Don’t Forget!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that when teaching through the book of Jude, that from what I have observed most people love to teach the first 4 verses and the last 8 or 9 verses but not very many sermons seem to be preached on these middle verses. Which is a shame because when you take the time to really read the middle section of Jude, you see some incredibly practical instruction for the church of today and some much needed doctrine that we will need to be reminded of. What we are going to read tonight in Jude 5-10 is information that may not be head knowledge to all of us but it is all knowledge that the original audience in Jude’s day would have been familiar with. Chances are if you have been a Christian for a while or have read your Old Testament, everything that Jude mentions in these verses is something that you have heard or read before. What Jude is going to do for us tonight is give us a reminder to not forget the things that we know. Jude is not writing new information for his listeners, at least not in this section that we are looking at tonight, he is writing to them about things that they already know. Alistair Begg said, “Jude is not writing to introduce his readers to something that they have never known but is writing to remind them of something that they must never forget.” What is it that Jude is reminding his readers of? What we are going to see is that Jude reminds his readers of what God has done in the past, relates it to what was happening in the present, all while pointing ahead to what God will do in the future. So that’s the direction that I want us to follow tonight because we know that God has done tremendous and mighty things in the past, we know that He is working now in the present, and we also know that He will do incredible things in the future. These aren’t things that we don’t know, but like Jude to his readers, these are things that we cannot afford to forget. Let’s pray and then we will dive into Jude 5-10.

Jude 5–10 NASB95

Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.

What Has God Done?

In these verses that we have just read, we see 3 events from the Old Testament and 1 event that while not necessarily recorded in Scripture, is not an event that is disconnected from Scripture. You see that in verse 9 but we will get back to that in a little bit. What I want us to do at this point is the same thing that Jude’s writers would have done when they got to verses 5-7, I want us to think back to what God has done. In verses 5-7 we see Jude reference 3 well known events from the first 2 books of the Bible and each reference is strategic. Jude’s audience already knows about the things that he is referring to. Jude tells the audience that although they are already familiar with this information, this is still something that they need to remember and he begins by taking them to the event of the Exodus. The exodus event is quite possibly the defining moment of the Old Testament, at least the book of the Law. It’s amazing when you go through the Bible and see how frequently the exodus out of Egypt seems to be reflected throughout Scripture. In fact, all through Scripture we see something known as typology. Typology in maybe the most simple definition that I can think of is when God takes a place, person, event, or institution likes priests or kings, and in a God-ordained way, we find a parallel somewhere else in Scripture and it is written in a way where the author was aware of that pattern or type. So just a quick example, we know that David is a king from Bethlehem that points ahead to Jesus, the greater King from Bethlehem. David is a type or parallel of Jesus, where we see Jesus as the greater David. When it comes to typology and the Exodus, James Hamilton writes, “God delivered his people at the exodus from Egypt, and we can see how important Moses thought this was from the way he previews the exodus in his accounts of Abraham and Jacob, narrates the exodus itself, and then indicates that God will save his people in the future the way he saved them at the exodus. Joshua presents the conquest of the land and the salvation of Rahab as installments in the exodus pattern. The prophets pointed forward to a future day when God would do a new and greater exodus, eclipsing it in significance. The Psalms celebrate the exodus and join the Prophets in pointing to a new exodus and conquest. In the Gospels, the evangelists present Jesus recapitulating the history of Israel and bringing exodus patterns to fulfillment in both his life and in his death and resurrection, which fulfills the passover.” What happens then in the Exodus that Jude refers to in verse 5? If you have read Exodus 1-15, you know the story of the nation of Israel as they were slaves in Egypt. You probably remember Moses and how the Lord uses Moses to lead the people out of Egypt and before they leave Egypt we see the plagues on Egypt and we see the Passover feast and then finally in Exodus 13-15, we see the Lord bring the people out of Egypt, they cross the Red Sea on dry ground, and in the middle of verse 15, they have this great moment of praise for what the Lord has done. The part that we sometimes forget though is that we don’t even get out of Exodus 15 before the people start complaining. They complain about water at the end of chapter 15, they complain about food in chapter 16 and the Lord provides them with manna to eat, in chapter 17 the people complain about water again and Moses strikes the rock and water comes out. Really just chapter after chapter we see these formerly enslaved people complaining about their living and traveling arrangements and time after time, God in His mercy continues to provide. If you read further into the Law though, you get to the book of Numbers. Despite all of God’s past faithfulness, the people rebel against the Lord in Numbers 13-14 and that entire generation that came out of Egypt was told that because of their unfaithfulness, they would not enter the promise land. Only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to go in. What is Jude saying in verse 5 then? Jude is saying that here was this people that God had worked powerfully in and they responded only with false worship, complaining, and iniquity. Did they receive the reward? No, instead they were destroyed for their lack of faith. What we see in these verses, what we see in all of Scripture is the justice of God. We see the reality of God’s perfect judgement on sin and sinner. R.C. Sproul said,

Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology Justice and Righteousness

When justice is spoken of in biblical categories, it is never as an abstract concept that exists above and beyond God, and to which God Himself is bound to conform. Rather, in the Scriptures, the concept of justice is linked with the idea of righteousness, and it is based on the internal character of God. The fact that God is just means that He always acts according to righteousness

In verse 6 we get to another example of what God had done in the past, His past judgement and righteousness is seen in the “Angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” Now at first glance, most people assume that Jude is referencing the fall of Satan, the fall of the angels that happens somewhere before Genesis 3. Even before I started studying this passage, that’s what I assumed Jude was referencing. But a vast majority of the commentators that I looked at actually point to another event in the book of Genesis as the event that Jude is referring to and this is the weird event that we see in Genesis 6:1-3

Genesis 6:1–3 NASB95

Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

Now what I don’t want us to do right now is get lost in the weeds and spend time talking about what the specific sin of these angels was. What we do know is that there was a time when angels were not content with the authority and position that God had given to them and they rebelled against the Lord, they abandoned the position that He had given to them but they did not escape His judgment. Even now, though the great day of judgement has not come, even now they are kept in eternal bonds under darkness, waiting for that day to come. What is the lesson here for us in this? In many ways it is the lesson that the Apostle Paul shares to the church in Corinth of: Take heed lest you fall. Dick Lucas said, “God’s judgment is inescapable, even though it may be delayed. The application is clear: the people who infect the churches in the way Jude will describe must not think that they can get away with their rebellious behavior forever. If even angels are subject to God’s judgment, despite their most strenuous attempts to rebel, what chance do human rebels have?” The third event that Jude refers to is much more well known and that is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as we see in Genesis 19. We won’t turn there for times sake and partially because Jude reminds us exactly what the sins of that great people were. They indulged in gross immorality, they went after pagan desires, and pursued both homo and heterosexual sins. You remember how Abraham in Genesis 18, after receiving the promise of the birth of his son Isaac was told about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah that was to come. How does the Lord describe these cities? In Genesis 18:20–21 we read, “And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. “I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”” God didn’t need to go down and learn for Himself what the people were doing, He already knew what they were doing. For God to say that He is going to go down and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry means that He will act justly. He isn’t relying on hearsay but in a testimony against the sins of the people, He is investigating the crimes Himself. He’s also doing this for Abraham’s sake because Abraham is right there. He is letting Abraham know that He is acting justly, God isn’t just acting on a whim. Kent Hughes writes, “By this he assured Abraham that he would base his judgment on full, accurate information. God would send his angels on a fact-finding mission- to gather information he already knew perfectly.” You probably remember what Abraham does at that point. He starts to feel God out so to speak. He holds Him to His standard of righteousness and remember Abraham says, “God would you not spare the city for 50 righteous people?” God says for 50 He would spare it. Abraham goes down to 10 and says God won’t you spare them for 10? God says yes. But the conversation ends there. On the one hand it looks like God is the one that ends the conversation. At the same time, the trend seems to be that if Abraham asked for just 5 or even 1 righteous persons that God would spare them but He doesn’t ask that. I think it was Tim Keller who said this but the reason that Abraham stops at 10 is because he knew that if God couldn’t find 10, He wouldn’t be able to find 1. And what happens? Did God find 10 righteous? No He didn’t. God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, and He destroys it by calling down fire that came and devoured them. Only Lot and his daughters survived. In these three events, we see that God has faithfully judged the sins and misdeeds of the past. What we see Jude saying in these verses is: You see this great people, this great power, you see this great city or nation and what we know is this: They didn’t get away with it. They didn’t get away with it. How easy it is in our day to see the forces of evil and think, “I can’t believe they’re getting away with it. Where is the accountability? Where is the judgement? How long can this go on?” Jude says, “No, they aren’t getting away it.” No, there are other forces at work in this world besides the will of evil. In verse 8, Jude says that just as the people in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, the exodus, and even the fallen angels didn’t get away with it, those that are defiling the flesh and reject authority and revile angelic majesties will not get away with it. So that phrase, revile angelic majesties, what Jude likely has in mind is that these false teachers have no problem even with slandering the angels that worship God day and night. Danny Akin summarizes the issue like this: “They ignore the authority of God, scoff at advice from angels, and eventually reject accountability from their brothers and sisters in the community of believers. Self-centered and self-focused, ‘my will, my way, and my wants’ become preeminent above all other things. Here is the lifestyle of the immoral. Here is the lifestyle of the fool.” They won’t get away with it and even the devil doesn’t get away with it. Jude 9 is a bit of a weird verse, it says, “But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”” Now what Jude is referencing here, and this will be the 1st time that he makes a reference to something that is not recorded in Scripture, he’s referencing a document that would have been known to the Jews in his day, a document known as the Assumption of Moses. To just sort of explain what Jude is referring to, in Deuteronomy 34:5–6 we read, “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.” God Himself takes and buries the body of Moses and no one knows where he was buried. Chances are this was done to avoid the body of Moses being used as a shrine or used in some other religious ceremony and the Assumption of Moses is a non-biblical account of an event that took place around the time of Moses’ death. Jude references this non-canonical account and this is done predominantly because it was something that the original audience would have known relatively well. The question should not be, did this actually happen? The question should be, “If even Michael the archangel left judgement to the one Righteous and Just God, who are we to think that we should judge? Who are we to think that it is our place to give judgement?” In all this, Jude tells us that God has judged faithfully in the past. He has been perfectly righteous in the past. Scripture is full of the reality that evil does not win and evil will be judged. One thing that I thought was fascinating while I studied this passage is that really no group is not represented. The people of God rebelled and they didn’t escape judgement. The angelic beings, the demons, and the devil sinned and didn’t escape judgement. Then in the issue of Sodom and Gomorrah, the quote on quote worst of the worst, the chief of sinners, the haters and despisers of God, they didn’t escape either. God’s judgement is full and it is perfect. So may that challenge us in all that we do. May we all take seriously, and the older I get the more I find myself needing to come back to this, may we not forget what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:11–12 “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” These things happened to them in the time of the Old Testament, in the days of Jude, these things were written down for us and in light of that, take heed that you do not fall.

