Jude 1:3a

The book of Jude, we want to look at a portion of verse 3 tonight. Let me read the verse. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write on you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once delivered under the saints. May God bless to us, His sacred and holy word this evening. If we look through all the blades of grass and billions of acres of land, not two of them would be alike. If we surveyed all the sand on all the seashores on all the earth, we would find no two grains of sand are exactly alike either. Someone has… did a photographic, well, captured through photograph more than 10,000 snowflakes. And looking at them, he discovered not two snowflakes are exactly alike. Next time you get 24 inches of snow, I think that not even two of those snowflakes are exactly like. God never made two, any two human beings exactly alike. Faces. ears, nose, feet, even so-called identical twins have varying personalities and diverse fingerprints and perhaps little marks like moles in different places and so forth. Diversity seems to be a big part of God’s creation. When it comes to salvation, however, there is no diversity. There is a common salvation, as Jude reminds us, here in this text of scripture, whatever your background, whatever your social status, whatever your personality, you find that there’s only one way of salvation, and that is through the person of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ alone. This is one of the reasons why Christians are called family, because we’re all being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Every believer is related to the other by birth. We have a… exactly the same type of spiritual birth that we’ve been granted. And this being so, there should be a concern then for all the household of God. We’re all united in Jesus Christ in the body of Christ. So I want to talk tonight about the common salvation. I’ll begin by saying this. You must have a concern for your fellow believers. You’ll notice how he begins here, the main body of the letter, Beloved, he says. It must have love for the brethren. Verse 17 of this chapter, but beloved. And also we find it in verse 20, the same terminology, but ye, beloved, beloved. We have this. genuine affection for your fellow believers in Christ. The word love here that’s being used as agape, which indicates a deep, intense, personal, dear, love, if you would. Literally, we could translate this, dear ones here. Jude loves these brothers and sisters in the Lord. there of the same body of Christ, born of the same spirit, enjoy the same hope, worship the same Lord, and so forth. 1. John 421 says, and this commandment we have from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also. Love one another, Jesus said in John 15, 17. Paul in the book of Ephesians gives us a very high motive for loving one another, walk in love as Christ have also loved us. Now what does this mean? It means that you honor even the least saint of God. You should not despise those who have not progressed as far as you have in the walk of grace. God is concerned about his little ones. God is concerned about his babes in Christ, and you should be as well. Also, we should realize that we shouldn’t let every small difference of opinion cause division and bitterness between us. It would be nice if all believers believe that exactly the same thing, and we should certainly be working toward that end, that we would be of one mind. But alas, That’s not the case. And yet, if people differ, let us love them for what we find in them of God. There are believers, which I think hold wrong doctrines about a number of things. That doesn’t mean we withhold our love from them. Love is patient. Love is kind, despite even mistaken views. Now, I’m not talking about the Nile, The Trinity or something would put you outside. the camp of being a true Christian. But let’s face it, we have people who have wrong views on eschatology, at least I think so. And maybe you know, there are those who still believe in a secret rapture and so forth of the church. We could talk about church government. We could talk about baptism people that our believers differ with us on these issues. Some despise others because they don’t fit in with their own theological camp. When I was in seminary, if you weren’t pre-millennial, it was almost as if you’d committed the unpardonable sick. You know, something is drastically wrong with you. Sort of get shunned. In fact, believing in the doctrines of grace put me on the odds with a lot of people at the seminary as well. But if this is the case, then how are we any better than the publicans who only love their own? And how will you ever win other Christians over that differ from? you if you don’t show them love. So we should have a genuine affection for all believers. Love for the brethren is preparatory for any exhortation we would give our brothers or sisters in Christ. You’ll notice he says here, Beloved, and then he’s going to give them a very strong exhortation in this verse of scripture. He wants them to know that he loves them first. He’s wishing the best for them. He desires to keep them, however, from dangerous air. Love wins people. Love prepares the heart to receive words that may be difficult to receive. If you know the person loves you, you may be able to speak with the tongue of an angel, but if you don’t have love, Paul tells us you’re a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol. you may understand all mysteries and possess all knowledge, but if you don’t have love, then of course you’re still useless to the cause of Christ. It’s not how well you can communicate, or even how knowledgeable you may be, which is most important. Do you speak with love? Do you speak with