in the little letter of Jude toward the end of your Bible, just before you get to the Revelation. So, you ought to be able to find it as small as it is there. It's been a few weeks, so I'm going to begin reading from the very first verse and read down to the beginning of verse 8, just to give us our context so we can hear it and see it clearly. This is the Word of the Lord through the half-brother of Jesus, Jude, who says, Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who are called. That's you, church. Beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, Although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Why? Because, verse 4 says, certain people have crept into the church unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now He's going to talk about that condemnation that is coming upon them. Verse 5, Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards 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 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 and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet in like manner these people also." And then he's going to continue to describe the judgment that is coming upon them. Let's pray. Father, it's hard to face the side of your character, Lord, your character is all one thing, but the realities of judgment, the realities of your fury at that which mocks and denies your sovereign goodness. So I'd ask that you would give us this morning ears to hear and undistracted minds to take in your truth and to understand what this would require of us. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. And so we're going to have to talk about judgment this morning. God's righteous judgment against those who, verse 4 says, pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. The judgment of God against sinners is not a pleasant topic. But oh, how necessary it is to our understanding. For while pop theology denies God's judgment and the warnings of punishment for those who persist in sin, Scripture is clear. These warnings are for our good to point us to our need for a Savior. And so that's where we begin this morning and need to begin this morning. Church, we need to be reminded about God's judgment. We need this reminder because we forget, because we tend to downplay it. Look what it says in verse 5. It says, now I want to remind you, church, although you once fully knew it. He's reminding us of something we already know or we should know, but are all too willing to forget. And that is that there is hell to pay for those who defy God's authority, who ignore His warnings, and who continue in unbelief. And Jude says, you know this. And the words he used mean, you know this full well. There's no ambiguity here. For the Bible-taught Christian, there is no doubt what Scripture says about It's not that the scripture is unclear in what it says, it's that we don't like what it says and choose to forget it and subvert it and find ways to put it out of our minds and keep it out of our mouths. Romans 1.18, among many places, warns that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. When Stuart Townend and Keith Getty wrote that wonderful song we just sang, In Christ Alone, They included that line, till on the cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. Don't you love that hymn? And yet in 2013, when the Presbyterian Church USA, a liberal denomination, wanted to include this song in their hymnal, they demanded to make a change. In place of the wrath of God was satisfied, they wanted to put the love of God was magnified. Now, the love of God is magnified in the cross to be sure, but they wanted to take this out because they found it offensive. They objected to the word wrath. They objected to the idea that God's wrath indeed is a central feature of the cross that Christ carried in our place. And to their credit, Talon and Getty refused, saying that it would gut the song and distort the gospel. And aren't you glad they did? Because without the threat of the wrath of God, you would have no need for the cross of Christ. You have no need for the gospel and the warning it brings to flee from the wrath to come by fleeing to Christ if there is no wrath to come. And so this is a question you really do need to deal with personally this morning. Do you have room in your theology for the righteous judgment of God that falls upon sinners? And if not, listen, then you do not have a biblical faith. And that ought to concern you. You're just making stuff up. You're just choosing to believe that which is pleasant rather than facing the truth. Because until you understand bad news about the wrath of God that brings judgment against our sin, you really can't understand the good news about the Savior who died to take that wrath in our place and set us free. Amen? Are we hearing this? To help us understand these warnings of God's judgment, Jude is going to give us three biblical examples of that judgment that fell upon those who defied Him, who disbelieved Him, and who disregarded His authority. So, three examples of God's judgment that serve as warnings for us today. And the first of these warnings is from Exodus. The warning that God's judgment falls on would-be believers, on mere professed believers who do not