I want to Remind You

Jude Verses 5-11

“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.” (Jude verse 5)   Now I want to remind you, sounds like something a mother or dad, a pastor, or boss, might say to someone.  This is the question that comes to me, is there something I must have forgotten, like yesterday, when Jan reminded me our Friday night was booked, after I told her I had invited a young man to have dinner with us.  But this reminder is of much greater importance than missing an appointment, or forgetting to bring home some item from the store.  Jude is sharing that people who were slaves to an evil king were rescued by the Lord and witnessed great and mighty works of His hand, yet many of them never believed in the Lord, and Jesus, after many years, destroyed those who did not believe.

Before you get all full of self, I want to remind you that we often act as if we have forgotten we were also slaves in need of being rescued out of the control of sin, and Jesus in an act of love stepped out of heaven, became flesh, and walked among mankind for 33 years, gave His life, and shed His blood on a cross to rescue you and I.  So should it alarm us who get busy with living our life and our actions say that we constantly need to be reminded of God’s love for us?

I’ve given much thought to how great a deceiver Lucifer is, and we should be reminded he has many names in Scripture, and we also must understand none of us can stand against this enemy, it is not our job, we must run to Jesus, for Lucifer has no authority over a believer unless we give it to him.  Now with that said, I want to remind you about this evil one, this created being, this cherub, "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones." (Ezekiel 28:14)  He deceived angels who worshiped and did the bidding of their Creator, their God, into following him into rebellion against God.  So Jude reminds you and me in verse six about this action, and the outcome of their actions.

Jude goes on with God’s reminders to us, and says, “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. “ (Jude 1:6-7 ESV)  Do we need to be reminded God has spoken on sexual immorality, and what the world calls a Gay lifestyle, God calls unnatural desires and God does not change, that life style will bring judgment on a people and a nation that turns its head, as did Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities.

 I want to remind you about the archangel Michael and his encounter with the devil, found in verse 9, “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”  (Jude 1:9 ESV)  Listen to verse 10, “   But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.”  (Jude 1:10 ESV)  Folks, do we need reminding, we live in a culture full of such people, and you and I must examine ourselves to make sure we are in the faith.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice