Sermon Brief
Date Written: July 16, 2014
Date Preached: July 15, 2014
Where Preached: OPBC (Wed - PM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: A Deeper Look: Key Verses
Sermon Title: Verse 5-7
Sermon Text: Jude 1:5-7 [ESV]
Introduction:
5Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
So far in our study and indepth look into this letter from Jude to the church we have learned that Jude had a close relationship with this fellowship and loved them dearly.
We also know that his original intent for writing them was going to be in celebration and examination of the salvation they all share in common… In Christ!
However, a situation had arisen and Jude had to take immediate action and address this situation in this letter instead of what he had desired to do…
You may be thinking, well why did he not do both? Well one reason was probably he did not have the resources. Writing a letter in the 1st century was a task that required great resources and supplies were limited.
He may have only had enough parchment to send the letter he did write…OR he may not have had enough ink to complete a letter that contained all he wanted to say…
The one thing we can surmise from the 1st few verses of this letter is that Jude believed he had to make a choice between celebrating this ‘common’ salvation he shared with this fellowship OR correcting a false teaching he had discovered that had crept in (apparently without notice) and was threatening the fellowship!
In the 1st 4 verses we also learn of his love for this fellowship and that he believed God was using them for His kingdom. Jude quickly reveals this major concern about what is now happening in the church and begins to detail how these believers should handle this situation…
Tonight we are going to look at v5-7. In v4 he had laid out WHAT the situation was… it was a false teaching that perverted the Grace of God and that they were denying the deity of Jesus…
In v5-7 he describes these people in some not so flattering terms… His description is couched in three separate illustrations that represent WHO these people who are teaching this false doctrine are… about WHO they represent!
5Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
FIRST… Jude spoke about unbelieving Jews in the wilderness after God had rescued them from Egypt! He says, “Now I want to remind you, although you once FULLY knew it…” This is Jude saying, “I know that you KNOW what I am about to say, but I’m gonna remind you anyway…”
The Greek word Jude uses to ‘remind’ these believers is a word that was used by parents when they KNEW their children were aware of something, but they chose the wrong thing anyway…the would scold their children saying, “You know this… I shouldn’t HAVE to remind you but I am going to…”
The term used here was a term to get attention! It’s place in the sentence if important because it is used as the 1st word of this particular sentence and in Greek syntax the most important thought is always toward the first of the sentence!
Then Jude follows up his comment of, “…I want to remind you…” with, “…although you once FULLY knew it…”
In other words, you ALL know that God delivered our people out of Israel and that when faced with going INTO the promised land, they did not believe God’s promise and began to preach a message from their own heart… God sent them out to the wilderness where EVERY one them died before the nation could enter into the promised land.
Jude is saying, ‘you KNOW this story about how these people perverted God’s promise and how God destroyed them…’ SO… the implication here is that these people are doing the same thing!
These people who are teaching you these things about God’s grace are perverting His promise of Grace into something of their own creation… a message of their own making, and God is not going to stand for it NOW just as He would not stand for it then…
The 2nd illustration is found in v6:
6And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—
Jude speak about ‘angels’ who did not stay with their position of authority… what does he mean? The NASB says that these angels, “did not keep their own domain…” The Greek for this means that they were not faithful to how they were created! They were created to serve God but they rebelled and began to serve another…
Scripture tells us of a great rebellion in heaven when Lucifer, an ArchAngel… known as the Angel of Light… rebelled against God wanting to BECOME God and God cast him and all the angels who followed him out of heaven.
Jude is making reference to the punishment afforded those who rebelled against the created order… the order of God… the way God desired it to be…
The grace of God was meant for ONE thing… to cleanse sin and keep us holy and set apart for His purposes, but these teachers were teaching that God’s grace was a license to seek our own pleasure and to please our own senses… thus perverting God’s CHOSEN way… God’s order of grace!
Because they were perverting God’s grace in this way, they were like these angels who had been created by God for one purpose, but they had rebelled and perverted what God had set into order…
Here in v6 we see rebellion on behalf of the ANGELS who had been created by God to serve Him! But, they had perverted God’s created order and they were being punished.
