the joy to be here at family camp and to open the Word of God to you. It's also kind of special when you can start the day having s'mores for breakfast as our as our family did. So you can tell it's going to be a good day when you start off with s'mores. But even more so, we look forward to the sweet fellowship we've already enjoyed among churches and our sweet fellowship surrounds around Christ. And we're going to look at his word. through his brother Jude. We're going to be looking at verses 3-7. We looked down through verse 4 last week, but I want to begin reading the context back in verse 3. This is the Word of our God. Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. We pick up now in verse 5. 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, they are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Let me pray for God's help as we come to his word. Our gracious God, I am reminded that your word says, The book of Romans that everything that was written from former times from Old Testament times was written for our instruction as well. So through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. There are warnings from the Old Testament, as Paul told the Corinthians, there are lessons to be learned for us. And yet, Lord, we also want to be mindful that everything that was written. Also, there should be hope for us as well. Even as we look at negative examples, Lord, we pray that you would give us the hope that you intend. Even from the sobering passage that we just read, we pray that you would be encouraging us as well to contend earnestly for the faith. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. This Saturday, In this same area, July the 8th, Nevada City, there's going to be another camp starting with a little different focus and a little different message than ours here today. This is from their website. Camp Quest is designed for children from non-religious families, atheists, humanists, agnostics, freethinkers, and others with a naturalistic worldview. Camp Quest is geared towards building a community for children from atheists, agnostics, humanists, and other freethinking families, an environment supportive of critical thinking and skepticism. Here's what the Sacramento Beat front page article said. Some of you have heard this before. 49 children from across the western United States arrived at the camp nestled in the hills outside Nevada City. It is one of five summer camps in the country for the children of atheists and other non-believers. Here it's all about celebrating their belief in not believing. It makes them feel a part of a larger community. The children's ages range from 9 to 17. If you're age 9 to 17 here, just raise your hand. All right. There's another camp where children your age are being indoctrinated in the opposite of what we're all about here today. Most campers are from California. Some traveled from as far as New Mexico. The campers headed inside for a spaghetti dinner. One joked aloud that here at least they wouldn't have to say grace. Everyone who heard him laugh. Rebecca Hinckley, age 12, learned about the camp from her parents who thought it was worth the drive from Oxnard and the $450 cost. I don't really believe in God, said Hinckley, but really I'm just not sure. And the article says that's exactly the kind of thinking for yourself that is encouraged at this camp. Well, I want you to know that is exactly the opposite of the type of thinking that Jude And more importantly, the Lord, who inspired this letter through Jude, wants to encourage atheistic or agnostic doubting. Those who have been misled, those who have been made to have doubts are in need of the mercy of God and his mercy through us. In fact, verse 22 of this book says, or this chapter says, have mercy on some who are Doubting. But there is a difference with the people he's talking about in verse 22 and in the passages that I just read, and in verse 11, where he says in verse 11, woe to them. And he's talking about false teachers. Really, most of this book, all the way through verse 15, the subject is those who are apostate, false teachers. There is a difference between doubters, doubters like Thomas, for example, in the Gospels, and deceivers who Paul calls out in other passages. Those who deceive, Scripture talks about, and those who are being deceived. And it is the ones who are deceiving and leading others astray who have the strongest words of condemnation for them in Scripture and are deserving of the greatest judgment. There is a responsibility for those who follow them, but there is even more so the deceivers who are professing believers in and teachers of Scripture. They get the harshest rebukes of the Lord. and His Word. And the concern of this letter by Jude is not primarily those in an atheistic or agnostic or naturalistic or humanistic camp. And my concern in bringing that up is not that I fear your heart will be drawn to their sort of camp instead of ours. The fact that there is another camp like ours is not a great danger, but there is a great danger that Jude is concerned about inside our camp. And when I say camp, professing Christianity. The greatest danger that I think he's concerned about for Christians is not the obvious outside threats that are easily noticed that our guard is up for. True believers don't dream of defecting to the enemy's camp. The greater danger tends to come from Christians or at least professing Christians inside the camp where our guard is not always up from people we would never dream would be here to draw us away to Their camp. From those who, verse 4 describes, as those who we didn't notice how they crept in. One of the translations says they secretly slipped in. Acts 20, verse 28, Paul tells the Ephesian elders, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock. Watch. Be diligent. Be on guard. Because he says, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one with tears." This was a great burden to the Apostle Paul as it was to Jude as well. And this is a great concern across the pages of the New Testament. wolves among the flock who look like sheep and act like sheep, but their goal is to draw away sheep after them. Away from the Orthodox faith. Away from Christ. Away from the Gospel. And if Paul gave that warning to that church in Ephesus, who you could argue had the greatest doctrinal foundation of any church in history, Paul was there for three years, and Paul says he preached the whole counsel of God to them. as an inspired apostle. There was Apollos, who also was there, who has the greatest words of praise for his power in preaching. He was mighty in the Scriptures. He preached there. Priscilla and Aquila, that dynamic husband and wife team that helped Paul and ministered alongside him, were there. And they even helped Apollos become a greater preacher. And Timothy was there. 