Jeepers; Creepers!
Jude 1:4
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 our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (NAS)
Introduction
Many years ago there was a song titled Jeepers Creepers. As I remember it was sung by Eddie Canter, Jimmy Durante, and several others. It was a song about a girls eyes. The text talks about a different kind song for Jeepers Creepers. They are ungodly persons sneeking into the church. This learn how to identify such people.
1. The Character. . of these Creepers. v 4
4 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. NKJV
A. WHO are these Creepers?
". . . ungodly men, . . . "
1. Ungodly persons.
a. No Submission to the Word of God.
1) They change the grace of God.
". . .who turn the grace of our God into lewdness . . . "
a. Make grace a license to sin.
b. Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? (NAS)
c. Rom 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! (NAS)
d. They say sin more and get more grace.
e. Ryrie Study Bible "They taught that the more believers sinned the more they magnified grace."
2) They Submit to their Authority.
a. Do as you please.
b. Go where you please
c. Indulge the flesh as you please.
d. If they love it is all right.
e. Abort if you want too.
b. No submission to the God of the Word.
1) Deny the Lordship of Christ.
2) ". . . and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. ."
3) Ryrie Study Bible "To disbelieve the most basic Christian Tenet"
B. WHERE are these Creepers? ". . . crept in unnoticed,. . . "
1. These Creepers are "IN" the Church.
2. Some how they got into the membership.
a. Today we would say someone did not check them good enough before they were accepted into the membership.
b. Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament ". . . (beside) and eis (grk 1519) (in) and duoo (grk 1416), to sink or plunge, so to slip in secretly as if by a side door, here only in the New Testament.
c. Disciples Study Bible ". . . They take God’s grace to mean all sins will automatically be forgiven. They say sin gives more opportunity for God to reveal His grace. This would mean Jesus is not Lord and Master of our morals. His teachings would have no authority over us. Immorality under any theological disguise is still sin. Refusing to live like Jesus is depravity."
Illustration
Several years ago we had a person come forward and he made this statement "Jesus Christ I want Him as my savior. I did not know the man. I had a deacon take him aside and talk with him and the report came back he is trusting Christ as his savior. That deacon and I went to talk with the man in his home and he further confirmed his decision.
I made the man wait before we baptized him because I wanted to make sure he knew what he was
really making a commitment to Christ. He kept asking "when can I be baptized" and I would say "soon." He was finally baptized but the evidence that followed in the next few years indicates he never really made a commitment to Christ
Today I make the judgement he wanted a savior but not a Lord. At least not the Lord Jesus Christ. He really wanted help out of a troubled time and placed. I do not think we could be faulted in the way we check him and his decision. Maybe the church and Jude also checked these people and they fooled both Jude and the church. You can fool man but not God.
Application
What about us? Did we slip in a side door? For 12 years I thought I was a saved person. I crept in the knowledge door. I knew the answers but I did not really make a commitment to Christ. How about you? I believe a child can be saved and I believe a pronounced sinner can be saved. But it must be through the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
2. The Condemnation . . of these Creepers. v 4
". . . those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, . . . "
A. The Measuring of their Condemnation.
". . . those who were long beforehand. . . "
1. God knows the saved before they are saved. Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love. NAS
2. God knows the ungodly before they are born.
3. God is not surprised about these people making trouble in the church.
4. We need to be careful to not decide on our own to exclude someone.
Illustration HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN TO "OPEN UP"?
Michael MacArthur wrote in the March 1985 "Reader’s Digest" that he once worked in a small bank in Cumbria, England. He said that even on a busy day, there were very few customers. "One day, no one came in at all," he wrote. "At 3:30 the manager told a clerk to close the front door. Minutes later, the clerk returned. ’Excuse me, sir,’ he said sheepishly, ’but it *is* closed. We forgot to open up this morning.’ "
In our daily routines as Christians, do we forget sometimes to "open up"? Are our lives and hearts open to the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit? Are our churches sending a message to those who pass by that we really don’t want them bothering us? Suppose a customer had come by that bank that day, and could not get in. While our church doors may be literally open, when that visitor comes in to our worship services, does he or she feel as if the experience is closed to them?
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, Swanlake@jam.rr.com August 7, 2000)
B. The Marking of their Condemnation.
". . . marked out for this condemnation, . . . "
1. God does the Marking.
2. This really is beyond our ull understanding.
Illustration
At the Arkansas Baptist Evangelism Conference recently a Dr. Sneed told this story. One day as a young boy Dr. Sneed ran to his father and told him that there was something wrong with the railroad tracks and they needed to do something so the train would not wreck.
Dr. Sneed’s father asked him what was wrong and Dr. Sneed told him the tracks ran together at some poin donw the tracks. His father took him to the tracks and asked him where they come together and Dr. Sneed told him. The father and son and father walked to that point and realized this was just an illusion. Then he looked back to the point from they started and they looked as if they came together there.
One Track can represent the choice of God in His Grace and the other the choice of man in God’s Grace. They seem to be one but they really are separate.
For more sermons by Dr. McCullen go to:
www.preachhim.org
