“Certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
“Now 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. And 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 judgement of the great day— just 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.” [1]
Those benighted souls who stand in opposition to the Faith do not often think of themselves as enemies of the Faith. They see themselves as enlightened, even a cut above the ordinary; they regard themselves as advanced thinkers, spiritual elite. To such individuals, living among us to this day, Jude issues a serious warning. Those who deviate from the Faith once for all entrusted to the saints will do well to heed the warning Jude delivers. And we who claim to walk in the Faith will do well to take these warnings to heart so that we will not be moved from our secure foundation.
That man is no enemy who warns us of certain destruction or warns us of harm if we persist in a destructive course of action. Jude is no enemy to grace or to the flock of God as he warns of the certainty of God's judgement on apostates. I am no enemy when I warn the advanced thinkers inhabiting our seminaries and schools that the Living God will hold them accountable for the evil they perpetuate. I am no enemy when I warn those who present themselves as spiritually elite who seek to direct the Lord's heritage into new paths our fathers did not know. I am no enemy when I warn the apostate against continuing in his destructive path. The apostate is in dire danger, his soul in eternal jeopardy. I warn any such individuals against presuming against the Lord Christ.
THE PERIL DEFINED — “Certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” [JUDE 4]. Did you ever eat an apple, and in the course of enjoying that fine fruit discover a worm inside? How does a worm get inside an apple? Perhaps you think the worm burrows in from the outside. No! Scientists have discovered that the worm comes from the inside. But how does it get in there? Simple! An insect lays an egg in the apple blossom. Some time later the worm hatches in the heart of the apple, then eats its way out. Thus it is with sin in the life of an individual, and with sin in the life of a church, or with sin in the life of a denomination. Sin begins innocuously, quietly growing from within until it is ready to gnaw its way out. In the process, the individual, the church, the denomination, is ruined by the sin expressing itself as that sin breaks forth.
In defining the peril the Church was then facing, and has faced ever since, Jude provides four characteristics of those who would destroy the work of God. It is perhaps fair to observe that those who are so designated would not consciously wreak havoc on the flock of God. In fact, many of these wicked souls would sincerely avow love for the people of God, stating that they desired only to open their eyes to new vistas. What they do not acknowledge is that they can rise no higher than the source of their inspiration. And because they know not God, however pious or religious they may appear, they cannot lead the people of God into the presence of God. These benighted souls are controlled by the spirit of this world, which provides a great show of tolerance for everything except the exactitude of the Faith, the strictness of the Gospel of Peace. Never forget, peace with God comes from our submission to God and to His will. Peace does not come from imposition of the will of fallen people on God.
The first characteristic of these people is that they act surreptitiously—they are spiritual termites hiding from the light which would expose their true beliefs. Jude writes, “They have secretly slipped in among you.” The word he uses describes the specious, seductive words of a clever pleader seeping gradually into the mind of a judge and jury. The word is used at other times to speak of an outlaw slipping secretly back into the country from which he has been expelled. It is used of the slow, subtle entry of innovations into the life of a state, and which in the end undermine and break down ancestral laws. The word chosen is always indicative of a stealthy insinuation of that which is evil into society or into a situation.
What is described by the use of this word are the tactics of modernists, of infidels, deceivers slipping into orthodox pulpits by stealth and dishonesty. Paul employs a similar word in his letter to the Galatians. You will recall how the Apostle writes that he was forced to defend his message and himself before James and Peter and John and the other Apostles, “Because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery…” [GALATIANS 2:4].
“Ungodly people,” is the scathing denunciation delivered by Jude. That word translated “ungodly” speaks of an impious attitude, an irreverence toward sacred things. Paul, describing the sinful man in his letter to the Church at Rome, includes a frightful catalog of wicked characteristics of fallen man. The most damning statement is reserved for the last, when he says of such people,
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
[ROMANS 3:18]
Concerning these spiritual cockroaches who avoid the light while dwelling in darkness, Jude declares, “[They] pervert the grace of our God into sensuality” [JUDE 4a]. They transpose two things, one of which is put in place of another. The word that is translated “sensuality,” conveys a concept that is much broader than sexual immorality. I fear that many Christians have focused far too narrowly as they read Jude’s missive. Consequently, they miss the point Jude is making. The word Jude used describes the man so lost to decency that he no longer cares who sees his sin! It is not that the individual is arrogant; it is simply that he can publicly do the most shameless deeds because he has ceased to care for decency at all.
Jude is describing the individual who wants to compel compliance with the transgender movement in this day. He is exposing the sodomite who delights in parading almost nude during June parades while dressed in the most revealing attire possible, all the while performing incredibly salacious acts even though children are present. The word chosen describes the man who dresses in drag, demanding that he be allowed to read wicked literature to little children, encouraging them to touch him or to dress like he dresses. This is the woman or the man who ignores every standard of normal decency.
