I would ask you to turn in your Bibles this morning to the book of Jude. Again, that small one-page letter. Maybe a page and a half in some of your Bibles. It's found just before the book of Revelation. Today we return for our third installment in a series of messages that We're going to be bringing on this small, often overlooked, frequently misunderstood letter of Jude. We saw last Lord's Day that this is something of an emergency letter. Jude had proposed in his own thoughts to write a very different kind of letter about our common salvation, but he became aware of a danger, a need among his readers. Jude saw, knew, understood that his readers or in danger of being unduly influenced by a group of teachers who had come among them. He uses the language, they crept in unnoticed. And their teaching, as well as their living, their lifestyle, would be very perilous if imbibed or followed by his readers. And so he changed from his intention to write to them about their common salvation, a theme he was eager, he says, to write on, to do this less joyful but yet most necessary task of urging them to contend for the faith. to understand that their faith was in peril by these adversaries. And it wasn't that they were to get nasty. It wasn't that they were to get argumentative. It wasn't that they were to get angry. It's just that they would be on their guard. They'd be wary and watchful. They would be sober, be vigilant, as Pope Peter writes, knowing your adversary, the devil, ultimately walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And he wants them to contend for the faith of the gospel against these interlopers who would come into the congregation to fight the fight of faith with gospel armor, not using the world's tactics, but those weapons of our warfare that Paul says are mighty through God. for the casting down of strongholds. He said about these false teachers that their condemnation was long ago designated. He wants them to be clear in this. These are not people in favor with God. These are people in opposition to God, opposition to his son, opposition to his church, opposition to his word, and their condemnation being long ago designated is a likely reference to the way such people, such as false prophets, false teachers, in the Old Testament scriptures are universally to be understood as under divine judgment. It would seem that Jude believed his readers could well benefit from a bit of a lesson in Bible history. Bad examples. a little bit of sanctified scared straight. You remember that? That TV show, Scared Straight, showed you about what jail is like from the inside. And you don't want to go there. A little bit of scared straight. Here's what these people are like spiritually. Here's what their destiny is. You don't want to go there. So in verses five to seven, Jude presents three examples. I'd like to say they're all examples from scripture, but the second one I'm a little bit, a little bit uncertain about. One to three clearly, not one and three, clearly are from the Hebrew Bible, from the books of Moses, from the Torah. One from Genesis and the other from Exodus and the books that follow. Clearly those events are biblical events. The second is less from the text or place in the Bible that you can pinpoint, and it's more a teaching derived mostly from biblical sources concerning fallen angels. So he's going to go into that. He's going to actually set out to his readers something that clearly is an earthly deliverance, an earthly manifestation of divine power to save the people. And then he's going to look from an earthly thing to a heavenly thing, something that happens in an unseen place, and yet we feel its impact continually. And then he's going to present another biblical example of a time when heavenly beings came to earth, not the bad ones, but the good ones, and something that happened in the city of Sodom. Genesis chapter 19. So that's where he's going. These are examples illustrate, intending to illustrate the dangers of false teaching, highlighting the spiritual recklessness, the impiety of their teaching, the pride that's behind it, the sensual practices that informs it, The reality that these are people that cast off all restraint other than their own brains. They're gonna follow their own light. And they're gonna cast off all divine instruction, all teaching of God's servants, God's prophets. And Jude wants his readers to understand there's a just penalty that such teaching, such living, always does receive from the hand of God. Let me read it to you, and then we'll begin to look at these one at a time. He says, Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that 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 positions of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has 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 have pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. See, it's the judgment aspects that he does seem to be highlighting. It's the end of the road for these people that he wants to be before his readers, that you don't want that to be the end of your road. You want to have the gospel hope ever before you. You want the hope of glory, the hope of a God who goes on rescuing, goes on keeping. And the way in which he keeps is in a way