The sermon by David Green, titled 'The Terrible Ending of the Apostates,' focuses on the message from the book of Jude, specifically verses 5 to 7, which highlight the fate of apostates. Apostates are defined as those who deny the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the sermon stresses that this is a matter of spiritual life and death. Green elaborates that while believers may have disagreements on biblical interpretations or doctrines, apostates are categorically different as they reject the core tenets of Christianity. The sermon uses examples from the Old Testament, such as the Israelites who were saved from Egypt but later destroyed due to unbelief, the angels who left their proper domain, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, to illustrate the severe consequences of apostasy. The speaker emphasizes that judgment is inevitable for apostates, as they will not be able to deceive God with superficial faith. The sermon warns against the complacency of those who believe mere association with a church ensures salvation, highlighting that true faith is necessary. Green concludes by urging the audience to remain steadfast in their faith in Jesus Christ and to not follow the teachings of apostates.

Jude, and we'll go ahead and start with verse one, but our text will be verses five through seven, so go ahead and take your copy of God's word and let's look at our text here. We'll start with verse one and go on down to verse seven this morning. Verse 7 this morning. Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are the called, Beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you, exhorting 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 turned the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, though you know all things, that Jesus, having once saved the people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 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 having indulged in the same way as those in gross sexual immorality and having gone after strange flesh are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. So reads the infallible, the inerrant, the all-sufficient word of the living section our text today that we want to take is verses five through seven as we continue on with this and and in excuse me in the title of this lesson is the terrible the terrible ending of the apostates the terrible ending of the apostates I've mentioned it a time or two already, but what is the major difference between an apostate and a believer, a fellow Christian, someone that you may have a disagreement with.

Say someone that you may be, is a fellow believer, maybe you disagree with him on the timing of the rapture or maybe a celebration of a holiday, something like that. Maybe you have a disagreement about the age of the earth. What's the difference between that person and an apostate? How would you put it into a, How would you sum that up? Does anybody remember?

Well, to put it simply, an apostate is a gospel denier. So a believer, a fellow Christian that you have a disagreement with about something like the head covering or maybe a disagreement about a Bible translation. That's not an apostate, unless of course it's a New World translation. And that person, that's not a, you know, Jehovah's Witnesses, they're not fellow believers. That's a whole other group, okay?

But, what I'm talking about, you know, your brothers and sisters that sit beside of you in church, people we fellowship with at a Bible conference. Maybe you know them and you have fellowship with them and you agree with most everything, but Maybe you believe that the Lord could come back at any time in a pre-trib, pre-mil rapture, but maybe they believe in a post-mil type of a second coming. You know, those sorts of things, that happens all the time among believers. But what Jude is writing about is apostates. Apostates are a whole different category.

These people deny the very gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, I want to make that very, very clear here. He's writing about apostates and their ultimate ending here when he writes in verses 5 through 7, and he reminds them of what is coming to these people. A believer can go through life and be wrong about Genesis 1-11. Can be wrong about the head covering, can be wrong about even some of the great doctrines that make us Baptist.

The amount of water in the Baptist tree, things of that nature. But if you get the gospel wrong, that's a matter of life and death. You see, There's no hope for someone who gets the gospel wrong. And that's what he's talking about here. And so, in this text, this is what he's talking about.

In this letter, This is what he's writing about. And he says, now I want to remind you though you know all things. He's pulling to their memory some things that happened in the Old Testament. He pulls examples, Old Testament acts of apostasy as reminders to illustrate the damnable outcome as had been declared in verse 4. Remember in verse 4, we read it just a moment ago, we preached some of it last week, but he said, For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, Those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation.

Ungodly persons who turned the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. So these people are denying the Lord. These people are marked out for condemnation. They're on their way to hell. They're reprobates.

They're headed somewhere and it's not good. And then he says, I want to remind you of something and he brings them back to the Old Testament. He's reminding them of some things, some uncomfortable things, but some things that they need to be reminded of. A lot of times pulpits are silent about these sort of things Because I mean we like to we like to talk about and think about happy things. We like to preach about and talk about happy things.

