Sermon Central
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Who Are We Dealing With? Series
Contributed by Bobby Stults on May 23, 2012 (message contributor)
Summary: There are going to be times when we run into people who profess Christ, but who are NOT who they claim to be, in fact this passage describes a group of just those sorts of people...
A Study of the Letter of Jude
JUDE v. 3-4
Teaching Lesson 3
May 23, 2012
3Beloved, although I was very eager to write 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. 4For 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.
What is Jude dealing with here? Well we can look at this and see that he is dealing with the PROBLEM that has prevented him from writing them the encouraging letter he had WANTED or DESIRED to write to them...
Well we can see that this is the focus of his letter by looking at v.3...
3Beloved, although I was very eager to write 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.
However, v.4 brings the issue to light and that is what I want us to look at tonight... WHO is he dealing with when he speaks to the subject of 'certain people'
So tonight i want us to look at v.4 and I want us to see what Jude AND this church group was dealing with and what ultimately we ALL have to deal with when it comes to the fellowship of God...
4For 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.
"Certain people" is how Jude categorizes those who have come into the church and have caused the consternation that has led to his letter...
These certain people are not identified, so we don't know what group it was... like we do when Paul denotes that he is dealing with or contending with the Judaizers or a specific group that emphasized Jewish ritual in addition to Christ...
But here Jude only gives us the very generic descriptor 'certain people' so we don't have any specific group with which we can attach this letter of rebuke toward their actions...
But even though we don't know specifics about WHO Jude is speaking against here, Jude gives us several descriptors that let us know the makeup of this group... the characteristics of these people... the CHARACTER of these people!
Look at v.4 again with me...
4For certain people have crept in ...
He uses the Greek term 'pareisduno' par-ice-doo'-no which is defined as sneaking or entering stealthily... In this context it gives the picture of a willful deception by those coming in…
They are deceptive in their joining of the fellowship… They are coming NOT for the glory of God but for the purpose of removing or stealing something...like a THIEF! So…what does this mean?
I believe we can see that this can mean 2 things and these 2 things are related but I see a slight difference or nuance between the 2.
FIRST - This means that Jude was indicating here that this was NOT some outgrowth from within the church, but it was something that had come in from OUTSIDE the church... outside of the body of Christ!
SECOND - This was not an innocent mistake or misunderstanding BUT this was intentional for the purpose of misleading and derailing the momentum of the church...
These 'certain people' had come intentionally and stealthily into the church for the strict purpose of tearing down or dismantling the work of Christ... This was a definite intentional effort on behalf of the enemy.
Now this does not have to mean that there were actual PEOPLE who had snuck into the church... this can mean that it was false teachings had snuck in thru deception and misleading of those already within the church.
However, when we look at this passage, we cannot overlook that Jude mentions ‘certain people’ indicating that this was the actions of actual people… and that they came into the church with an agenda!
Scripture also lets us know that these ‘certain people’ not only crept in, but we can also see that this danger was also something that the fellowship was not able to discern… look at this verse again…
4For certain people have crept in unnoticed…
They snuck in under the radar and were in the church for a purpose… that was to destroy the church. A comparison I believe we can make here is to that of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden! The serpent was deceptive and crafty…
The Bible says he was more crafty than any other beast. He was able to get close to Adam and Eve, and with his lies he gained their trust and ultimately led them to deny what God had commanded! This is the same picture Jude is drawing here in this picture he is giving about these people!
