In keeping with the recent practice of reading entire books of the Bible in one lesson, we will now approach another "biggie": Jude. 
[READ THE TEXT]
	Like Philemon, it too deals with conflict withIN the Church, but NOT the same issues as in Philemon. Here the stakes are MUCH bigger, bigger even that about slavery and Christians: THIS one deals with another threat to salvation truth itself. We have before talked about the Judaizers and how their doctrine threatened to alter and dilute the truth of our salvation. Jude was facing an equally terrible threat, and once again, it was from WITHIN the local church. 
	OK, so like the good and proper warriors we want to be, let us examine the intelligence gathered here for us and assess the threat. 
	First, just who the heck is Jude? Before we can decide how important the information is for us, we should consider the source. The author gives us two indicators: that he is "a bond-servant of Jesus Christ", and that he is a "brother of James". There are three possible people being named here: 1st, Judas the half-brother of Jesus (Matt 13:55; Mark 6:3); 2nd, Judas the apostle, called the son of James in Luke 6:16; 3rd, Judas, a leader in the early church who went to Antioch w/ our old Pals Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15:22. Given his use of "a brother of James", there is really only one good choice here. First, this Jude went out of his way to distinguish himself FROM the Apostles in vs 17 of his letter, so that seems to rule out choice 2. Second, the Jude who went with Paul and Barnabas CERTAINLY would have been called the Brother of James if he, in fact, had been that man. 
	So who the heck is this "James" I keep talking around? OK, look at it this way, in the early Church, there was in fact only ONE MAN who could be easily and clearly identified by only the SINGLE name of James, and that was THE James, the brother of the Lord mentioned in James 1:1, Acts 15:13; Gal 1:19; 1 Cor 15:7. It's like this: does anyone here REALLY have ANY problem figuring out who I mean when I mention the name ELVIS?? OK, so that's how it was with James in the Church then. And THIS guy Jude KNEW it TOO. And if HE was the "brother" of James, then he was ALSO the brother of Jesus, TOO, mentioned in Matt 8:55 and in Mark 6:3. 
	Well, if that IS true, why doesn't he SAY so? Well, OTHER people mentioned that the Lord's BrotherS were involved in Gospel work: 1 Cor 9:5. It must have been for the same reason that James also 1st and foremost called himself a SERVANT of Jesus instead of a Brother: humility, and the rememberance of the time when they did NOT believe their own brother as seen in John 7:1-5; not until Acts 1:14 when they saw Him resurrected were they apparantly convinced. And given the order of names in Matt and Mark, Jude would have been one of the, if not the, youngest of the brothers of Jesus. Ever TRY to imagine what it would have been like to have GOD as a big brother?? Or what Jude and James must have thought and remembered AFTER the resurrection about their childhood days together; and later, when they treated Him like some embarassing family Nut-Case that you hoped would wander off somewhere FAR away? The MORE they understood of Jesus GODHOOD, the LESS they would have been inclined to make any big deal of their real but limited genetic connection. James didn't make such a big deal of it either. Heck, it's quite possible that Barnabas had been saved longer than Jude OR James, since there is some indication in church history that he may have been an early convert of the Lord's BEFORE His death and resurrection. 
	OK, so now that we know WHO wrote this, WHEN was it written? Based on various theological and textual issues, we can place the date around 67-70 AD. There are STRONG parallels between this letter and 2nd Peter which is strongly placed around 67-68 AD. Also, Judes letter indicates that the Apostles warnings have had time to be circulated and proven true (vs 3, 4, 17, 18) which means it couldn't have been much earlier. All of this would have made the baby brother of Jesus about 70 years old when he wrote this. So it was with the experience and consideration of more than 30-40 years that Jude penned this postcard. 
	OK, so WHO was this letter meant FOR? Look at vs 1 for the address. How are they described here in vs 1? Here is the first of MANY "triads" used by Jude in this letter; it's a sort of literary device, whereby a sequence of three things is used to make a point. 
