JUDE 1:4

The Bible says in Jude verse 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.” Jude is talking about false teachers. Notice first of all just exactly where the false teachers are found. Jude said that the false teachers are ”in.” Jude wrote, “there are certain men crept in.” In other words the false teachers are inside of Christianity. Some people think that the false teachers are not in their group. They think that the false teachers are only in other groups. But Jude, writing by the Holy Spirit, said that the false teachers are “in.”

How did the false teachers get “in?” No one would purposely allow false teachers inside. How did it happen? Jude tells us. Jude wrote, “For there are certain men crept in unawares.” The false teachers were not welcomed in. They came in with stealth and secrecy. They learned the language of Christianity. That is why they were not detected. Anyone can learn the language of Christianity and then use that language in order to be accepted. It happened in the first century, and it is even easier for it to happen in our century. Think how modern Christian organizations are organized. Anyone can get a doctorate degree in theology, and the more intelligent that they are, the easier it is for them to get such a degree. Anyone can learn to say things that please those in power, if that is their number one priority. People that are power-hungry become very skilled at saying what will get them what they want no matter what they really believe. That is how they “crept in unawares.”

That is the problem. Now what should be done about it? What should be done is that the true believers should be diligent about teaching the truth. Error is combated with truth. Once I learn the truth real well and once I learn the genuine article, then I can easily spot that which is counterfeit. On the other hand, people become easy prey for false doctrine when they are not well-grounded in the truth of the Bible and in true doctrine.

Right away Jude tells us the destiny of false teachers. He speaks of their “condemnation.” Truth is a wonderful thing, and those who teach the truth are doing a great and wonderful activity. “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” But the opposite is also true. How horrible are those who teach that which is false, and their eternal destiny is horrible. There will be more said about the terrible destiny in this epistle. The things said will be similar to what Paul wrote about false teachers in Galatians 1:8-9, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

These false teachers claim to be of God. They may even have a reputation that they are of God because many people will not recognize that they are false. Jude reminds us that the false teachers are “ungodly men.” Jude also tells us two important doctrines in which the false teachers that he is speaking of go wrong. In verse 4 Jude writes that the false teachers are “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The false teachers fail in regards to the doctrine of Grace and they fail in regards to the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

Let’s think about the doctrine of grace. The doctrine of grace is central to the way of salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Romans 3:24 says, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Grace speaks of a free gift. The gift was paid for by the blood of Christ. Anyone who does not understand that salvation is solely by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ, does not understand salvation. Now concerning the idea of grace there are two extremes that people can go to when they depart from the truth.

The first extreme is regarding legalism. Some false teachers have added works to the doctrine of salvation. They will give some physical activity or some religious activity or some good work that you must do to be saved in addition to believing on Christ. The Apostle Paul exposed such error both in the book of Romans when the Holy Spirit gave the words about justification by faith without works and in the book of Galatians when Paul spoke so strongly against those who tried to add works and the keeping of the law to the gospel. For example, in Romans 3:24 it says, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” In Galatians 2:16 it says, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

One extreme is to tear down the message of grace by corrupting grace with legalism. Another extreme is the one that Jude mentions here in verse 4: to tear down the message of grace by corrupting it with license. The fact that we are saved by grace is not a license to sin. Sin is not excused. Sin is so horrible it must be punished. That is why Jesus went to the cross of Calvary: to pay the horrible price for sin. God is a holy God who must punish sin, and He will punish it. No one has ever been saved by grace unless they had true repentance in regards to their own sins. Anyone who has truly been saved had to have done what the man did of whom Christ spoke in Luke 18:13 when Jesus pointed out the difference between the publican and the Pharisee. Jesus said, “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” I am afraid that we have too many Pharisees in our churches today and not enough publicans. Remember that the law is holy and just and good. The law says, “Thou shalt not lie.” We do not get saved by keeping the law, but now that we are saved it is our goal to do the right thing and therefore the law that says, “Thou shalt not lie,” is one of the principles by which we seek to live. Anyone who says, “go ahead and lie because you are saved by grace,” is himself a liar. That is true of any of the commandments, and where you usually see the extreme is in regards to sexual sins. That is why Jude says that the false teachers turn “the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” Lasciviousness refers to sexual sins. The law says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” We are not saved by keeping the law, but now that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, my desire is to obey that law. Anything less than obedience to that law is a terrible sin that will be punished. “The bed in marriage is undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” False teachers not only commit sexual sins, but they also claim that their sexual sins are excused on the principle of grace. They have turned “the grace of our God into lasciviousness.”