in which we keep ourselves in his love. We keep ourselves ever appreciating the reality of his goodness and of his grace that's been given to us. in the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's the end, yes, but it's also the lives these people lived that is consistent with that end. And those kinds of lives, we need to see them as ugly. We need to see them as undesirable. That the Lord himself should be our great passion. The great desire of our hearts is to know, should be to know him. The great desires of our souls should be to pursue him. To know the joys of his grace and his presence and of his salvation. Now he begins with a word that is, I called it a generous word in the outline. A very gracious introduction. Maybe I didn't say generous. Maybe I said gracious. He says, I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, he says to them, I'm not putting rank on you here to be a teacher. You probably have your teachers in the church. And though I'm probably a person who you know about, and you know my faithfulness, and you can certainly benefit from my teaching, I want to teach you as someone that appreciates what you've already learned. I want to teach you as somebody who appreciates that you've already had your teachers who have come among you. And my work is not to introduce something new. I don't want to set out to you something that you haven't known before, because I know you know it. I mean, you've been in Christ for a while. And as the writer of the Hebrews says, by the reason of the time, you ought to be teachers. But unfortunately, those people had some kind of a stunted growth in spiritual things. where they needed to go back to the beginning. They needed to go back to ABC. They couldn't really utilize the full alphabet of the Christian life. Jude doesn't want to think that these people have that kind of a problem. No, they really don't. I want to remind you, I want to be one who just stirs up your mind by way of remembrance, as Peter says in his letter. And he recognizes, although you once fully knew it, clearly you had teachers in your midst. They've taught you the Word of God. And I just want to not start from scratch. but from the basis of common understanding that you know the Bible, you know the Old Testament, you've had prophets, so you've had apostles among you. In verse 17, he mentions, but you must remember, beloved, the prediction of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. And you're a wise people. You're a knowing people. You're a knowledgeable people. But sometimes even the people that know the most need that refresher course. We need to have our pure minds stirred up by way of remembrance. Because even the things you know, we can be very clear on them here this morning, as we sit in God's presence, as we look to Him, as we have open Bibles before us, as the Word of God is explained to us. But go out to your car and find out something got stolen as you're sitting in here and worship. And where's your mind then? We had an experience once in church where we were worshiping, blessing God, praising God, feeling righteous and wonderful and good and happy. And then we went outside and found out that my wife's car had gone out of its whatever the stick shift was supposed to be in or she thought it was in wasn't quite well parked and it slid down the hill and it smashed into somebody else's car. Imagine walking out of church and finding that state of things. It'd be so easy to just have everything of spiritual interest, concern. Our minds are just inundated by our circumstances. Christian reality becomes eclipsed by the reality of the pressures of life, the trials we come under. Now we're thankful that the fellow whose car it belonged to that got smashed, he had recently heard God's word that morning, and he made reference to the sermon and said to my wife, who was simply crushed, That's OK. Remember what we heard this morning about the grace of God, about the sovereignty of God, about the goodness of God. We were in there worshiping, and God knew what was happening out here. And I guess he also said, actually, he was an insurance salesman, so I guess he had the best of insurance. So he didn't have a problem with that. But you understand my point. We need daily refresher courses in the things of God. Remember reading Francis Schaeffer? He was a theologian back in, an apologist preacher back in the 80s, 1980s, 90s. And something he wrote that I read where he said, the reason I read the Bible every day is I so quickly forget what's in it. How's that? I mean, we all know that, don't we? we're all groping for the things we thought we saw and didn't say something about and we're all you know probably needing to do that daily refresher course of having our minds renewed by the word We need refresher courses, not just in the small stuff, but in the great things as well. And you see, nothing was greater in the life of the nation of Israel. No event was more central to the Old Testament scriptures than the Exodus. The yearly feasts of the Passover, tabernacles, weeks, were each reminders of the deliverance of God from bondage, from the servitude that the people were under, under harsh taskmasters in Egypt. They were not free. They were slaves. They were held