love? Do we exhort with a loving heart? So love for the brethren. Now, you must have a diligence concerning the spiritual welfare of others. He said, I gave diligence to write onto you. And he said, it was needful for me to write under you here in this verse. Jude was glad to write to his fellow believers in Christ. He loves them. But there was something which compelled him to communicate them to them to them at this time. It wasn’t if he was sending a letter and saying, well, how are you? How are things going? Or something of this nature. He felt there was a need, a pressing need, an immediate need for him to respond here and send a letter to them. Because of the danger he saw. I gave all diligence. He was motivated to do this. He who watches out for souls here. sees a danger on the horizon. He sees a problem that could trouble and harm the people of God, and therefore he gives diligence to writing to them about it. He is aware of the danger of false teachers. Seducers who were spreading destructive doctrines and practices among them. We’ll get to that in verse four. These people, as Peter says, were bringing in damnable. heresies, 2 Peter 2.1. Extremely hazardous to people’s spiritual life and well-being. Even the best of Christians is capable of falling into error and being misled. So he’s careful. He wants to be careful here. And he writes to foreworn that. He doesn’t want to be caught off guard. Be careful. Watch out for these false prophets who will arise. Even in your midst. The greatest diligence should always be used in the matters of the greatest importance. And there’s nothing more important than your eternal soul. And that’s why he’s concerned here. Christians must be willing to watch out for the souls of other believers. There are sheep’s, wolves in sheep’s clothing. Spiritual danger should always motivate you to warn and to help other Christians. I read a story about in the jungles of eastern Sri Lanka, where 15 soldiers of a government commando unit were saved by two dogs. They happened to pick up his mascots. I guess they were stray dogs and they sort of just followed along with the group. And according to the news report, the soldiers had completed a 10-mile high. they were heading for a waterhole where they were going to rest. But the dog sensed danger, ran ahead of them to the waterhole, and suddenly began barking and circling the area. When the troops searched carefully, they found 12 buried grenades underneath the sand and a tripwire that could have caused them serious harm, even death. It’s intriguing as we think about these two sort of a cast-off mascots who saved the day for them, who warned them of the danger, and they escaped harm. My friends, warning of the danger is what we should do. When we suspect there’s danger, we are to warn others about it. We are to warn others about it. It’s disturbing to realize that sometimes people are apt to give less credibility and attention to faithful protectors than they would to dogs. How many times have you resented a parent’s spiritual advice? How often have you perhaps scoffed at the warnings of a concerned minister about your spiritual state or a fellow believers caution to you? We have to realize this is the case. You know, Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthians, he was concerned about false teachers. He turned about people bringing in another God’s preaching another Jesus. And he warns them about, you know, these kind of things happening. But they said, well, you know, he writes bold letters, but his personal appearance is weak. And, you know, he’s not what he claims to be and this and that and the other. his apostolic status and so forth. They didn’t always take him for the person who loved them and wanted the best for them. Don’t you see that God often sends his messengers to speak to us, sometimes to loudly warn us of the hidden dangers which may harm our spiritual life? There’s a sense in which every Christian is to be a century. We’re all to be looking out for one. another and we have to keep our eye open for danger and the approach of the enemy and a willingness to give a warning. I read about Paul in Acts chapter 20 when he spoke to the Ephesian elders for the last time. He didn’t really said I’m not going to see your face anymore. He said, remember how I warned you day and night with tears about those who would come and try to destroy the church. here, could not personally meet with these Christians, so he writes to them. He writes this epistle to them. Writing can be a great help to promote the welfare of others. There is more fully, I think, and publicly confronted through writing than just merely verbal communication. There’s a record to consult. This is why we have confessions of faith. It’s all written down. for us. We can consult it. We can look it over. We can rethink it. We can look up all the passages. Both ministers and members should realize the power, the pen, to convey the truth and confront error and use that means if necessary in order to make sure that people are aware of the situation in hand. So you may have a concern for your, you must have a concern for your fellow believers. We’re to love the brethren. were to be diligent about the spiritual welfare of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Secondly, you must realize that all believers are united by a common salvation. You all possess the common salvation. Now, what do we mean by this? Well, you were all chosen by God’s free grace. No special reason why Peter or Barnabas or Paul should have been chosen over Herod or Judas or Pilate on whatsoever. Romans 9, verse 15, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. All of God’s motives originating himself. He does things out of the good pleasure