The false teachers have also denied “the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” First of all let’s notice that the word “Lord” is used twice here. What is interesting about this is that there are actually two different words that are translated as “Lord.” The first word is a word that means “potentate,” and so we could read, “the only potentate God.” The second word is the word that is normally translated “Lord” in the New Testament. Of course, both words are used for God and both words are used for Jesus Christ. This is an obvious declaration that Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God. This is one of the things that the false teachers commonly deny. They deny the deity of Christ.

Looking at the next verse in Jude, verse 5, there is another interesting use of the word “Lord” that gives an additional declaration that Jesus Christ is God. Verse 5 says, “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.” Of course, we see the use of the word “Lord” from the Old Testament and we know that it is talking about God. That is true. But wait just a minute. Here in the Greek text we just saw in the previous verse that the word “Lord” is used speaking of Jesus Christ. The word “Lord” in verse 4 of “Lord Jesus Christ” is the same word as the word “Lord” in verse 5. That should not surprise anyone who understands that Jesus Christ is God. That should not surprise anyone who understands that Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God. Jesus is the Lord who saved the people out of the land of Egypt. Jesus is the Savior and always has been.

The Jews knew that Jesus claimed to be God. That is why they went about to stone Him. Jesus claimed to be God. That is why he said such things as, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” And Jesus said, “All power is given unto me.” The only one who has all power is God. God exists in three persons. The concept of three-in-one is a concept that exists in nothing else in the human experience except for the revealed Word of God. Perhaps we can say that the three always cooperate, but somehow they each have a different role. The role of Jesus Christ is to be the manifestation of God. When God came in the flesh, He came as the person of Jesus Christ. The Father did not come in the flesh. The Father looked down from heaven upon Jesus Christ and said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.” In the godhead it appears that the role of Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God. Therefore, it is likely that any manifestation of God in the past has also been the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore, any manifestation of God in the Old Testament is probably Jesus Christ. That certainly is supported by the use of the word “Lord” here in the book of Jude.

Because the Lord is God, He has all power. He has all power in every sense of the word. He is King and He is Judge. He has the power to save from any circumstance. May that give us hope and faith. But He also has the power to judge any circumstance. May that give us fear and reverence and repentance. He is a holy God who must punish sin and wrong-doing. God is a gracious and forging God who can forgive any number and any degree of sin, but He can also punish sin whenever He thinks it necessary to do so. In His own time and in His own way, the Lord Jesus Christ knows how to punish.

In Jude verses 5, 6, and 7 we are given three examples of when God did bring judgment upon His creatures. The first example has to do with the Israelites when they were saved out of Egypt. Verse 5 says, “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.” Jude is not telling these believers anything that they did not already know. But Jude did remind them. We all need to be constantly reminded of spiritual truths. Hopefully you have learned to remind yourself by Bible verse memorization and recalling to your own mind throughout the day important promises or warnings from scripture. We all like to remember the promises, but this time Jude is reminding of us a warning, so to speak. It is important to remember the warnings. Every action has a consequence. Some actions bring judgment from God. We want to avoid those at all costs. “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” If you have sinned, quickly repent. The Lord Jesus is also merciful. The thing to notice about the Israelites is that they were all saved by the Lord out of Egypt. They were delivered. Something miraculous was done for all of them.

All of the Israelites participated in the deliverance, but later something terrible happened to some of them because of their own actions. They lost their lives because of lack of faith. It is a privilege to live on this earth, serving the King of kings by faith. If Jesus has saved you, it is His will that you live every day by faith in Him. You have seen how good He is to those who put their trust in Him. But also judgment begins at the house of God. “There is a sin unto death.” “For this cause some are sickly among you, and some sleep.” This is not the loss of salvation. Salvation cannot be lost because we are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. Refer back to verse 1. But we can still be chastised in this life, and the greatest chastisement is to have the opportunity to live for God in this life taken away.

The Israelites were judged because of unbelief. The angels were judged because of rebellion. Rebellion against God is as idolatry and witchcraft. Jude verse 6 says, “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.” One of the words that is very noticeable in this verse is the word “everlasting.” This is a judgment that has to do with eternity. There is a judgment that is an eternal judgment. This eternal judgment was originally designed for the evil angels and not for man. How could a loving God create hell? For one thing, God created hell for the evil angels. Some angels departed from their original estate as servants to God, an in so doing they did it for eternity. A decision to reject God is also a decision to reject God’s purpose for you. What a sad thing that some human beings will commit a similar error to that of these fallen angels and end up in the same eternal punishment. It does not have to be that way. Romans 10V13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The name of the Lord is Jesus. Call upon Him today.

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