Turn to Jude, if you would. I want to talk to you this morning about the only wise God, our Savior. What wisdom our God has shined in the hearts of His people. Not our wisdom, but His wisdom. Our Lord is so wise, that He has come up with a way that we can't even understand the depth of it. He tells us throughout His Word about glorying Him throughout eternity. His people will spend eternity praising our Savior for something. For what? For saving His people. For saving you and I. not leaving us to ourselves. We know what we came into this world as, don't we? Every one of us came into the world as sinners. That's the way we were born. Scripture tells us we were formed in our mother's womb and we came from that womb speaking lies. We were formed. God put us in our mother's womb. I know a man and a woman had to come together, but it's still God who makes those two cells come together. Those two come together and cause growth in your human being. Yet every one of us have come into this world in darkness. Darkness to what? What do you mean? I could see the lights. I could see the sun shining. Darkness to the truth. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jude is writing an epistle. And it's called a general epistle because it's too... Well, you know, Paul wrote to the Colossians. He wrote to the Corinthians. He wrote to the Ephesians. He wrote to the Philippians. Jews is written to all of God's people throughout all time. Now, Jude is an apostle. He's one of the twelve over in Acts chapter 1 verse 13. You don't have to turn there. I'll read it for you. And when they were come in, they went up into a James, and John, and Andrew, and Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotis. I don't know if I pronounced that correctly, but Simon Zelotis. And Judas, the brother of James. Now, I know it goes as Judas, but it's actually Jude. It can go either way. It's used both. It's a very common name back in the Middle Ages. Look at verse 1, if you would, of Jude chapter 1. the servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James. See how that matches what we just read there in chapter 13? And it's called a general epistle because it's not written to any particular person or church, but to the saints in general. Notice also, after it says that, it says, to them. Why didn't he write his letter to the whole world? Because it wasn't the whole world God addresses, is it? What did we just read back there in the Psalms? Let me read that again for you, just in case you missed it. Him sing psalms unto him, talk ye all of his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice and seek the Lord. Seek the Lord in his strength. Seek his face evermore. Remember his marvelous works that he hath done, his wondrous judgments of his mouth. O ye seed of Abraham, his servant, ye children." Speaking of the children of Jacob, his chosen people. So there we see the elect. That's them. That's this them that Jude is talking about. Right back here, go back to Jude. verse 1 again if you would. And then it says this, it gives them a description, sanctified. Now we've looked at this word before, it can be used two ways. In this way, it's talking about those who were set aside as servants, as things to be used. When the people of Israel in the Old Testament used, and we'll see that in a moment in a couple of examples, but when they used, when they were sanctified the things of the church, the things of the temple. They were to wash them a certain way, they were to put them out and be used for holy things, for holy worship. Well, that's what this is being, that's what the word sanctified is being used here for. And Brother James, to them that are set apart from the world to be used for holy things. By God the Father, did you notice that? Who did this? Who set these folks apart from the world? Who took them out of the world and set them apart from the rest of the world? God the Father, that's who. We hear folks who stand in the pulpits today and say, if you'll just do this. You know, in John chapter 14, Brother Todd is bringing a message on this very theme today. If you come to the Father, you've got to come through the Son. You can't come on your own. He is the way and the truth. He who cometh to the Father, cometh through me. I don't know if I quoted it exactly right, but that's kind of the gist of it. In order to come to the Father, because we won't come to the Father out of our own, will we? And we know this, don't we? I look back, you know, that was one of the first things when I heard the Gospel for the first time, that was one of the first things that stood out to me is that makes more sense than anything I've ever heard anywhere. I grew up in those messages that if you'll just come down to the front Pray your prayer. If you'll just get... I got baptized when I was a kid. You know why? Because I was told that if I got in the waters of baptism, I'd be saved. Hogwash. If you're saved, you'll get into the waters of baptism. The waters of baptism are nothing more. They don't save you. That doesn't save you. Coming to the table of remembrance, that doesn't save you. Coming to church on whatever day you want to come to church on, that doesn't save you. Jesus Christ is our Savior. Look over at the last verse. Verse 25 of Jude chapter 1. To the only wise God. That's our subject this morning. To the only wise God. Our what? Our Savior. You can't save yourself. Everything we do is tainted with sin. You guys have heard me talk about this before. I've heard Pastor Gene say it so many times over