A Sure Salvation

[0:00] Good morning. The scripture reading for today is taken from the book of Jude chapter 1. We will read the full chapter.! Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.

[0:15] To those who are called, beloved, in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

[0:26] Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

[0:40] For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were designated for the condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

[0:58] 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.

[1:11] 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.

[1:26] 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.

[1:42] Yet, in like manner, these people also rely on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

[1:54] 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.

[2:10] But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

[2:22] Woe to them! For they walk in the way of Cain, and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error, and perish in Korah's rebellion.

[2:33] These are hidden reefs at your love feast, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds, swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame, wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

[3:06] It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness, that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

[3:36] These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires. They are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

[3:48] But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, In the last time, there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.

[4:04] It is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourself up in your most holy faith, and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, that leads to eternal life.

[4:29] And have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

[4:42] Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory, with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all times, and now and forever.

[5:07] Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you very much, Joan. for reading for us. Well, last Sunday, we concluded our extended sermon series in the book of Genesis that spans 62 sermons, and we broke it up over a period of three years with some other smaller series in between.

[5:32] But Genesis, to date, has been our longest sermon series as a church. This morning, we began a new sermon series in the letter of Jude.

[5:43] It's a much shorter book of the Bible, and it has a total of six sermons in this series.

[5:55] But the letter of Jude was not chosen this morning because it is a shorter letter. Instead, we chose the letter of Jude because it's a timely letter.

[6:09] And more than that, Jude is a timeless letter. It's timeless because the concern that Jude addresses in the letter of Jude is an ongoing concern in the church.

[6:23] It is an ongoing concern. It was an ongoing concern. Jude was writing approximately 30 or so years after the Lord Jesus died and resurrected from the dead.

[6:37] And false teachers had infiltrated the church. And one of the realities of the life of the church is that false teaching will ever be around us and in some churches in the midst of us.

[6:55] And so the letter of Jude is always a relevant and timely and really timeless letter for us to be considering.

[7:10] Jude recognizes the concern of contending for the faith. And he brings that concern to all of God's people and holds all of God's people responsible for contending for the faith.

[7:25] If you belong to Christ, this is your responsibility. This is your duty if you belong to Christ. And part of the protection for churches, yes, elders are called to govern the church and to guard doctrine, but that's not just the responsibility of elders.

[7:49] Jude commits this responsibility of contending to the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, to the whole church. He writes this letter to the whole church.

[7:59] And so this is our collective responsibility. And yet, as timeless as this letter is, as important as this letter is, theologians agree in a widespread way that Jude is perhaps the most neglected book of the New Testament, is the most neglected letter of the New Testament.

[8:27] Though it is timely, though it is timeless, and though it places a responsibility on all of us to engage in this precious task of contending for the faith, this precious faith that's been delivered to us by which we have been saved, it is a neglected book among God's people.

[8:53] Back in 2018, we preached through the letter of 2 Peter, and the Apostle Peter in his second letter addresses some of the same concerns that Jude addresses in this letter concerning false teachers.

[9:13] And some theologians actually believe that Jude wrote before Peter did. But again, what we see is that this concern about false teachers is not an isolated concern.

[9:30] Brothers and sisters, this is an ongoing concern against which we must be on our guard. We need to be on our guard against false teaching.

[9:45] So as I mentioned earlier, this is a six-weeks sermon series, and the Lord willing, we will be giving our attention to it over the next six weeks.

[9:59] But this morning, our attention is going to be directed to the first two verses of Jude's letter. Let me pray for us as we look to God's word.

[10:14] Father, we bow our hearts this morning, and we are so grateful for the privilege of having your word. We thank you, Lord, for the letter of Jude.

[10:26] And we ask that you would grant us the ability to hear it as we should, both this morning and over the next six weeks. Lord, would you sensitize us to this responsibility that we have collectively to contend for the faith.

