Study in the Epistle of Jude # 17: Verse 4

by Chris McCann

EBible Fellowship (http://www.ebiblefellowship.com)

Welcome to the Electronic Bible Fellowship’s Bible study time. We are currently going through the book of Jude. We have seen that God gives us information in verse 4 about “certain men crept in unawares.” By going to a few other passages, we have realized that this is speaking of Satan’s assault against the New Testament church during the entire Church Age period of some 1900 or more years. During that time, Satan had been sowing tares among the wheat. This was done while men slept; that is, they were unaware that a great many individuals within the church were not saved but were actually emissaries of Satan under his power. This is what God is speaking of in Jude 4 when He says:

For there are certain men crept in unawares…

Then Jude 4 goes on to say:

…who were before of old ordained to this condemnation…

As we read this as it is written, we might think that God is speaking of ordaining certain men to condemnation. He is talking here about ordaining—”who were before of old ordained”—which makes us think about predestination. Predestination was what God did in order to save a people for Himself before the foundation of the world. Before He even created the world, He predestinated and ordained a people for Himself to become saved—the elect of God (Ephesians 1:4-5).

Some look at a verse like this and say, “You see, God has also predestinated men to condemnation, to damnation. God has predestinated men to Hell.” This is a doctrine that some teach. They say that just as God has made a choice and determined that some will believe, He has also made a choice and determined that some will not believe but will be chosen for His wrath. This is not at all true; this is not what the Bible teaches.

It is true that the only way someone can be saved is if God has determined before the foundation of the world to elect them to salvation. Out of the whole mass of mankind, not one by his own will would turn to God. Not one would seek after God, not one would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ of their own will or power (Romans 3:11). Therefore, if any individuals were going to be saved, God necessarily had to choose them to obtain salvation. That He did, not because of anything in them, not because some had done good or others had done evil. God did not use any such criteria, but He chose man based upon His own good pleasure. In other words, God selected one man such as Jacob, and did not select another man such as Esau (Romans 9:11,13). This is how God has chosen those whom He intends to save. Then those who were elected by God had their sins placed upon Christ, who died for the sins of those particular people, not for the sins of everyone. Christ did not die for every single person.

We see that it was absolutely necessary that God predestinate men to salvation, but what about the condemnation, the wrath of God? It is not at all necessary for God to predestinate men to experience His judgment, because all men due to the fall of sin are already under the wrath of God. God does not have to predestinate them to this. It is man’s own doing. It is his own fault that he is under God’s wrath, because he has rebelled against God. All men have sinned and broken the law (Romans 3:23), so they are all subject to the penalty of the law, which is the second death of eternal damnation (Revelation 21:8).

As God looks out over all who will be born, all the men who will ever come into existence, He decides to save a remnant out of mankind (Romans 11:5). It is just a small number in comparison with the total number of human beings, but nonetheless, it will be a large number. When you are dealing with billions of people, and you just take a remnant, it could still be many millions or even a few hundred million—we do not know exactly how many God is going to save.

God saves this remnant, and He simply leaves the rest of mankind exactly where they are—in their sins. He does not have to take any action or to work in the way that He does in saving someone, because all men—due to their sin—are under His wrath and headed to Hell already. God is only dealing with those whom He is saving. He is not predestinating anyone to Hell, but man in his own perverseness is the one who is determining his own fate in the sense that he has sinned against God. He must now be held accountable and take responsibility, and since he was made in the image of God, this means that he will stand for judgment on the Last Day and be found guilty and thrown into Hell.

In Jude 4, this language is not saying that these men were “before of old ordained to this condemnation.” It is actually not translated as well as it could be. The better translation would be:

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old [written] to this condemnation…

It was written in the Old Testament that this would take place. God had prophesied that this would be the case in the New Testament church, because what we read in the Old Testament is the example of the New Testament churches and congregations. The same word translated in Jude 4 as “ordained” is found again as “written” in Romans 15:4, which says:

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

It was before written that there would be, as Jude goes onto say,

…ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness…

“Ungodly men”—that is as strong a condemnation, as strong a language, as anyone could use. If you say someone is godly, it is because they have the characteristics of God. They are exhibiting faith and love and peace and goodness, and they are keeping the commandments of God. “He is a godly man,” we could say of some of the prophets of old. “Moses was a godly man, and Daniel was a godly man.”