continue in faith. Verse 5, he says, I want to remind you that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who did not believe. Who did He destroy? He destroyed those who did not believe, those who did not continue in their faith. And so notice who these people are. They're not some hardened pagans out there, some Philistines who've never heard of the grace of God. These are Israelites. These people were part of the believing community, at least outwardly, they were part of the very congregation that God had rescued out of Egypt. And so clearly we're talking about the events from the book of Exodus, but notice a couple of things here. First of all, just notice who the Savior is. Jude writes that it is Jesus who saved a people out of Egypt. Now, some manuscripts give this simply as the Lord who saved, but the very best manuscripts say it very clearly that it is Jesus. Now, think of that. Think of what that says to you about our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful reminder that our Lord Jesus did not begin His life in the womb of Mary. He did not begin His saving mission at Bethlehem. He is and has always been, from eternity, God the Son, our only Savior. And so according to Jude, when we read the book of Exodus, we need to do so understanding that it is Jesus who saved them, just as He saves us. It was Jesus Himself who stood before Moses at the burning bush. Do you remember the scene? Exodus 3 verse 2 says that the angel of the Lord appeared to Him in flaming fire out of the midst of the bush. The angel of the Lord is one of the ways the Old Testament very commonly talks about Jesus in His pre-incarnate appearances. Before he ever came to earth through the womb of Mary, Jesus the Savior came and saved a people as we see here. Paul makes the same point in 1 Corinthians 10 when he refers to the Exodus generation. And he says of them, hey church, we must not put Christ to the test as some of them did. And they were destroyed by serpents. Why were they destroyed by serpents? They put Christ to the test. Christ who led them through the desert. Christ who rescued them out of Egypt. And so who is this Savior? In the book of Exodus, it's Jesus, God's own eternal Son, our Savior. And this same Jesus went down to Egypt to rescue His people from their slavery. And how did He do it? Just think of the imagery in the book of Exodus. A lamb was slain. Its blood was shed for a covering to save them from death. when judgment fell. Now that's all symbolic at that point in the book of Exodus, but already we see it is pointing us forward to the Christ and what He came to do in saving us. And so the whole Exodus 6-14 story is a salvation story pointing us to Christ as our only Savior. The very Christ that you too must embrace by faith. But then comes the twist. Not only did Jesus go down to Egypt to save the people, but afterwards, verse 5 says, this same Jesus destroyed those who did not believe. And so there is salvation for those who trust Him, to be sure. Praise God, we've celebrated that. But there is also destruction for those who do not continue in their faith. Now, what's Jude talking about here? Well, he's referring to really many places in the story, but specifically places like Numbers 14. Do you remember Numbers 14? Soon after he had saved them out of Egypt, Jesus led them through the wilderness to the edge of the promised land and was ready even then to give them the promised land. But the spies came back, ten of the twelve, and told them how difficult it was going to be, how hard it would be to take that land, and how strong the people who lived there were. And the result is the crowd of them rebelled. They refused. They would not believe God's promise that He would give this to them. In other words, they did not continue in faith. And the Lord who saved them out of Egypt destroyed them in the desert. Numbers 14 verse 11, the Lord says to Moses at that point, how long will this people despise Me? And how long will they not believe in Me? And then He continues and says, not one of these men who have seen My glory and My signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet they have put Me to the test, they have not believed Me, therefore, they will never enter this land. And they died in the desert. They did not receive the promised land. And so judgment fell on the very people he rescued out of Egypt. Why? Because they did not continue in faith. So here's the warning for us that Jude wants us to see. Listen, mere membership in the believing community, in our case the church, does not guarantee your salvation. This is not saying that you can lose your salvation, but listen, if you do not continue in your faith, you never had salvation. Matthew 24 verse 13 says, He who endures to the end. will be saved. That, by the way, simply puts the lie to the false doctrine of once prayed, always saved. Just have this little experience, just say these little magic words, and you've got a salvation that's going to stick even if you live in total pagan unbelief. Salvation is not a singular event or singular experience. It is an ongoing reality that His grace brings us into. Salvation is not found in a prayer that you prayed once upon a time or a decision that you