What is it the people want to say all the time? God loves the sinner but not the sin. And that's what people preach, that's what people talk about all the time. But the reality is judgment is coming. And at the judgment, that's not the way it's going to work.

The reality is, the apostate who spends his or her time working against the gospel of Jesus Christ, is not going to be able to stand before God, and say, well, here I am. Here I am, let me in. And he's reminding them of these things. You know, he says, in fact he writes it, he says, I want to remind you though you know all things, the people that Jude is writing to, these were seasoned saints. People who had read the Old Testament, they'd studied the Old Testament, they knew the scriptures.

And isn't that the way for a lot of us? They were well informed. This was not something they never heard before. Preaching is teaching, but most Preaching is teaching, but most of our preaching is a reminder. Nothing new being preached, but it's a reminder.

It's a reminder, isn't it? But oh how we need to be reminded. Even those of us who've read the Bible over and over again, those of us who've been in churches all our lives, we need to be reminded of these things. And where he goes with this reminder, he goes straight to the Old Testament in a Christ-centered message. He says, I want to remind you, though you know all things, that Jesus, verse 5, that Jesus, having once saved the people out of the land of Egypt subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

Now as you believe. Now as you read this in the LSB or hear me read it in the LSB you may notice that this is a little different than what you may have heard before. That is, there is a textual variant that shows up in the text here. Not all English translations read this way. And the reason for that is because in the Greek, not all of the manuscripts read this way either.

So some have the Lord, some have Jesus. I share with you what the LSB translators wrote on this verse, since they're the ones who translated here. They wrote, there is a text critical issue here regarding whether the best reading indicates it is Jesus or the Lord who saved a people out of the land of Egypt. That Jude would attribute Israel's salvation from Egypt to Jesus is perfectly consistent with the doctrine of Jesus's pre-existence and his work in the Old Testament. This also follows seamlessly in context as Jude has mentioned Jesus Christ as Master and Lord in the previous verse.

He is clearly the one in view as Savior and Judge in this verse, and the fact that Jude would bring Jesus into view in relation to this Old Testament context serves to remind his readers about the character of their Lord. They are to know that Jesus is concerned about more than mere outward identification with the people of God, as was the case with unbelieving Israelites saved from Egypt. Rather, he is concerned about the genuine faith of those whom he came to save, for his salvation reaches to the very hearts of his people." End quote. And so the translator's job is to take a look at the manuscripts and translate accordingly. And that's what they wrote about this passage.

The NET Bible, not my favorite translation, but they have a lot of translator notes in it, And so I enjoy that. And in their notes, they wrote, the reading Jesus is deemed too hard by several scholars since it involves the notion of Jesus acting in the early history of the nation Israel. However, not only does this reading enjoy the strongest support from a variety of early witnesses, but the plethora of variants demonstrate that scribes were uncomfortable with it, for they seemed to exchange Curius or Lord or Theos God for, sorry my Greek is terrible, for Christ or Jesus as difficult as the reading is in light of verse 4 and in light of the progress of Revelation. Jude being one of the last books in the New Testament to be composed, it is wholly appropriate. And so the net translation they also they also translated very The net translation, they also translated very similar to what the LSB did here.

As Dr. William Varner wrote, he said, those who affirm the pre-existence of Jesus should have no problem seeing an act of Jesus in the Old Testament, especially in light of 1st Corinthians chapter 10. So if you will go with me over there for a moment. 1st Corinthians chapter 10. Beginner verse 1.

Let's begin. Begin in verse 1. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them God was not well pleased for they were struck down 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 is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play nor let us act in sexual immorality as some of them did and 23, 000 fell in one day nor let us put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by the serpents nor grumbled as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer." You see, Jesus was active in the Old Testament, the pre-incarnate Christ. And the Bible brings that up. Paul believed it and Jude also believed it, which is Very significant.