[10:48] I pray, Lord, that we would grow in our love for the gospel, in our knowledge of the gospel, so that we would be better positioned to recognize false teachers and their false teaching.

[11:09] If you speak to our hearts now, Lord, would you help me to be faithful to bring your word to your people? And may all that is said and done this morning bring glory and honor to your great name.

[11:27] In Christ's name we pray. Amen. So this sermon this morning is both an introduction to the letter of Jude as well as an introduction to the sermon series itself.

[11:44] While these two verses that we're going to consider this morning might be seen as nothing more than a customary greeting, I think it would be a mistake for us to approach them in that way.

[12:00] We would lose so much of what Jude intends for us in this letter if we quickly read over these two verses, relegating them to a customary greeting.

[12:13] These opening verses of Jude, these are part of his letter. These were written by Jude under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and they lay a fitting foundation for this letter.

[12:33] The letter of Jude is a hard letter. It's not hard in terms of its construction or the words or our ability to understand it.

[12:43] Jude is hard because Jude is a corrective letter. And Jude does not mince words when he addresses false teachers.

[12:55] And some have said that this is perhaps one of the reasons that Jude is a neglected book because it is a hard book. It is a corrective book. It has a strong corrective tone for most of the letter itself.

[13:10] Jude sets out to bring correction to those who are perverting and distorting the truth of the gospel. But that's not all that he does.

[13:24] Jude also brings enormous encouragement to those who belong to Christ. And what we see is that Jude is a wise pastor. Jude is a skillful pastor who understands that in bringing this correction to those who are false teachers he could unsettle some who genuinely belong to Christ.

[13:51] And so Jude structures his letter in such a way that he brings encouragement to those who belong to Christ so that they are not as likely to be unsettled by the things that he says.

[14:04] And so the way Jude structures his letter is the correction that Jude brings is in verses 3 to 16. And the encouragement that he brings is in verses 1 and 2 and then in verses 17 to 25.

[14:24] Jude sandwiches the correction with words of encouragement on both sides. And he encourages us not in some emotional way but he encourages us in the gospel to help us to understand the sureness of the salvation that we have so that we may not be unsettled as he addresses those who are perverting the gospel.

[14:52] This is a wise and a skillful pastor and I pray that we would hear Jude this morning. This morning I want to consider these two verses of Jude under three headings and they are number one the author of Jude number two the audience of Jude and number three the aim of Jude.

[15:23] first the author of Jude. In verse one the letter of Jude begins in the customary manner in which letters were written in that day which as I mentioned earlier Jude would have written approximately 30 years or so after the Lord Jesus was resurrected.

[15:47] so he wrote around AD 60 early 60s there about and in that day and time they wrote letters different from the way we write letters.

[15:59] We write letters by putting the person's name to whom we are writing at the beginning and then we put our name at the end of the letter. On that day they began with the person who was writing the letter that person's name would be stated first and then it would be followed immediately by those to whom the letter was written.

[16:25] And so Jude begins Jude a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. Jude was a shortened form of the name Judas and it was a common name.

[16:42] It was a very common name in that time. And so Jude further identifies himself not just by his name but he identifies himself as a servant or a slave of Christ, a slave of Jesus Christ.

[16:59] Now this would have been a common claim. Even the false teachers would have said that they were servants of Christ. And so Jude identifies himself in another way and he identifies himself as the brother of James.

[17:19] Now James is also a very common name. James is a very common name like Jude in that day and time. But among the churches, among those who would have been receiving this letter that Jude was writing, there was only one person who could be called James and needed no further reference or introduction about who that person was.

[17:47] And that was James, the brother of the Lord Jesus, or we might say the half-brother of the Lord Jesus because Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus.

[17:58] there was only one person who could be referred to in that simple way as James, and that is the half-brother of the Lord Jesus who became a prominent leader in the local church.

[18:15] James is referred to, for example, in Acts 15 verses 13 to 21. He's also referred to in Acts 21 verse 18, and then also in Galatians 2 and 9.

