WEBVTT 00:00:09.740 --> 00:00:15.080 Today we will be reading from Jude, and we'll 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:20.359 be reading verses 5 through 10, verses 5 through 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:25.079 10 of the book of Jude. Now I desire to remind 00:00:25.079 --> 00:00:30.339 you, though you know all things once for all, 00:00:30.460 --> 00:00:36.000 that the Lord, after saving a people out of the 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:40.630 land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who 00:00:40.630 --> 00:00:45.409 did not believe and angels who did not keep their 00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:50.070 own domain but abandoned their proper abode he 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:53.130 has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for 00:00:53.130 --> 00:00:57.520 the judgment of the great day Just as Sodom and 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:00.719 Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:04.439 in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality 00:01:04.439 --> 00:01:09.680 and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:13.799 an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal 00:01:13.799 --> 00:01:20.420 fire. Yet in the same way these men also by dreaming 00:01:20.420 --> 00:01:26.879 defile the flesh. and reject authority, and revile 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:31.439 angelic majesties. But Michael, the archangel, 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:35.760 when he disputed with the devil and argued about 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:39.900 the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against 00:01:39.900 --> 00:01:45.739 him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke 00:01:45.739 --> 00:01:51.540 you. But these men, Revile the things which they 00:01:51.540 --> 00:01:55.739 do not understand. And the things which they 00:01:55.739 --> 00:02:00.659 know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by 00:02:00.659 --> 00:02:06.459 these things they are destroyed. Let's pray. 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:10.539 Father, I come before you. Lord, I humbly ask 00:02:10.539 --> 00:02:14.259 for your help this morning. Lord, I ask that 00:02:14.259 --> 00:02:17.669 your spirit would take your truth. and apply 00:02:17.669 --> 00:02:20.349 it to the hearts and the minds of the people 00:02:20.349 --> 00:02:24.030 here today. Father, I ask that you would be honored, 00:02:24.090 --> 00:02:28.430 that you would be glorified. Lord, bring a reminder 00:02:28.430 --> 00:02:35.050 to our souls of how staunchly you oppose wickedness 00:02:35.050 --> 00:02:40.590 and evil and sin. Let us tremble in your presence, 00:02:40.750 --> 00:02:44.210 Father, at your holiness, in your righteousness. 00:02:45.389 --> 00:02:49.370 and your greatness. Lord, we thank you that we 00:02:49.370 --> 00:02:53.150 can confidently come to your throne because of 00:02:53.150 --> 00:02:59.129 Christ Jesus. We thank you for his work. Lord, 00:02:59.189 --> 00:03:01.870 I ask and I pray your blessing upon this time. 00:03:02.169 --> 00:03:08.210 In Jesus' name I pray, amen. So, continuing in 00:03:08.210 --> 00:03:13.310 the book of Jude, continuing in the book of Jude, 00:03:14.409 --> 00:03:16.889 We're going to pick up in verse 5 this morning, 00:03:16.990 --> 00:03:19.889 but before I get there, just a brief reminder 00:03:19.889 --> 00:03:22.990 of what we touched on and what we looked at last 00:03:22.990 --> 00:03:29.289 week in regards to this little 25 -verse book. 00:03:29.689 --> 00:03:34.129 So last week we saw this great call, this great 00:03:34.129 --> 00:03:37.830 appeal of Jude to this congregation, to this 00:03:37.830 --> 00:03:42.509 church, to contend for the faith. He's appealing 00:03:42.509 --> 00:03:46.039 to them. to fight for the faith which was once 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:51.560 for all handed down to the saints. And then he 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:55.080 says in verse 4, he gives the reason why they 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:58.620 need to fight. There's danger presenting itself. 00:03:59.979 --> 00:04:04.500 We read in verse 4, For certain persons have 00:04:04.500 --> 00:04:10.280 crept in, unnoticed, those who were long beforehand 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:16.600 marked out, For this condemnation, ungodly persons 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:21.800 who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:26.500 and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 00:04:27.019 --> 00:04:29.800 So why do they need to fight? Why do they need 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:32.500 to contend for the gospel of Christ, for the 00:04:32.500 --> 00:04:36.430 faith which was once for all handed down? Because 00:04:36.430 --> 00:04:40.050 of certain men who have crept in and are attacking 00:04:40.050 --> 00:04:43.790 and twisting and changing the gospel of the Lord 00:04:43.790 --> 00:04:47.709 Jesus Christ. This is why they need to fight. 00:04:47.910 --> 00:04:51.310 They need to oppose. They need to be against 00:04:51.310 --> 00:04:57.209 their ungodliness, their wickedness. And so Jude 00:04:57.209 --> 00:05:05.480 proceeds in verse 5 and he says, to remind you, 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:11.279 though you know all things once for all. He's 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:16.120 giving them a reminder of something which they 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:21.180 already know. When he says this, you know this 00:05:21.180 --> 00:05:24.240 once for all, he's saying this, you have the 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:27.060 gospel, you have the faith which has been handed 00:05:27.060 --> 00:05:31.480 down once for all. You know these things. You 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:35.220 know the truth. You've been given the gospel. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:39.180 It's called you. God has called you. You are 00:05:39.180 --> 00:05:42.740 beloved in God the Father. You will be kept until 00:05:42.740 --> 00:05:45.040 the day of Christ Jesus. You know these things. 00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:49.180 But I want to remind you of how much God hates 00:05:49.180 --> 00:05:56.560 sin. I want to remind you of how God's judgment 00:05:57.470 --> 00:06:02.230 is against not just sin, but it is against sinful 00:06:02.230 --> 00:06:07.050 men, women, and children. I want to remind you 00:06:07.050 --> 00:06:10.790 of these truths which our minds don't just naturally 00:06:10.790 --> 00:06:16.930 go to. We don't just naturally dwell on the judgment 00:06:16.930 --> 00:06:20.230 of God. Sometimes we just need to be pushed into 00:06:20.230 --> 00:06:24.649 thinking about God's holy, righteous wrath and 00:06:24.649 --> 00:06:28.589 judgment against sin. And so Jude says, I want 00:06:28.589 --> 00:06:34.250 to remind you of these things. In verses 5 through 00:06:34.250 --> 00:06:40.769 16, Jude is using verses 5 through 16 as an illustration 00:06:40.769 --> 00:06:48.529 to heap condemnation upon the men in verse 4. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:53.800 He's using verses 5 -16 to illustrate the reality 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:59.480 of the lives of the men in verse 4. He's using 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:02.300 it to show that God's judgment is against these 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:06.519 men. That God has always opposed men like these. 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:10.399 That God has always been against men such as 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:15.480 these. And so Jude says this in two ways in verses 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:19.250 5 -10. The first way he does this, he gives us 00:07:19.250 --> 00:07:24.790 a history. He gives us a history of God's judgment. 00:07:25.889 --> 00:07:28.910 He gives us a historical overview, you could 00:07:28.910 --> 00:07:33.750 say, of God's judgment. And he shows us how God 00:07:33.750 --> 00:07:37.250 has always been opposed to wickedness and evil 00:07:37.250 --> 00:07:40.209 and sin. And he will judge and he will punish 00:07:40.209 --> 00:07:45.029 that. And it shows us how he deals with such 00:07:45.029 --> 00:07:51.139 men and such... But secondly, in verses 8 through 00:07:51.139 --> 00:07:56.439 10, he gives us the grounds or the basis or the 00:07:56.439 --> 00:08:01.660 foundation for this judgment upon these men. 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:07.100 He gives us the grounds for God's judgment against 00:08:07.100 --> 00:08:12.600 wickedness and sin and sinful men. So in verses 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:17.379 5 through 7, we have three examples. that we 00:08:17.379 --> 00:08:23.579 are given. First is unbelieving Israel. We read 00:08:23.579 --> 00:08:30.100 in verse 5 that the Lord, after saving a people 00:08:30.100 --> 00:08:35.279 out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:42.899 those who did not believe. So God's... chosen 00:08:42.899 --> 00:08:47.440 people, his covenant people, and the Old Testament. 