made. Salvation is found in the person of Jesus Christ. And so we are saved by trusting Him, by clinging to Him now and throughout all of life into eternity. And so the question that you must ask yourself is not, did I profess faith in Jesus once upon a time? Did I have this certain experience? Did I pray that prayer? Was I baptized? Am I trusting Him now? And will I continue in this faith knowing that He is faithful? Because listen, when you do have that kind of faith that looks to Jesus and keeps looking to Jesus, then there is great assurance of salvation. When we get to the end of Jude's little letter, down in verse 24, he's going to say to us, now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, He can do this, and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy. God, dear Christian, is able to keep you, and He will keep you, but He will keep you by keeping you in the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And understand, warnings like this one are part of that keeping. You hear the warning, as we're going to hear this morning, and you understand that some who professed outwardly will be lost, and you say, that's not going to be me. And you run back to Christ and you say, Jesus, I'm clinging to You with all I've got. And amazingly, you find it's His grace that's keeping you in that clinging. Tom Schreiner helps us understand this in his commentary when he says, the main point Jude makes is clear. No person in the believing community can just presume on God's grace and think that an initial decision to follow Christ or be baptized can ensure future salvation regardless of how one lives. Israel's apostasy is a warning to all who think that an initial commitment secures their future destiny without ongoing obedience. Those who are God's people demonstrate the genuineness of their salvation by persevering to the end. These warnings are one of the means God uses to preserve His people to the end. Those who ignore such warnings neglect the means God has appointed to obtain final salvation. So, Jude pinpoints the reason Israel was judged. They failed to believe in God. The call to persevere in faith is not a summons to something above and beyond faith. God summons His people to believe in His promises to the very end of their lives. Christians never get beyond the need to believe and trust. And all apostasy stems from a failure to trust in God's saving promises in Christ. So dear one, heed the warning. Continue in faith. continue looking to Christ, confident that He will do it. That's the first warning. Here is the second. Second, Jude says, God's judgment falls on those who reject His creation order and insist on their own way. Verse 6, And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling He has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Even angels who transgressed are not exempt from God's judgment. Now, what's he talking about here? Well, it could, I suppose, refer to that initial fall of Satan, when he with a third of the angels rebelled and were cast out of heaven, but more likely, it is a reference to Genesis 6, 1-4, as understood by the popular literature in Jude's day. And so let me just read that to you. You can look at it yourself later as well. But Genesis 6, 1-4, that familiar passage says, When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God, which Jude is going to interpret as angels, saw that the daughters of men were attractive. They took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, My spirit will not abide with man forever, for he is flesh, and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and soon afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of man and they bore children to them, these were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. So this is just one of those passages that just raises a thousand questions, doesn't it? Who are the Nephilim? What is this? We'd love to pursue all those, but who are these sons of God? Are they fallen angels? That is the popular view, and it seems to be the view that Jude is taking. Or maybe another theory, they're the godly line of believers descending from Seth, earlier in Genesis, who are now intermarrying with the ungodly line of Cain, and putting in jeopardy the promise of the seed of the woman. That's another view. In fact, it's the view that I've held most of my adult life. And now Jude's making me question myself. And then what sin is involved here? I mean, it must be pretty bad because it provokes the full judgment of God in the flood of Noah. But then Jude doesn't follow the story of Noah in the flood. He focuses instead on these angels as he identifies them. Now where does he get this? Because Genesis says nothing about angels under judgment or eternal chains or gloomy darkness. All that language is drawn from Jewish tradition as found especially in the book of 1 Enoch. And we know that 1 Enoch is on Jude's mind because he's going to quote it to us directly down in verse 14, as we'll see in a few weeks. Okay, now I'm really opening up a can of worms, aren't I? I mean, what is the book of Enoch? Is it part of Scripture? Easy answer, no, it's not. And we'll get to some of that down the line. You're just going to have to wait if that's got your