The Destiny Of The Rebellious Series

Henry Nelson, of Wilmington, Delaware, was a veteran of World War II. He had served as an instructor in the Army Chemical Warfare Department.

Yet he ignored a warning by the superintendent of the Riverside Housing Development that the apartment he lived in was being fumigated with hydrogen-cyanide gas, tore down the barricade at the door and went in after two blankets. The neighbors saw him remove the sign and barricade and go in, and they called the Development office. But when employees arrived it was too late. Nelson lay sprawled on the living room floor with the two blankets in his arms. Despite both written and verbal warnings, and despite his training in the Army, he had gone to his death. (1)

This is what Jude is doing, he is sounding the warning, But many in the church today, the church in America and in the free countries of the world, are actively ignoring the warning. There are many examples in the Bible, judgments of God, that are there to serve as an example to us. If you leave here today with nothing else, remember this,

the bottom line in the message today, God judges sin. He has in the past, He does so today, and Jesus is returning soon to judge the living and the dead:

1 Peter 4:5 (NKJV) They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

God will judge sin. And He will judge those who call themselves His children more severely. Jude sounds the warning. Ungodly men have crept into the church is leading the church astray, leading the church into rebellion against God Himself. The arguments they present sounds enticing and reasonable, but in the end, it will be death. So Jude gives three examples from the past.

Jude 5a (NKJV) But I want to remind you, though you once knew this,

Jude is not telling his audience anything they did not already know. This sermon this morning is not going to tell you anything new, anything you don’t already know.

You know this stuff, but we need reminding don’t we. We get away from the realities of Judgement, and one little sin leads to another, the next being a little more than before, and we actively ignore the consequences, until the consequences are nearly forgotten.

We need reminding, and often, from verse two, the faith, the gospel, that was once for all, delivered to the saints. We need hear it again and again. We need to hear the gospel, again and again and often.

What happens to those who depart from the faith? As a review, I want to reiterate what was said last week, There are many who hear, many who have tasted God’s goodness, yet rebel against God, leaving what they know to be true. They were never truly saved.

So Jude reminds them using three examples:

1. The faithless Israelites – Verse 5

2. The angels who rebelled against God – Verse 6

3. The Immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah – Verse 7

Jude 5 (NKJV) But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Jude is reminding his Jewish audience about the Exodus, a story they all know all so well. That story is really incredible if you think about it. Most of the Israelites that God saves from Egypt were not faithful. Even though they have seen the miracles, following the pillar of clouds by day, the tower of fire by night, the demise of the Egyptian army, the water from Rock, and God feeding them daily, Mana found on the ground every morning. The list goes on.

Yet, the people were faithless. They did not believe God. The report came back from the spies who said there were giants in the land. And the people were fearful. The wanted to go back to Egypt and was considering putting in new leaders to replace Moses and Aaron. Joshua and Caleb (2 of the 12 spies) pleaded with the people to put their trust in God, but they would not.

This was rebellion against the will and the Word of God, and God cannot, will not tolerate rebellion. As a result, everybody in the camp twenty years and older was destined to die at some time in the next forty years. Their unbelief led to their extermination. (2)

God does not take lightly the sins of His people. Their example was illustrated several places in New Testament as a warning to those who consider themselves God’s people.

Hebrews 3:16–19 (NKJV) For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.