However, these who are spoken of in Jude are ungodly men. They are not faithful men; they are not true to the Word of God or obedient to His commands. They are ungodly. This is a horrible condemnation. It is a horrible thing to be called ungodly.

It so happens, though, that if anyone were to look at these men from the outside, no one would think that they were ungodly. They would think, “Well, these are certainly godly men.” As God is writing this, He has in mind a huge host of individuals who would creep into the churches throughout the many centuries of the Church Age. He is not focusing on any one particular time. He has in mind the many pastors and elders and teachers who would be teaching the Word of God and giving an outward appearance of faithfulness. We must remember, though, that God looks upon the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

Jesus did this in Matthew 23 as He was denouncing the scribes and Pharisees. He says in verses 25-28:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

That is the condemnation. Outwardly, who could tell that these Pharisees were ungodly? Outwardly, who could charge them with anything? They were so meticulous in keeping the commandments. Oh, how they wanted to observe the Sabbath Day outwardly! It certainly seemed as if they were “holy” men.

However, God looks inwardly. It is from the heart of man that evil proceeds (Matthew 15:19), and the heart is what God is concerned with. God pierces the facade, the outward trappings of man, and goes directly to the heart. There He sees dead men’s bones. He sees someone who is spiritually dead, and He sees all kinds of evil taking place. There is idolatry in the heart; there is wickedness in the heart. A man can try his best to contain it. He will try to hold it back, especially when he is in public or among others, but it is still there. He is still dead in his sins.

God sees all of this. It is no wonder that God will bring this to light. It is no wonder that God, in our day, is judging the church for these sins that are rampant in the churches and congregations.

In Jude 4, we read that these are “ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” “Turning grace into lasciviousness”—we find something similar to this in Galatians 1:6-9, which says:

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

“There be some that trouble you,” the Apostle Paul writes under the inspiration of God, “and would pervert (would change) the Gospel of Christ.” That is what pervert means—to change or turn one thing into another. Some are not happy with the Gospel of Christ, the true and faithful Gospel—the Gospel that is able to bring salvation. They do not like the Gospel of the Bible. They do not like God’s plan of salvation. They do not like this magnificent plan that God has arranged.

Why do they not like it? You would think that men would want a Gospel of grace, a Gospel that says that all sins and blasphemies and iniquities that men do can be forgiven. You would think that they would want a Gospel where they do not have to do any work to earn forgiveness, where they do not have to deserve it, or work or pay for it in any way. You would think that men would love this kind of a Gospel.

Actually, men hate this Gospel. They hate and despise it. They cannot stand the true Gospel of the Bible, a Gospel that says that when it comes to salvation, man does absolutely nothing to obtain or earn it. Man cannot do anything. As a matter of fact, if he were to try to do something, this would just bring him into condemnation.

What kind of Gospel is this? This Gospel is unheard of in this world. This is what sets the true Gospel apart from every other religion and every other gospel. Every religion out there in the world demands that its adherents do something. They say, “You must do something to get right with God,” that is, the god that they propose. “You must crawl to Mecca or you must come and worship a Buddha. You must wash yourself in the Ganges River. You must do this act that will get you right and cleanse you from your sins. You must do that act that will work towards your cleansing.”

Perversions such as these are present even in the Christian Gospel. There are many that say you must do something. “You must accept Christ or walk down the aisle,” they say. “You must be baptized or partake of the Lord’s Table or go through purgatory.” They express that it is all works.

This is a perversion of the Gospel of the Bible. The Gospel of the Bible says that a man is not justified by works (Galatians 2:16). In no way could a man be justified by works. Anyone who seeks to be justified by works has nothing to glory in. No one can boast in God’s presence that they have played a part in their salvation. No one can glory in God’s sight that some work that they have done has brought them salvation. No one can say that this is what they have had to do.