In the ecclesiological world, the word Jude employs describes the spirit of the modernist who refuses to acknowledge the authority of God’s Word, while sitting in judgement over that Holy Word. We have multiplied examples to which we may appeal. Anglican bishops argue their right to ordain homosexuals, declaring publicly that the spirit of the age supersedes the Word of God. United Church ministers promote immorality under the guise of missions, declaring that such is the will of God. Baptist teachers deny ultimate accountability, teaching that God is so loving that He cannot bear to bring any sinner into judgement. Drunkenness is defended as sickness and not sin. Sodomy is defended as an alternative lifestyle, acceptable to all except for those with closed minds. Sexual mutilation of children is necessary in order to affirm the choice of toddlers and younger teenagers. Broad-minded souls that they are, these ecclesiastical worms justify their error by reinterpreting the Word of God, explaining away the wisdom God has presented by redefining sin so that there is no longer any violation of God’s holy will. Such are the termites undermining the Faith once delivered to the saints.
Lastly, the Lord’s half-brother identifies these termites as insinuating themselves into positions of authority among the faithful, “[They] deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” [JUDE 4b]. The word translated “Master” is the word from which we obtain our English word “despot.” It speaks of one who is absolute owner, one who has uncontrolled power over another. That is our Lord. We come to Him in total submission, receiving His reign over us. But these destructive beetles reject Him as Master. They deny Him; they disown Him. They enthrone themselves, seeing power over others as their legitimate domain.
THE PERIL DESCRIBED — “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. And 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 judgement of the great day— just 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” [JUDE 5-7],
Illustrating with greater precision the danger that he is describing, the threat to the faithful which disquiets him so greatly, Jude appeals to three dreadful examples demonstrating attempts to foment rebellion against God and His will. It is easy to focus so intently on the outcome of each example that we fail to see the harm each of these incidents inflicted on the faithful at the time. Yes, we know that God shall judge the wicked, that their foot shall slip in due time. And, yes, we ought to take heart that God shall not permit evil to reign unchecked forever. But let us never lose sight of the fact that Jude was concerned for the health of the Church, and that his letter was to serve as a warning of the spiritual harm which lack of discernment of necessity permits.
The First Dreadful Example is that of Israel in the Wilderness. “Now 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” [JUDE 5]. The example Jude provides recounts the death of a generation as recorded in Numbers. We read in Moses’ account, “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.’ So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel” [NUMBERS 13:1-3].
God had delivered the Israelites from slavery. In doing this, the LORD had conquered the most powerful nation in all the earth; God had defeated the Egyptian gods in convincing fashion, devastating the flower of Egyptian youth and destroying the mighty Egyptian army, covering their chariots and horses in the sea. The Lord GOD had provided food and water for the people, ensuring that they and their children did not see want. The people had been delivered and brought through the wilderness by faith in the Living God. Now they were poised on the edge of their new home.
Though they had witnessed God’s might and despite receiving His promise to give them the land through which they were trekking, the spies doubted they could take possession of the land. So, we read, “[The spies] came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, ‘We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.’
“But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, ‘Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.’ Then the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.’ So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, ‘The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them’” [NUMBERS 13:26-33].
They cowardice of the spies created a climate of unbelief in the people. That unbelief, that doubting of God and His goodness, resulted in harsh judgement as we read. “The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ‘How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. Say to them, “As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.” I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.’
“And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD. Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive” [NUMBERS 14:26-38].
That judgement of a people called by God's Name made a great and lasting impact on the writers of Holy Scripture, as evidenced by review of something written in the Letter to Hebrew Christians. Here is the passage in question. “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,
‘Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’
For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief” [HEBREWS 3:12-19].
Speaking through Moses, the Lord GOD had given a three fold promise to the people enslaved in cruel captivity. He pledged to “bring [them] out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,” He would “take [them] to be [His] people,” and He would “bring [them] into the land that [He] swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob” [EXODUS 6:6 8].
But the people questioned whether the land that was promised was a good land, and they were prone to rebel. Moses sent spies into the land, and the report these spies brought back was proverbial in presenting both good news and bad news. First, the good news. The land did indeed flow with milk and honey; they even brought back samples of the fruit [see NUMBERS 13:27]. Then, they delivered the bad news: “However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there” [NUMBERS 13:28]. This disconcerting news was followed by still more terrifying news. The men practically sobbed, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are” [NUMBERS 13:31]. The manner in which these men delivered this news was a final nail in the dismal assessment of the land God was promising to give the people. How the spies framed the report, negative though it was, was excuse enough for people unwilling to obey God. Lust for ease of life a"nd pride of position led them into open rebellion against the will of the Lord.
