Dirty Dreamers and Slick Schemers

Scriptures: Jude 8-11, John 8:32, Psalm 73:9, 11, Genesis 4:4-5, Hebrews 9:22

Dreams can be delightful or disturbing. They can also be dangerous. In Jude the author warns of dreamers who conjure up their own theology. They just dream up what they want to believe, and their theology is just a figment of their imaginations. They base what they believe on subjective opinion rather than objective revelation. In other words, they base what they believe on what they think, rather than what God says. In this message, Dr. Merritt unwraps the characteristics you can watch for in the life of someone who has turned away from the Word of God.

"These dreamers 'reject auth­ority.' (v. 8b) The word authority there literally means lordship or dominion. The apostate is someone who talks about God, but he defies his authority. These apostates do not believe in spiritual authority. They believe in personal autonomy. When you try to challenge them they will immediately cry, 'priesthood of the believer,' which is simply their way of saying they can believe anything they want to believe without any fear of repercussion or consequence." --Dr. Merritt

Keywords: Jude, apostate, apostasy, salvation, faith, authority, rejection, theology, godless, immorality, sex, identify, ascribe, defame, blastpheme, Michael the Archangel, defile, ignorant, criticize, corrupt, shameful, indulgent, Cain, Baalam, Korah, deny, Balak, David Koresh