“Certain Men Crept In”

By Roger Oakland

Jude was called by God to send a message to the church. It seemed the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ was being compromised. Apparently, “certain men crept in unawares” and were the cause of great concern.

Jude began by making an emphatic statement:

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 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. (vv. 3-4)

Now, imagine if you were a member of a church that had received a letter from Jude. He was the half-brother of Jesus Christ. His message certainly must have carried some weight. His letter opened by saying that although he had intended to write and share about salvation that has been accomplished through the finished work of the Cross, his mind was somehow changed. Instead, he felt it imperative to deal with a major problem that had developed. Apparently, “certain men” had “crept in unawares” and actually had become an enemy of the simple Gospel. Rather than being a messenger of the Gospel, these imposters had become stealth deceivers who needed to be exposed before more innocent followers of Jesus were led astray.

What had happened was the very thing that the apostle Paul had previously warned the church about at Corinth when he had written to them and stated:

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (2 Corinthians 11:3-4)

Paul warned the church at Corinth about one of Satan’s most effective plans to deceive the brethren.

Further, in the book of Acts, chapter 20, Paul warned what would occur after he had departed the scene. He wrote:

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20: 29-30)

So there it is! Paul saw Satan’s plan clearly and warned what was coming. Jude saw it happening in his day. Further, these warnings, which are included in the inspired Word of God, are timeless and are for the church right now.

What would Paul and Jude write to the church if they were here today? Would their message have changed in any way? Based on current trends that dilute the simple Gospel of Jesus and make it into a “social-humanistic-psychological-what’s-in-it-for-me” Gospel that rejects Bible prophecy about the return of our Lord. I don’t think their warnings would have changed at all. Let the book of Jude be a wake-up call for us today!

Also by Roger Oakland:

Can Christians Be Spiritually Deceived, and How Can They Avoid it?

Taking a Quantum Leap into the New Age

The New Missiology – Doing Missions Without the Gospel