1 and 2 Timothy in the New Testament were written to Timothy as he is pastoring that church in Ephesus. And the apostle John tradition holds in his later years, spent time there until his death in the church at Ephesus. And if that message was urgent and relevant for that church, then this message is urgent and relevant for all of our churches today. Even with the doctrinal commitments I know that these brothers and churches are committed to, we need to always be on guard. And that's not just a responsibility for leaders, as was said last night, but for all of us. Because there are persons in our day as well who, like verse 4 says, distort the graces of God. Maybe by their lips, maybe by their life or both. There are those who deny the Lordship of Christ, the Master Jesus, as it says there. There are those who deceive with other heresy that leads to apostasy. We need to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, and this is why. And what examples does Jude give us now as we come to our passage here? All the examples he gives are from the first book of the Bible in the Hebrew Scriptures, the book of Moses. And Genesis, events from Genesis more than anywhere else, is what Jude talks about as he urges the church of his day to earnestly contend for the faith. And Genesis is also where the battles in our day need to be fought as well in a sea of spineless evangelical fish flop all around God's Word in the area of Genesis. Because they reason. Some of them will say, well, smart Christian people say different things about these opening chapters of the Bible. So who am I to contend for the events of Genesis with other Christians? But I would ask you another question. Who are you to decide what parts of the Bible that God gave us you are to contend for? Who are you to decide where you are going to disobey verse 3? And when we're talking with true believers, of course, we need charity as we pursue clarity in the scriptures with them and understanding God's word with other brothers and sisters in Christ. But the issue is never what do other smart people say? The issue is what do the scriptures say? So there are different people who I don't doubt their salvation, but they've been confused by other teachings. They'll say maybe, you know, the flood wasn't a worldwide flood. Some scholars say, you know, Genesis six or eight is just a local flood in Mesopotamia, whatever floats your boat. I knew Rick would get that one. Some people say, you know, some Christians say God created everything in six days. But some people who also teach the Bible say it was over billions of years. And others say that God used evolution. So we don't really want to take a stand or alienate others. who are true believers. There's a group called Bio Logos. It's a group making inroads with some evangelical leaders and colleges and seminaries, and they aggressively teach that evolution is compatible with a view of inspired and inerrant scripture. There are several Bio Logos writers. You could talk to my dad about this because he actually interacted in a forum, sort of a debate, sort of forum presentation with the vice president of their organization. In Hong Kong a while back, and they teach this man teaches and others in that group teach that Adam and Eve weren't real historical figures. And they teach and of course, that causes all kinds of problems. If Adam is just a metaphor, then when Jesus appeals to Adam and Eve and speaks of the first Adam, and you've got all kinds of theological problems in the gospel when you start going down that path. But this is a group that has crept into conservative Christian circles, even conservative Christian homeschool conventions. And when Ken Ham, I think it was last year, sought to contend against their error, I believe in the spirit of verse three as best I can discern, Ken Ham and the Answers in Genesis organization were expelled from that homeschool convention permanently because they thought that was divisive in their words. I wasn't there, and I don't know all the ins and outs in the politics of what transpired there, but I do know that contending earnestly for the faith, like verse 3 calls us to, is becoming more and more unpopular, not just in our postmodern, tolerant world out there, but in the postmodern, tolerant Christian world. There are some well-respected schools and seminaries and scholars who are not so sure issues relating to creation and Genesis are worth contending for today, like verse 3. or anything that is not a gospel or a salvation issue. And it is good for us to rally around the gospel and to be together for the gospel and have coalitions about the gospel. But we can't stop there. Jude tells us it's not just about the gospel. It's not just about salvation. He starts this letter saying that's what he really would love to just talk about those things, those things that he loves. He starts in verse three that he wanted to write about the gospel and Jesus. and salvation, but he felt compelled with urgency and fervency to tell us to earnestly contend for the faith of and in God's Word that has been delivered to us. And he especially has in mind the beginning of the Bible, their first book of the Bible. Look at verse 5. He says, I desire to remind you that though you know all things once, And for all that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, and of course, we know they went into Egypt at the end of Genesis and the start of the book of Exodus, says he subsequently