[18:29] And James is also the author of the book of James. Now, James, as I said, was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus.

[18:46] And so if James was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, and Jude says he's the brother of James, it means that Jude is the brother of Jesus.

[18:58] And in this we see Jude's humility. Jude could have said from the outset, Jude, the brother of Jesus, the brother of James, but he doesn't do that. Jude does not flaunt his biological connection to Jesus.

[19:16] Jesus. Instead, he emphasizes his spiritual connection to Jesus, that he was a slave of Jesus, who was his biological brother.

[19:34] Jude would not have always been a believer in Jesus Christ. The brothers of Jesus were told in the Gospels that they did not believe in Jesus during his earthly ministry.

[19:47] For example, in John 7, verse 5, it says none of his brothers believed in him. In Mark 3, verse 21, we're told that his whole family, Jesus' whole family, believed that he was crazy, that he was out of his mind.

[20:05] And so both James and Jude would have come to faith later in life, perhaps after the resurrection of Jesus.

[20:18] And so Jude is really identifying himself in this way as indicating that he wasn't always a believer in the Lord Jesus.

[20:31] And so what we see him doing is showing tremendous humility in not flaunting that he is the biological brother of Jesus, but instead he is emphasizing that he is a servant, a slave of this one who he didn't always believe in.

[20:53] Now, obviously, the fact that he refers to James as his brother, it seems that Jude does want some functional connection to James, who is this prominent leader in the church in Jerusalem.

[21:11] And that's helpful because it would identify him with someone who is sound in doctrine, someone who is guarding the teachings of the apostles,! And he obviously would have benefited from that by identifying that James is his brother.

[21:31] but what I want us to see this morning is that the most important identity that Jude takes to himself is that he is a slave or a servant of Christ, meaning that these concerns are not his concerns.

[21:50] The burdens that he lays out in this letter, they're not his burdens. He is a servant of Christ, he's a slave of Christ, and therefore he is doing Christ's bidding, and the concerns he raises are Christ's concerns.

[22:07] The encouragement that he gives is Christ's encouragement because James, Jude, is nothing more than a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[22:21] So Jude, a servant of Jesus, the brother of James, is the author, he's the human author of the this letter. But we should remember that God himself is the divine author of this letter.

[22:40] And we shouldn't think for a moment that when Jude is rebuking and correcting false teachers that Jude is on a rant, and Jude is emotionally spewing and lambasting these false teachers.

[22:56] No. He says, God ultimately through his servant Jude who is bringing this correction and who is uttering these words.

[23:08] These are God's inspired words, inspired through the Holy Spirit, who inspired Jude to bring and write this letter.

[23:20] more. So having considered the author of Jude, let's now consider the audience of Jude, which is my second point. If you are familiar with how New Testament letters are generally directed, you probably would recognize that Jude starts out a little differently from what is typical for New Testament letters.

[23:49] Normally, the writer would identify the group of people to whom he is writing in some geographic location, for example, the church or churches in a particular location.

[24:01] Now, Jude no doubt had specific churches in mind. Jude didn't have these concerns in a vacuum. Jude was aware that these concerns were false teachers. They were a reality in particular churches.

[24:18] But Jude does not identify these churches in a geographical kind of way.

[24:29] And I believe it's by divine design that he does that. See, sometimes when we pick up our Bibles, and I've heard people do this, and it is a letter written to the Romans or to the Corinthians or to the Galatians or to the Philippians or the Colossians or the Thessalonians or to the Hebrews, people can get and say, well, he was talking to them specifically, and sometimes that is the case, where it is something very unique and specific to them, and it doesn't apply to everyone.

[25:07] But we have to guard against that, because when we get in that zone, we have to be absolutely careful that we don't dismiss what God intended for all of his people and just relegate it to some people.

[25:21] we don't have that temptation with Jude's letter. Jude does not identify a specific group of people geographically that he is referring to, and so we should all embrace this letter without reservation that Jude writes.