What is God Doing?

Now we turn to the question of, What is God doing now? I’m sure that many of us look at the world today, we see what is happening, we see the evil around us and I’m sure that we do have moments of doubt. I’m sure that we do have moments where we say, “God I know you’re sovereign and in control but it really doesn’t feel like it right now.” What is God doing right now with the presence of evil in the world? What is He doing with the presence of sin and sinners in the world right now? One thing we know, God is not passive in these events. God doesn’t approve of sin. One book that should be read right next to Jude is the book of 2 Peter. They are very similar and may commentators argue that they borrow from each other. In 2 Peter 3:8–9 Peter writes, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” God is just and God is also patient. The chief of sinners may still need to come. In John 11:3–4 , we read of the sickness and death of Lazarus. We know that sickness and death is the result of the fall, that in the end death will be no more, but listen to what John writes in these verses. “So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”” This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God. What if in our lives now, there are things that are happening, sinful things that are happening, that God will overrule the evil so that greater glory may be given to Him? Is that possible? Absolutely it is because He has done it time and time again. Just look at Joseph and his brothers. The evil deed that those brothers freely did, God overrules for good to bring about the salvation of many. God has every right to be doing that right now with all sorts of situations in the world. It’s so easy to look at tragedies in our world, wars in our world, false teaching in our world and be tempted to think that God isn’t in control. Both of those actions are the work of the devil. So often in the face of tragedy do we face the temptation to question where God is in all this. Where is God when something like September 11th happens? Where is God when we have a middle east that seems to be in shambles? Where is God when there are events like the holocaust and earthquakes and tsunamis that take thousands of lives in minutes if not seconds? The answer is He is exactly where He is supposed to be. He is on the throne, high and lifted up. What we need in our day is not a greater revelation from God, like Job, like John the Baptist, what we really need is a clearer view of God. What I love about the book of Job is that at the end of it, when God reveals Himself to Job, He doesn’t give an explanation as to why these things happened to Job. All He says is, “Job there are a billion and one things that are going on right now that you have absolutely nothing to do with and no power over and I am governing and overseeing all of it. Nothing has escaped my sight, nothing has stripped my power, no one has taken my throne, and no one will ever have it.” And how does Job respond? Job 42:2-6

Job 42:2–6 NASB95

“I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”

