JUDE 1
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 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.5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. – Jude 1:3-8
JUDE 1 THE COST OF PERVERTING GOD’S GRACE
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
When God saved the people he chose, he granted them grace
This grace is to be used to give him all the glory and praise
When God’s grace is perverted and used for man’s own pleasure
It will cost him his life and it will lead to chaos & failure
Be wary of these ungodly people who have crept in unseen
They will mislead you to go against God and being freed from sin
Instead, they’ll entice you to continue to indulge in your desires
Which will lead to spiritual death and eventually to eternal fire.
Jude, the brother of Jesus himself cautions the believers on the false teachers and ungodly people who have crept in stealthily in the church. These people are used by the devil to pervert the grace from the salvation plan of God. The way they twisted the teachings of the church is by introducing sensuality and denying the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 5 is an outright warning and reminder of the cost of those who stayed in unbelief even after they were saved from the Egyptians. They were destroyed. Doesn’t it send chills to all of us knowing that we are not truly saved unless we totally and wholeheartedly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot just partially believe because it will open doors for our sinful tendencies to blow up and totally keep us in the loop of sin. We cannot twist and change the gospel according to our comfort and convenience. That would constitute idolatry if we do so. God will never share his glory with any human being. Satan would want you to believe that you can. The Lord God designed all humans into his own likeness. He wants a relationship with his people who will praise and glorify him, not themselves.
So, what happens when someone perverts God’s grace? This account spells it out clearly for them. They will be destroyed, kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness, they will indulge in sexual immorality and pursue unnatural desires which would lead to the punishment of eternal fire.
REFLECTION
- Share insights as to how these ungodly people pervert God’s grace.