[25:46] Although Jude does not identify the people to whom he is writing geographically, he identifies them spiritually. And if we can find ourselves in this identity spiritually, we need to hear this letter.

[26:04] Jude identifies the audience to whom he is writing in three specific ways. He identifies them in three important Christian ways.

[26:19] people. And these are ways that if we belong to Christ, we should treasure these ways. And we should recognize that this is our identity. This is who we are.

[26:32] First, in verse one, Jude identifies his audience as those who are called. And in this identity, Jude is saying something very important about those to whom his letter is written.

[26:47] He says they are called. He's saying that they all had a common experience, this common experience of having been called. And identifying them as called, what Jude does is Jude reminds them of a glorious truth that is true of all believers in Christ.

[27:13] That in salvation, God the Father called them to himself. This is fundamental to the identity of what it means to be a Christian.

[27:31] The only reason that anyone is a Christian is because God the Father called them to himself. This description of called is a standard word to describe believers in the New Testament.

[27:53] One verse that is popularly known and widely quoted is Romans 8, 28, where the Apostle Paul says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

[28:17] And by called, we should not understand it to mean some kind of an invitation. An invitation that just goes on and says, well, you know, if you'd like to, you can come and you can do this.

[28:31] No, the call of God is a specific call to specific people, and his call is effectual where God calls people to himself in salvation.

[28:43] If this call was a mere invitation, none of us would answer it, because none of us could answer it. But this is a call that God makes and that God makes effectual.

[28:58] He causes what he desires in the call to come to pass, and that is that sinners would come to him in saving faith.

[29:10] Now, there's a general call that goes to all without exception, which is the preaching of the gospel, which we are commanded to preach, to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature, to everyone.

[29:30] That is the general call that is sent out to all. And God uses that general call to specifically call particular people to himself.

[29:46] It's not based on morality, it's not based on merit, it's not based on deservedness, it is rooted in one thing and one thing alone, and that is the sheer grace of God that brings sinners to himself, who left to themselves, would not come.

[30:15] Our coming to Christ is based on works, it's based on the grace of God and the call of God.

[30:30] So Jude first identifies his audience as those who are called, the second way that he identifies his audience is he says, they are beloved in God. By this, Jude means they are loved by God.

[30:46] They're loved by God in a special way. This is a special love that God has for his people. It's a special, unchanging, unbroken love that God has for his people.

[31:02] Jude is saying that those whom God has graciously called are also loved by him. It's important to understand in terms of a sequence how these two work together, this call that God does and his loving in a special way.

[31:27] God loved us before he called us. The call of God to himself in salvation that happens in time.

[31:39] It happens at a moment in time in a person's life. But even before God calls, he loves. And what the Bible tells us is that he loved before the foundation of the world.

[31:55] He loved even before we were a thought or an idea in someone's mind. He loved us in the eternal past. He set his love upon us.

[32:08] Listen to how the Apostle Paul says it in Ephesians 1 verses 3 to 6. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

[32:23] even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy and blameless before him.

[32:38] In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace which he has blessed us in the beloved.

[32:59] Now you might be thinking well doesn't God love everyone? And he does. But the love that Jude is directing our attention to this belovedness love.

[33:17] God is a special and a unique love that God sets on his people and he did it before the foundation of the world. He did it because of his own free sovereign grace that he set upon particular people and that he brings to pass in a time-space world when he calls people to himself as a result of that love that he set upon them before the foundation of the world.

[33:49] And it shouldn't be unusual to us that God loves in a differential way. We love in differential ways. The love between a husband and a wife is not the same as the love between a parent and a child.

[34:06] Or other loves that we have. We have this capacity to love a whole lot of different things and we can love them in different ways and the love that God sets upon his people, those whom he has elected to save before the foundation of the world is a special and a unique love that never changes.

[34:34] The Bible describes this love in several different ways. The Bible calls it an everlasting love. The Bible calls it a steadfast love.