in what one writer calls an iron furnace, the iron furnace of Egypt. And the people were to live in constant remembrance of the reality that God came. God came, had mercy and compassion upon this enslaved people. He saw their plight. It's a wonderful statement as their miseries are mentioned. And the book of Exodus, I think is in chapter three, it simply says, and God knew. God knew. That's all you need to know is that God knows. And he's committed to his people. And the God who knows is going to act sooner or later for the good of his people. And so the people were to live in the light of their identity as the people saved out of the land of Egypt. Now, succeeding generations were never in Egypt, but they were part of the people who were. And that people was their people, so they were a people delivered from bondage. Now, there's two things in Jews' words that are a bit debatable. First of all, who delivered them from Egypt? Of course, in the Old Testament, it's clear. It's the covenant God of Israel, Yahweh. I am who I am, the eternal God. faithful to his promises, came in mercy and in love, remembering the promises he had made to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And yet when Jude relates the matter of their saving, being saved out of Egypt, he says, Jesus that Jesus who saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Now I know there's a textual difference in some ancient texts, but clearly the majority do say Jesus. And upon the basis of the fact this is the more difficult reading, I mean, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and the Exodus took place millennia before. How did Jesus do it? Well, the same way Jesus could say to his contemporaries before Abraham was, I am. The reality is that Jesus, who was incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary, born in Bethlehem, was also the eternal word made flesh. He was the God of Israel incarnate. The God of Israel enfleshed in the person of the Lord Jesus. It's perfectly proper for it to say that it's Jesus who did the action. Although under the different name of Yahweh, and it's Yahweh Jesus. It's the God of Israel. The God of Israel who came and delivered a people out of the land of Egypt, who also comes at the end of the days to deliver his people through the giving of himself, an offering and a sacrifice for their sins. So it's Jesus who saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Jude's saying, in essence, I wanted to write to you about our common salvation, but you know what? We're not the first people who possessed a common salvation. The whole of the nation of Israel experienced a common salvation. They all were brought out of slavery. They all were delivered from the Red Sea. They all were saved. And yet afterwards, some of them were destroyed. Afterward, the same saving Jesus destroyed those who did not believe. Now, the other problematic issue is what was their sin? What did they actually do to deserve what this judgment holds forth, this destruction that is mentioned. Now, some say the main thing that is probably in view is their refusal to enter into the land. Because that's the time that God said you're going to wander for 40 years. That's the time when God said, those of you who said we're going to be destroyed by the Canaanites, in fact, you're going to be destroyed in the wilderness over a 40-year period of time. until another generation is matured and grow and are disciplined and are trained to know differently than you do, to know that I am a faithful God, people I can use, a people who will obey me. And so Israel experienced God's training 40 years in the wilderness to enable them to enter into the land of Canaan. But those who sinned were destroyed. They fell in the wilderness. Their bodies died. We're carrying for the birds of the heavens. A lot of them probably, there was so much death that took place, a lot of them probably never even received a burial. They died under the curse of heaven. What's Jew's point? The point is when God saves you from slavery, when God brings you out of a bondage, when God brings you out of a state of misery, when God brings you out of a state of helplessness, he reaches out and with his own hand of mercy, love, and kindness, and power becomes your deliverer, becomes your rescuer, becomes your savior. Your reaction ought to be what, I mean, if somebody rescued you from a fire, what would you feel? Deep sense of debtorship. What can I do to repay you for rescuing yourself from me? Jesus does more than just endanger himself. He dies. He gives up his life, a ransom for many. And our reaction should be, This God is my God. I will follow Him through life to death. No questions. I will look to Him. I will trust in Him. I will follow Him. I will love Him. I will pursue Him. This God is worthy of all of my love, my labor, my worship, my service. When God saves a people, He designs that people to be united to Him in loving worship, service, characterized by faith and faithfulness. This is a people who fell in the wilderness, who simply despised God Himself and despised the favors of God. Jude was dealing with a bunch of people who perverted the grace of God. They were grace perverters. Jude looked upon these Old Testament people that sinned against