	In the KJV, they are described as "beloved", "kept" and "the called" which is the original word order in the Gr. There is no other place in the NT where Christians are said to be "beloved in God the Father". The verb tense used here is one that says that this love was manifested in the PAST BUT CONTINUES on into the PRESENT. Next, his audience are "kept in Jesus Christ". The Gr word is one that conveys the idea of a "keeping as the result of guarding". It's used of the Lord in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane in John 17:11 where He asks God the Father to "keep those whom Thou hast given me...". Jude is refering to that CONTINUOUS preservation with which Jesus keeps those who have trusted Him (see 1Jn 5:18; 1 Pet 1:5; 2ÄTim 1:12). Third, in the original Gr word order, is that they are "THE called". This expression reflects on the PAST - God's wonderful and compelling call to us to come and accept His salvation so great and free as described in Rom 1:6, 8:30; 1 Cor 1:24; Eph 4:4; 2 Pet 1:3. Understand, by placing this last, the author was EMPHASIZING it; that's why the other translations put it FIRST in the triad. It was meant to be the BIGGIE, as if to say "You CALLED Ones, who are beloved and kept...". 
	One commentator see's that the ENTIRE Godhead working THROUGHOUT TIME is addressed here in this introduction: The "calling" is the work of the Holy Spirit in us and to us in the PAST, at the START of our salvation life; the "love" by which we are "beloved" is of the Father and, as we pointed out earlier, continues on into the present; and the "keeping" is the ministry of the Son, expressing the most positive assurance a Christian can HAVE for the future; HE will keep us, NOT because of US but because of HIS effort. 
	OK, can WE include ourselves in this particular group? YOU BET. The fact is, he never DOES get too specific about his audience. THAT means that WE are CLEARLY included whether we want to be or NOT. 
	OK, so now that we know WHO wrote it (Jude), and WHEN he wrote it (late in the first century of the church), and to WHOM he wrote it (US), WHY did he write? Based on the text here, what WAS the threat? What was happening that would make Jude so blasted eager to fire off this postcard? FIRST, see v2: he wanted them to have these three things, and SOMETHING was threatening that. Vs 2 was NOT just some sort of form; Jude didn't have that much time to fool around. Understand THIS: BECAUSE he didn't have much time, EVERY WORD had to have POWERFUL MEANING; he couldn't AFFORD to WASTE ANY thing, any words at all. 
	SO, what are these three things he deeply desires for them (and US)? "mercy, peace and love multiplied". The word trans as "multiplied" means "filled to capacity", "MAXED OUT" as it were. 
	Why "mercy"? It is NOT a very common greeting, only seen elsewhere in 2JnÊ3, 1Tim 1:2, and 2Tim 1:2. Each of these letters was going to have to deal with FALSE TEACHERS and their teachings. The people who would be 1st reading this letter needed to know that they STILL NEEDED God's mercy, and that they STILL HAD it available, too. As we will see later, there are those in this local church that are claiming that they don't NEED ANYTHING, that THEY have it ALL NOW. NOT SO, says Jude, MERCY is STILL as essential NOW as when God gave it to us in salvation; EVERY DAY of our lives we will stand in the need of God's mercy. NOTHING BUT the unmerited mercy of the Lord can meet our CONSTANT need as habitually sinning people. For those of you who haven't met our Jesus yet, you may not realize that the KEY difference between Christians and UNsaved people is that the Christians are FORGIVEN sinners, and the rest of the world are UNforgiven sinners. It is that mercy, that decision of God's to NOT give us what we DO deserve that is our HOPE, and God CAN be merciful ONLY because of JESUS, what He did for us, and OUR PERSONAL ACCEPTANCE of His work for us. So, YES...MERCY DID need to flow overwhelmingly for Jude's friends.
	They were ALSO going to need it FOR EACH OTHER. Look further in the text in vs 22-23 and SEE where Jude calls them to have and demonstrate mercy. 
	"Peace" was ALSO needed, as we shall see when we hit Jude's descrption of how totally TRASHED this church had become. There is NOTHING MORE disrupting and distressing for a body of believers that when some SEEMINGLY WITHIN act and teach completely contrary to what God's WORD teaches. This church was in DESERATE need of peace, and hopefully by following what Jude was writing, they might once again HAVE peace in their midst.
