Jude 1:5-7 (Part 2)
Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
2-25-2024
Deconstruction
Joshua Harris wrote the best-selling Christian book, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye,” which sold almost two million copies, in his early 20s. By 30 years old, he was the pastor of a megachurch.
He wrote several more books, including “Dug Down Deep” in 2010 highlighting his love for theology.
In 2019, he announced that his wife and he were divorcing and he no longer considered himself a Christian.
On his present website, he writes:
“I spent the first 40 years of my life promoting what I now see as a narrow, controlling, fear-based religion. Today I’m an advocate for the freedom to change, grow, and walk away from systems and beliefs that no longer fit. I want to see religious and non-religious communities healthier.
Stepping outside of rigid religion, I’ve found there’s a lot of room for discovery. For hearing and telling new stories. For creating new things in business. And spotlighting people whose ideas can reshape the world.”
He’s not the only well-known Christian who has “deconstructed” recently. Worship artist Michael Gungor, DC Talk’s Kevin Max, Hawk Nelson’s John Steingard, and even John Piper’s son, Abraham have all announced they no longer claim to be Christians.
Former Hillsong worship artist Marty Sampson recently wrote:
"Time for some real talk… I'm genuinely losing my faith… Christians can be the most judgmental people on the planet – they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people… but it's not for me. I am not in anymore."
These are people who know the truth but have rejected the truth and are leading others to do so as well. They are the apostates that Jude is warning us about.
Review
“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James…”
Last week, we started our study of Jude and learned that Jude was the little half-brother of Jesus.
He wrote to Jewish Christians and beautifully described them.
“To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ…”
He tells them his prayer for them.
“Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.” ?
He gave the reason for writing.
“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.”
Jude had planned on writing an encouraging letter teaching about the salvation that they share but the Holy Spirit interrupted his plans.
He felt compelled. This word means to be pressed against. The Holy Spirit laid it heavy upon his heart that he had an urgent message to write these beloved friends.
He urges them to
contend
The word contend is where we get our word “agony” from. It described the all-out exertion of gladiators in an open-air arena.
Jude is making the point that we are called to fight for the faith. This isn’t written to pastors or seminary professors but to all Christians.
Peter wrote that we can contend for the faith without being contentious:
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (I Peter 3:15-16)
the problem
“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.”
Peter and Paul shout, “The false teachers are coming!” Jude’s message is, “The false teachers are here!”
If you weren’t here last week, you can always watch the sermon on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and on our website. All the sermon manuscripts can be found on SermonCentral.com.
This morning, Jude will highlight three examples of what happens to apostates in the long run.
Apostates are those who know the truth and turn away from it.
Adrian Rogers said that apostates are those who
Revere in the truth
Reject the truth
Ridicule the truth
Replace the truth
Turn to Jude.
Prayer
Remember
“Though you already know all this, I want to remind you…”
Jude’s readers were Jewish Christians who knew the Old Testament and the Jewish religious literature.
Jude knew that they knew these stories, but the job of a good teacher is to remind others of what is most important.
Remembering is an important concept in the Bible. That’s why the Israelites celebrated the feasts and holy days - to remember the faithfulness of God.
In the Shema prayer that is still prayed in Jewish households today, God gave them tangible ways to remember:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Duet 6:4-9).
Jesus told His disciples to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in “remembrance of Him.” (Luke 22:19). Why? Because humans are prone to forget.
Peter wrote:
“So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.” (2 Pet 1:12)
We do this today on dates like September 11. On September 11, in New York at Ground Zero, the names of those who died in the terrorist attack are read aloud. Why? So we will not forget.
President Roosevelt said that December 7 would “live in infamy.” Every year, at Pearl Harbor, the names are read. Why? We will never forget.
After Rich Yeager died, Austin got a tattoo to remember him. After Kimmy died, my son Austin got a tattoo for her. His arm is a way of never forgetting them both.
Even though they knew these stories, he wanted to remind them of the dangers that these false teachers pose and how God has responded to apostasy in the past.
Remember the Danger of Unbelief
“…that the Lord, at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.”
The story of the exodus is one of the most important events that the Israelites commemorate, even today.
For four hundred years, the Jewish people were slaves in Egypt. God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh to say, “Let my people go!”
