JUDE -
JUDE PART #1 OPENS WITH....
PREPARE TO CONTEND FOR THE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST IN THE LAST DAYS.
THE BOOK OF JUDE IS ONLY 1 CHAPTER, WITH 25 VERSES, BUT IT IS SO MEATY, AND DETAILED, THAT IN ORDER TO STUDY IT & UNDERSTAND IT PROPERLY AND FULLY, IT WILL TAKE THREE STUDIES TO COMPLETE.
THE BOOK OF JUDE ALSO GIVES US UNIQUE DETAILS ABOUT BIBLICAL HISTORY, AS WELL THE LAST DAYS, THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT TOLD HIM & SHOWED HIM THAT WE DO NOT WANT TO MISS NOT ONE GOLD NUGGET FOUND HERE.
The danger that prompted Jude to write this letter.
Verse 1 tells us WHO IS the author and WHO ARE his TARGET readers.
“Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:”
Jude: The name is literally “Judas.” But to avoid connection with Judas Iscariot, the infamous man who betrayed Jesus, most English translators have used the name “Jude.”
There are SIX people named “Judas” mentioned in the New Testament, but the best evidence identifies this as the one mentioned in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3: Jude, the half-brother of Jesus.
Jude, like the other half-brothers of Jesus (including James), didn’t believe in Jesus as the Messiah until AFTER the resurrection of Jesus.
John 7:5 says of Jesus family, “For neither did his brethren believe in him.”
YOU NOTICE JUDE CALLS HIMSELF...
A bondservant of Jesus Christ: even though Jude was a blood relative of Jesus, but he considered himself ONLY as a bondservant of Jesus Christ.
The fact that he wanted himself to be known this way instead of introducing himself as “Jude, the half-brother of Jesus” tells us something of the NEW MAN IN CHRIST & THE HUMILITY of Jude and the relative unimportance of being connected to Jesus by blood & human relationships.
JUDE LEARNED AND AGREED WITH AND NOW UNDERSTOOD WHAT JESUS MEANT WHEN HE spoke of this relative unimportance in passage such as Mark 3:31-35 and Luke 11:27-28.
MARK 3:31-35 confirms this, “There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.”
LUKE 11:27-28 confirms this, “And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed [is] the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”
DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND HERE…
THERE IS WITHOUT A SHADOW OF DOUBT THAT Jude NOW BELATEDLY VALUED the fact that Jesus WAS his half-brother and that he grew up in the same household as Jesus. But even MORE valuable to him was his ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus. To Jude, the blood of the cross that saved him was more important than the family blood in his veins that related him to Jesus.
Jude could say with Paul, “Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.” (2 Corinthians 5:16)
And brother of James…James was an important leader of the church in Jerusalem and the author of the New Testament letter that bears his name. Both James and Jude WERE half-brothers of Jesus.
To those who are called…Jude wrote THIS LETTER TO Christians. This is NOT an evangelistic tract and it deals with things that believers NEED to hear, but often don’t want to.
TO MAKE SURE THERE WAS NO MISTAKE IN WHOM JUDE WAS SPEAKING TO…Jude identified his readers as Christians in THREE specific ways:
1. They WERE/ARE called…A person is a Christian because God has called them. The important thing is to ANSWER the call when it comes, just as we answer the telephone when it is ringing.
2. They WERE/ARE sanctified by God the Father. This means that they were set apart - set apart from the world and set apart unto God.
3. They WERE/ARE preserved in Jesus. Jesus Christ is our guardian and our protector and our salvation.
Verse 2 tells us Jude gives a warm and typical greeting.
“Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.”
Mercy, peace, and love…This is NOT the same greeting as found in most of Paul’s letters (which usually begin with some variation of “Grace and peace unto you”). Yet it is substantially the same.
Be multiplied to you…In the mind and heart of Jude, it wasn’t enough to have mercy, peace, and love added to the life of the Christian. He looked for MULTIPLICATION instead of simple ADDITION.
Verse 3 tells us the call to DEFEND the faith.
“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
Jude’s initial desire was to write about our COMMON salvation. But something happened - Jude found it necessary to write a different letter. We might say that this was the letter that didn’t want to be written.
WHAT DO I MEAN BY THAT?