the 26 years that he preached here, I couldn't even count to you how many times. We're sin from the top of our head to our feet. That's why we have such a problem in this world we walk in. You're about to hear something you may have never heard before. We don't get any better in this flesh. This flesh will send to the day the Lord takes us out of this world. I didn't need a Savior once 26 years ago. I need a Savior every day. And this is who Jude is talking to here. To them. To us. To those that God chose from before the world was, as it says in Ephesians chapter 1. To those that were predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, as it says in Romans chapter 9. We are the them. We are the them that were taken out of the darkness of this world and brought into the marvelous light of who Christ is. Do you ever get tired of hearing it? Pastor Todd and I were talking last night and he goes, he says, we're talking about the burdens of preaching, you know. The hardest thing for me to do as a preacher is to get up here and bring the same message every Sunday. I got up this morning and I listened to a man who brought the same message I have for you from Exodus chapter 33. that a man over there by the name of Todd Nyberg over in Marysville right now is preaching the same message from John chapter 14. It's all about Christ. Isn't that what brings us peace? As we walk through this valley of the shadow of death? As we walk through the destruction that's going on in this world around us? That's why I said, Lord, thank you for not leaving me to myself. If He leaves me to myself, I'll be just like Peter. I'll sink. I'll sink in the storms of life. Oh, Jude says, I am a servant. I am a servant of who? Of Jesus Christ. What does a servant of Jesus Christ do? The Great Commission is this, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. Not go into the world and preach people how to walk. Folks, I don't have to tell you. You've heard this before, but for our visitor's sake, I'm going to tell it again. I don't have to tell you how to walk. You know. You're not fools. You know what's right and what's wrong. What I'm here to tell you is when you find yourself so down from what goes through your mind on a daily basis, there's someone you can look to. the brazen serpent on the pole. When you're bitten by the serpents of sin, when you're bitten by the serpent of sin, there's a place to look. This is what Moses did. Look ye the camp of Israel. Look ye the people of God. Look ye to your Lord, our Savior, the only wise God, Jesus Christ. I'm preaching to myself. I need to hear this. I needed to go to Marysville and hear Todd preach. The burdens of coming to people and telling them day after day after day. You know, Paul did that over and over and over again. And he tells me it's not grievous. It's actually the easiest thing in the world to do. But I got people around me who say, no, you need to step a little deeper into it, John. You need to go deeper into that pond. Brother Mike, I love you so much. I was flapping around on the pond one night. He met me at the back door that day, I said that, when I was accused of All I do is slap around. I was accused last Sunday of, you know, you guys get on this one subject and that's all you ever do. You never talk about anything else. You never talk about the fruit of the Spirit. Even though I went to this person and said, the fruit of the Spirit is this. Jesus Christ the Lord. No, it says it's peace, love, and all this. These are things that you should see in yourself. You should see how much a better person... I quit smoking. I go to church on Sundays, Saturdays, whenever. I do this, I do that. That's not the fruit of the Spirit. It says in God's Word, He does not speak of Himself. Well, we shouldn't speak of ourselves either. We should speak of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. That's what a servant of Jesus Christ does. And they speak unto those, to them, to those who belong to Christ, those who He died for on the cross, those who He shed His blood for. He's speaking to us. You know, they talk about the love of God. When you see the fact, when I saw for the first time that God died for me, This unholy, ungodly, this ungodly man who shook his fist in God's face and said, you're not going to rule over me. I'm my own man. When he broke me down, I had no place else to go. He made me a servant of himself. Back in verse 1, he says, to them that are sanctified, them that were sanctified by God the Father. But look what it says next. Oh, what good news this is! Especially for those of us who have come to the light of the Lord Jesus Christ, those of us who have seen what we were before God, called us out of darkness, those of us who now see the truth, That it wasn't anything to do with us. Those who see it's all of God. That salvation is of Him. We are preserved in Christ Jesus. And then just to confirm who we are, it says, and called. Turn over to Romans chapter 8. Look at verse 29. And you guys know these verses better than anybody mostly. But here, for the sake of those who may not, let's read him. Verse 29, for whom he did foreknow. Now that word foreknow is more than just, well, I knew this guy before I met him. Somebody came and told me all about him, and I knew about him before I even met him. That's not what this is. This is intimate. Joseph did not know Mary. We all know what that means, don't we? That word know is an intimate meaning. This is intimate. For whom He did foreknow. He knew us folks before the world ever was. He's