Jude 5-7

v5a: Why do we need to gather with God’s people to hear His Word preached? “Why can we not be content to stay at home and read our Bible?” It is not because we need to be taught “something new in every sermon, something that we knew nothing about before,” but because we need to be reminded of what of what we already know. Good preaching may teach us new truths, but it will “call to mind things that we have forgotten… move our spirits, and… stir up and establish our resolutions, so that our lives may correspond to our faith.” Jude then tells us of three incidents from the Old Testament that we need to be reminded about.

v5b: We need to be reminded of the destruction of the unfaithful Israelites in the desert. Why? To teach us that we should not presume on the spiritual privileges we have. “Many who were brought out of Egypt by a series of wonderful miracles still perished in the desert because of their unbelief.” This should be a warning to us.

v6: We need to be reminded of the fall of the angels who were not pleased with the positions they had been assigned, so “they abandoned their positions and rebelled against God, their Creator and sovereign Lord.” If they are facing judgment on that great day, consider what will happen to fallen humans who refuse “to be servants of their Maker and his will.”

v7: We need to be reminded of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. “Their ruin is a particular warning to all people to be on their guard against and flee from fleshly lusts that war against the soul,” that we don’t “imitate their sins.”