curiosity. But for now, I just want to show you the point that Jude is making here. No, he is not endorsing Enoch as scripture, but he is using Enoch's story to make his point. And what is his point? Let me just summarize the part of Enoch's story that Jude is referring to here. It's found in that old book, Enoch 6-19. But here's what was happening there. When sin was set loose on the world, Enoch says, everything got turned upside down pretty quickly. Well, we see the same thing in Genesis. And man's sin, he says, did more than just wreck the world, it wrecked the entire cosmos. And then in that environment of sin set free, fallen angels came and did the unthinkable. According to Enoch, they took on human form in a kind of a false incarnation. Maybe by possession, I don't know, and sought to procreate with human women. And the goal, it seems, of this was to pervert the human bloodline. Man made in God's image, since it would be through man that God would send the Savior to crush the serpent's head and end the reign of sin. So in a very real way, this was seen as a preemptive strike by Satan in an effort to destroy the promise of the Messiah. And so picking up Enoch's language here, Jude says these angels refused to stay within their God-appointed domain. That's the language he uses here. God created these angels to fulfill a role and perform a task for His glory, but they rejected their God-appointed role to pursue their own rule and do their own thing in opposition to God. That's the core of their sin. It's not just that they did this terrible thing with these women, it's that they defied God's creation order. God's created purpose for them in order to exalt and glorify themselves. Think about it. What were angels created for anyway? Hebrews 1.14 says that they are ministering spirits. sent out to serve for the sake of those who will inherit salvation. They were created to be subservient to man made in God's image. They were created to serve those whom God would save from the mess that is set loose upon this world. They were made to serve, even before man was around, for God's glory. But these fallen angels rejected creation order as given by God to pursue their own glory in their own way, which is what Jude means when he says they abandoned their proper dwelling, that place in creation that God had given them. Well, that's not what angels are for. Angels weren't made to mix with humans or exalt themselves above humans or rule over humans and raise up their own line of humans, but that's exactly what these angels have tried to do. And Jude says, since they did not keep to their own place as appointed by God, God has now kept them, verse 6, in eternal chains. under gloomy darkness until the judgment of that great day." That, my friends, is a devastating judgment. Eternal chains, meaning there's no way out for them, that there's no escape. These chains are eternal. Under deepest gloom, There is no hope for them. There is no Savior appointed to come and rescue them as Christ has come to rescue us. And they are waiting, they are waiting eternally, waiting for the judgment of that great day, the judgment pictured in places like Revelation or Matthew 22. 13, when the king says, bind him hand and foot, cast him into the outer darkness and that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Or 1 Enoch, I'll just quote one of his verses that clearly are on Jude's mind, and he says that they will then be held under the judgment of the eternity of eternities. They'll be led away into the gaping abyss of fire and into the torment and into the jail being shut up from all eternity. And whoever is burned up and destroyed from the present time will be bound up together with them until the completion of all generations. And there are many passages in Enoch that say similar things. Okay, so what is the warning for us? For us is this, defy God in His creation order and there is hell to pay. Quite literally. Thumb your nose at your Creator. Say to Him, You didn't make me. I owe You nothing. I'm going to write the rules. I'm going to be sovereign. I'm going to do what I please. And there is no hope for you. If God is willing to judge angels who defied Him? What will He do with you? 2 Peter 2.4 gives the answer, for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until judgment, well then the Lord knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. So these are sober warnings, and think of all the ways we, especially in this culture today, continue to do this very thing, to defy God's creation order. Secular humanism, which seeks to define our lives as human beings apart from God. Man the measure of all things. God no longer in the equation. We rule the roost apart from Him. Secular feminism, which defies God's creation order once again, specifically for women, saying that a woman is no different from a man, that there are interchangeable parts, that there are no defined roles in marriage or society or anything else. Transhumanism, that we can defy these bodies and manipulate them genetically and maybe improve on them and who knows, maybe even do away with our bodies entirely and upload our consciousness into a computer where we ourselves can be eternal. And then of course there's the whole array