God will not allow or tolerate this, for He is furious with that kind of a gospel. The Gospel of the Bible is a Gospel that gives all the glory to God. He does all the work; it is all of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is totally of the Lord and has nothing to do with man. As God outlines His salvation plan and gives more information and details, He instructs us that we can do nothing because salvation is completely out of our hands and in His hands. He will save whom He will save; He will have mercy upon the one whom He will have mercy (Romans 9:15).

Then man begins to realize, “Oh, we do not have any control over this Gospel. We do not have any control over God. It is all in His hands.” That is what man hates. They cannot stand it. That is why they will not tolerate the grace of God. Sure, man will speak about the grace of God, and even praise God for His grace, but he does not understand it if he still thinks that he must do some work in order to get right with God. The grace of God is that which says that there is nothing a man can do. We read this in Ephesians 2:8‑9, which says:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

“There be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ,” as Galatians 1 says, and if anyone does, woe be unto them. If anyone does pervert the true Gospel of the Bible, there is one thing left for them, and that is being accursed. They will experience God’s wrath in that place called Hell, which is designed to house the cursed forevermore. They will be accursed in the pit of Hell eternally. That is the only thing that changing the Gospel of the Bible will get for someone.

We are not to tamper with the Word of God. We are not to manipulate the Word of God and try to make it say what we want it to say. We are not to pick and choose a few verses such as “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31), or “Seek the Lord while He may be found” (Isaiah 55:6), or other verses like these, and then try to tell people, “You see, you have to do some work.” Anyone can do that, but they are not reading the whole Bible or harmonizing their conclusions (1 Corinthians 2:13). Therefore, they are coming up with the wrong idea that man must do the seeking and the accepting, and that man is the mover behind his salvation. That is completely false. It is God who will save.

In John 1:12, God begins to speak about salvation as He says:

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Some people want to say that you have to believe. God here is speaking about believing. How does someone believe? Verse 13 tells us:

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man…

This is dealing with being born again. We are not born by the will of man; therefore, we are not born by our exercising of free will. How are we born? The last part of the verse tells us:

…but of God.

We are born again of God; He does the work. Whenever it comes to salvation, Christ’s work is always in view, never man’s work.

Going back now to Jude 4, we read about these ungodly men who are turning, perverting, the grace of our God into lasciviousness. Lasciviousness is not a word that we hear very much. It is a word that I am not very familiar with, and I suppose that there are many other people who are not very familiar with it either. It is a difficult word to try to define. Lasciviousness—what does it mean? Let us examine how God uses this word. In 2 Peter 2:7, it is translated as “filthy”. We read there:

And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:

The word “conversation” is an Old English word that means “behavior”. These wicked, therefore, had filthy behavior, lascivious behavior. Then verse 8 says:

(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

This helps us to understand the filthy behavior. It was unlawful deeds, transgressions of the law of God. Basically, therefore, lasciviousness is the transgression of the law of God. It is to be involved in filthy behavior. Anything that breaks God’s commandments could be said to be filthy behavior or lasciviousness. However, I do not know if that helps us very much.

“Turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” In Galatians 5:19, the word “lasciviousness” is also used. We read there:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

I think we are getting to the point of what God is saying here. Notice that lasciviousness is a work of the flesh. That is the point—these men in Jude are turning the grace of our God into a work of the flesh. God always contrasts grace with works. These men are perverting the grace of God and changing it into a works gospel. They are changing the Gospel of the Bible into something that is presenting man with a choice or with an option to do some work in order to get right with God. “Say the sinner’s prayer,” they say. “Accept Christ into your hearts.” Lasciviousness is something like that; it is a filthy deed. It is something that is contrary to what the Bible teaches. God is furious with this kind of thing. He says in Galatians that as for anyone who would turn from God’s grace and preach another gospel, “let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9).

Lord willing, we will pick up here in our next study of verse 4 of Jude.