[34:45] Everlasting means everlasting. Steadfast means it is unchanging. It is an unbroken love. It is a love that we can be sure of that if God sets his love on someone, that never changes.

[35:00] Why? Because God never changes. For God to set his love on a person and for that to change undermines God's unchangeableness.

[35:13] God sets his love upon us comprehensively. It's not based on our performance. It's not based on who we are and the merit that we have in ourselves.

[35:23] It is based on his sheer mercy and grace alone. Jude says he is writing to those who are both called and beloved by God.

[35:37] And brothers and sisters, if we are beloved by God, we will always be loved by God. Nothing can ever change that.

[35:50] I'm sure all of us in this room, or most of us at least, we have lived long enough to experience a love that changed.

[36:02] Maybe it was a love between a parent and child. a love between a husband and a wife. Maybe it's a love between siblings or friends. And maybe it wasn't just perception.

[36:18] Maybe it was real. Maybe the love was betrayed. And we know what it is to experience that. That a love that we relied on, that we thought was secure, that was taken away from us.

[36:30] We know the heartbreak of that. Brothers and sisters, the comfort that we have is we will never know that with the Lord. Never know that with the Lord. In our darkest hour, in our most difficult season, his love is steadfast.

[36:47] His love is sure. His love is everlasting. And as Jude is preparing to write this strong and corrective letter to the church, he's assuring those who belong to Christ, you will always belong to Christ.

[37:01] You are beloved by God. God has set his love upon you, not because you're special, but because he is gracious.

[37:13] He has done that. The third way that Jude describes the audience to whom he is writing in verse 1 is they are kept for Jesus Christ.

[37:26] And so the ESV says they are kept for Jesus Christ. If you have an ESV Bible, you'll notice that there's a footnote after the word for. And at the bottom of the page, the footnote tells us that the word could also be translated by.

[37:47] So instead of kept for Christ, it can be translated kept by Christ. And theologians who are much smarter than I am prefer kept by Christ rather than kept for Christ because it is clearer.

[38:03] And it is also consistent with the witness of Scripture that Jesus Christ is the one who keeps those who are saved.

[38:18] So what Jude does is as he writes this letter, he reminds those who are called by God and who are kept by God, those who are called by God, those who are loved by God, that they are kept by Christ.

[38:41] You see, the way our minds work, we could think for a moment, well, yeah, I'm called by God and I'm loved by God, but I need to keep myself. Jude says, now there is an element where we need to certainly be faithful to walk in the light and to walk in obedience and Jude will get to that later in the letter when he says that we have to keep ourselves in the love of Christ and we'll talk about how those two complement each other.

[39:10] But for now, what he's saying to them in these opening words of this letter is that they are kept by Christ. Christ ensures that each of us who belongs to him will make it all the way home.

[39:31] Isn't that a comfort, brothers and sisters? That is a comfort to know that the one who saved us will ensure that we are kept, that we are preserved, and that we will make it all the way home.

[39:48] Listen to these words of Jesus assuring us of this particular truth. In John chapter 6 verses 35 to 37, after feeding the 5,000, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

[40:05] Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe.

[40:18] all that the Father gives me, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

[40:31] The Father gives particular ones to the Son, and those particular ones come to the Son in saving faith.

[40:41] if the Father gave everyone to Jesus, everyone comes to Jesus. Jesus said, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast them out.

[40:56] Never do it. And really he's saying, I will hem them in, I will keep them, all that the Father gives to me, I will never cast them out.

[41:08] notice again the sequence in verse 37. The Father gives to the Son, they come to the Son, whoever comes to the Son, the Son keeps.

[41:25] The Father gives to the Son in eternity past, they come to the Son in time, when the Father calls them, when he effectually calls them to save faith, they come to the Son.

[41:41] Jesus goes on in John chapter 6, verses 39 to 40, and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but raise it up on the last day, for this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

[42:10] We've been memorizing John chapter 10, verses 27 to 30. A few weeks ago, we were memorizing this scripture. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

[42:34] notice verse 29, my Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.

