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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

'Creeps & Sneaks'



‘Creeps & Sneaks’       November  2013        Rick Godley

Have you ever snuck into anywhere?  Like a movie theater when you were young; perhaps a bar, nightclub concert or a sporting event?  Then you know what it’s like to be ‘sneaky’ and ‘creep’ in somewhere!  Reflect as to how you felt at the time and how you feel about it now!   Maybe it was exciting then, but now, hopefully, now we know better.   I’m sure it was all done in fun and no one meant any harm.

The book of Jude warns us about other ‘Creeps and Sneaks’ that we need to be aware of.  These ‘creeps and sneaks’ are not so innocent and they mean harm.  Before I quote the verse, may I encourage you to go and read the complete book for yourself, read it slowly and read it out loud.

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, wicked men, turning the grace of our Elohim into lasciviousness, and denying our only Sovereign, and Master Yahshua the Messiah.’    Who are these ‘certain men’ who creep in unaware, in other words, the sneak in with a mission and a purpose?    Notice their mission and purpose, ‘ to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness’ and to deny ‘Jesus’  as The Messiah.

What is ‘lasciviousness’ and when was the last time you heard a sermon to be on your guard about these ‘certain men who were before of old ordained to this condemnation’?   Do you have any in your ‘church’?  Do you have that in the ‘soil of your soul’?    ‘Well, Rick, don’t know!   No one ever asked me that before, what the heck is lasciviousness?’ 

Thayer Definition:  1) unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence!   Say what?   Don’t you love it what they define a word we don’t understand with more word we don’t understand? 

Wantonness?   

Let me look that one up for you, cause I really don’t know either! 
Thayer Definition:  1) unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence.  Hmmm seems the same as lasciviousness.   Words are not wasted in Scripture, so if it’s in there twice its not a mistake.  The mistake would be to slough it off and move on.   Bad idea. 

Didn't ‘Jesus’ and the writers of Scripture keep warning His people? 

May I quote some of those warnings?   

We need to ask ourselves if these ‘creeps and sneaks’ are currently in ‘our midst’, that is, inside of us and inside of the assembly.  We also need to ask ourselves if the rotten fruit of their message has filtered down to our current ‘beliefs and faith’ and toss it overboard!
 
Warning!   2 Peter 2  1-4  (actually the whole chapter!  Read it for yourself)  2Pe 2:1  But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.   And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.  For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

Warning!  Gal. 2:4  But as for the false brothers, sneakingly brought in, who sneaked in to spy out our freedom which we have in Messiah יהושע in order to enslave us,

Warning!    1 Ti 1  3-11 1Ti 1:1   As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion,   desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.   Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,’

Warning!  2 Tim 3:6   2Ti 3:6  For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,   always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.’

Warning!  Jude 4 (above)   11-13 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.  These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

The point of it all is this.   Goats are always trying and have tried from The Beginning to get in the midst of the sheep.  That’s why The Good Shepherd will be THE ONE who sill separate the two.  (Matt 25:32)  Grievous wolves are coming, have already been and are now inside the sheepfold!  (Matt 7:15,  Matt 10:16, Luke 10:3, Acts 20:29)

To bring this ‘inside the cup’ (Luke 11:29), because not only  has the ‘seed of the serpent’ successfully infiltrated His ground, His flock from The Beginning in the garden and they need to be noticed among The Flocks.   That seed has also been implanted in our corrupted flesh and has manifested itself in our behavior.   Which is why one needs to deny ‘that seed’ :  

(Col 3:5-9)  ‘Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.   In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.   But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.  Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices….’  

And be ‘born again’ of the incorruptible ‘seed’  (The Seed of the Woman) Col 3:10  and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.’

Like the old Almond Joy candy bar jingle, ‘Sometimes you feel like a nut….sometimes you don’t’, well this is what ‘sometimes one acts like a ‘creep’ and sometimes one don’t’.

Got questions?   Feel free to e mail me, Rick@GodleyWorks.com


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