When Pharaoh said no, God showed his power and protection of the Jewish people by bringing ten plagues upon the Egyptian people and their land.
The last plague, the death of all the first-born sons, was the turning point for the Egyptians. In the morning, the Jewish people who had put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their houses were “passed over” by the angel of death, while the Egyptians mourned and begged the Jewish people to leave.
At the Red Sea, the Jewish people were trapped by the Egyptian army after Pharaoh changed his mind again.
God showed His power and split the Red Sea in two and the people walked through on dry land. The Egyptian army was drowned when they tried to chase after them.
Just days out of Egypt, the people started to grumble and complain about not having any food:
“If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Ex 16:3)
God miraculously provided manna and quail for them to eat.
Then the people grumbled and complained about not having any water. They sarcastically asked Moses:
“Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” (Ex 17:3)
God miraculously provided water from a rock.
But the Israelites proved again and again to be stubborn, stiff-necked people.
When Moses went up to Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, the people confronted Aaron:
“Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” (Ex 32:1)
Aaron fashioned a golden calf for them to worship, which they did so loudly, that Moses thought they were getting ready for war.
In Numbers 14, Moses sent out spies to check out the land they were about to enter, a land flowing with milk and honey.
When they returned, all but two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, gave this report:
“We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan…“We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are…We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:27-28, 31-33).
Caleb said that this was nonsense:
“Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” (Numbers 13:30)
The people responded with unbelief and anger:
“That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” (Numbers 14:1-4)
Joshua tried to reason with them and remind them of God’s faithfulness to them in the past:
“The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (Numbers 14:7-9)
The people’s response? They talked of stoning Moses, Aaron, and Joshua!
That was the last straw for God, who told Moses:
“…as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.” (Numbers 14:21-23)
The only exceptions would be Joshua and Caleb. That entire generation wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Everyone over twenty years old died in the desert because of their unbelief and refusal to trust in God’s faithfulness.
It is estimated that there were over 1.2 million people who died in the desert over those forty years. That’s 85 funerals a day. What an incredibly sad reminder of the consequences of unbelief.
The writer of Hebrews points back to that event and challenges us to not look to the past but to the present to examine our faith:
“Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” (Heb 3:16-19)
Unbelief is the main issue.
Now let me make a distinction quickly. The opposite of faith is unbelief, not doubt. Doubt says, “I don’t know. I don’t get it. I’ve got questions.”
Jude encourages us to be gentle with those who doubt:
“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 22)
Unbelief is willful disobedience.
Sin entered the world through an act of overt rebellion against God’s goodness:
“Did God really say?”
Unbelief is the worst of all sins. It’s the root of all sin. It’s the sin that hardens our hearts and deceives us into thinking that we can be our own God.
The spies had seen the plagues in Egypt, especially the “Passover.” They had witnessed the parting of the Red Sea. They simply didn’t believe God would act on their behalf.
William Newell defines unbelief as “not the inability to understand but an unwillingness to trust.”
Unbelief leads to fear and pride. Sin makes our hearts hard. It can make you deaf to His voice. It leads to isolation.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this about sin:
“Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdrawals him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation.”
God will judge unbelief. If we remember back to verse 11:
“So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.” (v. 11)
Those Israelites who didn’t trust God to give them victory in the Promised Land would not enter the land of milk and honey. Those that have a willful, disobedient heart of unbelief, will not experience the ultimate rest in heaven.
We are to heed the warning - God will not be mocked. He will always get the last word. The false teachers were leading others to question the faithfulness of God and, for that, they would be judged.
When writing about the Israelites time wandering in the desert, Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
"These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.” (I Cor 10:11)
Remember the Disgrace of Rebellion
He moves from the unbelief of the Jewish people to the outright rebellion of angels.
And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
Angels are created beings. They are called “ministering spirits:
“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14)
They seem to have different assignments, such as announcing to the shepherds that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem.
Angels and humans are two different things - apples and oranges. When we die, we do not “get our wings,” we do not become angels. Even angels would consider that an insult to humans.
There are good angels and bad angels, called demons, whose main goal is to distract, desensitize, and destroy.
Angels aren’t little fat babies with harps. They are warriors that, if we could see them, would tempt us to worship them.
This verse In Jude has been debated for centuries. What is Jude writing about?