destroyed those who did not believe and angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode. The angels originally fell sometime before Genesis three. They may be referring to Genesis six. We'll talk about that later. And he says, he has kept them in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah. That's from Genesis as well. Verse 11 says, Woe to them, for they have gone the way of Cain. That's Genesis chapter four, verse 14. It was also about these men that Enoch and the seventh generation from Adam prophesied. Enoch is Genesis chapter five. And just as an aside, by the way, verse 14, shows us that the genealogies in Genesis are exactly accurate the way they are recorded in Genesis. Enoch was the seventh generation from Adam. Jude gives us, as he goes through, and we're not going to get to those verses here today, but in verses 5 through 7, Jude gives us three examples In verses five through seven, first from the end of Genesis and Exodus, the second two from earlier in Genesis, three warnings to those who fellowship with God's people, that despite the blessings, despite the favor of God that they have enjoyed on some level in the past, if they aren't earnestly contending for the faith or if they are tolerating false teaching in areas where Scripture is very clear to the contrary, or if they walk on the slippery slope of Genesis 3, verse 1, did God really say, for if they allow themselves to be led astray by those from their midst among them, if they follow the path of heresy or apostasy, apostasy is turning away from the faith, judgment comes. And he gives three examples. He gives them the sin of the Israelites in verse 5. And then he talks about the sin of angels in verse 6. And then he talks about the sin Sodom and Gomorrah. So we're going to walk through those in the order that we are given here, starting with the sin of the Israelites. Verse 5. I desire to remind you, though you know all things, once for all, and just to stop here for a moment, as was shared with you last night, Jude is the Jewish half-brother of Jesus. He's the brother of James. They were sons of Mary and Joseph. James, the one who wrote the book in the New Testament, So they're both half-brothers of Jesus, and it's likely that he, like his brother, is writing to a primarily Jewish audience, like James begins his book to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad. Greetings. And Jude is assuming in verse 5 that his readers know or once knew, in some of your translations, this history of their people. He says that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. If you have the English Standard Version, it says this, and there's a textual variant here, it says, I don't want to spend a lot of time on this point, but, The earliest and strongest ancient textual support, according to the writers that I've read, suggests that Jesus was the original reading of Jude's letter, but later copyists may have changed it to Lord, or some of them have Lord God or Lord Jesus. And you can understand, as you study textual criticism, how these sort of things happen. The end of Genesis and the start of Exodus doesn't use the name Jesus. He was known as the Lord, or Yahweh at that time, or God. that some who are copying Jews letter thought their copy must be wrong with the title Jesus they're referring to something so early in history. So they wrote Lord there or Lord Jesus and then it became Lord or God and scholars can debate the original textually but theologically Jesus did save his people out of the land of Egypt. You ask where do I get that we remember when The Lord was revealing himself to Moses in the burning bush before delivering Israel from Egypt. Moses said, who am I going to tell them has sent me? Who should I tell Pharaoh has sent me? And the answer was, what's his name? I Am. Remember how Jesus revealed himself to the people of Israel in John 8 verse 58? He said, before Abraham was born, I And it says, at that moment, they bent over and they picked up stones, and they were about to stone Him. And why were they doing that? Because they knew He was saying to them, that God who existed before Israel was redeemed out of Egypt, that same God who revealed Himself to Moses as, I Am. That's Me. I Am. I Am Yahweh. I Am the Lord who called Abraham and Israel, and I called Israel out of Egypt later. Jesus was claiming He was and is that Lord Yahweh. In the Exodus, Jesus wasn't just pictured or prefigured in the blood of the Lamb and the wrath of God passing over those covered by it. Jesus was pictured. He was prefigured in the Passover, but he was also present with Israel as well before and after in a special way. Jesus wasn't doing nothing for the first 4000 years of human history while God the Father and God the Holy Spirit did their best. And then Jesus had to come down and get involved. Jesus has always been involved from day one of creation. Genesis 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. John 1, Hebrews 1, Colossians 1 says that was Jesus. Everything was made through Jesus. Jesus is the co-creator with the Father and with the Spirit. Jesus was, I believe, walking in the garden with Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter They were able to see Him in some way, it seems. And John 1 verse 18 says, No one has ever seen the Father at any time, but the Son has revealed Him. It is the Son of God who has revealed Him in a way where people could see Him and live. No one can see God the Father and live. I think perhaps also in Genesis 18, He is there in pre-incarnate form as a man, and Abraham speaks to Him as the Lord. This is more than an angel. This is the Lord Himself. The end of verse three says, after delivering Israel from Egypt, some of Israel were still unbelievers and they were destroyed by this same Lord. He was also the Lord who said he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And I want you to turn now to First Corinthians chapter 10, because I think there's a very parallel passage that kind of sums up in greater detail what Jude has said in a few words. Jesus said in Luke 24, there were things concerning himself in all of the scriptures of the Old Testament, and he started in the book of Moses, and perhaps he walked through some of these. But 1 Corinthians 10 kind of expands on this image of Israel after they were delivered in the wilderness. 