We all know Grace is given by God for all of us to fight Sin, if there is no Grace, God would have destroyed us long back as we do many things that’s quite embarrassing to God, sometimes we shame God with many of our actions. But his Grace is there for us to repent and come back to him.
We misuse this grace that’s given to us and pervert this more to get into deadly Sin. So, what do we mean by the word perverting?
Cambridge meaning of Perverting - “to change something so that it is not what it was or should be, or to influence someone in a harmful way”
God spoke to me when I was meditating on the word of Jude
'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
In the ancient world immorality is Sin that’s practiced without shame, without any sense of conscience or decency. This catches up with time and over a period many Sins look normal over years, we go to the lengths to tell what we do is not a Sin. People don’t feel ashamed to do certain Sins in public which they would not have dared do in their old Generations or few years back.
Let’s understand this perverted Grace with two examples which can make us understand it even better
Example 1 - Alcoholism today starts with a simple wine, as it’s not intoxicating like other alcohol products. Slowly this wine drinking action turns to one glass of Beer and slowly to other products in alcohol. Some start with one drink, then it gets to only occasional, slowly once a month just to have fun with friends, then weekly then it consumes to make the person drink daily and gets addicted to alcoholism. Today’s world if you don’t drink people feel something is wrong with you as well. Back in old Generation it was considered huge sin if you drink, but we have allowed this culture to make this cool sort of behaviour and it’s corrupted our living. God’s grace is there even when the person starts drinking the one glass, God did not punish because of this Grace, we make this Grace pervert further slowly till that consumes and ruins our life.
Example 2 – This is a biblical example on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was twin cities where the sexual misconduct was so perverse God’s anger came to destroy the twin cities. So, you may ask what was the Sin that God was so angry of?
To understand this better read Genesis 19 Full Chapter, I am outlining the key things alone here
The men of Sodom and Gomorrah had homosexuality, it’s the primary reason why God destroyed the twin cities.
The Bible clearly and explicitly condemns homosexuality as an immoral and unnatural sin (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9). And the Bible strongly condemns rape as well (Deuteronomy 22:25-27)
God’s grace was there in Sodom and Gomorrah with Abrahams prayers he answers “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”. I have outlined selected verses to make you understand how God is angry and how Abraham is pleading God, to get a sense of this. Read Genesis 18 and 19 fully to understand better
'Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 'Genesis 18:20,23-24,26
God sends two angels as men – The men of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to perform homosexual gang rape on the two angels (who were disguised as men) Genesis 19:24 – Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by raining sulphur, there were ashes to ground, he destroyed the people and vegetation of the land as well, so that no trace of that can come root, this is the impact of perverted Grace that got the anger of God.
God is merciful God, in this anger, because of Abraham’s prayers and request in Genesis 18:16-33, lot (Abraham’s nephew) is saved
Warning Signs of this Perverting Grace
• Ungodly People’s Acquittances - Check to see if you are surrounded by many people who are ungodly who don’t value God or Biblical principles that’s the 1st sign of how this starts. As humans we catch behaviours that’s contagious from one person to another. We catch the behaviours of ungodly people into us to make us corrupt slowly.
'They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. ' Jude 1:18-19
• Grumbles – We grumble against God despite what he gives to us, we don’t value many things that he has given to us in life, we look for things that we don’t have and feel that’s better for us and always Grumble on the blessings we have. Like how Israeli people complained to God despite God giving the best food / clothing and shelter in the desert, they constantly complained. Many times, all of us live like that. We don’t count the blessings God has given rather we grumble against God.
• Complainers – Many of us complain to God, grumbling in us turns to complaints. It has rightly been observed that whenever a man gets out of touch with God, he is likely to begin complaining about something. I read this passage written by a writer Green which is appropriate - Grumbling “is to insult the God who gives us all things; it is to forget that whatever befalls us, nothing can separate us from His love, nor deprive us of that most priceless of all treasures, the Lord’s presence in our lives.”
• Flattering people: Many of us have experienced this in our life. Some people know how to use smooth, flattering words to get an advantage over other people. They would say anything – good or bad – to get an advantage.
• Mockers... who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts: Those who live according to their own ungodly lusts love to mock those who want to please God. Jude wants Christians to expect this kind of mocking, so they won’t be surprised by it. All of these will happen only if they follow their own instinct “who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.” Jude 1:19
Once we get these habits we get sucked to the Sins, Sins become deadly and perverse day by day. We slowly get away away from the Grace of God. Lastly, the wrath of God comes on like how it was done on Sodom and Gomorrah
How can we overcome the perverted people?
Look inward
'But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. ' Jude 1:20-21
John teaches us to look inward by
Keep yourselves in the love of God: We know that God loves even the ungodly, don’t believe the lies of Satan that comes from the perverted people that God will not care for you
'You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 'Romans 5:6
Building yourselves up on your most holy faith: This is one way that we can keep ourselves in the love of God. It means to keep growing spiritually, and to keep building up. Jude tells us, “'But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith.” This means that we are responsible for our own spiritual growth
Praying in the Holy Spirit: This is another way to keep ourselves in the love of God. The battle against wrong living and wrong teaching is a spiritual battle, requiring prayer in the Holy Spirit. Jude tells us “praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ”
Look Outward
'Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. ' Jude 1:22-23
Be Merciful: Jude begins here to tell us what we must do with those who have been influenced by these certain men. We need to make a distinction, based on where they are coming from. “Be merciful to those who doubt”
Others save with fear: This second group must be confronted more strongly – but in fear, not in a sanctimonious superiority. You may need to pull them out of the fire, but never do it in pride. Do with the guidance of the spirit of God “save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear”
Comments