[42:47] I and the Father are one. Jesus keeps those whom the Father gives to him. The Father gives particular ones to him, and they come to him without exception.

[43:03] And he keeps them without exception. In John 17, verses 1 to 3, where Jesus is praying the last recorded prayer that we have him pray on this earth, as he's praying, not just for his disciples, but he's praying for all those who would ever believe.

[43:24] This would reread, when Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes, to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

[43:51] And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

[44:05] Brothers and sisters, before the foundation of the world, God, in grace and mercy, chose particular sinners for salvation, and he gave them to the Son. And at the time that he decides, he calls them to himself in this time-space world.

[44:27] And every one of them to whom he has given to the Son, they come to the Son. They will come to the Son without exception. And why do they come? Because the Father effectually causes them to come.

[44:40] The Father brings them to the Son in that call that he utters. And the Son has promised he will keep them.

[44:51] He will keep them and they will never perish. God's Jude is writing to these saints. He's writing to God's people and he's assuring them of this sure salvation that they have.

[45:08] It began with God and it will end with him.

[45:20] It begins with his love, it continues with his call, and it will be finalized in Christ's keeping power.

[45:34] It is interesting to me that this letter of Jude is primarily focused on false teachers who were using the grace of God as a license to sin and engage in all kinds of immorality, sexual immorality and financial immorality and living lives without any regard for anything moral.

[46:02] They were using the gospel as a license. But notice that Jude does not water down the gospel. Jude does not introduce legalism to try to cause people to live in a certain way.

[46:17] No, what he does is he holds out the goodness of the grace of God in the gospel and he says, this is who you are. I'm writing to these who are called, who are loved, and who are kept by God.

[46:36] The same gospel that they were distorting is the same gospel that James was underscoring and not watering down with legalism.

[46:47] because, brothers and sisters, what should motivate us to serve Christ, what should motivate us to live holy lives is the mercy and grace of God that has come to undeserving sinners like us.

[47:04] We sing a song, How Deep the Father's Love for Us. And the last line of it says, Why should I gain from his reward?

[47:15] I cannot give an answer. Brothers and sisters, if we're thinking straight, none of us can give an answer that points to merit in ourselves. The only answer we can give, it points to the grace of God, whereby he set us love on undeserving sinners like you and me.

[47:39] And in time he saved us. He called us to himself. because he loved us. And that should humble us.

[47:51] It should make us proud. Because that's not for everyone. That wasn't done for everyone. Because again, if he gave everyone to the Son, everyone comes to the Son.

[48:07] Without exception. All those whom the Father gives to the Son comes to the Son without exception. That's pure logic about the reality of those words.

[48:18] And that should humble us, brothers and sisters, that the God of the universe set his love upon us. And he saved us.

[48:33] And he gave us a heart and a desire to serve him and to please him, even when we fall short. Even when we miss the mark, a heart is aligned and desirous of serving him.

[48:49] Jude wanted to assure them that they had a sure salvation. Let me ask you this morning, are you in this audience that Jude addresses?

[49:05] Are you called? loved? Are you loved? Are you being kept by Christ? I pray that you have this assurance.

[49:23] I pray that you are. That you have this assurance that you are secure in Christ. and I pray that if you say yes, I'm in that audience.

[49:38] I pray that it's not a trite yes. I pray that it's a grateful yes. I pray that your heart is overwhelmed with gratitude to God for his grace.

[49:51] That you are truly identified by these wonderful and gracious descriptions of being called and loved and kept.

[50:03] And that you have this great assurance, this great comfort, that no matter what happens to us in this life, we'll always belong to Jesus. And he will see that we make it home.

[50:22] If you're here this morning or if you are watching online and in honesty, you would say, no, I'm not in that audience.

[50:37] I'm not called, not loved, not being kept. I'm not in that group. I say to you this morning, if you would identify that you're not in this group, believe the gospel.