He is quoting from the extra-biblical book of Enoch, that his readers would have been familiar with.
Some very smart pastors and theologians make the case that Jude is pointing his readers back to Genesis 6.
We are told in Genesis 6:
“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” (Gen 6:4)
To these teachers, the “sons of God” are angels who left their abode in heaven and were inflamed with lust for human females. They had sex with them and produced a race of violent giants called the “Nephilim.”
I did a LOT of research and I have to say that I disagree with this interpretation.
For one, we are told that the angels are sexless and “neither marry nor are given in marriage.” (Matt 22:30)
The writer of Hebrews writes that it is possible to take an angel for a human:
“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing.” (Heb 13:2)
While they can take on the appearance of a human male, I do not believe that an angel could impregnate a human female.
Also, God doesn’t say that He would bring the flood because of the sins of wayward angels but because of evil humans:
“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” (Gen 6:5)
I believe that Genesis 6 speaks to the godly line of Seth intermarrying with the godless line of Cain.
The most obvious reading of this verse is that these were the angels that followed Lucifer in his rebellion against God in heaven.
Isaiah writes of satan’s fall:
“How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:12-15)
Ezekiel wrote a parallel account:
You were in Eden, the garden of God…I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. “You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you.… and you sinned. So I banished you in disgrace from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire. Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground. (Ezekiel 28:13-17)
John tells us that one-third of the angels followed satan in his treason against God and were cast out of heaven.
Remember from last week that Jude writes that Christ-Followers are “kept by/for Jesus?”
Now he writes that these rebellious angels are kept In darkness and chains until the day of judgment.
Regardless of how you interpret this verse, the warning is the same. Even angels don’t get a “get out of hell free” card.
Danny Akin writes about what the angels gave up and what they got:
They gave up heaven and got hell.
They gave up light and got dark.
They gave up freedom and got chains.
They gave up joy in God’s presence and got condemnation.
They gave up their awesome privilege and got awesome punishment.
They gave up honor and got disgrace.
Those who rebel against God, and lead others to do the same, will experience the same punishment as these angels.
Remember the Destiny of the Immoral
Jude has one more example for his readers and us.
“In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”
Sodom and Gomorrah were located at the southeast corner of the Dead Sea on a fertile plain.
These two towns are used more than 20 times in the Bible as an example of God’s just judgment on sin.
It wasn’t just Sodom and Gomorrah that were judged but the surrounding towns.
For what were they judged for? Jude said they gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion, literally, “strange flesh.”
This is the exact language that Paul uses in Romans:
“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Rom 1:24-27)
In Genesis 19, we are told that two angels, appearing as men, come to Sodom and Lot invites them to stay at his house.
“Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”) (Ge 19:4-5)
Even after the angels blinded the entire mob, they still were trying to find the door. Their goal? Homosexual gang rape.
That is what Sodom and Gomorrah were known for. In Gen 13, we read:
“Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.” (Ge 13:13)
There will be false teachers today who will say that these two towns were judged not for their sexual perversion but because of their pride, lack of hospitality, and unconcern for the poor. (See Ez 16:49)
But it is clear from the rest of the Bible, that God’s judgment fell on these cities because of the sexual sin of homosexuality. The destruction was by fire and was total. Archeologists aren’t even sure where these two towns were located.
“Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.” (Gen 19:24-25)
Homosexuality was practiced openly in Roman culture. The Roman church would be filled with people who knew of homosexuals or were involved in that lifestyle themselves. Paul took this opportunity to address the topic for them and us.
Homosexuality, in thought, word, or deed, is a sin.
Throughout the entire Bible, homosexuality is condemned. Look at the words Paul uses: “shameful lusts,” “unnatural relations,” “indecent acts,” and “perversion.” It is difficult to understand how someone could claim that Paul was a homosexual when these two verses portray homosexuality as a behavior outside the norm and as something that brings judgment.
Paul is just echoing the other inspired writers of Scripture:
In the book of Leviticus, we see four behaviors worthy of capital punishment: adultery, incest, polygamy, and homosexuality.
Turn to Lev 18 and let’s read verse 22: “’ Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” (Lev 18:22).
Now turn to Lev 20:13:
“’ If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” (Lev 20:13).