Very significant. Don't miss this. Yes, we are to remember, as we're reminded here in the text, that there is a terrible ending for the apostate. It's a warning for all of us, and for all who we come into contact with as we come into contact with them, but also let us be reminded of this, that Jesus was at work in the Old Testament. That indeed, His name is Yahweh.

He is actively involved in the salvation of His people and destruction of the apostates all through human history. And the example which is applicable for us is this. Though Israel had been rescued, saved, redeemed from Egypt, from slavery, been brought out of the land. That did not prevent the apostates from being struck down by Almighty God for their unbelief. So it is today, Just as there were among the people who crept in unnoticed, false professors, so it is today.

Men and women who slip into churches, think that they are safe. As it was in Egypt, and as they came out of Egypt into Israel and then to the promised land they thought that they were safe, that they were among the redeemed, that nothing could befall them, that only God would be doing things to the enemies of Israel, that they were the descendants of Abraham, that nothing could fall on them? Is it not the same way today that there are people who think that as long as they are on the roll of a church somewhere, that nothing bad will befall upon them. There are those who think, even though they've denied the gospel of Jesus Christ, either with their lips or their actions, they are apostate, They think that so long as they are in with the right crowd, the right church, they have their name on the right roll, that they are safe, this will be their ticket on up into heaven. And this delusion they will carry with them all the way up into judgment.

But there's no safety in that. And Jude reminds his readers of this. In fact, Jesus proclaimed the same thing over in Matthew chapter 7. The warning is given. Matthew chapter 7 verses 15 through 23.

Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so every good tree bears good fruit but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit but nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, so then you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, in your name did we not prophesy, and in your name cast out demons and in your name do many miracles then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness." So we see they practice deception in this life They think just like the children of Israel, just like those who were unbelievers, they think that as long as they follow with the crowd, they will be safe. And even take that deception, that delusion, all the way up into judgment when they stand before the judge of all of the earth and they'll say, well, Lord, Lord, in your name, and put into perspective that we'll get in our circles, didn't we do this with your authority? Didn't we do this with church authority?

But beloved, These types may fool people in this world and in this life, but the apostate, the hypocrite, the wolf in sheep's clothing will not be able to trick, will not be able to deceive the judge of all of the earth, the omniscient, all-knowing, all-powerful God of heaven and earth. Israel is a good example. Because you follow this all the way through, and you see the unbelievers, as they were destroyed and all of those things, and even when the Messiah came, What were they doing? They reject Him. They were trusting in their own works, in their own genealogies, in their own bloodline.

Send Him to the cross, and all of those things, thinking that there was heaven to be won through the keeping of the law, through circumcision, and so on and so forth. When it's clear that the Scriptures that they were reading through and looking at and all they were speaking of Jesus. They missed it. They missed it. They rejected him.

So Israel is a good example of the fate of the apostates. Even though they had been brought out of Egypt, There were those who did not believe they were destroyed. So, just because someone has a bloodline of being a Jew doesn't mean that they're going to heaven. And so he brings that out. But then also, this isn't the only example.

Verse six of our text, they're in Jude. And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandon their proper abode, he is kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. So he brings out the angels as an example. God had made a covenant, cut a covenant with Israel, but yet he held them accountable and cut out the apostates there and the unbelievers, they're... There's an example.

Angels? Angels? What about them? What's he talking about here? We know from reading our Bibles that the devil and the demons and angels, that they're all active.

So what's he talking about when he writes about angels who kept not their own domain but abandoned their proper abode, that he's kept them in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Day. Well, I believe that he's talking about a specific apostasy of angels. A group of angels that fell into sin in such a way that they are now, even as we speak, reserved for judgment. Peter also wrote about these in 2 Peter chapter 2.

2 Peter chapter 2 verse 4. Verse four, when he wrote and said, for if God did not spare angels who sinned, but cast them into the pit, delivered them to chains of darkness, being kept for judgment." So as we compare scripture with scripture, we know he's not talking about the devil. The devil's not bound right now. He's not talking about Satan, is what I mean. We know there are demons.