the God of their mercies, the God of their salvation, who worshipped a golden calf, who sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play, a people that constantly were complaining in the wilderness about food and drink, even though God sent manna from heaven. Absolutely complaining that this God has sent them out into the wilderness in order to kill them. Let's go back to Egypt. We had it better there. Better food. They forgot all of their misery. They forgot all of their trials in Egypt. They simply despised God's favor. They pursued their own desires and not his. They imitated pagan rituals. They satisfied their own sensual lusts. That's what people, the people who do these things are the people who ultimately will know destruction away from God's presence. And eternal destruction away from God's presence is how the Apostle Paul describes the end of unbelievers. So that's the first thing. He sets forth this refresher course in Old Testament history. by reminding them of the end of those who had received that typical salvation, that salvation that was only salvation from a human tyrant. But you Christians have received a greater deliverance still, a greater salvation yet, a salvation that was joined to the giving of the Son of God's life for your redemption. That gift should be treasured. That reality should be nourishing your hearts to follow Him and to be faithful to Him and not to follow after these grace perverters and sensual actors who deny the only Lord and Master. Christ is to be the one we ever confess and we ever follow and we ever worship and love. Well, there's another thing he mentions, and that's the matter of the fallen angels. Verse six, he mentions the angels, moving from an earthly scene, deliverance of the people from Egypt to something of a heavenly scene. Angelic beings, spirit beings who scripture indicates exist in God's presence. You know, God made man in his image and likeness in Genesis chapter one and said, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. The whole humanity was to be coming from that pair that would ultimately, oh, at this point, what do we have? Eight billion souls upon the earth today? from that single pair. It keeps going up. Every four or five years you add another billion to it. I think I stopped counting around six billion, but you can go to that world population thing. It's over seven, probably eight billion by now. An amazing number of people that came from that first pair. But there does seem to be that heaven got populated before Adam and Eve were even created. That there is a population of spirit beings in the presence of God. innumerable myriads of angels, 10,000s of 10,000s of angels. If you think you can't count Abraham's seed, they're so vast in number, you can't count the population of earth at seven, eight billion, you're not gonna be able to count the heavenly beings either. And yet there was this company of spirit beings that dwelt in the presence of God, who didn't think heaven was good enough for them. They didn't think enjoying the presence of God, being servants of the living God, that this was poor work for them. And they were really made for better things. I mean, it's astounding that creatures should come to such conclusions. But there were these conclusions of these spirit beings. How many of them? We don't know. But the reality is that when God made the heavens and the earth and everything that's in it and put man in a garden, there came along a snake that talked. Now, talking snakes are not everyday occurrences. And snakes actually are not supposed to talk. They are not created with the kind of vocal cords that would enable them to talk. So there's something going on here that's behind the actual scene. And of course, we're told that the serpent is actually Satan, it's the adversary. It's the adversary that comes in the form of one of the beasts of the field that God had made and comes to do what the devil does, which is to tell people, minding God, there's no profit in that. There's no good in that. You will not die. Don't believe God's threats because they're vain. And God really doesn't have your best interests at heart, so do what I... Where'd he come from? Where'd he come from? Where did that being come from? Well, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And I really think the matter of heavens can't exclude his own place of dwelling. I mean, we have in scripture the fact that we pray our father who's where? In heaven. That doesn't mean the heavens where the birds fly. And it doesn't mean the heavens where the stars and the sun is in the celestial heavens. It means God's own place of dwelling, wherever that is in his universe, wherever that is a spirit entity, spiritual entity exists, of a God who's there, his angels are there, and according to Hebrews chapter 12, the spirits of just men made perfect are there as well. So when you ask the question, where did Alan's mother go? Alan gave you the answer. She's with the spirits of just men made perfect, what we call heaven. Not some cloud where they're playing harps. Not some spaceship off in some foreign distant galaxy. But with God. With God in the place of divine dwelling. Our Father who is in heaven. That's where they are. As spirit beings. But there's