He responds in praise and repentance! Right now, God is holding men accountable. God is judging now and He will ultimately act upon that judgement in His perfect timing. When it comes to what God is doing now, ruling and reigning over all things, we would be wise to consider why a book like Revelation was written. Have you ever thought about why the Lord gave the revelation to John? Was it just to give a picture of what will happen at the end times? Was it just to give Kirk Cameron something to act in with the Left Behind series? No, why was it written? Revelation was not written so that the original recipients of the letter would go, “Oh that’s cool. God wins possibly thousands of years from now. In the future God will deal with all this.” That’s not it at all. Imagine being that original audience. Imagine going through persecution, imprisonment, martyrdom, and just when you think you can’t bear it anymore, God says, “Don’t worry! The future generations will be fine!” That doesn’t help you does it? That original audience thinks, “That’s great but I need help now. I need understanding now, I need encouragement now.” Look, Revelation was not given with the message of: God’s got it in the future. Revelation was given so that even in the worst of days, we as the people of God can endure because we know that God has not given up the throne. We can endure because we know that God is working now and that He will be both just and justifier. Nancy Guthrie said, “For anyone who ever says, Why doesn't God do something about the evil and suffering in the world?, Revelation is the answer. It tells us right now, he is at work—even now in partial ways—doing a work of judgment. But you can be sure that wrongs in this world will not go unpunished. You can release vengeance to God because you know a day of vengeance is coming.” Releasing vengeance to God, that’s something that we see Michael do in Jude 9. What we have to do now is get off the throne. If you feel like you are in a place where you get to be judge and you get to pass vengeance or a sentence, get off the throne. You and I aren’t suppose to be there. We can have righteous anger and even hatred towards sin but may our zeal for the righting of wrongs not be, “I want them to pay and I want to get even.” Our authority, our strength is not in ourselves. It is entirely of God’s. Alistair Begg said, “Only God can pronounce the judgment; only God can provide the cleansing.” We overcome not by our own strength and our own will power but by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Right now as we live out our lives in this already but not yet world, we must hold to what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:13-15

2 Timothy 3:13–15 NASB95

But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

The evil men in the days of Jude aren’t unlike the evil men we see today. Jude had false teachers and we have false teachers. What is the answer to this? That we as the people of God will continue in the things that we have learned and become convinced of because we know that it is only through the testimony of Scripture and the Lord Jesus Christ that we can have salvation. What else is God doing now that we haven’t talked about? Let’s hear from you all before we go to our final question of what will God do?

What Will God Do?

It shouldn’t be lost on us that the God that has been faithful and true in the past will continue to be faithful and true in the future. I think that when we reflect on God’s past faithfulness, His past righteousness, His past judgments, we are reminded that that is still who He is. Faithful He has been and faithful He will be. Even if we look at what Jude says in regards to God’s judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah, we have the visual reminder that just as the wickedness of that city was destroyed by fire, even now the present heavens and earth are being reserved for the day when God makes all things new. Peter says in 2 Peter 3:7 says, “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” What is God doing right now? He is reserving the world for fire and nothing will escape His judgement. Let’s read Revelation 20:11-15

Revelation 20:11–15 NASB95

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Sam Storms writes, “The ‘books’ that are opened contain the record of everything that every unbeliever has ever done or said. God will bring justice to bear upon them in perfect harmony with the deeds they have committed. But those who are by faith in Christ will not be judged based on their works but solely on whether or not their names are written in the book of life.” A judgement is coming when all the deeds of every single person will be laid bare before them and they will be without excuse. For Christians, this day of judgement isn’t for them. They will stand before the judge, they will be rewarded for the good works that they have done in this life, but they will not stand and face the same judgement that unbelievers will face. Storms also writes, “You can rest assured that no one will be exonerated or found innocent. The evil, selfish, sensual, godless lifestyle of unbelieving mankind will stand as witnesses against them. The only hope for acquittal is the blood of Jesus Christ which they have spurned and rejected throughout their lives on earth.” This is an important reminder for us to know where we stand and who we stand for. It’s an important reminder that if we don’t have Christ, we have nothing but judgement and wrath waiting for us. This in itself is a great reminder that we need to evangelize. A time is coming where heaven and earth will flee and unrighteous men and women will find themselves sinners in the hands of an angry God. The very sinful acts that unrighteous men boast in will be what has led them to their own destruction. On that day of judgement, these wicked men, these false teachers, these unrighteous individuals, will find that they have rejected God, they have denied their creator, and they have squandered His mercies. The Puritan, William Gurnall, the author of The Christian’s Complete Armor, said, “God not only keeps an account of your sins but of the mercies you have received, and you must be answerable for both.” What a challenge for us. Even now as Christians, are we taking advantage of the mercies that God has shown us? Are we not making the most of the good things that He has done and given to us? The lost may act in such a way but surely we should not. We as the bride of Christ must not be like these men that revile the things which they do not understand. Jude isn’t writing us things to discover for the first time, he is writing things that we as Christians should already know. So with the time that we have left, I have a few questions that we can go over. What do we know about the future? What do we know about the remarkable things that God has done and will bring to completion? How can God’s present faithfulness encourage us as we go into the future? How can God’s past judgment on sin and sinner push us to reach the lost with the Gospel? What is it in your walk with the Lord that you tend to forget that you find yourself needing to be reminded of? Let’s pray.