October 13, 2023: Jude 4 - Ungodly Men have Crept in Unawares

“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” - Jude 4

When I was young, I was gullible and I believed that what people told me was true, whether it was my friends or family, the government, and the media. It was only through my experiences of living my life that I realized that people lie, and they will lie to your face without a hint that they are lying. They lie to promote their agenda, and most of the times, it’s for their good and not ours.

Later in my life when I was seeking to know God but not yet saved, not yet born again, I was working from home and my doorbell rang. It was two Jehovah’s Witnesses women who wanted to tell me about the Bible. Being gullible and having a desire in my heart to learn about God, I started talking to them. I was defenseless, for I had not read the word of God, and Satan was all too ready to deceive me and steal my soul. That one mistake led to me studying with them for about four years, and not only me but also our children who were young at the time. I praise God to this day that He used my unbelieving husband to end my studies with them. At first I was confused and sad because I had grown to know them, but after some time had passed, I realized I and our children had been deceived by the devil for four years of our life. I thank God that He used whoever and whatever was necessary to remove me from a “church” that doesn’t believe that Jesus is God and who believes that they are the only ones who are saved. Like the snake that he is, Satan had crept in unawares, and he is still doing that today in churches all around the world.

Jude tells us that certain ungodly “men have crept in unawares” and have turned “the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” Let us consider what it means to have “crept in unawares” and also what the word “lasciviousness” means. The Greek word “pareisedysan” means to come in stealthily, which also means to come in secretly. It is just like Satan to come in pretending he is one thing - good - when in fact he is the opposite - evil. That is exactly what happened to me when I was at my home and he sent two people - whom he had already deceived - to knock at my door and to deceive me with his lies. He has been doing this from the very beginning when he deceived Eve in the garden:

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)

Satan, represented as a serpent, put seeds of doubt into Eve’s mind as to what God had commanded Adam, asking her, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Likewise, Satan doesn’t want us to believe God’s word as it is written but to question it, with our sinful desires and lusts. Further, he doesn’t want us to believe that God means what He says.

Eve was not only deceived by Satan, she had deceived herself because she had added to the words of God. God did not tell Adam that they could not touch the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden; rather, He only told them they could not eat of it. This is a perfect example of what happens when we add to or take away from the word of God. God’s word is clear that we should not add to or take away from what He tells us. It is stated clearly early on in the Bible and also at the end of it:

“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)

“What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:32)

“Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:6)

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19)

We don’t know why Eve felt compelled to add to the command that God had given her and Adam, but the end result, at least to me, made God’s commands to them seem more restrictive than they actually were. Eve ended up lying about what God had commanded Adam, and she disobeyed God’s command not to eat the fruit of that particular tree. As God had told Adam would happen, she and Adam did die because of their sin against Him, which is exactly what Satan wanted for them and it is exactly what he wants for every single person ever born. He hates God because he wants to be like God, and he hates humans because we are the only creation made in God’s image. Satan, being an angel, was not created in God’s image. As Satan deceived people from the beginning, so he continues to deceive people today, and that includes stealthily planting deceivers in churches all around the world, including America.

Next, let’s discuss the word “lasciviousness.” It is translated from the Greek word “aselgeia.” Per Strong’s Concordance it is used to describe “outrageous conduct, conduct shocking to public decency, a wanton violence), wantonness, lewdness.” (See: https://biblehub.com/greek/766.htm). The Bible is clear: any sexual intercourse outside of a marriage between a man and a woman is considered sin. Have we not seen lasciviousness in our world today, especially in America? While sin has existed since the fall of Adam and Eve, I don’t think there has ever been a time where sin, especially sexual sin, that is so lewd, so in-your-face, that exists in our world today, except perhaps in the days of Lot in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, which Jude later mentions in his epistle. It is one thing for sin to run rampant in societies in which most people are not believers in Christ but it is another thing when so-called “churches” not only do not speak out against the sin but embrace it, bring it in the church, and put it on full display for all to see. This is happening now, and as Jude wrote later in verse 18, the apostles of Jesus told us this would happen in the last time, or the end times of the church age.

Never before have we sin any sinful lifestyle being approved and brought into and exalted in the church like we do today. Yes, the church should be open to all people, those who are saved and those who are not saved, who come to hear the word of God - the truth - that there is one way to salvation from sins and that is by believing in Jesus Christ, who paid the price to redeem us with His precious blood. However, it is not the church’s role to affirm anyone in their sin. Jesus died so that we would be born again through Him by believing in Him, and that means letting go of our former sinful lifestyles, not having them affirmed by the church and remaining in them. I have said this before and I will say it again, while Jesus did not condemn the woman who had been caught in the act of adultery and who was brought to Him by the Jews, Jesus did tell her to “go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11) If we go by the thought process of so-called “churches” today, the woman would have a flag created for her sin, she would have a day or a month dedicated to her sin, corporations around the world would celebrate her sin, and she would be brought into the church to speak to the congregation, who “lovingly” would affirm her sin, and on and on it goes. I don’t care what type of sin anyone who is saved commits, and that includes my own sin, sin is sin and it should not be approved by any church and exalted as it is being today. If churches truly loved those caught in sin, they would read the words of Jesus to them from John 8:11. But instead, we have false pastors in false churches who are falsely claiming to love people when in fact they are deceiving people and leading them straight to the pit of hell, which is exactly what Satan wants. These are the people whom Jesus, the prophets, and the apostles Jude, Peter, and John and many others in the Bible warned us about and how they would rise in the end times and “shall deceive many.” (Matthew 24:11) This is exactly why Jesus warned us, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 24:4)

As Jude wrote about, these type of people are ungodly and are ordained to this condemnation, and in the next several devotionals, we will read about the condemnation he is referring to through the Biblical examples he provided. As Jude said, these ungodly men who have “crept in unawares” have turned “the grace of our God into lasciviousness, denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” These ungodly men have taken the grace of God, which is given to anyone who chooses to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation, and used it as an excuse not only to remain in their sin but to exalt it, thereby denying God and His Son Jesus Christ. They have made a mockery of the price Jesus paid to redeem us of our sins, and they have reserved for themselves an eternity separated from Him and bound themselves in chains forevermore to the owner of their souls - Satan. They chose not to accept the grace given by the one true God but instead willingly chose the lies of Satan, the false god of this world.

“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:1-10)

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

As one who has put my faith and trust in Jesus alone for redemption of all my sins, I know that while I am still alive on this earth in my fleshly body, I will still sin. However, I do not expect anyone, including myself, to lift up my sin and to praise it. I am a work in progress that one day will be completed when I am with Jesus. Until He calls me Home, I will continue to fight this battle against sin in His power and might, to walk not after the flesh - to walk not after what the world calls “good” but which God calls evil - but after the Spirit. The apostle Paul, who once was a persecutor of Christians but was saved and whose life was completely changed by Jesus, wrote about this in the books of Romans and Philippians:

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1)

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:5-10)

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.” (Philippians 2:13-16) ✝️