Jude 1:1-3

The book of Jude, first three verses. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. Mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered under the saints. God blessed to us His sacred and holy word this morning, or this evening. At the birth of his son, there was a certain king who instructed his royal gardener to develop the most magnificent, flower that he could. And this magnificent flower would one day then be presented to the wife of his son, the one he had chosen to be his bride. While the royal gardener set to work, he decided he would focus his attention on the most regal of the flowers, the rose, and his work would be such that he would find a rose and develop one of great beauty beyond description. Over the months and years he experimented, blending his roses to create all manner of interesting blooms. As years passed by, eventually the time came for the king’s son to be married. The young man had chosen a bride. The date for the wedding was set. The gardener was an old man, but his lifetime of his lifetime of experimentation had paid off. He had produced the most beautiful rose ever grown. He called it the rainbow rose. On the day of the wedding, the newlyweds went into the royal garden, and the queen picked a blossom and held her to her face and smelled it. And smelled it. The old gardener was somewhat shocked, because the rose she picked was not the magnificent rainbow rose that he had. been working on all these years. Just a common, ordinary flower. He was a bit angry and certainly humiliated, but wait, suddenly realized why the queen had not picked the superior rose. She couldn’t see its beauty because the woman that the king’s son had picked was blind. Jesus Christ is the lily of the valley. He is one that has spiritual beauty beyond the scripture that most people cannot see it. They are blind to it. Jesus Christ once said their lies, but they cannot see. And that’s the problem with the people of this world. The triune God, his great salvation, is a marvelous thing. Our text, you’ll notice, has all three persons of the God had spoken of with regard to this salvation that we have. It was planned long ago in God’s eternal counsel, but left to yourself, you would miss it. God must reveal it to us, and God does not leave you in a spiritually blind state. He opens the eyes of your understanding. calls you out of darkness and light to light sets you apart for himself, preserves you, and none of his saints and his efforts ever perish or go to waste. And this is why the salvation of God is so great. It’s interesting if you look at some of the other translations, the NASV, the NIV, the NIV, even the new King James version, they put the word called first. and their focus here is on the idea of the order of salvation with regard to man. But I suggest to you that the passage is focusing on the triune God rather than the order of salvation with regard to man. But either way, the truth is there, but I think the focus is on God the Father, then God the Son, and the God the Holy Spirit’s work in this great story. salvation that we have. I want to speak about that tonight. I want to speak on sanctified by God the Father, preserved by Jesus Christ, and called. Though the Spirit is not mentioned here, he is the one who calls us to salvation. Let’s start out, in God’s great salvation, you are sanctified. That’s what the scripture tells us here. Now, you are set apart. by God the Father. The primary meaning of sanctification is to be set apart, or we can even say, dedicated to God. God’s people are classified as vessels of honor, meet, set apart, really, for the master’s use. 2. Timothy 2.21. This language certainly comes to us from the ceremonial law where we find there are people at one place, the Levites, sometimes the firstborn, who are set apart. And also various vessels and fields and houses and so forth are also set apart for the Lord’s purpose, for sacred use. There are cups and silver spoons and various kinds of vessels that are only to be used in the temple or the tabernacle. Nowhere else. The text speaks here of those sanctified by God the Father. Now, most people, when they think about sanctification, they think in terms of being made holy. Here we have the idea of being set apart by God. How does God set us apart? Well, I suggest to you through election. He sets us apart in this manner. And it’s interesting if you go through Scripture, we see this with regard. to, let’s say, Jeremiah. Look at Jeremiah chapter 1 in verses 4 and 5, if you would. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before thou cameest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet under the nations. Here we find the calling in this chapter of Jeremiah to proclaim the message. He’s reluctant. He’s going to talk about how young he is and how he, you know, he’s not so sure whether he should do this. And God’s saying, yes, you’re going to do it. I have from the, before you were formed in the womb, I ordained this for you. I predestinated you to this end. I said, my love upon you, I chose you, I formulated you for this very purpose. I sanctified you. I set you apart. And you see it’s connected with predestination here. And the service of God in this situation. Look with me at Galatians. We see this in the case of Paul also, Galatians chapter 1, if you would, and verses 13 to 16. Paul writes here, for you have heard of my conversion in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it and profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me. by his grace to reveal his son and me that I might preach him among the heathen. Immediately, I conferred not with flesh and blood. He separated Paul from his mother’s womb. He had set him apart before he even was born to be a preacher of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire and expand the kingdom of God. Even though he starts out in the Jews’ religion, even though he opposes the church, even though he persecutes the people of God, when it was time for God to reveal his son in him and give him grace because he’d already purposed to be one of his elect people and purposed him for this end, God reached out. and saved him. And then he begins preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Very similar to what we find in the book of Jeremiah. My friends, you and I are vessels of mercy, whom God has afore prepared unto glory. We were chosen to salvation by God the fall. In time, of course, we will be separated. unto God through regeneration. Our election is on the holiness, as Ephesians 1-4 indicates, so that will be the end of what our election ends up being. It is to bring about holiness of life and so forth. The believers are called the first fruits, the Lord’s portion. James 118, of His own will be gaddy us with the word of truth, that we should be the kind of first-fruits of his creatures. So when we find the word sanctification, we have to see how it is used. And sometimes when it’s spoken of God the Father, it carries the idea of election. His choosing us to be his people. Now, justification, of course, is always by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It never includes any of your works. You’re declared righteous, the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, you’re forgiven of your sins, by the work of Christ the cross. There is a process of sanctification that comes after we have been regenerated, after we have been justified by the Lord, and that is to produce holiness within us. We’re chosen with that end in mind. But here the focus is on God’s work. work in us to make. You’re calling an election sure is what the scripture says. If you found a man digging ditches for the elector company, and he claimed that he was Prince Charles, who once was in line to be king of England, you would undoubtedly question it. Prince Charles here doesn’t dig ditches. He isn’t likely to be found. With his clothes, you know, splattered with mud and soiled with grime and so forth. Such a picture doesn’t fit the dignity of his position. Spiritually, the same type of thing is true. If you are a child of the king, if you’re one of God’s elect people, if you have been chosen and predestinated to be holy, then indeed you ought to be making every effort to keep yourself unspotted by the world. Who will believe that you are set up? apart by God if you’re only seeking the pleasures and interest of this world. So the scripture says that we are to flee sin, and indeed we should be walking as a holy people because that is the end of the election. That’s one of the purposes of election. To lead us in this direction. Take us down this road. So in God’s great salvation, you are sanctified. You’re set apart. And this primarily has reference, of course, to the election of God. The second thing here is, in God’s great salvation, you are preserved by Jesus Christ. There was a famous psychologist who used to tell his students, a story about a tailor, who advertised what he called eternity trousers. A customer thinking that such a guarantee would be great, bought a pair of these trousers, imagining that they’re going to be great, imagining that they’re going to last forever. Well, their seats soon wore out. The customer brought them back to the tailor and complained that these pants, these trousers were not as advertised. The tailor ingeniously replied that eternity means without end, and since the trousers were now in that condition, he had fulfilled his side of the bargain. God isn’t deceitful about his guarantees, as that tailor was. when he says that this salvation is eternal, he means it. So when he gives someone’s salvation, he preserves them in Christ Jesus. Look with me at John chapter 6, if you would, verses 38 to 40. Here’s what Jesus says. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will, which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me that everyone which seeeth the sun and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Do you see that phrase, I should lose nothing? Christ came down from heaven, not to, carry out his own will, but to carry out the eternal purpose of God, which of course he was involved in in the council of eternity. And so there was a purpose for him coming. A people that had been chosen out of the mass of creatable creatures, these people were given to Christ. as the mediator. He would be their representative, their surety. He would be the one who would purchase their salvation by his substitutionary death and so forth. Now, the choice of these people was based solely, purely, if you would, on the sovereign will of God. It was according to God’s will and pleasure. Man’s works were not even considered. This eternal life was, then is the basis of our salvation and our preservation. Christ has been given a charge by God the Father. And that charge is this. He’s not to lose any of those elect people given to him by the Father. He’s like the great