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Before we begin today's episode of Renewing youg Mind, we invite you to stay with us through the end of the program to hear how you can request today's featured teaching series from Ligonier Ministries.
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Jude is concerned for his spiritual children that they're forgetting. And spiritual amnesia is one of the great dangers of the people of God. We had this refrain over and over throughout the Scriptures that we're to set up Ebenezer stones to remember who God is, what God has done, what he has promised.
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We are forgetful people, and just as we can forget the gospel and the promises of God, we can also forget the warnings of Scripture as well. This is the Monday edition of Renewing youg Mind. And for the next few days we'll be in the Letter from Jude. It's a brief letter, but it is packed with warnings and encouragement for the church then and now. Our guest teacher this week is Jason Halopoulos.
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Just as a reminder, remember that Jude is writing to these churches, these Christian churches, and he wants them to contend for the faith. There is concern there have been false teachers that have come into the church. They are teaching an antinomianism an against the law kind of version of Christianity that is no Christianity at all. And they're also teaching an independency that we can be independent from the Lord Jesus Christ and not have him as master and Lord. And so he's warning them that they need to be contenders for the faith. Now what he's going to do in verses five through seven, we're going to see. He's going to walk through three. He's going to have four stories, but we're going to walk through three of them here in verses five through seven. So let me read that for us. Now, I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, and 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 is kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued a natural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. He gives these three stories. I was thinking the other day that my family, I have wonderful family, have a wife of 27 years, have two children that are adopted, 18 and 16 now. But we have a little bit of a family tradition. We get to celebrate two holidays. We celebrate birthdays on which they get presents. And we celebrate Adoption Day, on which they don't get presents. But on Adoption Day, what they get to do is they get to choose any restaurant they want to go to. And then we go to that restaurant. And we have a little tradition in our family, or maybe it's better stated, I have a little tradition in our family, and that is that when we're driving on the way to dinner or we're sitting at the dinner table at the restaurant, I will begin to tell the story. And I will tell them about when we received the referral picture of one of them as a child. And that, ah, finally we got to see the little girl or little boy that we were going to adopt. And then we scheduled our airfare and then we packed our bags and then we flew on a plane all the way to the other side of the world and landed in Taipei, Taiwan, and got out of the plane and we drove in a taxi to the orphanage. And what it was like to walk in that orphanage and what it was like to see them for the first time and then to pinch their little chubby cheeks for the first time. No longer chubby, 18 and 16, but to hold them and to love on them. And I'll begin to tell the story. I think it's wonderful. It's a wonderful tradition. And what will begin to happen is they will begin to roll their eyes, all of them, because they'll say, oh, dad, we know you've told us before. I know that you know. And I'm going to tell you again because I want you to remember how much we longed for you and how much we went through to bring you home and how much we love you. And what a great story the Lord has given us, putting us together as a family. I want you to remember Jude is doing the same thing. He's concerned for his spiritual children that they're forgetting. And spiritual amnesia is one of the great dangers of the people of God. We have this refrain over and over throughout the Scriptures that we're to set up Ebenezer stones to remember who God is, what God has done, what he has promised. And so that's what he says at the very beginning here, that he is telling them this so that they remember. He wants them to know these stories. Reminds me of Psalm 78, that wonderful Psalm where Asaph, the psalmist, does this very thing. He says this at the beginning of Psalm 78. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in A parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation. Tell them what? Well, tell them this. The glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders that he has done. We're going to tell you who God is. We're going to tell you what God has done. We're going to tell you what he has promised so that Asaph will go on to say, so that they might believe in this God and keep his commandments. Judah's doing the same thing. He's going to tell them four Old Testament stories, bring them to their remembrance. Because we all suffer from spiritual amnesia. If we don't remember who God has told us he is, what he has done, and what he promises to do, then you and I will begin to create a God of our own making, a gospel of our own making, like these false teachers are doing. And so Jude is going to tell them these four stories. I'm going to take three of them in our session here, in this particular session. The first story is of the people of Israel being led out of Egypt, verse 5. These stories, they are not in chronological order. He's not walking through them chronologically. Clearly, he takes this because Israel were the people of God in the Old Testament. This church and the churches united in Christ are the people of God in the New Testament. And remember, he has used that language at the very beginning. And he called them those who were called by God and beloved of God, designations that are used for Israel. Now he's using them for the church. And so there are corollaries here. If this was true for Israel and this was true in the past, I want you to remember this. Take Note. Church, verse 5. So he talks about these adopted people of God, Israel, the nation of Israel, and above all other things, the thing that showed them they were the adopted people of God was surely that great epic event in the Old Covenant where they are led out of Egypt out of bondage. So he references them. He says that Jesus led them out of Egypt. It's fascinating. He makes it clear it was the second person of the triune Godhead. And there are a lot of scholars that will struggle with this. Well, that's not what. We don't see that in the Old Testament scriptures. How is it that he's extrapolating this? Well, Paul does the same thing in 1 Corinthians 10. He says it was Jesus who led the nation in the wilderness. And so Here you have Jude saying it's Jesus who delivered them. It is he who brought them out of Egypt. He delivers. He's the good shepherd who prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies, makes us to lie down in green pastures. But as Jude notes in verse 5, afterward, Jesus