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:53.019 Those people whom God rescued out of bondage 00:08:53.019 --> 00:08:57.620 and slavery. Think about all the mighty wonders 00:08:57.620 --> 00:09:02.200 that they saw God accomplish and God do throughout 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:08.299 time. They saw God split the sea open and they 00:09:08.299 --> 00:09:13.870 walked across on dry land. They saw the plagues 00:09:13.870 --> 00:09:18.950 of Egypt. Think about the grace that the Israelites 00:09:18.950 --> 00:09:22.610 had at their disposal which God had revealed 00:09:22.610 --> 00:09:27.110 to them through all these mighty things. They 00:09:27.110 --> 00:09:32.210 were led in the desert to the Red Sea. They were 00:09:32.210 --> 00:09:36.710 given this man Moses to guide them and to direct 00:09:36.710 --> 00:09:39.429 them and to shepherd them as a type of one that 00:09:39.429 --> 00:09:45.509 would come. All these amazing things, yet some 00:09:45.509 --> 00:09:49.710 did not believe. With everything they'd been 00:09:49.710 --> 00:09:52.929 given, with everything they'd been showed, with 00:09:52.929 --> 00:09:58.450 everything they had experienced, some did not 00:09:58.450 --> 00:10:04.009 believe. Some had been delivered from bondage 00:10:04.009 --> 00:10:08.029 and from Israel. Some of those did not believe 00:10:08.029 --> 00:10:11.950 in the God that... Saved them and rescued them. 00:10:12.950 --> 00:10:16.649 They were brought out. They were rescued. They 00:10:16.649 --> 00:10:21.250 were delivered. They were saved. And yet some 00:10:21.250 --> 00:10:25.370 of them were destroyed. Now here's the amazing 00:10:25.370 --> 00:10:27.809 thing about this text and about this example 00:10:27.809 --> 00:10:32.210 that he gives to us in this text. God's judgment. 00:10:32.889 --> 00:10:37.049 And he brought destruction on unbelieving Israelites. 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:45.059 who were amongst his people. He separated the 00:10:45.059 --> 00:10:52.879 Israelites out. God's judgment came upon them. 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:58.379 Secondly, he gives us an example of angels. We 00:10:58.379 --> 00:11:02.519 see this in verse 6. And angels who did not keep 00:11:02.519 --> 00:11:05.720 their own domain, but abandoned their proper 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:10.039 abode. He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness 00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:15.600 for the judgment of the great day. So this text, 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:18.840 and I just have to make a comment on this. So 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:24.840 Jude, in this book, he quotes two pseudepigraphic, 00:11:24.940 --> 00:11:29.759 non -canonical books. First Enoch and the Assumption 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:34.500 of Moses. But the fact that they are in... Our 00:11:34.500 --> 00:11:37.120 canon, and they are referenced by a biblical 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:41.340 author, means that there is inspiration in these 00:11:41.340 --> 00:11:43.879 words, and we can reference these words, and 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:47.759 we can preach on these texts. But I just need 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:50.559 to make a note of that so that we are aware, 00:11:50.659 --> 00:11:54.220 and you can do your own digging on that. He references 00:11:54.220 --> 00:11:59.679 the rebellion or the fall of the angels. Now 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:02.779 why is this significant? Think about angels. 00:12:03.870 --> 00:12:06.210 They are not given, they are not made in the 00:12:06.210 --> 00:12:09.049 image of God. They are not given an immortal 00:12:09.049 --> 00:12:14.789 soul that cannot die. They are not given the 00:12:14.789 --> 00:12:21.330 law of God. Many of them possibly have been so 00:12:21.330 --> 00:12:26.070 close to the throne of God and many of them have 00:12:26.070 --> 00:12:30.470 basked in the glory of God himself. They long 00:12:30.470 --> 00:12:35.419 to look into The things of salvation, as 1 Peter 00:12:35.419 --> 00:12:40.860 tells us. These are angelic beings who have seen 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:43.440 what God has done throughout time and history. 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:49.879 Who know that God loves people, that he loves 00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:54.679 his elect. They've seen this plan. They've seen 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:57.759 this come about. They've seen the work that he 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:07.019 has accomplished. Yet. Some rebelled. Some were 00:13:07.019 --> 00:13:13.360 unfaithful. Some were disobedient. There's different 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:16.419 references throughout the scriptures about that. 