The letter of Jude is essentially a sermon OF WARNING…OF FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED, AMEN!
In it, Jude preached against the DANGEROUS practices and doctrines that put the gospel of Jesus Christ IN PERIL. These WERE/ARE serious issues and Jude dealt with them seriously.
We should be THANKFUL that Jude was SENSITIVE to the Holy Spirit here. What might have only been a letter from a Christian leader to a particular church instead became a precious instrument inspired by the Holy Spirit and valuable as a warning TO/FOR CHRISTIANS in these LAST DAYS.
Concerning our common salvation…Our salvation IS NOT common in the sense that it is CHEAP or that EVERYONE AND ANYONE ALREADY HAS IT.
It is common in the sense that we ARE SAVED IN COMMON, in community. IN OTHER WORDS, WE WHO ARE SAVED BY/THROUGH JESUS CHRIST & HIM ALONE.
WHAT DOES JUDE MEAN BY THIS?
HE IS REMINDING CHRISTIANS THAT GOD DOES NOT have one way for the rich and another way for the poor, or one way for the good and another way for the bad.
We ALL come to God the same way. If it isn’t a common salvation, it isn’t God’s salvation - GOD’S SALVATION FOR US ALL IS ONLY THROUGH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST…and ANYTHING LESS IS NOT salvation at all.
PEOPLE CAN KNOW, TRUST, BELIEVE IN, AND ACCEPT ALMIGHTY GOD, BUT IF THEY REJECT HIS SON JESUS CHRIST, THEY ARE NOT SAVED.
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP DOES NOT SAVE YOU…You can join a church, synagogue, temple, mosque, ashram, a monastery, a coven, be faithful to it all your life AND SPEND ETERNITY IN THE LAKE OF FIRE. JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY!
YOU CAN BE BAPTIZED AT BIRTH, BROUGHT INTO OR BUY INTO ANY RELIGIOUS GROUP BY PROXY FROM YOUR FAMILY BELIEF TENETS WHATEVER THEY ARE, YOU CAN BE CONVERTED INTO AN OCEAN OF POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE RELIGIOSITIES THAT FLOOD THE WORLD and STILL SPEND ETERNITY IN THE LAKE OF FIRE.
BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST AND BELIEF, TRUST, REPENTANCE & ACCEPTANCE OF HIM INTO YOUR HEART, WHICH IS THE ONE & ONLY TRUE FAITH IS IN JESUS CHRIST ALONE.
YOU WANT TO SPEND ETERNITY IN HEAVEN…COME TO JESUS.
YOU WANT TO GET TO ALMIGHTY GOD…COME TO JESUS.
YOU WANT TO REPENT, BE FORGIVEN BY ALMIGHTY GOD, CALL ON JESUS CHRIST ALONE.
IN OTHER WORDS, BAPTISM DOES NOT SAVE ANYONE.
A CHURCH MEMBERSHIP DOES NOT SAVE ANYONE.
COMMUNION DOES NOT SAVE ANYONE,
FEAST DAYS DOES NOT SAVE ANYONE.
JUDE IS REMINDING CHRISTIANS, JESUS CHRIST SAYS EACH PERSON MUST PERSONALLY ONE ON ONE CHOOSE HIM. THERE IS NO SALVATION BY PROXY NOR PROXIMITY AS MANY FALSE TEACHERS AND FALSE RELIGIONS TEACH.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
THERE ARE THOSE WHO TEACH AND BELIEVE TO BE A JEW, MEANS AUTOMATIC SALVATION AND AN ETERNITY IN HEAVEN…THAT IS A LIE FROM SATAN AND THE WORLD.
THERE ARE THOSE WHO SAY I AM A BAPTIST, METHODIST, LUTHERAN, PENTECOSTAL, CATHOLIC, MUSLIM, LATTER DAY SAINTS, AND I READ THEIR BIBLE, PRAY, BELIEVE IN GOD…
SO I AM SAVED. THAT IS A LIE FROM SATAN HIMSELF.
THERE ARE THOSE WHO SAY, I AM A GOOD PERSON, I HAVE LIVED A GOOD MORAL LIFE….I AM GOING TO HEAVEN. THAT IS A LIE FROM SATAN.