[50:53] Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. And he promised that all those who come to him, he will turn none away.

[51:07] And so I say to you this morning, believe the gospel, turn from sin, trust in Jesus, and you will be among those who are called, loved, and kept.

[51:24] God. So first, the author of Jude is Jude himself, a humble servant of Christ. Second, the audience of Jude is those who belong to Christ, those who have been called by God, those who have been kept, those who have been loved by God, those who have been kept by Christ.

[51:46] And third and finally, we come to the aim of Jude. Jude's aim for this letter is in verse 2. It's stated as a prayer.

[51:58] May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Jude wants mercy, peace, and love to be multiplied to this audience Nomi is writing.

[52:14] In short, what Jude wants is Jude wants the recipients of this letter to experience the effect of the gospel multiplied in their lives.

[52:28] In these three words of mercy, peace, and love. God's mercy comes to us in salvation.

[52:40] And when God's mercy comes to us in salvation, the Bible says that we have peace with God. And when we have peace with God, the Bible also tells us that the Holy Spirit sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts.

[53:01] Listen to how the apostle Paul brings this together in Romans 5, verses 1 to 5. He says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[53:25] Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the glory of God.

[53:38] Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

[53:53] And hope does not put us to shame. Here's why. Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

[54:06] Jude's aim is that these evidences of God's salvation, mercy, peace, and love will be multiplied to his audience.

[54:19] Mercy, peace, and love are gifts of salvation. But we're not only the recipients of them at salvation.

[54:30] James is saying that we can experience this effect of salvation in our lives. mercy, peace, and love in an ongoing way.

[54:42] He says it can be multiplied to us. And that's the aim. That's his prayer for those to whom he is writing. God's mercy is multiplied in our lives and becomes more evident in our lives love.

[55:00] When we seek to live in the shadow of the cross. When we seek to be reminded in an ongoing way that through the gospel, the mercy of God has come to us.

[55:15] And that mercy that God gave us in salvation, we continue to need his mercy. It reminds us of our need to be humble before God and humble before one another, and it reminds us of our need to extend that same mercy that God has given to us, to others.

[55:35] Extending it in our homes to our wives and our children. Extending it in our homes and between siblings. Extending it in our workplaces.

[55:49] Extending it with those with whom we have various kinds of relationships. God's peace is multiplied in us when we are aware that we are no longer the objects of God's wrath.

[56:12] That change on Calvary's cross, we will never be the object of God's wrath. If God removed us from being objects of his wrath, it will never be repeated where we will again become objects of his wrath.

[56:26] Will he discipline us? Yes. He disciplines those whom he loves. But he will never pour out his wrath upon his children.

[56:37] His wrath has been poured out once and for all on the Lord Jesus Christ, for all those who put their trust in him. And we can know this piece because we're reminded that our greatest need has already been met.

[56:51] the greatest need that you and I have is the need to be forgiven by God, never to be condemned, and to always belong to him.

[57:03] That is peace. It doesn't matter what we face in this life. We know that that is a settled issue. We can know this peace in a world that is absent of peace.

[57:17] the worst thing that could happen in our world can disturb the peace that God has given us in Jesus Christ. And then finally, we can know this multiplied love by regularly reflecting back on the place where God displayed it on Calvary's cross, where God demonstrated his love for us when we were sinners, when we were without strength, when we were hideous, and daily we could remind ourselves of that.

[57:53] God loves me, set his love upon me. And that love that's been shed abroad in our hearts, we are able to share that with others around us.

[58:11] May grace, may peace, my love, be multiplied to all of us as we hear this message from Jude throughout this series.

[58:30] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the gracious salvation that we have. we thank you that it is rooted in your grace that before the foundation of the world you loved us and set your affections on us.

[58:56] And then in a time-space world you called us to yourself and we are kept by the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that these truths will be a comfort to our souls and that we will live in the good of them.

[59:16] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.