Pushing the Limits! (Jude 4 Part 3)

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.

               

THE STUDY:

           Yesterday we looked at the first two descriptions of these “certain people” Jude spoke about at the begging of verse 4. Today we are going to look at the remaining two descriptions:

Third, Jude describes these undefined people as godless men who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality. Grace describes God’s free gift through Jesus Christ as the forgiveness and liberation of believers from the power of sin and the condemnation of the Law. Claiming liberty in Christ, they interpreted His grace as license to do what their flesh desired with no inhibitions. Their libertinism turned grace into cruel recklessness. These “certain people” declared that since the flesh was not created by God, it was proper to give in to its desires.^[1]

Fourth, Jude depicts certain people as those who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. They may have denied certain doctrinal teachings about Christ. But the reference to Jesus as our only Sovereign and Lord calls attention to Jesus’ right to demand obedience from his followers. Jude probably referred to the teachers’ ethical denial of the moral teachings of Christ, implicit in their shameful behavior.^[2]

WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY WITH ….

• We walk away with the understanding that these certain people pushed the limits of sexuality by distorting God’s grace to the point of unrestricted consequences. Not surprisingly, this perversion in practice was accompanied by a perversion in doctrine—a denial of the person and authority of Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION:

           I have preached, many times, the understanding of “Pushing the Limits!” We should allow the Holy Spirit to set boundaries for our lives. An example of this would be if someone is a recovering alcoholic. One of their boundaries should be to stay away from bars! What tends to happen though is we allow our boundaries to be pushed to the limit. By doing this it allows a person to easily push through that boundary and find themselves in a position that is outside of God’s will.

          By trying to justify or even deny these actions we can find ourselves in situations that we never thought possible. Today don’t push the boundaries! Stay a safe distance from those limits so that those who come after us may find us faithful.  

Blessings my friends

Pastor Rod

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^[1] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (Jud 3). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

^[2] Powers, D. G. (2010). 1 & 2 Peter/Jude: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible Commentary (268–269). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.