Jude 1:4 Confess Jesus and Define Grace Correctly
This is the seventh lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I do an exposition of Jude 1:4.
Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.
Transcript:
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the seventh lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I'm going to look at verse four and talk about confessing Jesus and defining grace correctly.
In the first lesson of this series, I talked about why Jude was written and why it's in the Bible. Essentially, Jude recognized that people had crept into the church who were turning grace into sensuality and denying Jesus our Master. He wrote to address those two issues.
In this lesson I’m going to look at verse four which is where Jude stated explicitly why he was writing. I'll take a closer look at the definition of the word grace and the issues that Jude was addressing.
For the purposes of this series I've divided Jude into five sections. The first section is the introduction. Verse four, which we're looking at today, is part of the introduction. The second section reminds us that Jesus is a judge. The third section is where Jude defined the problem he was addressing. The fourth section is where he indicated what our response as Christians should be to the problem he was addressing. And the fifth section is the conclusion. As I said, in this lesson we're finishing up the introduction, looking at verse four.
In the introduction we learn the author, the recipient, and the purpose. The first verse tells us that Jude wrote this. It also tells us the recipients were believers. Verses three and four tell us the reason he was writing.
Let's start by reading the first four verses, and then I'll do an exposition of verse four.
Jude 1 Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those called, loved by God the Father, and having been kept for Jesus Christ.
Jude 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Jude 3 Beloveds, making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you urging you to contend for the faith which has been delivered over once for all to the saints.
We see in verse three that Jude urged his readers to contend for the faith.
Jude 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
In verse four Jude stated that certain people had crept in secretly. Then he described those people and told us a little bit about them. Then he explained what those people were doing wrong. First, they were turning the grace of God into sensuality. Second, they were denying Jesus our Master. Let’s take a closer look at verse four.
Let's look at this concept of creeping in secretly This is not the only time in the New Testament where we see this concept.
Gal. 2:4 But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.
In Galatians Paul wrote about some false brethren who had sneaked in secretly.
2Pet. 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
Peter warned about false teachers who would secretly introduce destructive heresies. He also said they would deny the Master who bought them. There is a parallel here with Jude. Just as Jude wrote about a false belief regarding grace and people who were denying Jesus, so too Peter warned about destructive heresies and people who would deny Jesus.
Jude 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
We also see in Jude 4 that these people who crept in secretly were known about long ago. We also see the word designated. These people who crept in secretly, who were known about long ago, had also long ago been designated or assigned into a judgment. God knew about these people for a long time, and their end was ordained. Jude also called them ungodly people. Ungodly is the opposite of godly.
Then we get into the section of Jude 4 where Jude explained what these people were doing wrong. There were two problems. First, they were turning the grace of God into sensuality. Second, they were denying Jesus.
Let’s talk about the concept of grace. The word grace comes from the Greek word charis. Let's look at some usages of that Greek word in the New Testament.
Acts 25:9 But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?”
Here, the Greek word charis was translated as favor. Festus wanted to do a favor for the Jews. We see something similar in Romans.
Rom. 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.
Sometimes the best way to understand what something is, is to understand what it isn’t. That's what's happening here. If somebody works, their wage is not a favor. Their wage is something that is owed to them because of what they did. A favor is something that you are not owed. It's not necessarily something that you should receive. That tells us that grace is receiving something that we should not necessarily receive.
The Bible teaches multiple times that God is gracious. One of the best examples of His grace is salvation. In Jude’s day some people were saying that since God is gracious, that means there aren't consequences for sin. Since we have salvation and there will be no tears in heaven, then there's really not going to be any consequences for sin. What they were doing when they taught that is they were turning grace into sensuality. What we see in Jude four is that Jude stated very clearly that is not correct. We should not turn the grace of God into sensuality. Just because God is gracious does not mean there are not consequences for sin.
Let's talk about this concept of sensuality. We see this Greek word in Romans and Galatians.
Rom. 13:13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
Gal. 5:19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
Obviously, sensuality is wrong. Following our senses, giving into our senses is wrong. Many times our senses, our flesh, our emotions will lead us astray. We have to be careful we don't take advantage of God's grace and think that we can get away with giving into our senses, our flesh, our emotions.
Jude 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
The second thing Jude pointed out was happening was people were denying Jesus. This problem we also see elsewhere in the New Testament.
2Tim. 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
The consequences of denying Jesus are severe. If we deny Him, He's going to deny us.
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.
It's clearly stated here that people who deny Jesus are detestable and disobedient. Jude recognized in his day that people were denying Jesus and he wrote to combat that problem.
Jude 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice the word only. Jesus is described as our only Master and Lord. We also see Jesus described as a Master. Let's take a look at this word.
1Tim. 6:1 All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against.
Here, the word master is used in the context of slaves. We see something similar in Titus.
Titus 2:9 Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,
Again, the word master is used in the context of slaves.
Jude 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
We also see in Jude 4 that Jesus was described as Lord. Let's look at that word.
Matt. 10:24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.
Here, the Greek word is translated master, but it's the same Greek word that is translated as Lord in Jude. Again, we see this word used in the context of slaves. We also see this word in Matthew.
Matt. 17:4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
Peter called Jesus Lord. Peter clearly recognized Jesus as Lord. One of the problems Jude addressed in his letter was people who were denying our only Master and Lord Jesus.
Jude 4 For certain people crept in secretly, those who were long ago designated into this judgment, ungodly people turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus was called Christ. Christ is a Greek word. That's the same word as the Hebrew word Messiah. In the first century AD Jews were looking for their Messiah to come. What we see throughout the New Testament is that Jesus was clearly identified as the Messiah, as the Christ whom the Jews were expecting to come.
Jude wrote his letter to deal with two problems. One, some people were turning the grace of God into sensuality. Two, some people were denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. The lesson for us out of Jude is we need to confess Jesus and define grace correctly.
How about you? Do you confess Jesus, or do you deny Jesus? Do you confess that Jesus is Lord and Master or do you deny that Jesus is Lord and Master? By your life and your behavior do you confess that Jesus is Lord and Master, or do you deny that Jesus is Lord and Master?
Likewise, what is your definition of grace? Do you put grace in its proper context, or do you abuse grace the way people abuse grace today? Yes, God is gracious. Yes, God has forgiven us our sins and given us a gift that we don't deserve. However, that does not mean there are no consequences for sin. There are still consequences for sin, and we have to live our lives accordingly.
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Scripture quotations from Jude taken from a translation by Bible Mountain.
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