YOU CAN SAY AN OCEAN OF PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD, PAY WHATEVER THE COST FOR SALVATION LITURGY. PRAY TO MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS, OR HIS DISCIPLES, OR TO GOD’S ANGELS, OR PRAY TO ANYONE IN HEAVEN FOR INTERCESSION, SALVATION, AND ACCEPTANCE INTO HEAVEN….THAT IS A LIE FROM SATAN & THOSE WHO OBEY HIM.
YOU CAN HAVE (ALL) THE ABOVE, BE ALL THE ABOVE, AND YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY IN THE LAKE OF FIRE…
WHY?
BECAUSE THE (ONLY) WAY OF SALVATION, AN ETERNITY IN HEAVEN WITH GOD IS THROUGH A ONE ON ONE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST ALONE.
JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY ONE ACCEPTABLE TO ALMIGHTY GOD WHO CAN SAVE & REDEEM ANYONE.
YOU SAY YOU BELIEVE IN GOD, BUT NOT IN JESUS CHRIST, GOD WILL SAVE YOU. THAT IS A LIE FROM SATAN.
YOU CAN SAY, I DO NOT BELIEVE IN HELL, HEAVEN, OR ALMIGHTY GOD. WHEN I DIE I RETURN TO DUST…END OF STORY…THERE IS NO ETERNITY…CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE FALLEN FOR THE LIES OF SATAN.
An individual Christian may not know it, understand it all, or benefit by it all, but to be a Christian is to be a part of community, to be a part of JESUS CHRIST FAMILY.
To be a Christian means you STAND shoulder to shoulder with millions of Christians who HAVE gone before YOU AND I.
IN THE EYES OF ALMIGHTY GOD, NONE NOT ONE IS A CHRISTIAN, UNLESS THEY HAVE CALLED UPON THE NAME OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST AND ASKED JESUS CHRIST TO SAVE THEM. HAVE ASKED JESUS CHRIST TO FORGIVE THEM, & TO COME INTO THEIR HEARTS/LIVES TO BE THEIR LORD AND SAVIOR…
ANYTHING LESS…ANYTHING LESS THAN THAT, IN THE EYES OF ALMIGHTY GOD IS REJECTION OF HIM AND OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST!
ANYTHING LESS…AND OUR SELF-CHOSEN FUTURE & ETERNAL DESTINY IS THE LAKE OF FIRE FOR ETERNITY.
We STAND with strong Christians and weak Christians; brave Christians and cowardly Christians; old Christians and young Christians. We are part of an invisible, MIGHTY ARMY that spans back through the generations.
Exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith…This was the GREAT NEED that Jude interrupted his intended letter to address.
The ancient Greek word translated “contend” comes from the athletic world – from the wrestling mat. It is a strengthened form of the word meaning “to agonize.” Therefore “contend” speaks of hard and diligent work.
The verb translated contend earnestly is in the present infinitive, showing that the Christian struggle is continuous.
We contend earnestly for THE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST because it is PRICELESS. If you walk into an art gallery and there are NO guards or NO sort of security system, you must draw one conclusion: there is NOTHING very valuable in that art gallery, AMEN?
Valuables ARE protected; worthless things are NOT.
Exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith…If we emphasize the word you, we see that this was something that Jude wanted each individual Christian to do. There are many ways that every Christian can contend earnestly for the faith.
HOW DO WE CONTEND?
We contend for the faith in a POSITIVE sense when we give an unflinching witness, distribute tracts, make possible the training of faithful ambassadors for Jesus, or when we strengthen the hands of faithful pastors who honor the Word of God in their pulpits.
We CONTEND FOR THE FAITH in a POSITIVE SENSE when we SHINE AND SHOW JESUS by the way we behave, live, reach out, and respond to the lost world. These are a few among many ways that we can contend earnestly for the faith in a positive sense.
HOW?
THE CHRISTIAN VERSUS THE LOST WORLD:
CHRISTIANS PRAY FOR THEIR ENEMIES…THE LOST WORLD/FALSE RELIGIOSITIES SEEKS TO DESTROY THEIR ENEMIES.
CHRISTIANS STRIVE TO RETURN GOOD FOR EVIL.
THE LOST WORLD RETURNS EVIL FOR EVIL & EVIL FOR GOOD.
