Liberty Is Not Freedom to Sin

 

“Beloved, while I diligently tried to write to you of the salvation we have in common, I found it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.” — Jude 3 Jude tells us why he wrote his epistle in verse 3. Initially, he had planned to frame a general epistle perhaps something along the line of Romans, which would contain an overview of all Christian doctrine. But as he was giving all diligence to do this, something had suddenly come up that made it necessary for him to exhort them and to write them about a particular problem, which needed their earnest attention.  So we see that the rest of this Epistle of Jude is not what he set out to write in the beginning.  But God had other things in mind—he was to remind them and us of a particular error, which was springing up into the church. The gist of this error is that certain false teachers have crept into the church, “who pervert the grace of our God into immorality and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 4). Their coming had not been noticed; the ungodliness was not observed, but now they are in the church and now they are turning the grace of God into liberty to sin.  Therefore, he contends earnestly for the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints.  God has called us to liberty.  But it is wrong to turn that liberty into a license to do whatever our sinful heart desires to do. Lord, give me strength for today to never take Your grace for granted.  Free us from false teachers who preach that sin is permissible and without consequences.  Help us to take sin seriously…