1 Corinthians 10 says, For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the seas. Clearly talking about them going through the Red Sea in Exodus 14. And it says, you notice at the end of verse 4, if you look at it, the rock that was following them in the wilderness was Christ. In some sense, Christ Himself was, I think the idea is He was sustaining them. It was not just physical drink. It was not just physical water from a physical rock. Jesus, the greater rock of ages, was saving and was sustaining His people, Israel. But verse 5 says, Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well pleased, for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written. The people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play. Nor let us act immorally as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. He's giving different examples of when Israelites were destroyed, nor let us try the Lord as some of them did and were destroyed by the serpents. Some people wonder which destroying is you talking about? Well, it may just be a general statement for all of these that are being spoken of here in verse 11 says, 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. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful. Here's the encouraging side of what Jude is saying here. As we look at those lessons, how God destroyed so many of them. Remember, God is faithful. who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also so that you will be able to endure it. He doesn't say escape it. That's sometimes what we hope that we'll be able to escape it. But he says that we will be able to endure it. Sometimes the way of escape is through enduring. As we endure, then God His faithfulness enables us to endure as long as that trial or temptation comes, and he has good purposes in allowing those trials and temptations, which are not more than we can bear, to be there as long as we need to make us more like Christ. The way of escape sometimes is through enduring. So what Jude 5 describes in just a few words, Paul also describes as Christ being with and saving and delivering his people Israel from Egypt, but those who did not find their sufficiency and satisfaction in the Lord alone and instead turned to ingratitude, insatiable cravings for other things, idolatry, or even immorality. The one who should have been their rock of safety and refuge became the rock who destroyed the apostates. And that image of the Lord as a rock is used repeatedly in the New Testament. rock that many would stumble over, many would be crushed by, but he was also a rock that to those who looked at him in the right way became a precious rock of refuge and salvation. What is an apostate? We've used that word more than once. An apostate is someone who has been identifying with God's people, not just someone who's never claimed to be part of God's people, but who identifies with God's people and who later turns away from the faith. in doctrine or in the Orthodox faith, in doctrine or in deeds, proving that this person never truly knew God in a saving relationship way. Remember, Jesus is going to say to many who said the words, Lord, Lord, He's going to say to them, I never knew you. In other words, He never knew them in the intimate sense of what that word know means in a relationship way. It's not that He knew them and now He doesn't know them anymore, like they lost their salvation. He never knew them in a relational way. So the apostate is not the agnostic or the atheist, the fool who says that there is no God, the hard-hearted one who denies those things and has never been a part of those things. It's more like the Judas who turns away, never to turn back. And there's a contrast between Judas and Peter. Peter temporarily denied the Lord. All of us have been Peters from time to time, but Peter repented and Peter came back. to the Lord and was restored by the Lord. But what he's talking about here is those in the days of the Exodus and after who saw the undeniable miracles in the days of Moses. And this would apply to those in the days of the prophets as well. The Israelites are in the days of Egypt. They saw all those things, but they were still unbelievers or they turned away. And there's a warning for us. Verses 11 through 12. And there is an encouragement for true believers in verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 10, that God is faithful and He does not leave us in a trial or temptation beyond His sufficiency and grace to endure. And I want you to turn to one other passage before we go back to Jude. That is 1 John 2. Because I think it's a fair question and a good question and a question that will come up, and that is, is an apostate one who once was truly saved and then later lost his salvation? And this can be confusing to us who are only looking at the outward deeds of some. The first John 2, 19, I think, helps us with this. He says, first John 2, 19, they went out from us. In other words, they were part of the believing community, it seemed, but they were not really of us. He says not that they it's not that they're not of us anymore. They were not. They never were. Like Jesus said, they never were really of us for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out so that it would be shown or so that it would be manifest that they all are not of us. And I think that's the best way to understand the apostasy that Jude is talking about. You can turn back there or turn forward a few pages to Jude. And there is an apostasy. There's a warning here in verse 5 of the sin of the Israelites. And there's also a warning of the sin of angels in verse 6. It says, 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. And here Jude, I think, is taking it up a notch from man to angel, from earth to heaven. And the point to me seems to be if great and mighty angels who fell into sin, if they are not exempt from God's judgment, how much more so are we mere men who transgress our boundaries We who