Jude 4 – For certain people have crept in 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.
In yesterday’s devo, I mentioned that Jude uses multiple negative examples throughout Scripture to show that every generation has both true and false believers. Today, we’ll look at those examples.
Jude’s first negative example is taken from the days of Moses in Egypt as recorded in the book of Exodus. After being enslaved, we are told that God rescued a people who lived in freedom, until they died to enter eternal bondage. Jude’s big idea is that even if God is doing good things in our life, unless we repent of sin and trust in Him, we will die and suffer eternal misery, having ignored our salvation opportunity.
Jude’s second negative example is taken from angels who were created by God as ministers and messengers for Him, and those angels who sinfully rebelled against God and became demons. Unlike human beings, for them, there is no chance of salvation and all that awaits them is “eternal chains under gloomy darkness” and the “judgment of the great day” when everyone is sentenced to Heaven or Hell. Jude also mentions angelic humility in contrast to demonic pride regarding the death of Moses (Deuteronomy 34:5-6).
Jude’s third negative example is Sodom and Gomorrah from Genesis. Apparently, the apostasy in Jude’s day is the same as our own. He speaks of “sexual immorality” which refers to sexual sin of any kind, and “unnatural desire” which is a reference to homosexuality. Romans 1:18-32 further builds on the concept and speaks clearly against same sex relations between men and women as “unnatural”.
How to interpret why God eviscerated Sodom and Gomorrah with the equivalent of a nuclear strike of fire and flaming road tar from Heaven is hotly debated. For starters, like most sinners, these sinners were guilt of multiple sins. Ezekiel 16:49–50 says, “Behold, this was the guilt of…Sodom…pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.”
Tomorrow, we’ll look at six reasons why sexual sin is, most likely, the primary reason God killed everyone while saving just one family in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Which of these evil examples Jude uses to warn people of the coming judgment for sin is most sobering to you? Why?
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