some angels that were actually created to dwell in that place. With the myriads of angels that are faithful servants to the heirs of salvation, faithful servants of the living and true God, who are not in the place that they were first created to occupy. Jude uses the language. They didn't stay within their own position of authority. They had authority. And we read about angels that have authority in certain regions of the globe, in the book of Daniel, of Michael that's out in Persia fighting with the Prince of Persia, he calls him, the Prince of Persia. The stuff behind the scenes that you can't see through a telescope, you can't see through a Hubble telescope, it exists in the unseen world of spiritual realities. And part of that are these angels that fell. these angels that did not keep their first estate. And I think I made a reference on the outline to a wrong opinion about this. There are people who, because of some Jewish legends that were told in the intertestinal period between Old and New Testament, who think that Jude is reflecting an idea that angels descended from their first estate at the time of the flood. When we read in Genesis chapter six, of this sons of God choosing out wives for themselves among the sons of men, the daughters of men. And they think that's angels. The angels came and they occupied human bodies and then they cohabited with women. And the result of that was a bunch of giants called the Nephilim. And because of that, God brought the flood. I don't think God brought the flood because of what the angels did. I think God brought the flood because human beings had departed from him. And violence was in the earth and the hugeness of those persons with the fact they were giants in the direction of rebellion and sin and violence and oppression and every way that they could gain for themselves at the expense of others. That's what society was like. There was violence in the earth. And it wasn't caused by some hybrid of angels and humans. It was caused by human beings in the pride and perversity of their own hearts living out their rebellion against the living God. These angels aren't judged in the flood. Humanity got judged in the flood. So I think it's a human enterprise. And the fact is Jesus tells us about the angels of heaven that they don't marry. They're not given marriage. There's not I know they come in the form of men in Sodom, but the sexual identity of angels is really problematic to think. I mean, they're spirit beings, folks. They don't reproduce. The myriad number of angels that Hebrews talks about is a fixed number. They're not having angel babies. I know we think of cherubs as little angel babies. But look at the description you have in the Bible of cherubs. They're frightening guardians of the throne room of God. They're fierce. Not little babies. The angels don't have babies. I know you say, Veronica, it's a little angel. Yeah, okay. You'll find out. The point is, Jude's not referring to some legend. that the Old Testament makes no reference to. The sons of God marrying the daughters of men, if you read Genesis in its context, it's talking about the descendants of Cain, those who did not know God, those who departed from God, who were out from the presence of God. And they were marrying the daughters of men who were the faithful children of Seth, that line of people of which it said they called upon the name of the Lord. of which Enoch came from that line of people who walked with God, and Noah who walked with God. And yet there was an intermingling of those lines through intermarriage. They married one another. People were marrying without any sense. Well, is this a guy that I can trust to lead me well and lead me in the ways of the Lord? No, if he beats me every night, it won't matter to me. I want him. He wants me. That's all that matters. Or more should be on the table when you choose a life's partner. Righteousness should be the key. And that was a generation that forgot that. That was a generation that forgot that and the whole earth became corrupt as a result. The line of the godly was corrupted by intermarriage with people that had no concern at all for the will and the ways of God. But here's an account of angels made for God's presence. What's a greater favor than that? What's a greater blessedness than that? To be created, to be in the presence of God, to have authority given from God, labors directed by God. I mean, we pray, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we pray that with any sense of what it would be like if earth became like heaven. What a wonderful, I mean, Was it Louis Armstrong, what a wonderful world it would be? Absolutely! What a wonderful world it would be! That's another song I'm thinking of. But the point of it is, heaven would be upon the earth if that prayer was answered by God. That's what we long for, that's what we desire. Because heaven is a place of perfect blessedness, perfect joy, perfect peaceableness, perfect environment. These angels thought they could map out for themselves a better course in life. And of course the result of it is what? Bondage and darkness. Bondage and darkness. kept in eternal chains. They didn't keep their first estate. God says they'll be kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Now, I