Jude focuses his letter on this difficult reality, that there are people within the church who pervert the grace that Christ has given us so that they live in any way that they would like, regardless of what God has said or who he has called us to be:
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.
Jude 1:4
Jude’s original desire was to send a letter about the salvation that they had received. It was intended to be a celebration, a letter full of joy. But instead, he found himself compelled to send a letter about the need to persevere and contend for their faith.
I hear this objection, both from Muslims but not only them… But it seems like you have allowed Jesus to pay for your sins and you can just continue to go on doing whatever you want, to live in whatever way you like.
And it is true. We do have many people like that. I could probably say that I was counted among them at one point.
Jude is clear about what these people are doing, though. They are perverting the grace of our God. They are mocking the death of Christ and turning it into a license, permission, to live in whatever way they would like to live. This is far from the way that God has intended us to live. Instead, Jesus has purchased us with his blood away from the kingdom of darkness to enter into the kingdom of God, not continue to live in darkness!
What is the justification for doing this, for living in whatever way they want while also saying that they believe in, and follow, Christ? It is their own dreams. Their own ideas. Their own desires:
In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.
Jude 1:8
They believe that their dreams, their ideas… in fact, we might say, their own truth, is what leads them to decide that this is right. They will refuse living with the authority of God over them, but will instead live in the way that they believe is right, that which is right in their own eyes, based on the strength of their own ideas, their own dreams.
In the end, these are people who will bring division amongst God’s people. They will insist that they know what is right, regardless of what can be clearly understood from the word of God.
And so, Jude calls us to persevere. He calls us to contend for the faith. He calls us to stand firm, being built up through prayer and by listening to the Holy Spirit, not to our own fleshly desires and thus perverting the faith.