We’ve already looked at Romans 1. This is how Paul ends the section:
“Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (Rom 1:32-33)
Last week, a funeral was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York for Cecilia Gentili, a transgender man, an atheist, and a prostitute.
Billy Porter offered prayers and praised her as “Saint Cecilia, the mother of all whores.”
The church was full of transgender and sex workers celebrating her life and work. One person said, “She was an atheist but she would have loved the spectacle.”
Her partner said, “She was a real angel. I want everyone to know that.”
The behavior of the attendees was described as nothing less than pornographic. It was so bad that the church ordered a mass of atonement to cleanse the church of demons.
In I Corinthians 6, Paul gives a catalogue of sins that bring judgment and homosexuality is one of them.
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (I Cor 6:9-10)
Notice two things about these verses. First, that homosexuality is one of many sins. It is not listed first or last. It is in a list of sins that grieve God’s heart. Some of us in the church need to understand that homosexuality is not a worse sin than being a gossip.
Second, notice the little phrase “and that’s what some of you were.” Paul knew people in Corinth who had turned their backs on worshipping idols, gone back to their wives or husbands after committing adultery had found freedom from alcohol, and had come out of the homosexual lifestyle.
All of these people had found their freedom in a personal, powerful relationship with Jesus Christ – “but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
This idea of washing is not just a Pauline idea. Listen to John:
“If you confess your sin He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9
The church stands at a crossroads. While we must reach out in love and compassion to homosexuals, we must stand for the truth in a culture that is tolerant of everything but the truth.
Conservative columnist Cal Thomas wrote, “Open homosexuality is the final disconnect from a personal God.” Where the Scriptures are clear, we can not be silent. We must reach out to people struggling with this sin in compassion and love, and offer the truth, hope, and healing found in Jesus Christ. They will know we are Christians by our…
Back to Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude writes that they serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
The word “example” is a Greek word meaning to put meat out on a table or to display art.” Sodom and Gomorrah are a flashing billboard that warns of the danger of those who “pervert the grace of God into a license for immorality.”
Archbishop Jonathan Blake was an Anglican priest until about twenty years ago when he left to start what is now known as the Open Episcopal Church.
The Open Episcopal Church describes itself as “the radical fluid open connecting space for everyone in search of meaning, justice, love, truth and life.”
Blake has written books such as “For God's Sakes, Don’t Go to Church” and “The Old Devil Called God Again.”
Here he is talking about the Bible.
He has said that Jesus was not the Son of God. Blake claims that Jesus was a sinful, racist, xenophobic bi-sexual man.
He has over 50,000 followers online and the church is exploding all over the world. The church has clerics from Anglican, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Lutheran, and Franciscan backgrounds and has grown internationally into America, Egypt, Brazil, and Thailand.
Apostates know the truth and then reject the truth. And arch-heretic Blake will be judged for rejecting the truth and leading others to do the same.
Applications
* Heed the warnings
The Israelites were destroyed for their unbelief. The angels were chained in darkness. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire.
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion…See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Heb 3:7, 12-13, quoting Psalm 95)
Know the Word.
I read many of the comments about the heretic Jonathan Blake. Several people wrote that they like his gentleness and “seems to know what he is talking about.”
We have to know the Truth so that when false teachers try to distract and lead us away, we can easily recognize unbiblical teaching.
I have a friend who visited a church several times and sent me a sermon and asked me what I thought. I turned the sermon off about 15 minutes in. It was obvious that the pastor and leadership were part of the prosperity gospel nonsense - God always wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and happy. If you don’t have those things, it’s your fault for not giving enough money and not having enough faith. I told her to run, not walk from that church.
Remember God’s Faithfulness.
One of the ways that we remember the goodness and faithfulness of God is through the creeds that have been written and recited throughout Church history.
Maxine grew up saying the Apostle’s Creed every Sunday. Every week, she was reminded of the story of God’s faithfulness and love for her.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,?
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit?
and born of the virgin Mary.?
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,?
was crucified, died, and was buried;?
he descended to hell.?
The third day he rose again from the dead.?
He ascended to heaven?
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.?
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,?
the holy universal church,?
the communion of saints,?
the forgiveness of sins,?
the resurrection of the body,?
and the life everlasting. Amen.