don't know how you put a spirit being in chains. They're not literal chains. And I really don't think that a darkness you should think of necessarily a given place. I know some people want to look upon under the earth somewhere, some place of the netherworld, the underworld, putting together the Bible with a lot of concepts that come really from Greek myths. I don't think that's really what we're to see. These spirit beings though are in bondage to their own desires and they cannot stop doing the things that they do. I mean think of the ones who Jesus met in the Gospels when they were inhabiting the legion of demons in the man and the Gadarenes. And what do they say when they see Jesus? They say, what have you to do with us, Jesus, the Son of God? Have you come to destroy us before the time? I mean, they know their end is destruction. They know their doom is coming. They know. It's not a happy ending to the story. But they don't fall at his feet and worship, do they? No, they acknowledge he has authority over them. They didn't like their authority in heaven. They thought they were the big shots who would have authority that they would gain for themselves. But the Son of God appears in their presence and they quake. The demons believe and tremble, James says. They tremble at the presence of the Son of God. Really, it's not a happy existence. It's a dark existence. It's a gloomy existence. It's an existence in bondage. Imagine being a person so accustomed to sin, so kept in the bondage to sin that you can't possibly do otherwise than just to go on in rebellion. No repentance for these people. No change for these people. No conversion for these people. No salvation for these people. I'm saying people, spirit beings, these messengers that who are created by God for his will and purposes, who have violated their standing, violated their creation by rebellion. It's a horrid existence. You don't want to go there. I don't want to go there. And then finally, there's that example that he gives from Genesis chapter 19 of Sodom and Gomorrah. And here's an example of an earthly situation, but it's an earthly situation that's very interesting. Because the first words of Genesis 19 is this, two angels came to Sodom. Two angels came to Sodom. These heavenly angelic beings are sent by God to Sodom. Originally there were three angels, and one of them turns out to be the angel of the Lord, some kind of a presence of God that met with Abraham. And in chapter 18 says, shall I not tell Abraham what I'm going to do? He's a friend. No secrets with me and Abraham. And so God says I've heard the cry of the city of Sodom. It's come up to my ears and I've come down to see if the report is altogether what is heard of what's happening in Sodom. And these angels came to Sodom for the very purpose of finding out. And they come into the center of the city and No one goes out to greet them. No one goes out to find out who they are. Finally, a lot does. And Lot receives them into his house. But now understand where they are. They're in a place called Sodom. That back in chapter 13 of Genesis is the place that Lot looked at. Remember he had to leave Abraham because their herds had become too great. The land was not going to sustain all of the herds and cattle and sheep and the rest that Abraham possessed and that Lot possessed. So they had to separate. And we read that Lot looked at the Jordan Valley. And he saw it like the garden of God. There's a place that was well favored by God. This was a land that was under divine, the smile of heaven. God gave it water that was rarity and scarcity in the Middle East. Fruitfulness. It was a land of bounty, a land of plenty. Yet these Sodomites did not return thanks to God, did not become worshippers of God. In fact, in Ezekiel chapter 16, Ezekiel chapter 16, read a bit about what the Sodomites were guilty of. I know it's been used for the purposes of, you know, mainly one type of sin, but really much about the sinful practices of Sodom often goes under underappreciated. And here's a statement in Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 48. As I live declares the Lord God your sister Sodom. Now he's speaking about the people of Israel. And yet they were guilty of many of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. And so, just like Isaiah addresses them as Sodom, so Ezekiel does. As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have. You're doing worse than they did. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had pride. Again there, pride. They had excess of food. Again, it was a land that was filled with plenty. Garden of God. Everything that delighted the eye, things desired to be fed upon. They had excess of food. They had prosperous ease. But what were they guilty of? Total indifference to the needs of others. They didn't need the poor. They didn't need the needy. The angels are standing out in the courtyard and nobody's going out there even to find out who they are or what they need. They were haughty and did an abomination before me so I removed them when I saw it. So something of a backstory to what we read about in chapter 19. And God came down through the angels to see, is this really as proud, as self-absorbed, as self-seeking, as callous