It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. —Hebrews 10:31 (NLT) In this continuing sermon series, we have seen the threat addressed by Jude in the form of false teachers who attempt to infiltrate and deceive the body of Christ. Jude challenges the church to “contend for the faith” as they safeguard the truth. In the first week we saw that the greatest threat is false teaching from within the church, false teachers who seem legitimate but knowingly deceive others. We are called to preserve the purity of the Gospel as we understand who we are being warned about. In the second week, we learned that we will recognize these false teachers by their pride. We are warned to not be so quick to accept shallow teaching as we begin to grasp what it is that we are being warned about. This week, verses 14-16 bring into focus the harsh judgment that is in store for these false teachers because they deceive so many with their perversion of the truth. It also illustrates why we are being warned so we avoid sharing their fate.