The people used their children as an excuse for not obeying God. We are told, “Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us in to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt’” [NUMBERS 14:1-3]? The people used their children as an excuse to defy God! Imagine! In utter defiance of God they openly agitated for a return to Egypt and to slavery. God’s judgement was that the children the people attempted to use as their excuse for disobedience would be the very ones to inherit the land. Moreover, that entire generation—with but two notable exceptions—would die in the wilderness!
There is an aspect of importance not so readily apparent from earlier passages in the Scriptures, accompanying and negatively influencing the people of God were a group referred to in our translation as “the mixed multitude” [EXODUS 12:38], or elsewhere designated as the “the rabble” [NUMBERS 11:4]. There is no question but that the presence of this group of people who were never called to accompany Israel, though they were permitted to journey with Israel, served only to sap spiritual vitality, encouraging the spirit of doubt among those who should have expressed greatest confidence in the Lord God. I am not excusing unbelief and rebellion; I am pointing out the danger of the attempt to mix belief and doubt. Like water mixed with ink, the resulting solution shows greater kinship to the ink than to the water. So attempting to mix faith and unbelief can only result in a situation which expresses greater kinship to infidelity than to the Faith.
The Second Dreadful Example is that of The Angels that Fell. “And 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 judgement of the great day—” [JUDE 6]. Concerning the fall of these angels, we don’t have a great deal of material from which we may learn. Jude does refer to angels, the heavenly messengers created to serve the Lord. But some of the angels joined with Satan in rebellion against God, with the result that they were cast down from their exalted position.
This catastrophic even is described when Isaiah writes,
“Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.
“‘How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.’”
[ISAIAH 14:11-15]
Jesus spoke of this event when He told His disciples, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” [LUKE 10:18]. And later, the Revelator will write how he saw “a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.” John will then testify that “his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth” [see REVELATION 12:3-4]. These passages speak of rebellion in Heaven itself. We do not know the exact nature or course that the rebellion assumed, but we do know that one third of the angels of heaven were cast down from heaven, and that some of those angels are now incarcerated in the gloomy darkness of the nether world whilst the remainder serve the Adversary. The angels which fell were assuredly guilty of rebellion resulting from arrogance. Their pride led to their downfall, as embodied in the saying, “Pride caused the angels to fall.”
There is another account readers may have understood Jude to refer to in speaking of fallen angels. In GENESIS 6:1 3 is recorded an account of the conditions preceding God's judgement on the antediluvian world. “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.’”
“The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose,” is the translation of the SECOND VERSE, the latter half of the FOURTH VERSE iterating that information. Though I believe it to be poor exegesis, it is nevertheless an ancient position, and one which was extremely popular during the century immediately preceding the first century of the Church, that “the sons of God” were angels, and “the daughters of man” would of course have been flesh and blood women. If this position is accepted, then the angels which fell would have been understood to have been guilty of lust, which is, in effect, an expression of rebellion.
The Third Dreadful Example is that of Sodom and Gomorrah. “just 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” [JUDE 7]. Need we say much concerning the account of the perversion of the inhabitants of those towns? The story, recounted in GENESIS 18:16 19:29, is a sordid tale of unrestrained human lust and pride which eventuates in God's judgement.
Abraham prayed for the cities of the plain, no doubt motivated in part by compassion for his nephew who had focused on living in Sodom. As you will no doubt recall, God did rescue Lot, his wife, and his two daughters. The men of the city revealed the wickedness that had suffused their lives when they attempted to rape the angels God had sent to the city. Those wicked men were struck blind and consigned to be destroyed together with the city. And though Lot hesitated obeying the command to leave the city, he could not delay the inevitable. Judgement fell with a vengeance, destroying the cities and turning the surrounding region into a vast wasteland. Judgement does fall ultimately, just as it will one day fall on the western nations, and finally fall on all mankind.
Sodom and Gomorrah stand as permanent symbols of the ultimate rebellion against the position God assigned, and consequently as the ultimate examples of the certainty of divine judgement for rebellion. The perversion demonstrated by those living in those ancient cities arose out of hearts devoid of gratitude, hearts which refused to acknowledge God, thus leading the people into ever greater perversion and rebellion against God and against godliness.
This becomes evident as we review what is written in later Scriptures. Ezekiel held up Sodom as an example of divine judgement that was deserved when he wrote, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it. Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous” [EZEKIEL 16:49-52].
And the Apostle to the Gentiles pointed to the evil of Sodom and Gomorrah as warnings against such wickedness. The wickedness that brought down God’s wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah are the very sins that must bring down judgement on societies to this day. We even have a name for the sin that ensures divine judgement—sodomy! “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” [ROMANS 1:18-32].