are not so great and who are not so mighty, who also fall into similar error and apostasy. Who are these angels that he's talking about who left their proper dwelling and it says they are being chained or the idea is bound or imprisoned till judgment. We know from other passages that Satan and a whole host from heaven defected apostatized, if you will, and Satan led a third of the angels with him to earth and his apostasy and in his mass rebellion, and they became fallen angels. This is not something that's recorded in Genesis, but we piece together later revelation to understand. those things, and there are many fallen angels and demons that since that original rebellion with Satan clearly are not chained and are not bound somewhere else or imprisoned awaiting final judgment in a place or a pit of darkness and other parallel passages called the abyss. As you read the Gospels, you read about these demons, especially in the Gospel and the Book of Acts, who are actively moving all around. They're possessing and oppressing sinful men. But here we read of some sinful angels who left their sphere or domain where they were supposed to be. And God is incarcerating or imprisoning these in a place of darkness, some sort of a holding cell, it seems, where they must stay and await judgment. So who are these angels? What was their sin and where are they bound or locked down like some sort of a death row for demons? Well, thankfully, what's not clear in Jude chapter one becomes clearer in Jude chapter two. If you look at Jude chapter two, all the questions we have about this become more clear. I'm going to ask Rick to read Jude chapter two, verse three. There's no Jude chapter two to help us, but there is if you go back to first Peter three, I think there is a little more light shed on this place of darkness or this prison of darkness where some of these spirit beings are being kept in some sort of a Locked down until Judgment Day, 1 Peter 3, verse 18 says, "...for Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, in which..." This is before His resurrection. "...in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah the construction of the ark. So verse 19 speaks of these spirits in prison who were disobedient in a particular point of time in history, the days of Noah before the flood, Genesis chapter six. But these imprisoned spirits are not all of the fallen angels who left heaven sometime before Genesis three, when the spirit came to earth to deceive Adam and Eve. But it seems some of these spiritual beings disobeyed in Noah's day, and they have now been spirits now in prison since the time frame of the days of Noah. And when Jesus rose from the dead or in that process, he paid a visit in some way to these imprisoned spirits, I think, to proclaim his victory over them. Colossians 2.15 talks about how he proclaimed his triumph over these rulers and the authorities. He declared his triumph to them. Romans 10, verse 7 may also suggest Christ descended to the abyss before his resurrection, but that's about as far as the scriptures I know and let me go, but I want you to look at 1 Peter 5 while we're here where it's clear that not all sinful spiritual beings or fallen angels are imprisoned since their fall or since Genesis 6. 1 Peter 5, verse 8, Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. That's the image of someone freely and fully unrestrained going wherever he would like to devour. The devil is described by Peter as not being chained up, not locked up in a dark pit. That's coming in the future. Revelation 20. That's coming in the future. Millennium. But for now, he is prowling around freely on earth like a roaring lion seeking to devour prey. But there is a day coming when Jesus comes back where he will, Satan will be cast into the abyss. He will be imprisoned. He will be chained after Jesus returns. And it seems that some demons are already there. Remember when Jesus was on earth, some demon's legion in this one man, and they were begging him not to send them to the abyss. It may suggest they knew of other demons who had already been banished to the abyss. They were begging him, please send us into this swine. Please send us elsewhere so we can continue to work here on earth. They did not want to get sent to the abyss. And now turn to one other place, 2 Peter 2, which may also relate to what Jude Verse six says, in very similar context, false teachers, heresy, apostasy, denying the master, 2 Peter 2 verse 1, very similar to Jude verse 4. And 2 Peter 2 verse 4 says, for if, and the idea could even be translated since, He's building an argument of this is what happened. And therefore, for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment. This is what some angels have been committed to reserve for judgment, these pits of darkness. And he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah. He's tying it in the context of Noah here, a preacher of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. And if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter. And if, and again, it's since he rescued righteous lot, you can skip to verse nine. It says, and here's the point, but therefore, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. Context is very much the same as Jude and Peter says of the apostasy there in verse 21, it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness rather than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment handed down to them. He's speaking as a warning for us. It would be better for us not to know these things than to know them and to turn away. There's greater judgment Jesus spoke of. And just like Jude, Peter follows the sin of some angels with the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah for their sin in verses 4 through 6. And just like he did in 1 Peter 3, the sin of these angels is connected into Noah's day. And in verse 4, Peter speaks of angels who had sinned, who God cast into hell's pits of darkness. Very similar expression to Revelation 20, that bottomless pit where Satan will be cast during the millennial reign of King Jesus. He'll be bound, he'll be chained, and he'll be awaiting his final judgment