and heartless a people as has been reported as the cry of their sins have come up to me? He sends the angels down and Lot is the one that gives them hospitality, receives them into his home. And no sooner does he do that that the people begin to see, well look, those angels, I mean, you've got to think angels are pretty good looking. You have to think that. The angels would be remarkably beautiful and remarkably lovely. Regardless of what you think in terms of sexual properties, just wonderfully wondrous. Why should Lot get the benefit of all that? That's what they think. They gather the whole of their crowd together and they begin to try to knock down the door of Lot's dwelling for the purposes of getting at these angels to use them, abuse them for their own perverse desires. That's why Jude speaks of the fact that they indulged in sexual morality and pursued a natural desire. And you know it's an interesting thing that happens. When Lot's faced by the reality of that mob, he thinks he should step on forward as the one to save the situation. And you know what a wonderful idea he came up with. He's about to sacrifice his own daughters to the lusts of these perverts and he thinks he's doing them a service or a favor. And I think Lot had some real problems trusting God in the midst of this situation, of even recognizing that he's entertained angels unawares, as Abraham did. I think there's a powerful warning there about seeking our own solutions to the complex problems of this sinful world. I mean, we think sin's gonna rescue this situation? to save these people, these angels, at the unconscionable cost of sacrificing his own daughters to a violent, rapacious mob? First of all, these angels didn't need him. Any help from what? What did they do? They blinded these guys. And then the intensity of their perversity is revealed, that even being blinded, they're groping for the door. They want their desires fulfilled. Ultimately, the cities receive fire from heaven. Total destruction away from the presence of the Lord, a judgment of eternal fire. Now, does that mean the souls of those people in eternal flames? Well, I don't know about eternal flames as being the only description of the plight of the lost. That is one picture, not the only one. Certainly fire destroyed their city, but it's a judgment of eternal duration. It's in the pages of our Bible, and it speaks to the issue of God's eternal opposition to evil in all of its forms. That's the point of it. You don't want to be part of a community of people who despise the grace of God. You don't want to be like the Israelites that failed to honor the God of their salvation. You don't want to be like angels created for glory, choosing darkness and choosing bondage. You don't want to be Like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose only passion is their own desires that they're going to pursue regardless of who they hurt, regardless of who they destroy, for they themselves will experience a judgment of everlasting destruction away from the presence of God. You say, well, I'm not tempted to go in the direction of any of those sinners. But hey, you know, none of those sinners thought they'd end up where they were. They didn't really. And one of the things that often is the pivotal issue, it's who are you listening to? Who are you following? That was the danger of these teachers. That's a danger of false teaching. in the Christian world today. That's why we have to be on our guard. That's why we have to be teaching the truth. That's why we have to be rooting and grounding all of our understandings, all of our beliefs in the Word of the Living God Himself. Again, we're all too prone to forget, but we need to refresh our courses again and again and again. So may God help us to be a people who are ever meditating on the law of the Lord, day and night, marinating our hearts, our minds, our souls, our beings, in the truth of God's Word. Even if it's between the innings of the World Series. To find a time for the Lord. To find a time for His Word. to find a time for the things that are essential, that are important. It's going to keep you out of heresy. It's going to keep you in the paths of truth. It's going to keep you on the way that leads to light and life and joy, unspeakable and full of glory. And that should be the burning passion of our hearts, to know Him, to love Him, to be with Him, to enjoy Him, to bask in the blessings of so great a salvation. May God be pleased to bless His word. As the way of life and death is before us, goly, let's go before him and choose the way of life. Father, we're thankful for this portion of Jude. We're thankful that in the midst of these difficult illustrations that this servant of yours has given, yet there's wondrous things to consider. We pray that we would consider those things. We pray you'd give us understanding in them. And we pray that you'd give us to have a deepening passion for the things that pertain to your grace, the fullness of your favors, that we would treasure your grace, we would not despise it, we would not reject it, we would not turn from it, that we would keep ourselves in the blessings of the grace and salvation of the living God, as we'd ask these mercies coming to you, in Jesus' name, amen.