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:22.139 And so we know that some disobeyed and they left 00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:27.620 that which was proper to them. That place, that 00:13:27.620 --> 00:13:31.259 post, that office, that position which God had 00:13:31.259 --> 00:13:34.740 assigned to them, they deserted it and they left 00:13:34.740 --> 00:13:38.000 and they disobeyed. They were unfaithful to Almighty 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:44.659 Creator God. What is the consequence? What is 00:13:44.659 --> 00:13:53.059 the result for disobedient angelic beings? He 00:13:53.059 --> 00:13:58.379 says in verse 6, He has kept in eternal bonds 00:13:58.379 --> 00:14:02.700 under darkness for the judgment of the great 00:14:02.700 --> 00:14:09.159 day. Even for angelic beings, there are consequences 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:13.779 to disobedience and rebellion against God Almighty. 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:23.320 As unbelieving Israel was destroyed, so disobedient 00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:27.710 angels are kept in eternal bonds for punishment 00:14:27.710 --> 00:14:32.529 on the great day. Finally, we are given a third 00:14:32.529 --> 00:14:39.549 example, Sodom and Gomorrah. Now this is probably 00:14:39.549 --> 00:14:43.490 the greatest and the most well -known example 00:14:43.490 --> 00:14:48.490 in this text that he lists for us. We all know 00:14:48.490 --> 00:14:53.090 the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the grave sin. 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:59.139 which that city embraced. We all know the transgressions 00:14:59.139 --> 00:15:02.960 that came into the nostrils of God like a stench 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:08.659 from Sodom and Gomorrah. The book of Genesis 00:15:08.659 --> 00:15:12.919 tells us that the outcry of the city was so great 00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:17.080 that God had to do something about it. Their 00:15:17.080 --> 00:15:22.980 sin was so grievous. that he had to do something 00:15:22.980 --> 00:15:30.259 about it. He was so offended by their sin that 00:15:30.259 --> 00:15:35.340 he destroyed the city. What is the consequence 00:15:35.340 --> 00:15:40.100 of their immorality, of their sinfulness? We 00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:47.460 read in verse 7, they are exhibited. as an example 00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:51.639 in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:56.120 So not only is unbelieving Israel destroyed, 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:02.559 not only are angelic beings who disobeyed, not 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:04.940 only are they kept in eternal bonds and will 00:16:04.940 --> 00:16:07.100 they be punished on the great day of judgment, 00:16:07.220 --> 00:16:11.379 but Sodom and Gomorrah and all the inhabitants 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:18.860 almost of that city are destroyed. And they are 00:16:18.860 --> 00:16:23.000 used as an example, a warning. This means to 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:30.059 be made public. To be made public. So they are 00:16:30.059 --> 00:16:34.620 used as an example of undergoing the punishment 00:16:34.620 --> 00:16:41.200 of eternal fire. God's judgment is against unbelief. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:47.700 God's judgment. is against disobedience. God's 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:53.139 judgment is against immorality. It doesn't matter 00:16:53.139 --> 00:16:55.279 if you're a part of a city. It doesn't matter 00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:57.740 if you're an angelic being. It doesn't matter 00:16:57.740 --> 00:17:01.419 if you're mixed in amongst His people, but you're 00:17:01.419 --> 00:17:06.839 not really His child. His judgment is against 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:12.440 you. We see in this text that God has always 00:17:13.349 --> 00:17:19.430 been opposed to sinfulness, to sin, to transgression. 00:17:19.849 --> 00:17:25.089 What is sin? An older catechism says any transgression 00:17:25.089 --> 00:17:27.829 of the law of God. What is meant by transgression? 00:17:28.009 --> 00:17:36.569 Doing what God forbids. These examples, they 00:17:36.569 --> 00:17:41.559 transgressed the law of God. They transgressed 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:44.759 God's holiness and his righteousness and they 00:17:44.759 --> 00:17:50.299 did what he forbid. And God has always opposed 00:17:50.299 --> 00:17:54.740 that. He opposes that to this day and he will 00:17:54.740 --> 00:17:58.619 always oppose that. He will always be against 00:17:58.619 --> 00:18:04.099 that. So we are given these examples. So what 00:18:04.099 --> 00:18:08.240 do we learn? What do we learn about God's judgment 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:14.420 and his dealing with wicked men from this historical 00:18:14.420 --> 00:18:18.799 overview of God's judgment with these three examples? 