	And "love"; BOY were THEY gonna need THAT as they read deeper into his letter...The teachings of these false believers called into question EVERYTHING that they had been taught. Challenging their need for Jesus, for obedience to Him, for submission to one another in love, even seeking to change HOW they viewed proper Christ-like pove for one another. These Christians NEEDED CLARIFICATION, they needed to be REMINDED what TRUE LOVE in JESUS IS. They had SEEN the excesses of sexual debauchery that the false teachers tried to call "love", and Jude was determined to let them know that they could have REAL love OVERFLOWING and ABUNDANT in and through their lvies and their church WITHOUT going they was of the false teachers. 
	Also, Jude needed to tell them how much HE loved them by his greeting, since he's about to haul back and GLOBBER some people in that church who are going to ALSO hear this letter being read in the assembly. He GENUINELY wants them to understand his motives for this HARD worded letter; that he dearly loves them and is deeply concerned and distressed FOR them.
	Vs 3: OK, so NOW to the POINT, having set the stage before. What does he cry out for them to DO? "CONTEND"! The Gr word trans "contend" literally means "agonize earnestly". This ain't no invitation to a quiet tea and biscuits luncheon to casually discuss some trifling esoteric bit of Bible trivia. NO! This is a BATTLE CRY, a SHOUT of WARNING: LOOK OUT!! BEWARE!! For WHAT?? The FAITH. NOT their attitude of trust and dependence upon the Lord, NOT "YOUR" faith, but THE faith; that body of TRUTH UPON WHICH THEIR TRUST IS BASED. This is a declaration of WAR against another attempt to destroy the Gospel! And he's telling them, HEY! You're at GROUND ZERO! You better get BUSY and DIG IN! Heretics and false teachers have invited YOU to a front row center seat to their attempt to destroy the Gospel! Jude NEVER intended to WRITE this letter. Proposeing to "write" (the Gr being a verb tense implying perhaps that the original task was to be a leisurely one), INSTEAD he finds he has to "write" using a Gr verb tense more indicating that he had to GRAB a PEN and hit the ground running! The phrasing here suggests that this was a rather unwelcome task, but it was "needfuL (KJV), the Gr lit trans "I HAD NECESSITY". How marvelous that he should be so faithful a Watchman for his precious brothers and sisters. He felt COMPELLED to tackle the threat. He CARED enough about them that he WAS WILLING to say the hard words, to SPEAK to the danger! 
	ARE WE WILLING?? Are WE willing to act when we see a precious brother or sister falling into a trap, drifting into falsehood, away from the Word? THIS JUST AIN'T THE JOB OF "THE PREACHER"! We CAN'T weasle out of it THAT easy! You walk down the street and you see a house on fire, do you REALLY have to debate the relative merits of crying out "FIRE!!"? Or if you just see a bit of smoke curling up from the door, maybe only just a LITTLE bit of fire, do you walk on saying "oh, it's just such a LITTLE fire, it really isn't worth the trouble to tell them about it..."? OF COURSE NOT! WHY? Because you know that fire NEVER gets SMALLER if it can find ANYTHING to catch hold of, and FALSE TEACHING that departs from the Faith is the same way! 
	And what else is there ABOUT this faith? The KJV does not do the Gr justice here, it is NOT merely "once" as in "once upon a time". It was "once AND FOR ALL delivered" to them. He's saying, HEY! You GOT it, it AIN'Y gonna CHANGE, and there AIN'T ANY REVISIONS! God, he implies, has handed over to them a FIXED and recognizable body of teaching about His Son, which to accept is to live, and to reject is to perish as a church. The Gr word trans "delivered" is the word used for the handing down authorized tradition in Israel. Jude is DECLARING that the APOSTLES have written the TRUTH, and NOT those OTHERS in their church who are claiming to have something NEW and BETTER! Anyone who would claim to have gone beyond what the Apostles taught is NOT to be accepted; they are to be CONTENDED AGAINST! Christianity IS based upon HISTORICALY verifiable truths, actual events, witnessed by real people; WHY do we make such a BIG issue about the fact that APOSTLES wrote or at least SUPERVISED EVERY word in the NT? Because THEY WERE THERE! They HEARD Jesus, they can speak with authority because they are speaking from FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE of Jesus Gospel.And MOREOVER, Jesus chose THEM, and His choice makes them OUR choice TOO; NOT some SELF-APPOINTED false apostle who says HE has something NEW and BETTER...SAYS WHO?!? Certainly NOT our Jesus! And THEY are the God PICKED and THEREFORE God GUIDED authors of THE TRUTHS that are The Faith. 
