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.
— Jude 4 —
Daniel Corral: Berea Seminary | Spain
A good shepherd guides and defends his sheep, as David writes in Psalm 23:4: “Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Jude is a true pastor and writes to skillfully teach other shepherds to use the rod (defense) and the staff (guidance) to preserve their flocks from heresy. What sparked the need to protect against heresy? Our verse has the answer: “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed.” Now ask yourself, Is my spiritual immune system strong? The verb crept is only used here in the New Testament. It has the idea of weaseled, slipped, insinuated, or entered secretly. “Certain persons” had “crept in” like a virus in the body. Jude provides the reader with a vaccine. He will not give the persons’ names, because like a virus, they mutate. Therefore, Jude will expose their pattern, because it is not new or sophisticated, but rather old and known (“those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation”). First, they are godless and wicked (Titus 1:16; 2 Pet. 2:7–9). They may call themselves Christians, but they act godlessly (1 John 3:10), for their goal is not the glory of God but rather to satisfy their uncontrolled lusts (2 Tim. 3:6). Second, they “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” To know Christ determines your salvation (John 14:6). If anyone does not acknowledge Him as Master and Lord, then they are not saved. Jude has proven to his readers how to strengthen their immune systems to fight the infection of heresy. Now ask yourself, Is my spiritual immune system strong?
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