CHRISTIANS STRIVE TO FORGIVE THEIR ENEMIES.
THE LOST WORLD PUNISHES THEIR ENEMIES.
CHRISTIANS SHARE WHAT WE HAVE WITH THOSE IN NEED.
THE LOST WORLD HOARDS WHAT THEY HAVE.
CHRISTIANS DO NOT KILL/DESTROY THOSE WHO REJECT THEM.
THE LOST WORLD DOES BOTH.
CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THE HOLY BIBLE & PUT THEIR FAITH AND TRUST AND LIVES IN JESUS CHRIST HANDS ALONE.
THE LOST WORLD BELIEVES IN SELF & TRUSTS IN MANMADE THINGS AND MAN-MADE FALSE IDOLS AND FALSE RELIGIOSITY.
We contend for the faith in a practical sense when we live uncompromising Christian lives and GIVE ALL CREDIT to the LORD JESUS CHRIST who NOT ONLY SAVED US…BUT DAY BY DAY CHANGES us, PROTECTS US, HEALS US, BLESSES US, PROVIDES FOR US, & LEADS US.
Obviously, faithful missionaries and evangelists contend earnestly for the faith. But so does the Sunday School teacher, the parent, the grandparent or home group leaders who ARE faithful to THE HOLY BIBLE. People like this contend for the faith just as much as a front-line missionary does, and each one of us should contend for the gospel wherever JESUS CHRIST puts us.
IN OTHER WORDS…SHINE AND SHOW JESUS WHERE YOU ARE.
EVERYTHING, GREAT AND SMALL THAT YOU DO FOR JESUS IS PRECIOUS AND PRICELESS.
Contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints: Here, Jude tells us what we are contending for. There is a lot of earnest contention in the world but usually not for the RIGHT things. The faith IN JESUS CHRIST & HIS HOLY BIBLE once for all delivered to the saints=Christians is something worth contending for.
“THE FAITH” DOES NOT mean OUR OWN PERSONAL BELIEFS.
IT DOES NOT MEAN “THE FAITH” IN A MAN-MADE RELIGION, AN ORGANIZATION, EARTH RELIGIONS, PAGANISM, OR THE ICONIC SPIRITUALITY AND ONENESS WITH ALL THINGS.
ALL OF THAT IS SATAN INSPIRED, MAN CREATED, & MAN ORDAINED….NOT FROM JESUS CHRIST, NOT FROM ALMIGHTY GOD AND HIS HOLY BIBLE.
IT MEANS the essential truths of the gospel that ALL TRUE JESUS CHRIST LOVING AND BELIEVING Christians HOLD IN COMMON.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE HOLY BIBLE SAYS IT, I BELIEVE ALL OF THE HOLY BIBLE AND THAT SETTLES IT FOR ME.
“THE FAITH” JUDE IS REFERRING TO IS USED in this sense repeatedly in the New Testament (Acts 6:7; 13:8; 14:22; 16:5; 24:24; Romans 1:5; 16:26; Colossians 2:7, and 1 Timothy 1:2 are just some of the examples)
We must contend earnestly for the truth. “The faith is the body of truth that very early in the church’s history took on a definite form (Acts 2:42; Romans 6:17; Galatians 1:23).”
AS MY GRANDMOTHER ONCE TOLD ME…WHAT IS HISTORY. IT IS HIS STORY…IT IS ALMIGHTY GOD’S STORY. IT IS JESUS CHRIST STORY…AMEN?
ONCE means that THE FAITH was delivered ONE time, and doesn’t need to be delivered again. Of course, we distribute this truth again and again. But it was DELIVERED by God to the world through the apostles and prophets once (Ephesians 2:2). God may speak today, but never in the authoritative way that He spoke through the first apostles and prophets as recorded in the New Testament.
ERDMAN says it best…“There is no other gospel, there will be none. Its content will be more fully understood, its implications will be developed, its predictions will be fulfilled; but it will never be supplemented or succeeded or supplanted.”
FOR ALL…MEANS WHOSOEVER WILL COME.
FOR ALL…MEANS THIS FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST is for everybody.
We DO NOT, IN THE EYES OF ALMIGHTY GOD NOR JESUS CHRIST, have the option to simply MAKE UP OUR OWN FAITH and still be true to God.