	With the author of Hebrews Jude is calling out "Let us hold firmly to the faith we profess..." (Heb 4:14, emphasis mine). Jude and the Hebrews author would agree with 2 John 9 and 10 that the man who "outruns" the doctrines of SCRIPTURE is to be REJECTED; I mean don't EVEN let him in the DOOR! This is NOT the same as someone who is not saved who comes to hear what WE have to say regarding Jesus and the Gospel. THIS addresses ANYONE who would present themselves AS proposing to TEACH about Christian TRUTH, THE FAITH, AS an AUTHORITY in our church. 
	GOOD HEAVENS! What on EARTH could be happening to provoke SUCH a response from Jude? He has shouted out "FIRE!", so NOW we need to ask, "WHERE??!!" Well, it's in VS4! Here we FINALLY get the FIRST indication as to THE THREAT! 
	What characterizes the threat? 1ST, it is people WITHIN the church; they have "crept in". Jude uses a word, a verb, that is only used here in the NT; it is a SINISTER and secretive word. Other extra-Biblical Gr authors used it to describe smuggling someone or something illegally into the country. Plutarch, my favorite secular Gr author, used the word to describe the insidious decline of good laws and the stealthy substitution of inferior ones. The verb LIT means "got in by the side"; it implies that they are NOT saved, that they did NOT "get into" the church the SAME way the BELIEVING members did. It is reminiscent of Jesus teaching in John 10:1 about thse who did not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs in "some other way" and is therefore NOT His sheep but a thief and robber; ie a THREAT to the SHEEP. Worse YET, they are STEALTHY, sneaky, ie: HEY! MAYBE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED BUT THERE'S A BUNCH OF COUNTERFIT CHRISTIANS SECRETLY POISONING YOUR CHURCH!! 
	What ELSE does he say about them? We see their past as sneaks, NOW he shows us their FUTURE. The KJV says "ordained", but the word doesn't really imply "destined" as much as it merely means what the NIV trans as "condemnation...written about long ago". This may refer to OT prophecies (ie Isa 8:19-22; Jer 5:13-14):

Jer 5:13  "And the prophets are as wind, And the word is not in them .Thus it will be done to them!" Jer 5:14  Therefore, thus says the LORD, the  God of hosts, "Because you have spoken this word ,Behold, I am making  My words in your mouth fire  And this people wood, and it will consume them.

Isa 8:19   And when they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? Isa 8:20   To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. Isa 8:21  And they will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward. Isa 8:22  Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.

	These would certainly have been "long beforehand" (NSAB) or "long ago" (NIV). But, ALSO, if the word trans as "long ago" is trans instead as merely "beforehand" or "already", withOUT the added sense of LONG ago,as the word was used in Mark 15:44, then Jude could have been refering to the much more recent writings of Peter in 2Pet 2:3, or of Paul in 2 Thes 2:6-10. Either way, Jude is saying these guys are BAD from WAY back, and God has NEVER been ANYTHING but HACKED at their evil lying ways. God IS not and has NEVER been surprised or taken in by their evil words, and THEREFORE NEITHER should THEY. 
