Deception has infiltrated the Christian church. Jesus Christ warned of false teachers who would come in His name and lead many astray. Wolves in sheep’s clothing, having the appearance of Christ followers externally but internally are ferocious wolves (Matthew 7:15). The book of Jude is a comprehensive warning to followers of Jesus that does not mince words and calls out false teachers in what constitutes a jolt to the senses for the modern church.
Jude warns, “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord,” (Jude 4). They make grace an excuse for their lewdness.
Lewdness can include sexual immorality, but can also mean brazen antibiblical teaching, where the truth is denied and lies are taught without shame. This is not a reflection on the goodness of God’s grace, but on the depravity of the human heart. Progressive theology exemplifies this today through an egoism that minimizes sin to compensate for a lack of self-control (2 Timothy 3:1—5, 2 Timothy 4:3—4).
The men Jude alludes to deny Christ by contradicting His teachings and disavow responsibility for submitting to His authority by refusing to repent of sin. They may preach the name of Jesus but their actions say otherwise through their ungodly living and lust for wealth and recognition.
JUDE USES THREE EXAMPLES
Jude uses three examples from the Old Testament where God saves but punishes those who disregard their salvation. The first is, “That the Lord delivered His people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe,” (Jude 5).
Numbers 13—14 records how the Israelites refused to enter the promised land based on an unfavorable report that the people living in the land could not be defeated. Because of their contempt for God’s grace, that entire generation (with the exception of Joshua and Caleb) was condemned to wander forty years in the desert—one year for every day the men explored Canaan (Numbers 14:34).
Jude’s second example is recorded in verse six. “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these He has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.” The sinful pursuit of sexual freedom and perversion is what led the fallen angels of Genesis 6:2 to be imprisoned, and they were complicit in humanity being judged by the flood of Noah.
The third example Jude cites is how the nature of this sin is comparable to the sexual immorality and perversion of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude writes, “They serve as examples of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire,” (Jude 7).
The societies of Sodom and Gomorrah were affluent and prosperous. Ezekiel 16:49—50 reveals, “Now this is the sin of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before Me.”
The “certain men” that Jude is writing about rejected authority to the point of slandering celestial beings they did not understand. They did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them and remained carnal in their nature.
Jude then compares them to Cain, Balaam and Korah. Cain’s offering in Genesis 4 consisted of “some of the fruits of the soil” (Genesis 4:3), while “Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock,” (Genesis 4:4). Cain disrespected God by not presenting his best fruits, thereby displeasing the Lord. He placed his own desires over his Creator and rather than learning from the experience, he chose to murder Abel.
The story of Balaam is found in Numbers 22—25, and 31. Balaam, who was a prophet of God, placed his own hunger for wealth above God’s warning not to go to see King Balak of Moab. He even ignored his donkey when it spoke to him, recognized his error, and continued anyway (Numbers 22:21—35).
In Numbers 16 we read about Korah, the Levite priest who opposed the authority of Moses and was destroyed by God when the earth opened up and swallowed him and his followers, and they all perished. Korah was guilty of disrespecting God’s appointed leader Moses and Jude’s chastisement of “certain men” within the church highlights that self-entitlement equals contempt for the authority of God.
SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT
The sense of entitlement of these men was evident when the church gathered for communion. Jude writes, “These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest of darkness has been reserved forever,” (Jude 12—13).
Jude goes on to declare that Enoch prophesied about these men, “‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of His holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’ These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage,” (Jude 14—15).
There are many prominent preachers guilty of this very thing in our society today. They disrespect James by claiming his writings contradict the gospel and Paul by advocating salvation through faith plus works. Furthermore, they insult God by preaching that someone can look at porn a hundred times a day and still be considered righteous, or continue committing adultery, or get drunk every day and sin every second of the day and you would not lose rewards in heaven.
By advocating that since Christians are saved by grace, there is no need for repentance after we believe, and since the price for sin has already been paid, we can go on sinning and be considered righteous in God’s eyes, they mock the holiness Jesus calls us to. They abuse grace as a sense of entitlement and teach that it is acceptable to offend God while claiming His approval.
These preachers cause division within the body of Christ. By teaching that James was mistaken and in conflict with Paul, they impose their own values onto scripture and glorify themselves. In Jude 18—19 we read, “‘In the last times there will be scoffers who follow their own ungodly desires.’ These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”
Jude jolts believers out of complacency and into acute focus on Jesus; to disregard the distractions of those who deceive and to surrender totally to the sovereignty of Christ. “To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
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