of LGBTQ confusion and rebellion as a culture in free fall refuses to acknowledge and celebrate what God has given us in His good creation of our bodies as male and female and instead we demand gender fluidity and self-determination even though all of that is simply a farce. And these are just some of the ways that we defy God's creation order. We refuse to submit to His sovereign design of our bodies and our lives so that we receive them as His good gifts and instead we demand to be our own gods. What hubris! Listen, there is only one God in the universe and He permits no rivals. Rival Him. And you pay the price, just as these rebellious angels. Which brings us then again to the third and related warning. And that is that God's judgment likewise falls on those who defy God by persisting in sexual immorality and perversion. Verse 7, just as, notice the just as, he's really continuing in the same class of sinfulness, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality, defying God's creation order, and pursuing a natural desire, rather than natural desire, these serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. So Sodom and Gomorrah, you remember Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 19, infamous for what? Well, infamous for the judgment of God that fell upon those cities because of their blatant sexual immorality. Now, of course, there are many today who, trying to dodge the obvious implications of this passage, will say that, well, the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah really was not homosexuality or sexual perversion. It was something else. It was that they just weren't hospitable enough. And I say this with as much grace as I can. Those who say such things are not being honest with the Scripture themselves. They're not being honest. Yes, there are places in Ezekiel where it brings in other sins that were committed, such as arrogance, but it never divorces it from the core sinfulness that Jude shows us here. By the way, notice how Jude, almost like he is foreseeing where people would want to go with this one day, defines their sin very, very clearly. First of all, he says that the sin that brought judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah was very clearly one of sexual immorality. Verse 7, these cities which saw this judgment, why? Because they indulged in sexual immorality. And the word he uses here refers to any kind of sexual activity outside the bonds of covenant marriage of one man and one woman. So we are back to creation order again. God made us as sexual creatures and created us to be bound together, one man and one woman, in a relationship of joyful sexual intimacy that by definition excludes all other arrangements. He, being a good Creator, made sex for our good to bind a woman and a man together for life in a relationship that would establish a family and bring children and create the foundation of society. That was His created purpose so that by definition, any violation of that purpose, any sex outside the bonds of that relationship is a grave evil. And he makes that really clear in places like 1 Thessalonians 4, 3-8, which, by the way, when you listen to this, remember this is New Testament. You don't say, well that's Old Testament. This is New Testament. Listen to it. For this is the will of God. Your sanctification, and he's going to define this sanctification in terms of what you do with your body. Your sanctification in that you abstain from all sexual immorality. That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor. Not in the passionate lust of the Gentiles, the pagans who do not know God. So if you ignore this to go your own way, and you refuse this, you are living like those who do not know God. And that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, why not? Because the Lord is the avenger of these things. Do this, face Him. As we told you before, and so solemnly warn you now, for God has not called you to impurity sexually, but to holiness in your body. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man, but God, who gives His Holy Spirit to you. Thumb your nose at this. Say, I'm going to do it my own way. I'm going to follow my own feelings and do what I think is right, no matter what God has said. Then you are putting your face in God's face, spitting at Him and saying, I will not be ruled by you. Listen, dear one, you cannot disregard God's command regarding sex and marriage and have any claim that you actually know this God. Paul is saying reject this and you reject Him. And as we'll see in rejecting Him, you come under His fiery judgment. Listen, this is just one of those areas where our culture is so far off base and so tragically misguided that it's destroying itself. And part of being a Christian is embracing wholeheartedly and without reserve the biblical standard for sexuality. That means abstinence before marriage of one man and one woman, faithfulness in that marriage in seeking to honor God. But second Jude goes even further, doesn't he? Second Jude goes on to declare that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah specifically involved homosexuality. Now, man, that's controversial today, isn't it? But the fact that it's controversial shows just