of his will. And this is the reason one person is elected and another is rejected. However, it should be the reason. be obvious, though, that Peter and James and John and Andrew and Paul and Luke and John and so forth, all were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, or that wouldn’t have been said. Jesus said, I have manifest thy name under the men thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me in John 176. All those who become believers were vessels of mercy in God’s predestine any person. purpose. So all believers here have been chosen by God’s free grace. You have the same Christ as all other believers. Acts 412 says there is no name, other name, under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. There’s no salvation in any other. People have been saved the same way in all ages. That’s a very important teaching. that we should see found in scripture. Whether we talk about Abraham or Abel or Moses or David or Peter or Paul, it doesn’t matter, we’re all saved the same way. We’re justified by faith in Christ Jesus alone. The same ransom purchased you as did he did for Moses and Paul and David. The great shepherd lays down his life for all the sheep, every one of them. All believers, therefore, are redeemed of the Lord when they all get to heaven. When we’re all in singing in unison in heaven, Revelation 5’9 indicates, thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood. That’s what we’re going to sing. we’ll sing the same praise throughout eternity. They’re singing it now and it will continue to sing it. You are justified by the same righteousness as all other believers. Romans 322 says the righteousness of Christ, that perfect obedience, he rendered to God’s law, is unto all and upon all that believed and there is no difference. He means between the Jew and a Gentile. There’s no difference. There may be degrees of faith. You know, the Bible talks about people with little faith. Some people have great faith. Which receive, that faith receives Christ’s righteousness. But there’s no difference in the righteousness itself. Martin Luther put it this way. He said a giant or a strong man holds a precious jewel, so does a child. The Joel is the same. Though a man holds it with a stronger hand, it loses nothing of its worth in the child’s hand. So it doesn’t matter whether we have a weak faith, but it’s a faith in Christ or a strong faith in Christ. The righteousness that we are given, if it’s credited to our account, it’s the same righteousness. So when we get in the heaven, we read about the the saints in heaven, and they’re all clothed in the same outfit, the same garment. They have white, linen, fine, you know, clean and white, which is said to be the righteousness of the saints. Is it their own personal righteousness? No. It’s the righteousness of Christ and all have the same righteousness. They all appear with identical garments. Because it’s a perfect righteousness. They’ve been granted. There is no other garment to wear. That’s the one we’re given. So, all believers are justified by the same righteousness. You’re all saved by the same faith. You know, Peter in 2. Peter 1.1 says this, Simon Peter to them that obtained like precious faith. We all have the same faith. Maybe the degree of faith may be a difference, but the faith itself is the same. Certainly what we’re trusting in is the same. We, believe the truth. We trust in Christ. As far as the nature and substance, our faith is the same. It saves the weakest saint and the greatest apostle. Though not everyone can measure up to the depth of the faith, let’s say, of Abraham, the patriarch, or Paul, the apostle, you’re still saved by the same God-given faith as they are. So all believers, are saved by the same faith. All believers are members the same spiritual body. The scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, for by one spirit, we’re all baptized in the one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free. Well, all in the same body of the body of Christ. Christ is ahead, and all believers make up the mystical body of Christ. The weakest Christian, the strongest saint, are united together in that one body. Now, Paul indicates to us that some may be an arm and a leg, some may be a little pinky, some may be just a big toe, but we’re all in the same body, and we can’t do without the other members. We’re all important to the function and the completeness of the body of Christ. Each of us has a purpose. for the whole body. So it is spiritually, not only is it true with regard to our physical body, but it’s true spiritually as well. So the common salvation, we all have it. You know of only one way to happen. Rural Arizona, there was a man that went to see the hoppy Indians doing their ceremonial tribal dances. But to order to get to the reservation. He had to take a long trip through a secluded desert terrain and over some very rough roads. Well, he enjoyed the dancing and the Indians and so forth. When it was all over, he went out to his car, and here he had a flat tire. To make matters worse, he didn’t have a spare in his trunk. I remembered there was a service station along the road about five miles back. It’s the only one he remembered seeing. After getting a ride to the service station, he found the elderly proprietor sitting in a chair drinking a soda. He walked up and said, he said, excuse me, sir. He said, do you fix flats? Flats? And he said, yep. And then the man who was stranded said, well, how much do you charge? The proprietor replied, what difference does it make? He’s the only one. There’s nobody else is going to be able to do it. So, it doesn’t matter what it’s going to cost, it has to be done. And he’s going to be the one that does it. When you’re the