Jude 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Now Jude tells the readers the problem. It is possible that the readers did not recognize the “ungodly people” in their midst because they had “secretly slipped in.” They were sneaky. They were wolves dressed like sheep. They were hard to recognize. The best way to notice them is to know and proclaim the true gospel. The full light will reveal the imperfects and distortions. The problem with these people is that the distort the grace of God. They think that simply making a confession in Jesus is enough for salvation. They think that once you are “saved,” you are eternally secure and it does not matter how you live after that. They do not live out the grace of God. This is the same type of issue that Paul addressed in Romans 6:1. Grace is not an excuse for immorality or denying the sovereignty of Jesus. Genuine faith in Christ will make a difference in how we live because it puts Jesus on the throne of our lives. If Jesus is truly our Lord, we will obey his commands and live as temples of the Holy Spirit. To call Jesus our Lord requires that we make him sovereign in all of who we are. This is a constant journey and commitment, lived out day by day. Any interpretation other than this is a distortion of the gospel as recorded in the New Testament. Jesus must be Lord of all or not Lord at all.
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