how far off the mark we have run as a culture. Jude says the sin of these cities that brought God's judgment was what? They pursued unnatural desires. Literally, they went after strange flesh. Meaning, they indulged in that which was contrary to the nature given by God in their creation. And Paul will pick up that same thread and say that same thing in Romans 1 when he describes the Roman culture that was falling apart and the sins of Rome and the Greek culture that were bringing God's wrath. Listen to how he describes those. Romans 1.24, Therefore God in judgment gave them over to the lusts of their hearts, to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. Ignoring the bodily creation and the creation order, they're going to do their own thing. Verse 26, for this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their very feelings and desires were perverted and bent and twisted. So that He says, their women exchanged the natural relations, woman with man, for those that are contrary to nation, woman with woman. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion, sexual passion, for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their evil. Years ago, I was teaching for Missouri Baptist, a class largely unbelievers who'd never read the Bible. And we read this in a passage as we're introducing the Roman world. And this young woman raised her hand. And she said, excuse me, professor, do you think this is talking about homosexuality? And I said, I think that's rather obvious, isn't it? Or you could continue to places like 1 Corinthians 6, 9, and 10. Paul says, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Then he defines the unrighteous who won't inherit the kingdom of God. He says the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, and men who practice homosexuality. These, and he goes on, will not inherit the kingdom of God. Listen, the problem is not that the Bible is unclear. The problem is people don't like what the Bible clearly says. Because it bucks up against our cultural desires and our self-centered values and our demand for total human autonomy. And so we have bought the lie of identity politics that leads a man to say, this is who I am and to respect me you have to respect this. My desires define me. And God says, no, this is your sin. your desires betray you. They've bent and twisted you into something perverse, something I never designed you to be, but I have sent Christ to rescue you if you'll repent and believe My promise. And of course, by the way, that's true of every sin, right? I mean, Jude is focusing on this sin, but this is true of your sin. Whatever your sin may be, that sin perverts and twists and mangles us. But Jude does focus on this sin. Why does he do that? We'll go back to the beginning of the letter. And what do we see these false teachers doing? Look at it again in verse 4. He says that they are perverting the grace of our God into sensuality. They're saying that the gospel frees me to indulge in sexual sin. So they're perverting the grace of God into sexual sin, condoning sexual sin on religious grounds, and thus denying Christ's sovereign rule. The whole point of Jude's letter is Jude is warning us about these false believers who have slipped into the church, twisting the gospel into something that condones sin rather than remedies sin, and embraces a sexual immorality as something God now approves of. And it just seems obvious to me that Jude is warning us about the very thing we see taking place all around us today, where so-called churches in the West, specifically mainline denominations, but sadly also some who are evangelical, They'll do the same thing. They'll wrap themselves in a rainbow flag. They'll justify homosexual activity and homosexual sin on some grounds that, well, we've just, for all these years, those stupid people who lived before us misunderstood the Bible. Think of someone like Andy Stanley or someone who says, oh, that's not what the Bible says. When he knows full well that it is. So I just want to be as clear as possible here. Listen to me please. You cannot be wrong with God on these issues and right with Christ. You cannot be wrong on these issues and right with Christ. Isn't that what Jude is saying? Those who would come under the guise of religion and teach the acceptance of sins the Bible defines as perversions, or to use the Old Testament word, abominations, You know, the so-called clobber verses? There are folks who will say, well, those are clobber verses. As if by calling it a clobber verse, you remove it from Scripture and you don't have to consider it because it's a clobber verse. No, if it's a clobber verse, let it clobber you! It's trying to tell you something. And dear one, these people cannot be embraced as brothers. And I hate to say that, but it's true. They are corrupting souls and leading people to indulge in lusts that will damn them. And part of contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints is to be willing to say that. Now, we must say it with compassion and even tears. with humility, knowing our own sin and our own need of a Savior, to be sure, but until people understand that they are under God's wrath for sin, they will never seek the Savior. And so God's wrath fell upon Sodom. Genesis 19, verse 24, Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire, that's the original fire and brimstone. out of heaven from the Lord, and He overthrew those cities, meaning He destroyed them, and all of the valley, and all the inhabitants of those cities, and everything that grew on the ground, quite literally, fire fell from heaven. The fires of hell itself. And so Jude says, in fact, that is just a preview of the eternal fire of the judgment that is yet to come. Do you see that in verse 7? He's not unclear. These people, he says, serve as an example. These cities serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. The fire that burned through Sodom was lit by the same fury that will burn in eternal judgment. 