THE BIBLE IS THE INERRANT (THAT MEANS TRUE, PRECISE, ACCURATE) WORD OF THE TRIUNE GOD TO MANKIND.
BUT TODAY, FAITH FOR ALL, IS NOT POPULAR, IT IS NOT POPULAR to really believe in the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
THERE ARE THOSE THAT SAY, MANKIND HAS EVOLVED, WE ARE SMARTER, WISER, MORE EDUCATED, MORE SOCIALLY, POLITICALLY, MEDICALLY, AND TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED THAN THOSE ANCIENT PEOPLE THAT LIVED 1000S OF YEARS AGO.
THEY SAY...THE BIBLE & ITS TEACHINGS ARE PASSE, ANTIQUATED, WORTHLESS…WE HAVE TO UPDATE, REVISE, RECREATE, MAKE NEW, COOLER, HIPPER, MORE NOW RELATED THE WORD…ALL THAT ANCIENT “STUFF” DOES NOT APPLY TO OUR ELITE, ICONIC, WORLD.
THERE ARE 23 RE-CREATIONS AND REVISIONS OF THE HOLY BIBLE RIGHT NOW…
AND SATAN COULD NOT BE HAPPIER…
TAKE GOD AND JESUS CHRIST OUT OF IT, AND REPLACE IT WITH ENLIGHTENED, MENTAL-ELITISTS EXPOUNDED MODERN LANGUAGE.
THE MODERN BIBLES BEING CRANKED OUT, I HAVE READ THROUGH SEVERAL AND A SIDE BY SIDE COMPARATIVE TO THE KJV HOLY BIBLE IS MIND-BLOWING.
I CAN PICK A VERSE THAT I KNOW BY HEART, AND READ IT IN THESE NEW VERSIONS AND CAN NOT HEAR OR SEE OR FEEL ANYTHING. AND WHEN I HEAR THESE NEW TRANSLATIONS READ…I HAVE NO CLUE WHERE THE TEXT IS COMING FROM…THAT IS BEYOND WATERED DOWN…THAT IS A WASTE OF TREES.
THERE ARE THOSE WHO SAY SURE I BELIEVE IN GOD.
I MEAN I BELIEVE IN A GOD…SOMEWHERE OUT THERE…
BUT JESUS CHRIST IF HE REALLY LIVED AT ALL, WAS JUST A KIND NICE MAN…MAYBE A KIND TEACHER AT BEST. I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD. I BELIEVE THE OLD TESTAMENT, BUT NOT THE NEW TESTAMENT…OR I BELIEVE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT AND NOT THE OLD. OR I BELIEVE IN PARTS OF THE BIBLE, BUT NOT ALL OF IT.
JUDE IS SAYING WHAT ALL OTHERS HAVE SAID SINCE GENESIS…ALMIGHTY GOD, JESUS CHRIST, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT HAVE ALWAYS BEEN. THEY DO NOT CHANGE. THEY DO NOT LIE. AND THEIR WORDS TO US ARE JUST AS RELEVANT TODAY AS THEY WERE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN.
YOU EITHER BELIEVE ALL OR YOU MUST REJECT IT ALL.
THERE IS NOOOOOO MIDDLE GROUND WITH THE TRIUNE GOD.
WE MAY NOT UNDERSTAND IT ALL…I MEAN THINK ABOUT IT, GOD SAID HE CREATED MAN FROM DUST…WHEN HE COULD HAVE SAID I CREATED ALL LIVING THINGS OUT OF DNA…RIGHT?
AND IT HAS ONLYYYYY TAKEN MANKIND 7000 YEARS TO BEGAN TO SCRATCH THE SURFACE OF WHAT DNA IS….WHAT AN ATOM IS…SO OUR UNDERSTANDING ALL THINGS IS IMPOSSIBLE. WE WILL ONLY UNDERSTAND ALL THINGS ONCE WE ENTER HEAVEN.
AS WELL, MANY PEOPLE THEN AND NOW, want to believe in the faith they make up as they go along and decide is right for them.
