“CERTAIN PERSONS” – THE CREEPERS WHO SLIPPED IN, QUIETLY IN SLIPPERS – Jude 1 verse 4
MESSAGES IN JUDE – MESSAGE 3 Jude 1 v 4
Jude 1:4 “for certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.”
[A]. CERTAIN PERSONS: Who are these persons that are sent by the evil one to adulterate the pure gospel and the faith? They are called “certain persons” in the NASB and NIV. Peter in {{2 Peter 2 v 1 - 2 wrote – “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.”}}
Where did they come from, and who are they? They had a certain acceptability about them, great imitation, subtle enough to fool the genuine saints who did not have the discernment to detect what these people were up to. Remember that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light. Deception is Satan’s work. In the coming day in the Tribulation it tells us that conditions are such that even the elect are likely to be deceived. In Jude’s day it was becoming clear that false teachers were spreading abroad, exactly the same conditions that Peter wrote about. John too, saw that very clearly when he wrote to his readers – {{2John 1 v 7 “Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” 1John 4 v 1 - 3 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”}}
Paul had to warn the Ephesian elders about what was coming – {{Acts 20 v 28 - 31 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.”}}
We can not say with certainty who these “certain persons” were, but there are several contenders. The Gnostics added to God’s finished revelation with this “higher knowledge” on a more spiritual plane, and added to that, false doctrines. The Nicolaitans are said to have maintained that marriage was a human invention, not binding on Christians; on which account they had women in common, and practised unnatural lusts, as is plain from Jude’s account of them. Other false teachers messed with the doctrine of Christ and the Holy Spirit, while others again, wanted to bring the saints into bondage by keeping the Law of Moses. These weeds proliferated from the beginning, and abound today also.
[B]. CREEPERS AND SLIPPERS: What is the significance of the word “crept”? (crept in unnoticed and quietly). The sense of crept is a slow and gradual change. It starts with just small change, small steps. These people want to bring in a change to what is orthodox teaching because they don’t understand what the truth is. They water down the gospel or they dwell only on small parts of it. They bring in emotionalism to replace careful discernment, and give themselves to experience to replace faith. They had come in "by stealth". They had not come by a bold and open statement of their real sentiments. They professed to teach the Christian way and made themselves as woolly as the rest of the flock, when in fact, these wolves denied some of its fundamental doctrines. They professed to be holy, when in fact, they were living most scandalous lives.
Yes has a no. The giant has a dwarf. Strength has weakness. Pretty has an ugly. Hot has its cold. Good has its bad. Truth has its falsehood. The wheat has its tares. The tares sneaked in. They are the devil’s agents. The godly believers, the faithful ones, are as lambs amongst wolves, as lilies amongst thorns, as doves amongst ravens. Many malign the faith, therefore we must be ready to defend it, yea, strive for it unto death, because ungodly persons are subverting the faith.
These evil ones are described by their lives, and they are said first, to creep into the Church. They have butter in their mouths, but swords in their hearts. A dog that barks, may be prevented before he bites, and the serpent that hisses, before he stings, and the fire that smokes, before it burns. The false teachers may be recognised as a known enemy; but a secret enemy, a creeper, is hard to prevent. They are deniers, without the true God. One writer said the world is full of such atheists. They swarm like bees; they abound like lice in Egypt. This is describing false teachers.
In all ages there have been men who were willing to do this for base purposes. These are greedy men with doctrines of greed who deny the Person and character of Jesus Christ. All false cults and all false teachers have some grave errors about the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. The NIV translates in this verse, “secretly slipped in”. Note the word “unnoticed” in the NASB. This word might suggest the time of the night, for the thief and the destroyer love the night, and night relates to darkness. These men of the devil’s doing, are workers of darkness and belong to the darkness. Any changes or moves or suggestions made by these false teachers, would appear to be innocent, small, but these are small seeds of the devil’s planting. Small seeds can grow into large weeds. (This can be related to the work of leaven and the Matthew 13 parable – it is silent and unnoticed.)
[C]. PREDETERMINED CONDEMNATION: The NASB expresses it as “long beforehand marked out for this condemnation” and the NIV says “whose condemnation was written about long ago”. The full translation of the ESV is – {{“For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”}} The phrase means – “who were long ago before this, marked out as on their way to this condemnation”. The meaning clearly is, that the punishment which befell the unbelieving Israelites and the rebel angels and the inhabitants of Sodom and that of which Enoch prophesied, awaited those persons. It is certain that those who bring in a false gospel and disturb the saints with the products of leaven, will meet their coming condemnation.
Long ago, God determined that these acts of deceit and corruption against the people of God, will meet the justice of God. The words “long ago”, or “long beforehand” may point us to an incident in Leviticus where strange fire was offered to God. We will look at that – {{Leviticus 9 v 23 – 10 v 3: and Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. Then fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them, and fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the LORD spoke saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honoured,’” so Aaron, therefore, kept silent.”}}
God has set a perfect order. That involves the doctrine we hold to, which includes the setting before us, of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ; the conduct of the church and very importantly, the conduct of Christians in their lives. Those who don’t hold to those things, but would distort them and introduce their own imaginations, and the doctrines, and practices of man, will meet the due condemnation. In the account in Leviticus, the KJV and the NASB and ESV use the expression “strange fire” but the NIV uses “unauthorised fire”. The two sons of Aaron, the nephews of Moses, contravened the declared and expressed will of God, and went about to present an offering in their own way. The penalty was severe. God will not tolerate His pure and stated doctrines, and practices being changed and distorted. There are some today actually blaspheming the Holy Spirit in churches, but I will deal with that in another message.