shepherd who has been given a flock of sheep. God the Father says, as the mediator, you care for these, you watch over, you preserve them. This preservation extends to the very last day that exists before eternity. When the final resurrection occurs and when the bodies are glorified of the saints and so forth. This guarantee of preservation assures the believer, the one who trust in Christ, that actually has everlasting life. He has it now because he’s preserved in Christ Jesus. I should lose nothing. God’s elect are sheltered so that none of them can perish. Not one can perish. In Jude, verse 24, it’s interesting, we read this, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, present you faultless before the presence of his. glory with exceeding joy. He’s able to keep you from fall. This book is going to be talking about apostasy. It’s going to be talking about people falling away. But His God’s elect people, that’s never going to happen because Christ preserves them as the great shepherd, the mediator, who watches over the people of God. We read in scripture about branches that bear no fruit. They’re cut off the vine. They wither. They die. We read about the stony ground herer who has no root so he dies in the hot sun of persecution or suffering. We read also about the thorny ground here who is choked out by the weeds and the cares and the things of this world choke them out. You know, we read about those in scripture who have some ability to pray, maybe even to preach, maybe to converse about the Word of God. but they fall away. We read about Judas. We read about Demas and so forth. God often rips the mask off of false professors by letting them fall into great sin, or sometimes by bringing some storm, some great trial into their life, which shipwrecks their faith. But here’s the truth about the true believer. Job 179, the righteous shall hold on his way. on God’s way. God preserves him. God keeps him. And here we have that Christ is the one who is our surety, who is doing it for us. It’s the way God has marked out his own. Once you start on the path of life, you must persevere and or perish. If a man draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. So perseverance in the path of faith is necessary for the Christian, he that endured till the shall be saved. If you were left to yourself, you’d never make it. You’d never make it. Jesus Christ will never permit one of his people to fall away. And this is why his people have assurance of eternal life. Because we know that Christ is going to preserve us. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Jesus says. But you say that this life is full of all kinds of dangers and I can get into all kinds of trouble? Yes. But what is Jesus doing right now? He’s interceding for us. And as he praying for us, as he prays for Peter, he prayed for Peter long ago. I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not. He’s doing that for us. That’s one of the ways that he’s preserving us by his intercession on our behalf right now. So in God’s great salvation, you’re preserved by Jesus Christ. We could talk about his death. We could talk about how he saves us. We could talk about his intercession. But overall, the whole process of what Christ is doing is to preserve his people for all eternity. They will be his people. They will never be law. I will not lose anyone. That brings us to, of course, the third point here. And in the Greek, you just have this one word. It’s like tacked on the end of the end of the end of the a sentence, called. The word and isn’t even there. Just called. You’re given an inward calling by the Holy Spirit. There is what is classified, if you look through scripture, you have what we call an outward calling of the gospel. When the minister preaches and he talks about repenting and believing on Christ, he’s calling upon you to do something, to repent, to repent, to turn from your sin. to trust in Christ and so forth. But the Bible says many are called and few are chosen. Now that calling is the outward calling. Only the chosen ones actually respond and believe. Obviously, there are those who are called in this outward form who still perish and their sins. So when the gospel message is preached, it’s heard by the ears of many unregenerate people who never respond to it. They reject them. that call. Jude, however, in this passage is speaking about an inward calling. Because if you’ve been chosen by the Father and Christ has died for you, the Holy Spirit is going to call you to salvation. And you’re going to be preserved. The effectual persuasion of the Holy Spirit here is a powerful heartwork. The Bible says, we’re called according to his purpose. Romans 828. That’s an eternal purpose. Just like we saw. with Paul. When God finally revealed his son in Paul. John 524, The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and that they that hear shall live. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. You know, we’ll never move toward God unless God draws us. And it’s by His spirit that this takes place. Now, what must be understood? stood here is that the internal spiritual call is to the elect only. Whom he did predestinate them, he also called, according to Romans 8. Jesus here is in Scripture, indicates to us that there is a calling of God that automatically brings salvation with it. He reads. read through his scripture and this is what he’s indicating. No man can come to me except it we’ve given to him of my father. They’re called. Those burdened down with a sense of their sin and need of a Savior or the elect. Now it is true. When the minister preaches and he gives out a gospel call to everybody who is in listening distance, it goes to everybody out there and they hear it. But the effectiveness of that message ultimately is for the elect, because we find that they’re the ones that have the inward call to come with it which changes the heart and leads them to salvation in Christ. Suppose you were in a large meeting that was in progress, maybe a political gathering, a church gathering, a business convention, or something of that nature. And there’s a special announcement made, the meeting is interrupted by a call that a car with a specific license plate, BJ4293 has its lights on. Now, everybody in the auditorium hears that call. They all hear that. All but one. However, hearing that call will can ignore. That’s not me. But there’s someone out there. It speaks to them directly. That’s my car. That’s my license plate number. And so even though we have a call that goes forth from the pulpit to everyone in the audience, it is the Holy Spirit who has to call individually those people hear the outward call with an inward call in order for them to believe. We’re called unto holiness. God have not called us to uncleanness but to holiness. We’re called from ignorance to truth. God has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. So it is the Holy Spirit who opens your heart so that you believe the message of the gospel and obey the command to repent and follow Jesus Christ. Have you been called? Not only do you have to make your election sure, but he says make your calling and election sure. Make your calling sure, too. 2. Peter 2.10. Not everyone is able to give perhaps the day and an hour their conversion. When I was younger, I grew up in an Armenian church, they had altar calls so they could put it down to the day and the hour and the exact time and so forth. Because they put a lot of emphasis on the altar call being salvation. But let me say this much. You may not know the exact day or hour, but you should be able to be able to be able to be able to be. to discern between being called and being uncalled. Somewhere along the line, you should have asked yourself that question, what must I do to be saved? God usually begins dealing with your soul, showing you your awful wickedness. And believe me, he could show that to a younger child. I believe, you know, you can be convicted of your sin at young age. the gospel goes forth and people are dealt with by the word of God. You don’t have to be an adult to be dealt with. I remember being in my 10 or 11, 12 years of age and God bringing great conviction of sin to me at a younger age because of my own wickedness. No one ever has come to Christ without this acute awareness. of their sinfulness. And the danger it poses with regard to hell fire. Like pilgrim, you find this pilgrim, this burden on your back you want to get rid of. How do I get rid of this burden? Well, God gives you direction through his word. Psalm 27, 8 says, the Lord said, seek my face, and my heart said, thy face, Lord, will I seek? You know, when God gives the command to the soul, it responds. It does what God tells. Do you ever remember something like that where God spoke to your soul through his word? Were you moved when you heard the words, come on to me, and I will give thee rest? Where you moved the trust in Christ as the Lord and Savior? Did you experience it inward change? Were you renewed in the spirit of your mind? Was your heart drawn to God? To where you said, thou art my portion, O Lord, I have seen. said that I will keep thy words, Psalm 1197. Do you find yourself turning from sin and trusting in Christ? There’s a call that goes out. So here’s the great work of salvation that we have. And it’s interesting how it’s laid out here for us. And we should ponder this. God the Father chooses us. Christ comes as the surety of the mediator, and make sure that not one of those souls chosen will ever be lost. Not only does he die for him, he intercedes for him. He provides every aspect with regard to their salvation, and the Holy Spirit calls this person to salvation and begins to work in them the process of sanctification. So we have all these steps here laid out for us, and this happens to every true child of God. People often ask, you know, why do you? emphasize elections so much because God does. If we just skip over there, if we think about sanctification, oh, this is talking about making one holy, we’re missing the point here. The point is God the Father is choosing here. Yes, he has a purpose to be useful, you’d be useful to his kingdom, but this is where it starts. That rainbow rose, which was missed because the queen was blind. That’s the way the world is. The world doesn’t see. beauty in Christ, doesn’t see the beauty of God’s wonderful salvation. But here Jude lays out for us by the inspiration of Scripture, how God saves us. God’s work of salvation is a great work, a great work. He set you apart, he preserves you, you’ll never perish. He calls you the salvation, and you will obtain heaven because of it. and this is what we rejoice in, this calling. There’s going to be apostasy spoken of in this book. People will fall away and so forth. But God’s true people, that he has reached out to say, cannot perish. I shall lose nothing. Let us close with a word of prayer tonight.