There was a lot of demonic activity, especially in the time of Christ. We read about that. We know that there are demonic activities even now in this present world, but something, something happened in the history of the world. In the context of what Peter is writing here, he goes on and he says, he did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. So he's talking about something, I believe, that happened in the ancient world.

I believe what he's talking about is in Genesis, Genesis chapter 6. We looked at this some months ago. But in Genesis chapter 6 and verses 1 through 3, the Bible tells us here that in Genesis 6 beginning in verse 1. Now it happened 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 good in appearance They took wives for themselves Whomever they chose then Yahweh said my spirit shall not strive with men forever Because he indeed is flesh Nevertheless his days shall be 120 years." I believe that this is what Jude is talking about here. I believe that's what Peter is writing about as well.

That these, that this specific group of fallen angels that are reserved for judgment are indeed those who were involved in this act of sin, having left their first estate as the King James translates it, but as our LSB says it here, that they didn't keep their own domain. They rebelled in such a way that they abandoned their proper abode and have been kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the Great Day. There is something to be said about apostasy and our God is not going to mess around with this sort of thing. And that's what that's what Jude is writing to tell us. This is what the Holy Spirit has for us, that God is not pleased with those who who rebel against his word.

And so we have the example of Israel, we have the example of the angels. But then in verse 7 of our text therein, Jude, he brings up Sodom and Gomorrah. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having indulged in the same way as these in gross sexual immorality and having gone after strange flesh are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire." And so it's no mistake that he should bring up Sodom and Gomorrah. They were destroyed because of the strange flesh, as he put it, the homosexuality and the terrible sins that was going on in that place. In fact, If you go over to Genesis chapter 19, you'll see You'll see there Genesis chapter 19 Genesis chapter 19 verse 24, And Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.

And He overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. And so it was brimstone and fire out of heaven as Yahweh God poured out His judgment on the land because of the sexual immorality that came down on that place. It's no mistake that he should bring up Sodom and Gomorrah because remember, those unbelievers had rebelled against their creator and these apostates that Jude is writing about, they also have rebelled against the very God that they have crept into churches. Because what are they doing? Well, they have turned, verse 4 says, the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

You see, these are the types that are very antinomian in their preaching and in their teaching, meaning that they do not believe that there's any law of God, any rules or regulations that basically anything can go. These are the types of places where Once they get out in the open, there is unregulated sexual sin that becomes prominent even within the so-called churches. They're the types that will drape out the rainbow flags. They're the types that will have open adultery and fornication and all sorts of things in the name of Christ. And Jude says, there's a terrible end for this.

The judgment of God is coming. You see. They're the ones who will cry out, you're legalistic if you believe marriage like the old people did. And we say no, this is what the Bible teaches. And we say judgment is coming.

You see, all of these things, whether you look at the Jews of old as they were coming out of Egypt. The unbelievers that fell in among them that thought that they were safe. They said, oh, we've been rescued. Yahweh is here to protect us. We are descendants of Abraham.

He won't touch us. But he did because of their unbelief. The angels who fell, thought that they could get away with doing whatever they wanted, did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode. They've been kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. An example of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them that were destroyed.

Archaeologists have been looking for that place. There are places, there is a place in the Middle East which they've been able to find evidence destroyed by balls of sulfur, nasty magnitude of destruction. They think that that was where Sodom and Gomorrah was. This text serves as a warning, a warning that these apostates are no different than the unbelievers in Israel, no different than the fallen angels in Genesis, and no different than the sodomites chasing strange flesh, they will all end up in the same terrible place, suffering the same fate before a thrice holy God. Let this text serve as a warning.

Do not go the way of the apostate. Do not follow them. Do not follow their teachings. Do not follow their doctrine. Follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

Follow the Word of God. Continue in the faith. May God add the blessing to the preaching of His Word. Let's have another song.