[D]. THESE ARE UNGODLY PERSONS: “Ungodly” – “not godly, or not of God”. The word means destitute of reverential fear in honouring God; wicked; failing to honour what is sacred. The devil can transform himself into an angel of light, and Satan’s agents come as wolves in sheep clothing. People can accept such a one as a servant of God, but those accepted, have no proper respect for God and don’t honour Him.
[E]. GRACE TURNED INTO LICENTIOUSNESS: There was a cult of long ago, and the followers were called Antinomians, and their ideas are with us still. They claimed that by the gospel, they were released from the obligations of the law, and therefore they could indulge their sinful passions in order that grace might abound. They make the grace and mercy of God a covering for crimes; suggesting that men who believe the Gospel, might sin safely, because in that Gospel, grace abounds. Antinomianism began early in the world, and has always had a wide prevalence.
Grace is a beautiful character of God to leads us to a merciful salvation. It is God giving us what we do not deserve. These people Jude speaks of, dishonour grace. A man struggles to raise his money to bail out his wayward son from the police lockup. He takes him home, does all he can to make that man presentable. After the awful things that young man did to others, it was the father’s grace to him that reached out and provided all that son needed to re-establish himself. One day the father went away for a week on an urgent matter, and while he was away, the son brought loose women to the house who stole some of his father’s possessions.
Now what do we have here? We see a gracious father. We see a son who dishonours the father’s kindness and despises the grace shown to him. These ungodly people Jude speaks of, know the grace of God, but instead of that grace affecting them in love and gratitude, they used it to further their wickedness. Then there are those who thought, “Once I am saved, I can now live however I want for God forgives my sins. The more I sin, the more grace that is shown.” Let me say, God does not work that way. Those who abuse the grace of God and use it for their carnal desires, despise the freedom God brings His true children into. They despise the grace of God.
Benson says, “It seems these ungodly men interpreted the doctrine of justification by faith, in such a manner as to free believers from all obligation to obey the law of God, and taught that they might commit the worst actions without being liable to punishment, providing they possessed faith; by which they meant, the mere speculative belief and outward profession of the gospel.” Peter writes in {{2 Peter 2 v 18-19 “For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption.”}} There is an easy beliveism today with people seeking experiences without no commitment or heart change to God.
Licentiousness can mean debauchery, immorality, but it can also mean extravagance and wastefulness. These are the men who will take the simplicity of the gospel, and of Christ, and turn it to extravagance and excess. It wants to embellish what is Christ and Christian practice. Before the Lord and His disciples went to the garden of Gethsemane, they sang a hymn which was probably one of the Psalms. The singing of hymns was fairly stable in Christianity, passing from Hebrew and Greek into Latin which was standard for 1500 years or something. Then in England, hymns began to be sung in English and the simplicity of hymns continued right into the 20th century until the world entered (creepers – crept into) the church and brought the band culture, then the rock culture and the simplicity of singing has become repetition and egocentricity and portions of the church’s modern music became inward looking and lost its powerful portrayal of Christ. If any one wants to take issue with me look at the psalms and see their structure. Examine them. That was God’s hymn book. Then compare that with some of these modern ditties of 10 to 30 words sung (chanted) over and over.
[F]. JESUS CHRIST DENIED: None of these ungodly people creeping into the churches in Jude’s time, denied that Jesus Christ existed, but they did deny Jesus Christ. In what way? Well, they denied His power; denied His uniqueness; denied His Person – He was not the Son of God; He was not God; He did not rise again; He is not the only means of salvation (and if you believe that last one, you are among the 60% of American church goers who believe the same in a survey that was done.). {{1 John 2 v 22 – “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.”}} The false teachers also deny Christ in their lives because they don’t have Him, and the Lord is not seen in their lives.
Denying the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the straight out denial that we associate with Peter who for fear, denied his Lord. It also means neglect, when you deny His authority over your life, set Him aside, don’t give Him your time, put Him on a lower priority than first place, and give mental assent to Him but not full commitment. The Lord Himself said, {{Matthew 10 v 32 “Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven, Matt 10:33 but whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”}} Paul wrote to Titus – {{Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed.”}} There he was speaking about unbelievers, but Christians can also be found in the same boat, and it is disgraceful. Jude is speaking of denial both of doctrine and the conduct of life.
[G]. MASTER AND LORD: This is an interesting combination to add to this verse. What difference is there between Master and Lord? The disciples often used the term “Master” in addressing Jesus as in this verse – {{Luke 8 v 24 “They came to Him and woke Him up saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” and being aroused, He rebuked the wind and the surging waves and they stopped, and it became calm.”}} The term “master” usually refers to a person over another such as a ruler or foreman. Jesus used it this way in {{Matthew 10 v 24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.”}} Peter also used it in a similar way in {{1Peter 2 v 18 “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable,”}} as did Paul in {{Titus 2 v 9 “Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative.”}} It is used more of authority and control. One commentator said "Master," implies God's absolute ownership to dispose of His creatures as He likes.”
However, the term lord is a higher term and seems to involve rule, control and a looking out for the general welfare. Judas never called Jesus “Lord”. Lord is the one with ultimate rule and authority. The most famous “Lord” verse in the New Testament is this one – {{Philippians 2 v 9-11 “Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”}}
It is a wonderful study to trace the Lordship of Christ in the bible, but it all comes down to one question – “Is He Lord of my life?” We call Him Lord, but do we really honour that? It is imperative that we recognise Jesus Christ as Master and Ruler, but it is essential that we acknowledge Him as Lord and live accordingly. {{1Thessalonians 4 v 16 “for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” 1Thess 4 v 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”}} {{Revelation 22 v 20 “He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”}}
AMEN!
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
