthy dreamers in their tracks and fill our churches with people who fear God.

Apply it to your life
Are you part of a church that believes that the Bible is the Word of God? Are you equipped and encouraged to contend for your faith—to understand it and know how to defend it? Recognize these marks of an apostate so that you may stand as others fall away.