	Then Jude presses on further, he is DETERMINED that his precious brothers and sisters get the FULL picture of the threat that is EATING AWAY at the life of their Church and of some of their own TRUE spiritual siblings. He calls then "UNGODLY", the word implying they are profane. THEN he continues to describe two KEY characteristics of APOSTATES: FIRST, they pervert and abuse Biblical concepts into something that God's Word CLEARLY CONDEMNS, that is, they CONTRADICT the objective Word of God ALL THE WHILE CLAIMING to be ACTING according to it; ie, lust is called "love"; hate is called "zeal"; 
	NEVER FORGET, we are LABELING creatures (remember Adam? God's first real job for him was to name EVERYTHING living on the PLANET!). Satan KNOWS this and so he will try to falsely MIS-LABEL sin and fool us into accepting it as OK. That is what Apostates will do, and why WE MUST know God's Word for ourselves. HERE, Jude's apostates were twisting the concept of God's grace into an excuse for lasciviousness, a word which implies in the Gr "UNRESTRAINED VICE", of "lawlessness and wantonness and immorality" (AMP). This false doctrine that was to become Gnostisism declared that since the flesh was NOT created by God (ie He only created the "spiritual" part of man), then there was NO problem with giving into it's desires. 
	The SECOND characteristic of apostates is that they deny the Person and Authority of Jesus. The DENY Him AS GOD, and therefore ALSO as their MASTER. Claiming to be their OWN "masters" who possess their OWN "truth" APART from God's Word, they MUST deny Jesus and the Word that declares and describes Him. Some modern apostates are more clever that to directly deny Jesus. The Mormons will CALL Him "the son of God" but if you inquire deeper, they will finally admit that they do NOT mean the Son of Jehovah God, Creator and God over ALL the universe, but rather of Adam god, something that we ALL can achieve if we follow their teachings. The Unification Church will say Jesus had the "spirit" of Messiah...but THAT means that He was really just a man like us who had this so-called "spirit" SUPERIMPOSED upon Him, that LEFT Him at His death and NOW is "filling" THEIR "master", the "Reverend" Moon. The net effect of such monstrous apostacy is to REPLACE God's Word with THEIR "words", and thereby supplant God's Truth (OUR FAITH, REMEMBER??) with their OWN false faith. 
	OK, having made initial IDENTIFICATION of the threat, he continues in vs 5 by saying "I want to remind you...though..." WHAT?? What does he say ABOUT them, about what they ALREADY KNOW? The KJV does NOT do this passage justice here. It is NOT a PAST event he addresses (ie "though ye once knew..."). It is a PRESENT participle best trans in the NASB: "...though you KNOW all things". And the "once" is NOT meant to imply as in "formerly" or "previously", BUT rather "ONCE FOR ALL". The NIV ALMOST catches it, but misses some when it says "though you already know all this". It is MORE than just "all this". The implication in Jude's use of words that MEAN "once for ALL" can't be overlooked. Read again the NASB trans: "...though you know all things once for all...". I believe that Jude is again attacking the apostates claim to NEWER and therefore GREATER "knowledge". Jude is telling them: You ALREADY KNOW the TRUTH. The APOSTLES TAUGHT it to you and IT DOES NOT CHANGE, it is true ONCE AND FOR ALL TIMES. It is ABSOLUTE and REMAINS TRUE NOW and FOREVER. And ALL the babblings of the apostates WILL not and CAN not EVER change what you already KNOW. 
	Having established that, Jude says he wants to point out to them a few things OUT of that UNchanging Word that they may have forgotten. He goes on in VS 5 to describe for ALL the readers to hear (ie BOTH FALSE and TRUE believers in the Church), just how BAD and TERRIBLE the problem really IS. He is DETERMINED to convince them to have the same sense of URGENCY and HORROR at their apostacy as HE has. So, he proceeds to remind them of examples that they ALL would know of just how GOD responds to such FALSE and DECEPTIVE pretenders. As before, Jude gives us THREE scenarios: Israelites out of Egypt, Angels out of Heaven, and Pagans out of the Plains. 