eternally. in the Lake of Fire, Revelation 20, verse 10, which is, by the way, one of the reasons that the pre-millennial view, to me, is the only one that makes sense of how Satan can be confined to this place called the Abyss where these demons did not want to go. And how if those believe that Jesus was cast there, if Satan was cast there when Jesus rose from the dead, how can those other scriptures about him prowling around like a roaring lion be true? I think the only way to make sense of that is that's something that's not yet happened. Satan in the future, after Christ returns, is going to be cast into that place. But here the context is when and why, or the question is when and why were some fallen angels cast there already being kept or reserved for the final judgment and final Lake of Fire. We know Satan and many of his angels are active on planet Earth. As you read verses 4 through 5 together, it's one sentence connected in context by and, and it seems to tie the angel sin with the time of Noah and the sin of man that brought about the flood. Here's what the MacArthur Study Bible note says. These angels, according to Jude 6, quote, did not keep their proper domain. In other words, they entered men who promiscuously cohabitated with women. Apparently, this is a reference to the fallen angels of Genesis 6. sons of God before the flood who left their normal state and lusted after women and before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And so let's just turn back and I want to spend a lot more time on this. But Genesis six and this this is an area where Godly scholars may disagree, but we don't just skip those things. We need to study those things. And in my study, it seems the sin of some fallen angels and fallen men reaches a climax as we come to Genesis 6. And God judges those particular fallen angels by removing them from earth, to a prisoner, to a pit of darkness. And God removes all the sinful men of Noah's day by a flood of his judgment, saving only Noah and his family. Genesis 6, verse 1 says, 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. And if you study that term, sons of God, like in verse two in the Old Testament, it always elsewhere means angels and never refers to humans. In fact, it's contrasted here with men, daughters of men in the immediate context of verse one uses men to refer to Mankind, mankind is spreading across the earth and then in verse two there's daughters of men or daughters of mankind. Some think the daughters of men is the daughters of the line of ungodly Cain and then the sons of God are the godly sons in Seth's family. But Cain is nowhere here in this context and the contrast doesn't seem to be godly sons and daughters of Cain but Mankind and sons of God, which again the Old Testament always means angels. Ancient Jews understood verse 2 to refer to angels even in the Septuagint 250 years before the time of Christ. They translated this angels of God, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Jewish Targums, extra biblical Jewish writings before and after Jesus, Joseph, Philo, the early church all understood verse 2 to be referring to angels. And one of the questions that comes up is what about Christ's statement? Christ did say Thousands of years later, talked about angels in heaven, not marrying or being given in marriage. But that's not conclusively determinative for Genesis six, verse two, which is talking about on Earth, apparently a one time act of rebellion by fallen angels, not in heaven. And I don't know how to fully explain that. The MacArthur Study Bible explains that in order to to do this, they indwelt or possess human male bodies. And I would just say, if you have more questions about that, talk to Pastor Verne after the service, he would He would love... These brothers assigned this passage to me, so I want to share the questions with them, please. If you're not satisfied after talking with them, you can come to Jude chapter 2 and maybe that'll clear things up. But I want to close now on our last point in the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude verse 7 says, 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, they are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. And this is a sobering warning here. One writer says, quoting John Wesley, let therefore none presume on past mercies as if they were out of danger. John Bunyan, in his writing, talks about how even from the gates of heaven there is a way to hell. Even as you come close to the gate, path to hell. And Jude warns these men that he's writing to that as great as their privileges have been, they must still have care lest the disaster come upon them that is being warned about here. And I think the point is, if some of the Israelites, after all of the mercies they received as the chosen people of God, which didn't mean all of them were saved, if they Many of them turned away. Then we need to be aware of some of the angels in heaven with their privileged access to God. If they turned away with all that they had seen about God and his glories, never to turn back again. We need to be aware of Judas with his privileges, with his access to the twelve disciples, with all that he saw up close and personal with the Lord Jesus Christ. If he turned away from the Lord hard hearted to self destruction, proving that he had never truly loved the Lord, then we need to be aware if God judged them. He will do the same to us who are apostates and not truly saved. This is also sobering as we think about our nation as we rightly are thankful for the blessings we have enjoyed in our nation that are rapidly changing as our nation is rapidly turning away from God and is becoming more and more like Sodom and Gomorrah. As verse 7 says, in gross immorality, after strange flesh, the ESV says, they pursued unnatural desire. If judgment came on them, it says, as an example, will America heed this example? Immorality and homosexuality brought judgment on them. And the fire from heaven symbolized the finality of future judgment here in this passage for all who turn away from what they know of God. Romans 1 verse 20 and following follows a very similar