2 Peter 2.6 makes that clear as well. By turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ash, He condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly. And brothers and sisters, we ought to fear. And we ought to understand it is not compassionate to hide this from people and to refuse to say with tears what God has warned. And so Jude says, We must know these warnings. Do you know these warnings? And we will know these warnings if we honor Him and His Word above all. So the question is this. What are you going to do about this? Will you take it to heart? Will you take it to heart for yourself? Will you let these warnings of judgment lead you to repentance? Will you let them drive you to forsake your sin, whatever that sin is, and run to Christ for cleansing and forgiveness by faith, knowing that the same One who calls down judgment upon sin saves from sin for all who call upon Him? Will you take it to heart for yourself? Will you take it to heart for those you care about? People blinded and confused by this broken culture. Or will you just leave them in their sin knowing what awaits them. Can you at least be moved to pray for them? To cry out to God, pleading for their souls? And to look for opportunities that He would give you to lovingly warn them and point them toward the Savior, even though it's uncomfortable, even though it might harm your relationship. Because this is what our disposition should be toward those whose lives are given over to these things. Jude is going to get there eventually, but I'm going to have you skip down to the end of Jude's letter. I'm going to close with this, verses 20-23. As Jude is wrapping it all up, he gives us two admonitions. First he says, but for you, beloved, Building yourselves up in your most holy faith. Praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Waiting for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Oh, keep clinging to Jesus and the Gospel, knowing His power to save. And then in verse 22, what about others? And have mercy on those who doubt. There are those out there doubting. There are those professing Christians who are falling in unbelief. Have mercy on them. Go to them. Love them. Share the gospel with them again. Verse 23, save others. These are the ones who have indulged in these sins. Snatch them out of the fire. And to others, also in their sins, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Don't condone their sin. Don't say it's a good thing. Understand that it's a terrible thing. But there is a Savior from terrible things, and His name is Jesus. And so this is our calling in light of these warnings of coming judgment. We must take the warnings seriously. And we must cling to Christ by faith as our only hope. And then we must warn others with compassion and seek to share the good news of His salvation with them, knowing that all, all, all who repent and believe will be washed and cleansed and saved by His mercy. May the Lord give us clarity and compassion as we consider these warnings of judgment. Father, it is always a hard thing to consider Your straight clear words about judgment and judgment to come. We live in a culture that hates this kind of thing. They would mock us. They were listening in. They would call us haters. They would see us as just the scum of the earth for even daring to believe such things. Lord, but that puts us in the quandary. We can believe You or we can believe them. To believe them is to partner with them in their own destruction and perhaps even our own. To believe You is to bring salvation to ourselves and to others who through us might hear by the power of Your Holy Spirit. So Lord, we choose by Your grace to believe You. To let the chips fall where they may. To take these warnings to heart. And I pray Lord for anyone in this room that needs very personally to take the warnings to heart. to flee the wrath to come by fleeing to Christ, by believing that Jesus died to take away, yes, my sin, and gives life to the one who turns to Him, that the power is in you. We don't have to clean ourselves up first. We don't have to straighten ourselves out first. We just come running to You with all the mess and muck and stink still clinging to us, and we say, Jesus, I'm a mess, but You promised to clean up the mess, and I am throwing myself without reserve upon You, Lord, Cleanse me. Save me. Make me new. And by Your grace, I will follow You to the end. Lord, would You grant that even this morning for Christ's sake? Amen.