Jude 1:4 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.
5 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.
The devil is very crafty. Paul was directed by God to warn that he presents himself as an angel of light. God does not want His children to be fearful of the devil. He wants His children to draw nigh to Him and when we do that, the devil will flee. We do not chase him away. We draw nigh to God.
We see in our text that there are men who have the capacity of creeping in unawares. Jude warned of this danger in his time. It is certainly a danger today as well. We are not talking here of the United church or the Catholic church or the multitude of other apostate religious organizations. We are talking of a sound church that becomes careless about contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints.
The devil cannot wipe out Jesus’ promise to build His church upon Himself. The book of Revelation addressed seven local churches. All started out well, but then many of them became careless. The church in Ephesus lost its first love. The solution was to repent and get back to the first works. We could go down the list and look at Jesus’ true assessment of each of those seven churches.
The point is that we need to heed the Word of God. True saints do not live in the fear of man, they must live in the fear of God.
Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
True saints do not need to spend their time studying the creepy men. They need to spend their time learning to love God. The creepy men are destined to condemnation.
No one is predestined to hell. However, a person who chooses to reject God and then seeks to infiltrate a true church and destroy it is in a special category with God. There are those who do not believe and need to repent and be saved. There are those who do not believe and want to destroy those who do believe.
Jude tells us that these men turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness. That is exactly what the Calvinists and many others do. They hide behind their fictitious grace and assume that God will forgive them because He is gracious. That is the philosophy that governs the New Evangelical crowd. They have a corrupt view of God’s grace and in so doing, they deny the Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
These men are not saved men. They are destructive men who do not want to submit to the true God. They have an imaginary god that suits their evil designs. They want to try to destroy true saints.
In verse 5 Jude needed to remind the saints of past history. God delivered the entire nation of Israel out of Egypt. Those that did not believe in Him and those that did. He brought them all through the Red Sea. He provided water and manna for them all. However, many of them were unbelievers. They wanted out of Egypt. They did not want to serve the true God.
God knew all about that. He had a plan and God always works His plan. He gave the rebels time to see His mighty hand and His mercy and love. When they insisted on rebellion, He destroyed them. It took forty years of wandering in the wilderness because of His longsuffering. However, a generation died out in the wilderness. They never entered the land of Canaan. Only Joshua and Caleb, from that generation, entered the land of Canaan. The children born unto that generation of rebels, entered Canaan. They would need to choose whom they would serve as well.
God gave us the Old Testament so that we could learn the lessons God was teaching there. We do not need to be rebels. We can see there is no benefit to being a rebel. There is no benefit to developing our own religion. There is great benefit in surrendering to the true God and submitting to His will. His way is the only way of blessing.
Be careful to build your life on Truth. God’s Word is Truth. Don’t mix and match. Your ideas are nothing. God’s Word is Truth. Submit to His Word. Listen to those who are contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints. Be free from the bondage of sin. Enjoy the blessings of God.
Pastor Bartel