pattern here. And you can study that further. But God eventually gives them over to sin's progression and then brings his wrath. Homosexuality was not Sodom's only sin, but in the progression there that Romans 1 lays out, it is a sign of the progression of sin and judgment in God at giving them over those who are turning away from his truth. The New King James uses the word sodomy for the sin of Sodom. Homosexual acts that were once outlawed in every state of America in 1962, I read, as a felony. As recent as 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court defended anti-sodomy laws by state governments. It was only nine years ago, according to the source I read, that the Supreme Court reversed the laws outlawing same-sex sodomy in Texas and 14 other states that had classified it as a crime up until that time. But since then and before, what was once subject to criminalization has been the subject of celebration. in parades, the very sin that God calls an abomination that brought condemnation on Sodom and Gomorrah. And what began as a celebration in a smaller minority community has moved to the media normalization of this type of sin. And now it's become focused on the legalization of homosexual marriage and the legality of state courts or governments to usurp the votes of the people on this issue. And beyond even that issue of legalization of same-sex weddings, the agendas of many in the radical gay rights movement is pushing for everyone's absolute affirmation of homosexuality and some will never be satisfied until any sort of biblical declaration of the sinfulness of homosexuality will result in our criminalization and incarceration if they have their way. So what was once a crime just nine years ago in some states, sodomy, some hope to make it a crime soon to speak against it or even to read and explain what the scriptures have to say about it. And the intolerance of those who push for such tolerance is ironic. But even more ironic, I find, are professing Christians affirming gay marriage. You may have heard on the media a famous Christian singer came out in support of gay marriage. Here in Northern California, the PC Presbyterian Church USA, they're the liberal wing of Presbyterian, there's a conservative branches, but the PC USA in Northern California, one of their ministers who's herself a lesbian had married several same sex couples and the presbytery went to their Supreme Court of their denomination and they asked the Northern California branch to rebuke her and take away her license and they defied the orders of their ultimate Supreme Court and they instead celebrated her as well. And I think that's an evidence when denominations or associations are marrying and ordaining homosexuals that you have right before our eyes in the media right now a vivid illustration of religious apostasy and where it takes people who in the last hundred years there were many godly Christians within that denomination. Maybe even 50 years ago there was and there may still be some believers there but the leadership as a whole is going apostate sadly. The focus of this is only going to increase as we approach our 2012 elections and the pressure on true Christians is only going to increase. Anyone who does not give affirmation to gay marriage is already vilified except for our president who up until a few months ago said he was not in support of it but he was evolving on the issue. He was against it and now he is for it apparently. But we know as Christians we have a higher authority than what the most powerful man in the world finally admits to on national TV. And we have a higher authority than what the Supreme Court will eventually decide on this issue. We have the high king of the universe who describes this as sin. What the world calls LGBT or whatever that acronym is, is simply S-I-N in scripture. And because of sin, and let me be clear, it's not just this sin. And that's not Jude's point. Because of sin, all sin, There is an everlasting fire of judgment coming and it's pictured in the fiery judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them. Remember, Jesus warned cities of his day that it would be more bearable on the day of judgment Sodom and Gomorrah than even for you who have even had more of my revelation and have rejected it. So so don't think just because we don't engage in all the same sins as them because we're more religious that our judgment will not be severe. Jesus warned the most religious people of his day with all that they knew about him to reject him. Their judgment would be even worse. I don't want to end on that note though. I want to end with what Peter says and applying the same events as Jude 5 through 7 as we read earlier and that is The Lord knows how to rescue the godly. There's two points that Peter brings out in the parallel passage there. Not only does the Lord know how to deal with those who reject Him, but the Lord knows how to preserve and to protect and to be gracious to His people and to make sure His people do not ultimately turn away. And that's where we'll wonderfully get to by the time we get to the last section of Jude. But even I want you to notice at this point that those, even in this passage here, that God saved in the days of Israel in the wilderness in verse 5, some of them were truly saved, some of them were not, but those that he saved were not better than the others and those that God saved after the fall of angels and men in the days of Noah. They weren't better than the others in verse six and those who God rescued from Sodom and Gomorrah in verse seven. They weren't better either. It was only by God's grace. God did destroy many Israelites in the wilderness in verse 5, but he also gave grace to them when Moses prayed for mercy. And it was never too late, and God extended mercy to those who were dying of snakebites. Remember, if they would look in faith to the serpent on the stake, which ultimately Jesus applies to himself when he talks to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. God did destroy the world in a flood after the sin of verse 6, but he also extended grace to Noah and his family, and there was room