only service station in a decimal place, there is no other option available. The man had no choice, but the request is help. My friends, there’s not several ways to heaven. There’s only one. The scripture indicates to us it’s the narrow way that leads to eternal life. This is why, it is the common salvation for all who enter into heaven have to come the same way, the same manner. We come by the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe in the truth of the way of salvation through Jesus Christ, the Savior. It’s just like that service station in the middle of nowhere with no other help to be found. It’s your only choice. Everything else is the broad road that leads to instruction. There are two different Gospels that you can choose. There’s not plan A and plan B. There’s one plan. One way of salvation. Some talk about God permitting people to be saved through any religion. As long as they believe in God, whether they’re Islam, Islamic, or they follow Buddha or Muhammad or Confucius or Christianity. We’re told we’re all taking a different path where we’re all heading in the same direction. That’s not what the Bible tells us. No Jew will ever be saved by the law of Moses. By the works of law, shall no man be justified. All have sin and come short of the glory of God. And so the Jews are not saved by the law. Moses. Well, Gentiles are saved by grace in Christ, through Christ, because then you’d have two different ways of salvation. Not a common salvation. When I read my Schofield Bible, and I read the sermon on the Mount, I come to that passage about forgiveness with regard to prayer in chapter 6 of Matthew. The Schofield Bible in the footnote on page 102, Schofield has, under the law of forgiveness is conditioned upon a like spirit in us. Under grace, we are forgiven for Christ’s sake and exhorted to forgive because we have been forgiven. You think that’s true? Is that the way it is? There’s two different ways of forgiveness. One is through Christ and one is by having the same spirit as you are going to have toward someone else. You’re going to be willing to forgive others, so therefore God will forgive you. is that what it’s all about? It’s all about you and who you are? This is the problem with dispensationalism. They have a different way of salvation. Every, you know, where we go through all the different dispensations, the age of innocence, the age of the law, you know, the age of grace. They got a different way of salvation in each one of them. As if you were driving a car and got a flat and said, okay, I’ll change the tire. I’ll try something else. That’s not the way scripture. teaches us. There’s one way of salvation. Abraham rejoiced to see Christ’s Day. I turned me no mistake about this. I once corresponded with a guy who was dispensational and his thinking was, well, in the Old Testament people just had to believe in God. They didn’t have to believe in Christ. I said, no, Abraham, well, he believed in God, certainly, but he believed in God. Certainly. But he believed in Christ. The Bible said he saw Christ Day. So you had to be looking for. His faith was in the seed that was to come as promised by God. The same with when we think about Abel and Adam and Eve. What were they trusting in? Didn’t God promised the seed of the woman that would come come and destroy Satan? He was the deliverer. That’s who they were trusting in. Even when God gave the law, Moses talked about a prophet that was going to come that all people should listen to and give heed to. The prophet like unto him, a mediator between God and man. And of course it was Jesus Christ that he was talking about. What’s the law’s purpose to be a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ? The law’s purpose was never to justify man on his own standing. I’ll just keep this, all the ten commandments and I’ll be okay. You know, when I was growing up, I thought, well, I haven’t broken this commandment. I haven’t broken that commandment. I need to study the sermon in the mind a little bit more and realize I could easily break all these commandments. You know, the wrong spirit about you. He could break the commandment. You didn’t have to actually murder someone to do it. So forth. And so let there be no mistake about this. matter when we talk about salvation it is a common salvation from able all the way up to the last person that ever gets saved they’re all going to be saved the same way by faith in Christ two blades of grass are never the same two grains of sand are never the same two snowflakes are never the same two snowflakes are never the same even identical twins actually have some differences. Whatever, however, your background is, or your social status, or your personality, whatever your age you live in, whether you’re being the Old Testament or the New Testament, you find there’s only one way of salvation in Jesus Christ. There is not diversity. It is a common salvation. And therefore, anybody that deviates from the common salvation is a herring. and a false teacher, and that’s exactly what he’s leading up to. Let us keep that in mind. I always say that you may not know all the error, because every time you turn around, we have all these false teachers. They come up with a new twist of things. But if you know the common salvation, if you know what the Bible does teach about salvation, you can say that’s not it. Your teaching doesn’t match what the Bible teaches on this. And then you can always pick out the error. So know what the scripture is. says about it. And then it’s helpful sometimes to know what they’re going to say and so forth, but that’s not absolutely necessary. What is absolutely necessary do you know? There’s a common salvation and this is how people are saying. Well, let’s close.