THE PERIL DISCERNED — Any of the three dreadful examples ought to give us concern in this day. Jude did not select examples of divine judgement which his readership would find unfamiliar; rather, as asserted in the words with which he opens, “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it” [JUDE 5]. He is, therefore, calling to active memory several aspects of human character which invite the judgement of God. That he selected the people of Israel in the wilderness as an example would indicate that God is certainly capable of judging those called by His Name when they apostatise and follow strange teachings. That he chose to include the judgement of angels would indicate that God is willing to judge even those servants created to stand close to Him when they turn from service to Him. That he included the incident of Sodom and Gomorrah would indicate that God will not tolerate forever wickedness in any setting. Though each of these situations speak of similarity of sins which led to judgement, I see that each points to some particular sin leading to judgement.
The judgement of Israel in the wilderness certainly was incidentally a judgement of lust and pride, but ultimately it was a judgement on rebellion against the Lord God. And the great sin of the people of Israel when they were in the wilderness was unbelief. Though they had seen God intervene in their behalf, and though they had repeatedly witnessed His protective care, when commanded to occupy the land, they refused to believe that He could do what He said. They trusted their own strength (or lack thereof) more than they trusted God’s protecting hand!
Review in your minds for a moment the horror displayed through their lack of faith. They had seen God judge their erstwhile masters even while He spared His people from the same plagues. They had walked in the depths of the sea and had seen God drown the pursuing army when it had presumed to do what they had done by faith. They had tasted the food of angels as God miraculously provided fresh manna daily. And when they complained, they had discovered that God was utterly intolerant of grumbling. They knew firsthand much of the character of God and His power; yet they refused to obey. Underscore in your mind the consequence of the sin of unbelief.
Dear people, when once we are convinced that God has spoken, directing our course, let us obey. Let us believe Him and let us obey Him. Indeed, let us be wary of presumptuous sin; but neither let us waver in our determination to obey the Lord God of heaven and earth. Let us walk by faith, even as we profess to do. For the same God Who judged His people in the wilderness will assuredly judge those called by His Name in this day if they refuse to believe. We need to take to heart the admonition of the Word which warns us: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” [HEBREWS 3:12]. And later the same writer, speaking of the people of Israel in wilderness wanderings says: “To whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief” [HEBREWS 3:18-19].
The judgement of the angels was certainly a judgement on rebellion—of that, there can be no question. But what must not be overlooked is that preceding the rebellion of the angels, pride was discovered in the heart of the covering angel who led the assault against God. Isaiah, in his revelation of that dark day of revolt against heaven, recites the proud words of Lucifer.
“You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’”
[ISAIAH 14:13-14]
Repeatedly we witness Lucifer exalting himself against the Living God in that passage. We may be confident that, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” [JAMES 4:6, citing PROVERBS 3:34 (GK)]. Pride, arrogance, are marks of those identified with this world in the last days [see 2 TIMOTHY 3:1 5]. And we are not immune to this insidious cancer of the soul.
As surely as smoke ascends from the fire, when we become proud—whether we are proud of our faith, proud of our stance against wickedness, or proud of our accomplishments—we move toward arrogance. And once we have become arrogant, we will discover that we have set ourselves in opposition to the Living God. And when we are set in opposition to the True and Living God, we are ripe for His judgement.
As followers of the Risen Lord of Glory, we do hold to certain truths in contradistinction to some who identify as liberal in their faith. We who walk with the Risen Saviour do resist certain trends which are unbecoming to the Faith entrusted to the saints once and forever. We shall always experience rich blessings as we walk with God. But let us never forget that we stand by grace, and that it was God our Father who gave the truths to which we adhere, and that it is His power and might that gives every victory. Let us praise our God and rejoice in His grace; let us exalt His Name and glorify His Name.
Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty of open rebellion against the Lord God. They were proud and they were unthankful. But above all else, the inhabitants of the cities of the plain were rebellious; they refused to accept the place God assigned them and refused to live as God had directed.
In Paul’s First Letter to the Church of God in Corinth is a passage that addresses why God would include such stern warnings in the Word. Listen as I read that passage. The Apostle writes of God’s judgement of His own people, and then explains, “These things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” [1 CORINTHIANS 10:6-12]. This is a solemn warning to take to heart the warnings that are included in the Word—they are for our benefit showing us God’s holiness.
Underscore in your mind an awful truth, but a truth nevertheless. A sodomite, however gracious he may appear on the surface and however civic minded he may appear, is in rebellion against heaven. That one’s lack of gratitude led him to rebel, his thinking is futile and his foolish heart is darkened. He is already experiencing the sentence of his acts because God has surrendered him to his own unnatural desires, and he is thus susceptible to every evil imaginable. As a rebel, he will always seek to involve others in his wickedness in a futile attempt to justify his rebellion. And though the example Jude cites is extreme, we must recognise that any rebellion against the natural order God has established deserves judgement. This being true, we know that in due time the rebel will be judged. We, if we do what is convenient instead of doing what is right, will discover that we also are in rebellion to God. And just as God judged the cities of the plain, we are warned that He shall judge us. The examples are given for our benefit—let us learn from them. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
