Jude Part 2

4. This verse explains the need for believers to “...earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (v. 3). There was already a particularly toxic class that had crept in unawares. A. creep: fig. (of persons and things). a. To advance or come on slowly, stealthily, or by imperceptible degrees; to insinuate oneself into; to come in or up unobserved; to steal insensibly upon or over.  1. This denotes an active and deliberate infiltration utilizing lust. c/w 2TI 3:6. 2. Paul warns about those who deliberately “...lie in wait to deceive...” (EPH 4:14). c/w ROM 16:17-18. 3. Peter describes lust-oriented ungodly influencers: “...they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness...” (2PE 2:18). 4. wantonness: The quality of being wanton, in various senses. a. Lasciviousness, unchastity. B. There are diverse types of “false brethren” that might be counted with the believing elect in a church. 1. Some might be carnally attracted to a surging movement and so join it, not necessarily having a deliberate agenda to deceive. a. A mixed multitude joined Israel’s exodus from doomed Egypt. EXO 12:38. b. The gospel may gather in bad and good: all called but only some chosen. MAT 22:10-14. c. There was even an antichrist infection in the early church that gradually left of their own accord. 1JO 2:18-19. 2. Some might be deliberate deceivers who have their own doctrinal agenda contrary to grace. a. Such were the Judaizers who still held to works-righteousness and works- justification. GAL 2:4; ACT 15:24. b. These were not necessarily driven by sexual lasciviousness but by self- preservation and social acceptance among cultural peers. GAL 6:12-13. 3. Jude is especially warning about creepy infiltrators who are ungodly, lascivious, God-denying, Christ-denying and “...sensual, having not the Spirit” (v. 19). a. lascivious: Inclined to lust, lewd, wanton. b. The issue of sexual impurity is significant in the cases described in the verses to follow. c. These infiltrators are not the same as an elect believer who has a sexual failing such as the fornicator in 1CO 5 who was promptly humbled by his exposure and punishment. d. These are such as walk after their own ungodly lusts (v. 18) and have never repented of them. They even use religion as a platform or cover to exercise their lasciviousness, falsely blending good and evil. ISA 5:20; ROM 3:8 c/w REV 2:14, 20-22. e. These deny God and Christ by their wicked works though professing to know them. c/w TIT 1:16; MAT 7:21-23. (1) Peter, as an apostle to the circumcision, warned of lust-oriented false teachers with covert heresies “...denying the Lord that bought them...” (2PE 2:1). (2) Such had historically been bought, not by the blood of Christ, but by the blood of Egypt. DEU 32:6 c/w ISA 43:1-3. f. As to how such got into the churches, it is either because they cloaked their sin with false piety, or ministers were less than diligent in vetting them, or there was a compromised minister/church who were “prepped” to receive them, or they were deemed valuable for their carnal “advantages” (as was the case of partiality shown in JAM 2:1-4). 5-8. These verses are hinged on the statements made in v. 4 concerning the stealthy infiltrators who, though knowing great blessing and benefit of God in the church according to grace, reject God in favor of lust. Jude now gives three examples to warn us that there is none so great, so high or so favored as to be exempted from judgment for such wickedness. A. “These” such as Jude has under consideration exhibit two major characteristics in all instances: aversion to God-ordained law and authority, AND sexual uncleanness. 1. These seemingly unrelated issues are VERY related. ROM 1:21-27; JUDE 1:10. 2. They are filthy dreamers. v. 8. a. dreamer: One who dreams; one who has visions in sleep; a visionary; an idle speculator. b. Out of the abundance of their heart, their dreams are even filthy. When one’s “business” is sexual filth, what should you expect? ECC 5:3. c. Coming up with a false doctrine turning grace into lasciviousness is another aspect of such dreamers. c/w JER 23:25. d. NOTE: vile sin of the flesh will not be justified by the true God and, hence, false gods are dreamed up to give a sense of divine approval to the sin. B. Israel (v. 5), though the objects of great favor: 1. murmured against God's authorized leadership. EXO 16:2, 7-8; 32:1. 2. dreamed up alternate gods to accommodate lust. EXO 32:2-6. 3. committed gross filth. EXO 32:6-7, 25. 4. were destroyed twice. EXO 32:26-28; NUM 25 c/w 1CO 10:7-8. C. The angels (v. 6) which were judged for leaving their first estate had, like Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 7), committed fornication. 1. estate: State or condition in general, whether material or moral, bodily or mental. 2. These angels had sinned (2PE 2:4), which is the transgression of a law. 1JO 3:4. 3. The moral estate of angels established by God exempted them from procreative relationships. MAR 12:25. 4. GEN 6:1-4 speaks of a time when sons of God did in fact intermarry with human females. a. The term “sons of God” is used exclusively in the O.T. to refer to angels. JOB 1:6; 2:1; 38:4-7; DAN 3:25, 28. b. Whether they assumed human form, which angels of God can do (HEB 13:2), or “possessed” human males and altered their physical make- up some how to produce a super-race to counter the coming seed of the woman (GEN 3:15) is not clear, but the description of the one righteous man in those days is interesting. (1) Noah “...was a just man and perfect in his generations...And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (GEN 6:9-10). (2) generation: The act or process of generating or begetting physically; procreation; propagation of species. (3) There was nothing questionable or deficient about the generations of Shem, Ham and Japheth: they were the biological products of a godly man of faith (HEB 11:7) married to one woman, according to the ordained pattern of marriage and generation given at the beginning of time. GEN 1:27-28. c. “These,” like Israel, were not satisfied with the order of God or His provision. Thus, they also denied His lordship in rebellion and were cast into hell. D. The sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. (v. 7), though richly favored of God (GEN 13:10), likewise had rejected God's rule over their desires. They too had essentially turned the grace of God into lasciviousness.  1. Rather than giving themselves to God in gratitude for their blessings, they gave themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh. 2. Fornication is a particularly noted sin and one chiefly for which judgment awaits. 1CO 6:18; 2PE 2:9-10. 3. Sodomy is sexual sin against the revelation of God in nature (ROM 1:26-27) and the revelation of God in Scripture which condemns it in both testaments. E. Jude’s warning about such infiltrators resonates throughout Christian history. Churches that do not earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints lay the groundwork for pseudo-faith infiltration by sensual, carnal, impure interests.