	The first example is important because, like the apostates among the other members of that local church, there were Israelites who were NOT TRUE believers in God, who DEMONSTRATED their FALSE "faith" BY THEIR BEHAVIOUR, BY THEIR FAILURE TO LIVE IN OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S WORD. And they PERISHED as a result. God did NOT spare them because they were "members" of Israel, EVEN as the apostates claimed membership in that Church. God saved them ALL out of Egypt, in essence giving even the FALSE unbelieving israelites a chance to CHANGE and BELIEVE. BUT, when they refused to, and rejected Him, He ultimately destroyed them.
	The second example was important in that it addresses "Spiritual" beings, showing that even with the greatest possible "enlightenment" and perspective on God as God, even THEY can reject God's authority, and when they DID, THEY were JUDGED. Once again, NOBODY is exempt, NO ONE gets away with sin, not EVEN the HIGHEST "Spiritual" Beings. What is this vs refering to regarding the Angels? [READ KJV, THEN NIV] The left ONE "place" for ANOTHER. The word trans as "first estate" originally just signified "beginning", and from this comes a secondary meaning implying a "beginning or first place of power", HENCE the trans "positions of authority", and that grand old man of Translators, Wycliffe, trans it "princehood". They were, and still ARE, God's created Beings; and like ALL that He creates, THEY had (and still have) a PLACE and a PURPOSE established JUST for THEM. Without getting into TOO much Angelology, suffice it to say that Jude is refering to a STATUS, a position of the Service and an ATTITUDE, rather than a GEOGRPHICAL location here. "Princehood" is WHO or WHAT you are, NOT WHERE you are. What did they give up this Uniquely Angelic position FOR? All we know HERE is that they abandoned it, they WILLINGLY and PURPOSEFULLY THREW IT AWAY. 
	Some theologians believe this refers to Gen 6:1-4 where the "sons of God" who cohabitated with "the daughters of men" refered to there were, in fact, Angels. Others feel Jude was referring to statements made in the Apochryphal Book of Enoch. Jews during the last few centruies BC were very interested in Angels, and this Book of Enoch records some of their speculation about angels. This vs in Jude does closely match passages from that "Book". It was NOT considered Cannonical even by the Jews, much less the Early Church. HOWEVER, even if Jude WAS using some quote from this book, it does NOT make Judes letter false NOR the Book of Enoch "Biblical". ALL it REALLY means is that, like Paul who ALSO quoted from secular or non-cannonical religious writings to make his points (his allusion to the Rabinnic midrash on the Rock in 1 Cor 10:4, and references re: Jannes/Jambres in 2 Tim 3:8, also statements re: angels giving the Law in Gal 3:19) as well as the author of Hebrews in 2:2 and 11:37 also (all which refer to apocryphal literature) that there was NOTHING wrong with using a well known concept to illustrate a point. A Divinely inspired author can certainly use contemporary ideas which were NOT contrary to God's revelation. 
	 The bottom line here is that Jude never DID give the source for his references, SO ANY statement is merely CONJECTURE. Suffice it to say, his READERS understood and accepted his remarks as valid and meaningful, so Jude needed no further explanation to them. 
	What happened as a result of their FORSAKING and ABANDONING GOD'S calling for them? The gr directly trans as "everlasting or always under darkness", with the gr word for "under" implying a sense of the darkness brooding OVER the fallen Spirit Beings; creatures who once bathed in the utterly pure incadescent glory of God's stark radience now covered with a foul blanket of thickest darkness. 
	HOW does this Angelic tragedy fit in with that church? Let those so-called "knowing ones" see THIS: the Angels had a FRONT ROW CENTER SEAT to God's very PRESENCE. NO ONE could have had a CLOSER view into the very MIND AND HEART of God that THEY, NO ONE could have had a more perfect KNOWLEDGE and YET THEY LOST IT ALL. Their "knowledge" did NOT protect them or excuse them from DISOBEDIENCE, from REFUSING to remain within the REVEALED will of God. Jude is trying to remind them over and over again, it ain't WHAT you know, it's WHO you know that brings eternal life. This is why mere intelligence or education does not and will not be the key factors in Spiritual maturity or growth, either. Some pretty rough looking folk in my life have been people of GREAT spiritual depth, because they knew Jesus, and knew Him intimately and personally, having insight into the Christian life light-years beyond the so-called babblings of MANY "educators" who clearly NEVER knew Him personally. See this was so even in the beginning of the Church:  
Acts 4:13 (NASB)   Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.