More people believe in “the faith that is in my heart” than the faith once for all delivered to the saints IN THE HOLY BIBLE.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
ROBERT BELLAH GIVES A GREAT VISUAL EXAMPLE. HE wrote about an interview with a young woman named Sheila, whom they described as representing many American’s experience and views on religion. Speaking about her own faith and how it operated in her life, she said: “I believe in God. I’m not a religious fanatic. I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It is ‘Sheilaism.’ Just my own little voice.”
SADLY, WE CAN SAY AND KNOW THAT this highly individualistic faith is the most popular religion in the world, but the idea that we can or should put together our own faith is WRONG.
THAT IS JUST ANOTHER DECEPTION AND LIE OF SATAN AND THE LOST WORLD.
Christianity is based on ONE FAITH, which was once for all delivered to the saints FROM ALMIGHTY GOD BY JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF IN HIS MINISTRY AND ON THE CROSS AT CALVARY.
BASICALLY, YOU EITHER BELIEVE AND FOLLOW ALL OF THE HOLY BIBLE, OR YOU CAN NOT BELIEVE IN ANY OF IT. ALMIGHTY GOD AND JESUS CHRIST WILL ACCEPT NOTHING LESS.
ANYTHING ELSE THAN BELIEVING AND TRUSTING IN ALL OF THE HOLY BIBLE, EVEN THOUGH WE DO NOT AND CAN NOT UNDERSTAND IT ALL…WE ARE NOT SMART ENOUGH…
BUT TAKING APART THE BIBLE AND BELIEVING SOME OF IT, REJECTING OTHER PARTS OF IT…IS BASICALLY CALLING ALMIGHTY GOD AND JESUS CHRIST A LIAR.
ALMIGHTY GOD DOES NOT LIE OR CHANGE.
AND NEITHER DOES JESUS CHRIST.
NOR DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT, AMEN?
Verse 4 TELLS US AND WARNS US WE WILL AND NEED TO contend for the faith because there are DANGEROUS MEN AMONG CHRISTIANS.
“For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Certain men have crept in unnoticed…In part, this is what makes them SO DANGEROUS – they are unnoticed.
No one noticed that they were dangerous.
They didn’t wear a “Danger: False Teacher” name tag OR “DANGER: DECEIVER OF THE BRETHREN”.
These certain men probably claimed to be more Biblical than anybody else was.
Crept in means, “To slip in secretly as if by a side door.”
CHARLES SPURGEON says it best…“Satan knows right well that one devil in the church can do far more than a thousand devils outside her bounds.”
Who long ago were MARKED OUT for this condemnation…
These certain men/women have a destiny - the destiny of EVERY false teacher and leader.
They ARE MARKED and destined for this condemnation, and it is enough to say that they are ungodly men.
They are ungodly simply in the sense that they are not like God and no matter the outward appearances, they disregard God, The Holy Bible, and Jesus Christ.
AND HERE IS THE WARNING AND A REMINDER…
They were UNNOTICED by men, but NOT UNNOTICED by God.
The Lord is not wringing His hands in heaven, worrying about those who deceive others through their teaching and through their lifestyles.
They may be HIDDEN to some believers but as far as God is concerned, their condemnation WAS/IS MARKED OUT long ago.
Their judgment IS assured.
The truth WILL win out; our responsibility AS JESUS LOVING, BIBLE BELIEVING CHRISTIANS is to be on the side with the truth.
Who turn the grace of our God into lewdness…
These certain men HAD/HAVE received SOMETHING OF THE GRACE OF GOD, ….BUT WHEN THEY RECEIVED IT, THEY STEP BY STEP, DAY BY DAY, TURNED IT TO COVER AND AS AN EXCUSE for their lewdness.
WHAT DOES JUDE MEAN HERE BY THE WORD LEWDNESS?
The idea behind the ancient word lewdness is sin that is practiced WITHOUT shame, WITHOUT any sense of conscience or WITHOUT decency.
Usually LEWDNESS is used in the sense of sensual sins, such as sexual immorality. But it can ALSO BE USED in the sense of brazen anti-biblical teaching, when the truth is denied and PERSONAL OPINION, NEW AGE IDEAS AND MAN-MADE DOGMA…what ALMIGHTY GOD AND JESUS CHRIST CALL PURE LIES are taught AS GODLY TRUTH without shame.
FOR US TODAY…it can be the JESUS HAWKERS…SEND US 25 DOLLARS AND WE WILL SEND YOU ANOINTED OIL, A BLESSED, MIRACLE-FILLED PRAYER CLOTH, A NECKLACE, A STATUE, A GONG, INCENSE…THAT ONCE YOU TOUCH IT, CHANT OUR PRAYERS, BURN INCENSE, STRIKE A GONG, YOU ARE HEALED, WEALTHY, WISE, PROTECTED, SEE VISIONS…
SEND ME A MESSENGER OF GOD, A PROPHET OF GOD, 25 DOLLARS AND I WILL SEE YOUR SINS FORGIVEN…STRIKE THE GONG, WAVE INCENSE, GRAB BEADS, BOW FIVE TIMES TO THE EAST…
OR I AM ANOINTED OF GOD, REGISTER NOW FOR MY HOLY GHOST CLASSES/REVELATIONS ON PROPHECY, SPEAKING IN TONGUES, DISCERNMENT, WISDOM, LAYING HANDS…AND I WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO DO ALL THE ABOVE.
ALL THE ABOVE ARE LIES STRAIGHT FROM THE PIT OF HELL AND SATAN’S DECEIVING LIES….
ALL ANYONE NEEDS IS JESUS CHRIST AND HIS WORD….TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO DO.
JUDE IS TELLING ALL THE ABOVE…
YOU HAVE BEEN MARKED BY THE GOD WHO SEES…
ENJOY YOUR WEALTH, FAME, ACCLAIM, AND ICONIC FANS…
I AM NOT DECEIVED AND YOU WILL BE CONDEMNED FOR MISLEADING THE LOST AWAY FROM ME.
Jude HAD BOTH IDEAS in mind here, because as the rest of the letter will develop, these certain men had BOTH moral problems and doctrinal problems.
These words of Jude show that there IS A DANGER in preaching grace. There are some who may take the truth of God’s grace and turn the grace of our God through JESUS CHRIST into lewdness. But this doesn’t mean there is anything wrong or dangerous about the message of God’s grace. It simply shows how corrupt the human heart is.
WHAT DOES JUDE MEAN BY THIS?
THOSE THAT SAY…SINCE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED BY JESUS CHRIST GRACE…YOU CAN NOW GO BACK INTO THE WORLD AND LIVE AS YOU PLEASE…YOU NOW HAVE “FIRE” INSURANCE.
YOU CAN GO BACK TO CHEATING ON YOUR SPOUSE, ABUSING YOUR FAMILY, STEALING, HOARDING, GET BACK INTO THE WORLD AND LIVE AS YOU PLEASE. CONTINUE TO SLEEP AROUND WITH WHOMEVER MALE OR FEMALE, CONTINUE IN THE HOMOSEXUAL LIFESTYLE…YOU HAVE JESUS’ GRACE COVERING YOU, CONTINUE WATCHING PORN, CONTINUE USING JESUS NAME AS AN EXCLAMATION, IF NOT A CURSE USING GOD‘S NAME…NO WORRIES…YOU ARE SAVED BY JESUS GRACE.
AND AS FAR AS JUDE IS CONCERNED…WHAT THEY ARE REALLY DOING IS….
Who deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ: These certain men deny the Lord Jesus Christ. They do this by refusing to recognize who Jesus said He was, and therefore they also deny who God the Father is also.
We are not told specifically how these men deny the only Lord God.
Whether it is WEARING THE JESUS PINS IN PUBLIC, BUT THEIR HEARTS STILL BELONG TO SATAN AND THE WORLD.
It may be that they denied Him with their ungodly living or it may be that they denied Him with their heretical man-created doctrines openly or in their heart of hearts. Probably both were true.
THE NEWS IS FLOODED DAILY WITH PRIESTS SEXUALLY MOLESTING YOUNG BOYS, STEALING FROM PEOPLE, PREACHERS GETTING CAUGHT IN ADULTEROUS AFFAIRS, CONNING PEOPLE…ALL WHILE THEY PROCLAIM THEY ARE CALLED BY GOD. THE LAKE OF FIRE HAS A SPECIAL PLACE FOR THESE MEN AND WOMEN WHO PROFIT FROM PROSTITUTING OUR JESUS & HIS WORD FOR THEIR OWN FAME, ACCLAIM, WEALTH, AND ICONIC STATUS.