00:18:20.279 --> 00:18:28.359 First, we learn that God's judgment is certain 00:18:28.359 --> 00:18:37.210 and sure. It's certain and it is sure. Some of 00:18:37.210 --> 00:18:42.029 these were destroyed and judged immediately and 00:18:42.029 --> 00:18:46.910 physically. Some were destroyed. We'll read a 00:18:46.910 --> 00:18:50.049 little bit later about the rebellion of Korah 00:18:50.049 --> 00:18:55.390 and how the ground opened up and swallowed a 00:18:55.390 --> 00:18:59.569 massive amount of people. That was God's judgment 00:18:59.569 --> 00:19:07.480 against sinful people. Some people are judged 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:15.220 immediately in this life now. Others, others 00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:18.339 are kept in eternal bonds for the great day of 00:19:18.339 --> 00:19:23.839 judgment. Some will not be judged until the Lord 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:30.500 Jesus returns. For some, it will be a glorious 00:19:30.500 --> 00:19:34.849 day, a wonderful... and even a little bit later 00:19:34.849 --> 00:19:37.690 in the book of Jude, we read, keep yourselves 00:19:37.690 --> 00:19:42.210 in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the 00:19:42.210 --> 00:19:46.009 mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. How can it be 00:19:46.009 --> 00:19:49.329 so different for some where you are waiting anxiously 00:19:49.329 --> 00:19:55.329 for the mercy and then for others? Every moment 00:19:55.329 --> 00:20:01.890 of the day, every second, every minute, every 00:20:01.890 --> 00:20:08.150 day, is moving towards judgment. How can it be 00:20:08.150 --> 00:20:15.529 so different? Judgment and mercy. How can those 00:20:15.529 --> 00:20:20.230 two things be so different? Second, we learn 00:20:20.230 --> 00:20:27.150 that God's judgment deals out punishment. We 00:20:27.150 --> 00:20:33.380 see this. We see this. in verse 7 when he says, 00:20:33.619 --> 00:20:39.720 regarding Sodom and Gomorrah, an example in undergoing 00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:46.579 the punishment of eternal fire. What is punishment? 00:20:48.299 --> 00:20:55.000 Punishment is something that is equal to an offense 00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:00.279 or a consequence of an offense. Think of a lawbreaker. 00:21:01.930 --> 00:21:07.410 Someone who breaks the law. An equal and fair 00:21:07.410 --> 00:21:10.049 punishment would be something that is equal to 00:21:10.049 --> 00:21:16.390 the offense of the law. So God, as the righteous 00:21:16.390 --> 00:21:23.430 and holy and perfect judge of the universe, in 00:21:23.430 --> 00:21:32.779 his judgment, will punish evildoers. I think 00:21:32.779 --> 00:21:38.339 it's important that we recognize that it's not 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:45.039 the punishment of some immaterial idea like sin, 00:21:45.220 --> 00:21:58.160 but he punishes sinful men. He doesn't throw, 00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:00.440 as I was talking with my father -in -law, he 00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:05.720 doesn't throw sin into hell to be under his wrath 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:14.779 for eternity. He throws sinners into hell. God's 00:22:14.779 --> 00:22:18.279 judgment, God's wrath, God is against, God is 00:22:18.279 --> 00:22:22.259 opposed, not just sin and transgression and breaking 00:22:22.259 --> 00:22:25.569 of his law, but he is opposed. to men and women 00:22:25.569 --> 00:22:31.470 and children who are breaking God's law, who 00:22:31.470 --> 00:22:35.650 are sinning willfully. And we will see that a 00:22:35.650 --> 00:22:40.609 little later in this text. So thirdly, we learn 00:22:40.609 --> 00:22:44.710 from this history of God's judgment. Not only 00:22:44.710 --> 00:22:48.750 is it that it is certain and it is sure and it 00:22:48.750 --> 00:22:56.220 will come, but it is also, It is also punishment, 00:22:56.519 --> 00:23:03.839 which is dealt out. But thirdly, it is eternal. 00:23:05.259 --> 00:23:11.740 It is eternal. God's judgment, His punishment 00:23:11.740 --> 00:23:23.880 is eternal. God is infinite. He is eternal. He 00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:28.539 has always existed needing nothing from anyone 00:23:28.539 --> 00:23:33.420 or anything. He is perfectly and completely self 00:23:33.420 --> 00:23:40.440 -sustaining. And he has always existed that way. 