destroyed those who did not believe. So Jesus delivers. He's making clear. But he's also making clear Jesus destroys. He's speaking about the nation of Israel. Listen, there was a generation that was led out of Egypt. They were in bondage. They were in slavery. They were surrounded on every side by pagan people worshiping idols. God brought them out of that darkness. He did miracles to set them free. He leads them to where their backs are up against the Red Sea and there's an entire Egyptian army that is before them. Surely they're going to be destroyed. But no, he delivers them. He parts the waters and they walk through on dry ground. He delivers them, but he also destroys that generation. Because you will remember that same generation that saw all of that deliverance gets to the edge of the land of Canaan, sends spies into the land and believes the people are too big, they are too numerous for us to overcome them. It is only Caleb and Joshua that will come back with good reports and be willing to go in. And so they were led to wander in the desert for 40 years. That generation, as Jude says in verse five, was destroyed. The same Jesus delivers and destroys. It's a warning. Two stark different realities. Same Jesus delivers or destroys. Why? Why the difference? What's the fundamental difference that results in these two very different outcomes? What Jude says in verse 5, Israel was judged for refusing to believe. What he is warning the recipients of this letter is don't presume upon God's deliverance. Don't you presume upon this. There are false teachers in your midst that are sowing a false gospel. Don't presume upon God's grace. You have to contend for this faith because the same God who delivers is the same God who destroys. False teachers are serious business. It's worth contending against. That's the first story. The second old, old story he calls a remembrance is in verse 6. And it's of that odd account from Genesis 6 where we're told that the sons of God had relations with human women. And I believe these sons of God are fallen angels. It's a little hard to untangle. It's a little difficult to understand, but I believe they're fallen angels. I wanted to explain to you why, just as we wander through this, that There are three main reasons why I think these are fallen angels that have relations with human women. The one is because they're called sons of God. And this is a term that's often used of angels in the scripture. So if we just take Job as an example. Let me flip open to the book of Job. Here we have three different passages just in job, for example, and job 1 6. This term, sons of God. Now, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. Sons of God. Clearly angels in that text. If we flip over to chapter two, verse one, again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. And then if we flip open to job 38 and this one, the most telling, I think, verses two through seven. Who is it? This is the Lord talking to Job at the end, answering his questions from the whirlwind. Who is it that darkens the counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man. I will question you and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding, who determined its measurements? Surely you know who stretched a line upon it. On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone? When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy, it was angels that are there. Sons of God are speaking about fallen angels. Second reason is because this was common in Judaism at this time, in all the writings at this time, they understood that Genesis 6 was speaking about fallen angels, angels having relations with women. And the third is it lines up with Jude walking right into the story of Sodom and Gomorrah after this story. But Jude's purpose, we can get lost in that. And people get lost in that. His purpose isn't to sort through Genesis 6. Rather, his purpose here is detailing what occurred in chapter six of Genesis. He says, verse six. They did not stay within their own position of authority, these angels, and he uses a play on words here, these angels could not keep within their position of authority, being driven by lust. So they have to be kept in eternal chains under darkness until judgment. These aren't literal chains that he has in view. Rather, he's pointing out that they're experiencing the judgment of God. They were once great beings who were before a great God who enjoyed great holiness. But they couldn't keep themselves. And they fell, and they fell from enjoying that great light. And they were relegated to darkness and Ultimately to judgment. He said they need to keep within their bounds. Let me just stop for a second because I think a lot of times begin to struggle with this. We get Genesis 6. Will this mean that fallen angels can do something like this today? And I think the answer is clearly no. I think this is the reason. One of the reasons we have the flood in Genesis 6 is to wipe the earth of this abomination among mankind. It is also part of the reason that Jude is saying here that they are being kept in eternal chains. Fallen angels cannot function in the same way that they once did. So I don't think it's possible for fallen angels to do this ever again. But I don't want you to miss the point that he's pressing home. His main point here is don't presume upon God's grace. If there was no hope for the people of God that he delivered from the land of Egypt and they faced destruction, if there was no hope for these angels that were before the face of God, that enjoyed light of light, who are now going to be kept in chains forever and experience destruction, don't you Christians in the church, don't you church presume upon God's grace. It's a warning. Ungodly people face the same thing. Unless you believe and you live in light of that belief. That's his concern. Third Stories, verse seven. It's Sodom and Gomorrah. Most of you know this account. Lot, Abraham's nephew has these two visitors that he doesn't know are angels, but they are angels and they come and they are staying with him. And God will destroy these cities because there will be a rabble of men that come outside of the home and they are demanding to have relations with these angels. You will read different commentators and especially in our day and age where different things are trying to be approved of that are against the scriptures. The sin was really a lack of hospitality on their part. No, it wasn't a lack of hospitality. It's very clear. Jude says they pursued an unnatural desire. It's an unnatural desire. Well, some will say, well, it was an unnatural desire because it was men lusting after angels. No, in the account, they have no clue these are angels. The unnatural desire is that these are men that wanted to be with what they thought were men. They were pursuing this, they were seeking this, they were indulging in this. They were refusing to repent from this. They were refusing to believe. And so God destroyed. And he speaks of the fire. You remember the fire that descended upon these cities. Sodom and Gomorrah. And Jude is clear. He says this quote serves as an example. By undergoing a punishment of eternal fire, Sodom and Gomorrah, he's saying, look, they are a type of the judgment to come. There's judgment like this to come.