in the ark for more. Noah was a preacher of righteousness, and there was room for more if they would have heeded his message and come aboard. God did not offer grace to angels who sinned in verse 6. Do you realize that? Meditate on that. When those angels sin, there is no redemption for them. There is no plan of salvation offered to those angels who sin. And God would be just, God would be righteous if He treated all human beings the same way as He treated those angels, but He doesn't give all of us what is fair. He gives grace. He gives mercy, which is not what we deserve and is not fair. It is unexplainable, undeserved, unmerited grace. Before God rained down judgment in verse 7, He sent His messengers of grace who rescued Lot and his daughters, and if you read about Lot and his daughters, they weren't so lovely. They weren't so wonderful. They were sinful. Even in the chapter right after that, they engage in sin with their father. We need to remember God's grace is the point, not how great these people were who He saved. We need to remember God's grace as we look back to the story, and we also need to remember, the New Testament tells us, remember Lot's wife. She looked back. She turned back and is a warning to us spiritually of this very principle. We need to remember that God intends to use us as messengers of grace to rescue the perishing and to care for the dying in our day, even those who are enslaved and ensnared in these very same sins. Verse 23 says, save others, snatching them out of the fire. Many of us will have campfires here tonight, and I'm sure if you saw a child fall into the fire, all of you would rush to snatch that person out of the fire. That's what Jude is saying. We are to look upon those who are around us. They are in the fire. We need to pull them out of that fire. We need to have mercy on those who need to be saved just as we needed to be saved. Our sins may have seemed more respectable to us. Jerry Bridges has a book called Respectable Sins. But we need to remember it's not just the wretchedness of Sodom and Gomorrah that is an abomination to God. It is also the righteousness of religious people like us that is offensive to God. Isaiah 64 verse 6, like a filthy rag in his sight. When Proverbs lists six things or seven, yea, that are an abomination to the Lord, a haughty spirit is on the list. Stirring up dissension is on the list of what's an abomination to God. Pride, Proverbs 16, verse five, is an abomination. to God. But here's where the good news of the gospel comes in, not just for people who are enslaved to sexual or homosexual sin, but also for people who are self-righteous and prideful people like us, whose greatest religious efforts are like filthy rags in God's sight. Jesus in the gospel comes and he takes those rags away and he gives us his robes of righteousness in exchange. And he takes away those bonds of sin and he gives us freedom in Christ in exchange. even to those who feel that they are born a certain way or oriented to a particular sin and can't change. It may very well be on a human level that there is some truth in the fact that we are all born in sin. And whatever our particular sin is, we cannot just change on our own. But we understand the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. And it's the power of God for transformation for anyone after they believe in Christ. This is what Paul told the Corinthians, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves. And then he adds those who covet, those who are slanderers, those who speak ill of others, those who all of these will not inherit the kingdom of God. And he says, and that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit. of our God. See, all of us deserve to be destroyed like the Israelites in the wilderness in verse 5, but God gave mercy to us. All of us deserve to be bound in eternal darkness in verse 6 with the rest, but Jesus had mercy on us. Every one of us in this place here deserve the judgment that God brought down on Sodom and Gomorrah, but the Lord has mercy on all who say, Lord have mercy on me. sinner. And I want to say to you, if you're here and you have never truly done that in your heart, may this be the day that you look to this Lord who is full of mercy, is the only one who can save you. And as you look at your own sinfulness and realize what an abomination your sin is to God, if you will come to him and plead with him from your heart to have mercy on you, the sinner, then this day you can walk out of this meeting here justified, declared righteous, not because you are righteous in and of yourself, but because of what Jesus did for you, living a perfect life of righteousness, dying for your sins so that God can treat Jesus on the cross as if he lived your sinful life. And as you put your faith and trust in him, God can be just and treat you as if you live the perfect life of Christ, because it's given to you. It's put on your account as a gift. by grace alone. And so I would urge you if you've never truly trusted in the Lord and cried out to the Lord in faith that you would do that today by the Spirit of our God. You can be justified. You can be sanctified today. And if you're here and you've been washed and you've been transformed, praise God for His mercy. And show that mercy to others who are ensnared and enslaved by sin as you once were and as you still would be but for the grace of God. Let's pray. Our gracious God, we have no explanation as to why you should be gracious to us. It's certainly not because we were great or lovely or better than anyone else. We don't know, even as Jude talks about those who have been called, we don't understand why you would choose to call and save us, but we are so thankful that you have. And Lord, I pray that even this time at family camp you would strengthen us in the faith and in the commitment to contend earnestly for the faith, Lord. And I pray, Lord, that you would even be calling to yourself, even in our time here at camp, those who are not yet in the faith. And Lord, I would pray that you would encourage all of us this day and in the days ahead. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.