	Vs 7: Why did Jude pick Sodom and Gomorrah as his 3rd example? They were the most brazen, shameless and calloused examples of sin thrown in the face of God in scripture. And they are the most stark and vivid example of God's absolute judgement against such pointed intentional gross immorality. The gr word trans "giving themselves over to fornication" in the KJV is such a mouthful because Jude used an unusual compound word "ekporneuein", attaching the word "ek" implies "out and out", or "utterly". It could also speak to the "outside the normal" sense of their immorality. Jude then goes on to make sure they don't miss the point, and refers to "strange flesh" as a direct reference to homosexuality, the same exact sin that so characterized those ancient cities. Jude uses a further word to drive home the point of the FATE of those cities: "set forth" in the KJV and "exhibited" in the NASB and "serve" in the NIV is trans from the gr word LIT trans "lie exposed". Used for a corpse laid out for burial or meat on the table ready for the guests. It pushes the idea that they are OUT THERE IN PLAIN SIGHT SO LOOK and LEARN! The KJV rendering of "vengence" is NOT supported by the text. rather a better trans is the word "punishment" since the gr word has a sense of right or justice, not necessarily concepts associated with vengence. Since the cities did NOT get eternal fire themselves, (being pretty thoroughly burnt to a crisp and done with), the best sense of the passage is that they were an example of what God's eternal fire of judgement will be like [ie ref the NIV]. 
	So, apart from the obvious comparison of the then current sins of the false christians and the past ones of the Sodomites, what ELSE is here for that church and us? How LONG did the people of Sodom and Gomorrah sin before God finally acted? The implication from Scripture is quite some time. It was easy for them to figure that they would NEVER see God's judgement. So TOO these false church members. They stated in their false doctrines that they would NEVER be held accountable for their actions in the flesh, and so far it must have seemed that way...I mean there they ARE, STILL sinning and not one bit worse for the wear, either! "BUT WAIT!" cries Jude, it ain't over YET! God's judgement, though it delay, will SURELY come, even as it finally came time for Sodom and Gomorrah to pay up their past due account of sin.[give ex of man jumping off 200 story bldg..."so far so good..."; remember, it AIN'T the FALL that kills ya...it's the STOP!]
	Something else to consider from this triad of sin and judgement. NO ONE is spared - not the Promised who acted like they were worshiping Him, claiming to know Him, NOT heavenly Beings who had SEEN Him face to face, NOR those who did NOT know Him or worship Him. Knowledge alone won't hack it, and claims of ignorance will provide NO excuse from payment for sin. 
	Vs 8: Jude moves from historical examples, and uses them as a springboard to jump into their present situation. Here he swings the fiercely intense spotlight onto his PRIMARY TARGET: the apostates. The word trans as "yet" in the NASB and left off in the NIV expresses a sense of amazed outrage that though they HAVE these terrible examples before them YET STILL THEY PERSIST IN THEIR SIN. 
	He calls them "dreamers", as if to imply they can't possibly have a CLUE as to the Divine reality they deny, choosing to make up their OWN dream-world. Some believe Jude was refering to claims made by these false teachers that they recieved Divine revelation through their dreams, mighty convenient since no one ELSE would have been there to "check out" your story. These guys were the Joe Isuzu's of the early Church; they could do ANYTHING they wanted, and then claim they "had permission" from God in a dream! Who could challenge that? Jude could! And he did it by refusing to back down from the ABSOLUTE OBJECTIVE STANDARD OF GOD'S WRITTEN WORD! There EVERYTHING is open to examination and discussion, we ALL must play by the same Divine set of rules. 
	The word trans "dreamers" applies to the three actions Jude attributes to the apostates. Jude gives another triad description, still further trying to get his precious church members to SEE THE CONTRAST, TO UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM AND THE APOSTATES.