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Why?
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Because the same God who delivers is the same God who destroys. Jude is not pulling his punches. He wants his readers to understand that these false teachers are literally playing with fire. Because souls hang in the balance, the God who delivers also destroys. Many churches won't talk about Jesus this
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way,
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and it is a grave error on our part. So it's one of the reasons people shy away from the book of Jude. It feels too heavy. And that is a grave error on our part. Unless we know the great justice that is to come and the great judgment that is to come and the fierceness of the wrath to come, we cannot delight in the great grace that we have been given and offered. And there are people that are headed headlong into these eternal fires that Jude is talking about. The same Jesus delivers and he destroys. He is both the Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the earth, and he is the lion of the tribe of Judah. In Psalm 2, the Psalmist will talk about him coming when he comes, that he will wield a rod of iron and dash his enemies to pieces. And his great conclusion at the end of that psalm is, kiss the Son, kiss the Son that you may live. The kingdom has broken into this world. When the king came into this world, and he's coming back. Judah's yelling this from the rooftops. He's coming. And it's either you find yourself hiding in him and you're delivered, or you're outside of him and you're destroyed. This is why he's willing to contend for this, and he wants them to contend for it. I was reading a book a number of years ago. They've turned it now into a Broadway play and other things, but about a young Indian boy that was on his way from India with his family to Canada on a ship. And the ship went down in the middle of the ocean. And this boy was left on this raft and was on this raft for nine months. And for nine months he lived off a fish that he caught and rainwater that he could catch. And the wind and the salt and the waves would beat against that boat and against his body to where his. His clothes disappeared. They became threadbare. And eventually he was naked on the raft. And he would. Through the night, he would be pelted with rain and he would be crying out for the sun as he shivered and as his body shook. And then when the sun was out, he would cry for rain because he was so burnt by the sun and so dehydrated. And then after nine months, there was a day that he saw a ship on the horizon and he got up and he went for the flare gun. But when he looked up again, he saw the ship was headed towards him. So he put the flare gun down and he just began dancing with all that his emaciated body could do. Just celebrating and rejoicing, he says in the book. He said, I saw salvation on the horizon and there is nothing better than salvation. But when he looked up from his dancing, all of a sudden he realized the ship was bearing down upon his raft. What could have been his salvation now could be his very death. He comes to deliver, and when he comes, he comes to destroy. Salvation's on the horizon. Jude is yelling, we got to keep contending for the faith so that we can pass this on to the next generation and so that we ourselves know this salvation, this is worth fighting for because if not, we're destroyed. So he's calling these stories to their remembrance so that they know not a God of their making, the God of the scriptures, who he is, what he does, and what he promises to do.
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That was Jason Holopoulos from his recent series Contending for the the Book of Jude. You know, it is important that we have these reminders and not to skip over this brief book in the Bible. That's one of the reasons I'm glad we're featuring this series here on Renewing youg Mind this week. If you'd like to study more of the Book of Jude, you can request this new series on DVD when you give a donation in support of Renewing youg mind and at renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343. Your support helps us as we seek to equip Christians to contend for the faith. In addition to the dvd, you'll also receive Lifetime digital access to the messages and the study guide. So respond today at renewingyourmind.org or by using the link in the podcast Show Notes and in advance. Let me thank you for your donation. You know, it's common to ask someone how they feel about a particular issue, but what matters most is what is true, and we'll be reminded of that tomorrow as we continue our study in the Book of Jude. So join us Tuesday here on Renewing your Mind.
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Sam.