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:48.759 So when you transgress an eternal God, the punishment 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:56.200 of that transgression must be eternal. So as 00:23:56.200 --> 00:24:03.460 we see in verse 7, an example in undergoing the 00:24:03.460 --> 00:24:10.480 punishment of eternal fire, God's judgment, his 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:16.339 punishment against sinful people who have broken 00:24:16.339 --> 00:24:22.940 his law repeatedly is an eternal punishment, 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:27.460 is an eternal punishment. judgment against them. 00:24:28.220 --> 00:24:32.779 So what is God's grounds for this judgment? What's 00:24:32.779 --> 00:24:38.519 the basis for him judging people like this? Many 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:43.359 hear this and they think, is that really fair? 00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:50.380 Is it really okay for God to punish people eternally 00:24:50.380 --> 00:24:56.359 and to hold them in bonds? Is it really fair 00:24:56.359 --> 00:24:59.859 of him to do that? Just because they've broken 00:24:59.859 --> 00:25:07.079 his law? What grounds does God have for judging 00:25:07.079 --> 00:25:15.359 sinful, law -breaking people? We read in verses 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:20.079 8 through 10, the grounds. He gives this great 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:24.640 example or illustration. of Michael the archangel. 00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:29.500 And it's kind of wrapped up in these descriptions 00:25:29.500 --> 00:25:34.759 of these men, which reference verse 4, these 00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:38.960 men who have crept in. He gives this great illustration. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:41.180 Have you ever read this and thought, why did 00:25:41.180 --> 00:25:45.640 he put that in there? What is the purpose of 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:50.920 this illustration of Michael the archangel? Well, 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:55.980 Michael is the highest of angelic beings, the 00:25:55.980 --> 00:26:04.920 mightiest, the strongest. Yet, Michael himself 00:26:04.920 --> 00:26:11.160 did not dare pronounce against him, the devil, 00:26:11.319 --> 00:26:15.700 a railing judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke 00:26:15.700 --> 00:26:21.619 you. So Michael... And his stature and his position 00:26:21.619 --> 00:26:29.900 and his power knows his place in regards to God's 00:26:29.900 --> 00:26:36.039 power and God's authority to judge. Yet these 00:26:36.039 --> 00:26:46.420 men, these men also by dreaming defile the flesh. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:53.710 They reject. They reject it. And they revile 00:26:53.710 --> 00:26:57.069 angelic majesties. This word revile, it literally 00:26:57.069 --> 00:27:04.069 means to blaspheme, to speak evil of. They revile 00:27:04.069 --> 00:27:08.569 angelic majesties. And then we read in verse 00:27:08.569 --> 00:27:12.960 10. But these men revile, they blaspheme the 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:15.500 things which they do not understand and the things 00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:18.640 which they know by instinct like unreasoning 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:22.400 animals. By these things they are destroyed. 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:28.819 So what grounds does God have for punishing and 00:27:28.819 --> 00:27:36.640 judging wicked individuals? Well, first, and 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:40.599 especially these men, from verse 4, who have 00:27:40.599 --> 00:27:45.279 crept into this church that Jude is writing to. 00:27:46.119 --> 00:27:50.059 First, they are the source of their own iniquity. 00:27:51.619 --> 00:27:56.279 They are the fountain which their transgression 00:27:56.279 --> 00:28:03.400 and iniquity flow from. We read in verse 8, also 00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:09.559 by dreaming defile the flesh. They defile themselves 00:28:09.559 --> 00:28:18.039 through their own dreams. Commentators aren't 00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:22.119 quite sure whether this is referencing them prophetically 00:28:22.119 --> 00:28:26.940 dreaming in visions or them passively and subconsciously 00:28:26.940 --> 00:28:32.240 dreaming. There's not unity on that translation, 00:28:32.299 --> 00:28:36.980 but either way, the transgression comes. from 00:28:36.980 --> 00:28:39.980 their own mind, from their own thoughts. And 00:28:39.980 --> 00:28:42.579 where do our thoughts and our mind, where do 00:28:42.579 --> 00:28:49.940 our words come from? Our hearts. So their transgression, 00:28:50.019 --> 00:28:52.440 their iniquity, it comes from within themselves. 