As we continue in Jude and look at verses five through seven, we are hit square in the eyes with the reality that God judges sin harshly. I’m not going to go into each example specifically because there is a lot to flesh out for each example and I simply don’t have the space here to do that. However, in later weeks we will look at them closer when Jude brings each one back up. With that being said, the main message that Jude was trying to convey is still there. God does not tolerate sin.
As Christians, it is easy for us to distance ourselves from this verse. We may want to say that we would never do what these verses are saying. However, in the eyes of God, sin is sin. When we sin we are rebelling against God. While it may seem like an extreme statement, let us look at it closer. What does God want from us? What are His standards for us? Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37-40. He says, “‘‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” This is what is known as the Shema. It is the summary of the Ten Commandments. Whenever we sin we are breaking an area of these commandments. Whenever we break a commandment we are rebelling against God. We are saying in our hearts that our way is better than God’s way. So, those that were rebelling against God in these verses are no different than any of us rebelling against God.
These three verses in Jude remind us what the judgment is for those that have sinned. It is physical death and the punishment of Hell. This is a grave reminder to us as believers. What I am not saying is that we will be sent to Hell for the punishment of our sins even if we are believers. However, as we allow sin into our lives the “bigger” sins don’t sound as bad and we slowly begin to go down this trail of trying one more sin. It then begins to snowball. Before we know it we are in apostasy. That is to say that we have begun to live as a nonbeliever. This then could cause us to walk away from our faith. I want to be clear and should further explain my line of thinking. I am not saying that one can lose his or her salvation. Once you are saved, you are always saved. We need not worry about losing our salvation. If we could lose our salvation, we would live in constant fear. In fact, we would lose our salvation every day and would have to be saved each day. This is not the case. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are continuously being reformed and shaped into a child of God. Once we are saved we can never lose it.
What Jude is trying to do in these verses is remind us of what happens to those that do not believe. He is encouraging us to stand firm in our faith. He is asking us why we would allow worldly influences to influence our thinking and actions. He is asking us to examine our leaders whenever they speak. He wants us to be watchful of false teachers that could lead us astray. We are to be like the Berean Christians that are mentioned in Acts. They cross-referenced everything that Paul taught them with the Scriptures. If they did that for an apostle, why wouldn’t we do that for all of our Christian influences? We should guard ourselves against teachers that are not teaching correctly from the Bible. I urge you to be doing that even for this blog post.
As I wrap this up, I want to urge you to be watchful for false teachers. They are not always as obvious as we think them to be. Are there other areas of your life that might be negatively influencing your walk with Christ? If so, what are you going to do about it? We must always be careful of the influences that we have in our lives and carefully examine them against scripture.