In v5 Jude speaks about The CHOSEN NATION of Israel who had been called out by God thru Abraham AND then delivered from Egypt and slavery through Moses, and they were given God’s plan directly thru the Word of God… However, many of them did NOT listen to God and rebelled against Him, and God punished them…
Jude gives yet another illustration of rebellion against God’s created order, in v7…
7just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
This example is NOT about a chosen people, but about a created order of things. God created the world and set things to be a certain way, HIS WAY!
His created order was thrown to the wayside in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities around them…
They perverted God’s order of things in such a deviant manner that God punished them openly and publicly without reservation. Abraham sought God’s intervention and saved Lot and his daughters, but the cities were doomed!
The point that Jude is making here in these verses is that God has an order and a plan. His order and plan is made for us, to help us to live as He desires us to live.
When we break from that ‘created order’ from His desired way for us to live… then God will bring punishment/ discipline. For those who openly reject God’s order and plan, destruction is their ultimate end!
Jude is comparing the teachers in the fellowship of this church… the teachers who’s teaching was perverting the Grace of God to sensuality and denying Jesus as Lord and Savior… THOSE teachers were NOT going to escape the justice and wrath of God! They would be punished!
The implication here is that Jude is asking the question, “Knowing what you KNOW…and Jude says in v5 “I know you know this…” Do you want to be judged with these men?
Or are you going to separate yourself from these false teachers? If you stay with them you TOO will be judged! Judged, just as the 3 examples I have just revealed to you!
Jude was battling an ongoing issue that infected many of the churches of the 1st century and still to this day infects and destroys the lives of many believers… false doctrine and presenting a false testimony about God and His Grace.
Paul battled this on many occasions and we have many examples from Paul addressing such battles... one such letter is the letter from Paul to Timothy… we know it as 1 Timothy
In 1 Tim 1:3-7 Pauls says this:
3As 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, 4nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 5The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, 7desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
Notice what Paul says here… he speaks about ‘certain persons’ 2x – first in v3 and then again in v6 both times referring to those who were teaching strange and false doctrine to believers!
The strange doctrine is described as vain discussion, not understanding the Law and not having wisdom to apply what the Law is saying…
This strange doctrine promoted myths, endless genealogies and great speculation rather than a sound faith in Christ! They SOUND confident and sure of themselves but they are NOT right! Any teaching that denies Christ is a false teaching.
So Jude has described his desired reason for writing this fellowship:
But he also tells them that his desire for writing had to wait because he had a more urgent matter to take up with them…
He addresses the urgent matter as false doctrine that is being brought in through stealth and cunning by “certain people”
Jude speaks that these men are already condemned because of their rejection of Christ and perversion of God’s grace!
Jude goes onto describe what it means if you follow these people and the doctrine they promote. He uses 3 illustrations:
The children of Israel who were chosen by God and delivered from Egyptian slavery… but punished when they rebelled against Him
The very angels in heaven…created FOR service to God who rebelled and were cast out of heaven. They were created to serve God but God was not sparing His judgment on them.
The people of Sodom and Gomorrah… a people who so perverted God’s plan that they were destroyed almost immediately…God did not wait to punish them but sent judgment quickly
IF God is willing to punish THESE people, don’t you think He is willing discipline you when you teach or begin to follow strange/unbiblical doctrines?
Preacher what is strange doctrine? Well strange doctrine is briefly described by Jude in v3 when he says they taught the perversion on God’s grace and denied Jesus as Lord…
When a teaching takes us away from the message of Scripture it is a false teaching! When it twists and perverts what God has done for us in the person of Jesus Christ… it is false doctrine! When it rejects Jesus as the Savior and Lord of our lives… it is false doctrine.
Jude desired his people to not only know about this heresy being preached but he wanted to create a confidence in them to resist this heresy… to do this he begins to educate them on what they are facing… and who they are really dealing with…
Pray…