00:28:52.619 --> 00:28:55.839 And what do they do? They defile themselves even 00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:07.470 more. This word defile, it means to die. Anybody 00:29:07.470 --> 00:29:12.589 ever done a tie -dye shirt? Oh my goodness. Nobody 00:29:12.589 --> 00:29:16.190 in here has ever tie -dyed a shirt? Okay, I'm 00:29:16.190 --> 00:29:19.349 not going to get hands, I guess. So if you tie 00:29:19.349 --> 00:29:23.930 -dye a shirt, what you do is you put it in dye 00:29:23.930 --> 00:29:26.190 and it turns colors and you put rubber bands 00:29:26.190 --> 00:29:28.190 around it and stuff like that and there's a bunch 00:29:28.190 --> 00:29:29.890 of different lines and it's really nifty looking, 00:29:30.009 --> 00:29:34.670 it's really creative. And so you do that, but 00:29:34.670 --> 00:29:38.180 what this text is talking about So imagine a 00:29:38.180 --> 00:29:44.319 bucket. It's black like tar. You take a perfectly 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:48.940 white shirt and you take that shirt and you plunge 00:29:48.940 --> 00:29:52.500 it into that bucket with that black tar -like 00:29:52.500 --> 00:29:55.279 liquid. And you pull that shirt out. What color 00:29:55.279 --> 00:30:01.119 is it? Yes, I got a response. It's black. It's 00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:05.420 black, completely and totally black. It's dark. 00:30:07.309 --> 00:30:15.230 These men, their iniquity, their sin, it comes 00:30:15.230 --> 00:30:20.710 from black, wicked, evil, depraved, sinful hearts. 00:30:22.950 --> 00:30:28.910 It flows from that. And it only corrupts and 00:30:28.910 --> 00:30:35.819 defiles themselves that much more. It is from 00:30:35.819 --> 00:30:39.319 their rebellion, their disobedience, their unbelief, 00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:43.539 which this comes. Their sinfulness, because they 00:30:43.539 --> 00:30:50.119 are in Adam. So they are the source of their 00:30:50.119 --> 00:30:55.920 own iniquity. And then finally, we see that they 00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:01.200 dwell in their natural state. They dwell in their 00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:06.509 natural state. In verse 10, But these men revile 00:31:06.509 --> 00:31:09.210 the things which they do not understand, and 00:31:09.210 --> 00:31:12.329 the things which they know by instinct like unreasoning 00:31:12.329 --> 00:31:15.809 animals. By these things they are destroyed. 00:31:18.029 --> 00:31:25.670 They dwell in their natural sinful state. Their 00:31:25.670 --> 00:31:30.049 passions and their delights in life, their desires, 00:31:30.470 --> 00:31:40.589 their longings. are black. This is their natural 00:31:40.589 --> 00:31:45.549 form. This is who they are. A little later, Jude 00:31:45.549 --> 00:31:51.250 says that these men are devoid of the Spirit. 00:31:52.430 --> 00:31:56.670 They live completely and totally in themselves 00:31:56.670 --> 00:32:01.029 and everything they do and everything they say 00:32:01.029 --> 00:32:07.019 comes from They're natural man. Like an animal 00:32:07.019 --> 00:32:15.559 who naturally fights back when attacked or naturally 00:32:15.559 --> 00:32:19.619 goes out to find food because that's... That's 00:32:19.619 --> 00:32:22.339 what they are. They're animals. It's their instinct. 00:32:22.660 --> 00:32:26.019 They don't reason. They don't rationalize. They 00:32:26.019 --> 00:32:29.680 don't logically think these things through. They 00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:34.140 simply act and respond out of instinctual practice 00:32:34.140 --> 00:32:38.960 because that's their natural state. And so Jude 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:44.160 says, these men, they live in that state. They 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:46.640 act on their passions which are wicked. They 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:51.220 act on their desires instinctively because that's 00:32:51.220 --> 00:32:53.980 what they know. That's who they are. And it is 00:32:53.980 --> 00:32:59.299 by these things, he says, that they are destroyed. 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:08.279 So through the hardness and the wickedness of 00:33:08.279 --> 00:33:13.339 their own heart, They bring destruction upon 00:33:13.339 --> 00:33:20.099 themselves. So God has always been opposed to 00:33:20.099 --> 00:33:25.460 wickedness and evildoers and sinfulness. God 00:33:25.460 --> 00:33:28.640 has always been opposed to rebellion and disobedience 00:33:28.640 --> 00:33:32.079 and transgression of his law. We see that clearly. 