1. Jude 1:4 (ESV)
  2. Application

Grace Transforms Us

Jude 1:4 (ESV)

4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

[The false teachers] were saying that God's grace is so great that it does not matter how you live. This is a denial of what grace actually is, because grace actually transforms us into the image of Christ. They were also saying that if it does not matter, then Jesus' death already accomplished this big grace, and that means you can do anything you want to do. In doing that, they were actually denying the God of Scripture and the Christ of Scripture as well as the grace of God, and they were perverting that grace. Because Titus said, the grace of God that brings salvation teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present age, looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11–12). Titus says the grace of God leads you to deny ungodliness. And if we are not doing that—if we are not putting sin to death—the inevitable conclusion is that we have not received grace, because grace is not just forgiveness of sins; it is that and it is renewal of the heart, a cleansing of the life, and a being made in the image of Jesus.

The only people that really get to talk about grace are people that can show holiness in their life. However, that is not a legalistic thing. That is not saying that people who have received grace can go watch these movies or those movies; it is saying, you will look like Jesus, love like Jesus, and speak out like Jesus did.1

Nick Batzig