00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:37.119 God is a judge and he will judge. wickedness 00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:40.359 and evil, and when Christ comes, he will deal 00:33:40.359 --> 00:33:45.720 out judgment. But we know from this text that 00:33:45.720 --> 00:33:56.079 these men are justly punished. They are reaching 00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:59.220 out through their desires and through their longings 00:33:59.220 --> 00:34:00.839 and through their wants and through their behaviors. 00:34:01.640 --> 00:34:04.579 in their sinful state, in the blackness of their 00:34:04.579 --> 00:34:07.339 heart, they are reaching out for the judgment 00:34:07.339 --> 00:34:11.380 of God. They are reaching out for the wrath of 00:34:11.380 --> 00:34:17.019 God with their own hand because this is how they 00:34:17.019 --> 00:34:21.960 bring destruction on themselves. This is their 00:34:21.960 --> 00:34:27.139 natural state. And this is what the men, in verse 00:34:27.139 --> 00:34:29.679 4, those who have crept in, those who have been 00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:33.599 marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons 00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:37.619 who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness 00:34:37.619 --> 00:34:40.579 and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 00:34:41.119 --> 00:34:46.480 This is what is coming for them. When I think 00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:49.780 of this text, and I think of the judgment of 00:34:49.780 --> 00:34:52.820 God, and I think God's wrath, His holy and His 00:34:52.820 --> 00:34:57.769 righteous wrath, and I think of God's... Perfect 00:34:57.769 --> 00:35:04.510 punishment. How does a person escape that? How 00:35:04.510 --> 00:35:08.349 does a person get out of the way of God Almighty's 00:35:08.349 --> 00:35:14.789 judgment? How does a person find a safe haven 00:35:14.789 --> 00:35:19.869 in the wrath of God? How does a person survive 00:35:19.869 --> 00:35:24.570 something like this? How does a person avoid? 00:35:27.180 --> 00:35:32.539 God Almighty, your maker. How is it that some, 00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:35.480 as they progress through life, are going towards 00:35:35.480 --> 00:35:38.780 judgment? And how is it that others are looking 00:35:38.780 --> 00:35:41.599 forward to the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ 00:35:41.599 --> 00:35:48.579 on that day? My plea today is that you would 00:35:48.579 --> 00:35:52.380 run to the one, run to the person, run to Christ 00:35:52.380 --> 00:35:57.639 Jesus. This is my plea for my children. We just 00:35:57.639 --> 00:36:01.440 had this talk the other day. Run to Christ to 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:07.599 be saved from the wrath of God. You flee to the 00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:12.079 one who drank down the cup of God's wrath for 00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:18.320 his people. Repent of your sins and believe on 00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:21.199 the Lord Jesus and you will be saved from the 00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:26.579 wrath of God. I saw an illustration. A couple 00:36:26.579 --> 00:36:29.780 of years ago, and it has stuck with me to this 00:36:29.780 --> 00:36:38.000 day. Right now, Christ has got one hand out saying, 00:36:38.079 --> 00:36:41.480 come to me. And on the other hand, he is holding 00:36:41.480 --> 00:36:45.780 back the wrath of God. He's still inviting people 00:36:45.780 --> 00:36:48.619 through the preaching of the gospel and the call 00:36:48.619 --> 00:36:53.400 to repentance and faith. But one day, both hands 00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:59.130 will drop. He will no longer invite people to 00:36:59.130 --> 00:37:03.130 repent of their sins. And he will no longer hold 00:37:03.130 --> 00:37:06.610 back the almighty and the powerful and the crushing 00:37:06.610 --> 00:37:09.230 blow of God's wrath which will come upon you 00:37:09.230 --> 00:37:11.289 if you have not repented of your sins and believed 00:37:11.289 --> 00:37:18.690 on Christ. This is a question for so many to 00:37:18.690 --> 00:37:26.929 consider. Are you safe from the coming Judgment. 00:37:27.789 --> 00:37:31.710 Through this text, there were disobedient angels, 00:37:31.989 --> 00:37:36.789 but there were faithful angels. There were unbelieving 00:37:36.789 --> 00:37:39.630 Israelites, but there were believing Israelites. 00:37:41.210 --> 00:37:43.489 Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, 00:37:43.650 --> 00:37:46.889 they were destroyed, but righteous Lot was rescued 00:37:46.889 --> 00:37:50.150 and saved. There's always a remnant of people, 00:37:50.269 --> 00:37:53.550 and God will rescue and save them from his wrath, 00:37:53.630 --> 00:37:59.530 but you must. Repent and believe. You must repent 00:37:59.530 --> 00:38:04.530 and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.