God. If He didn't know us before creation, then He wouldn't be God, would He? He foreknew who His people would be because He had chose them from before the foundation of the world, as it states in Ephesians chapter 1. Let's go on. He also did predestinate. Predetermine. The day I walked into this church had been predetermined before the world ever was created. And you as well. Young lady, you didn't come here on accident. You may think that you came here on your own will, but God brought you here. Our God, that we worship here, is God of everything. You may have heard this before. He's God of over the flakes. Look at the dust through the sun as it comes through. He has numbered every one of those. Grains of dust. Well, you and I are no different. This is His creation. We were talking last night about a trouble that happened in one of the churches, and Todd said, yeah, it's a terrible thing. It was such a terrible situation. I said, yeah, you know, but God's purpose was met. Oh, absolutely. It was a terrible thing that 9-11 happened. But I can tell you this, God's purpose was served. If it wasn't God's purpose, then He's not God and we're wasting our time. He's God. He rules it all. He predestinated His people to be conformed. Conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brethren, verse 30, moreover, whom He did predestinate. Look what it says next. Them He called. John 14 chapter 6. I am the way, the truth, And the life, listen to this, no man cometh unto the Father but by. Our Lord says in another part of His Word, you will not seek Me that you may have life. Back in Romans chapter 9, then He called, look what it says next, then He also justified. Folks, we're justified before God. We came into this world in our natural state, speaking lies from our mother's womb, and the Lord justified us through the blood that He shed upon that cross. We are justified in His blood. Them whom He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also Go back to our text in Jude if you would. Jude justified means just as if I'd never sinned. Folks, when God in the flesh, the very one who walked this earth so perfectly, so righteously, never once, never once did he ever disagree with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. In fact, he was in total agreement with them the whole time. Him coming to this earth and becoming the flesh, as it says in Hebrews chapter 9, a body thou hast prepared for me. And he says, I come to do thy will, Father. What was the will of the Father? That a people would be saved. The will of the Father is this, that I shall lose none, he says. All for whom God the Father gave to the Son Saved, his name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people. Not maybe, not might, but shall. This is what Jude is talking about here, being preserved in Jesus Christ. Turn over to Ephesians chapter 1. Let's look at some in Jesus there. Verse 3, chapter 1, Ephesians 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing, Just as I mentioned in our prayer, Lord, all blessings flow through Him. We don't deserve any blessings of anything that we could have done. Everything we do is filled with sin. Yet in our Lord Jesus, all blessings flow through Him in heavenly places in Christ, according as He has chosen us in Him. Before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame, before Him, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." See how this works out? Salvation is of the Lord. It's all of Him. Isn't that what Jude had to learn when he was swallowed by the whale? There was nothing he could do inside that whale, could he? Folks, there was nothing we could do covered with the weeds of the sea of sin around our bodies, around our minds. Over in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 2, or verse 3, I'll just read two and three both there. It says, and wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation. That word conversation means your walk in this world. In times past, in the lusts of our flesh. Folks, religion is the lust of the flesh. What must I do to be saved? That's religion. That's why there's so many different ones out there, because you can come up with anything and say, hey, you can be saved if you do this. If you go into a box and commit your sins to some man who thinks that he can abolish you of your sins, you can be saved there. No, that's not true. You can get in the waters of baptism, you'll be saved. No, no, that's not true either. You come down to the front of the aisle, and if you do this, you'll be saved. No, no, that's not true either. Jonah couldn't do any of that, could he? What about the man on the cross? The thief? Remember there was two of them? One on each side? What about him? What did he do to be saved hanging there on that cross? Just moments before he called upon the Lord to be merciful to him. Lord, remember me when you get to heaven. Just moments ago before that, he was railing against the Lord along with the other thief. He was the same as we were before the Lord called us out of darkness. The Lord called him out of darkness right there before he died. I use that a lot when I go to funerals. I use that a lot. People think, oh, I can't be saved because I didn't get baptized. Hogwash. Bolonialism. The Lord says salvation is of the Lord. Period. Go on. Fulfilling the desires of our flesh and the mind, and we're by nature. That's what we come into this world as. Oh, folks, I don't mind being reminded with that deep pit. That deep pit that the Lord brought me out of. You know what that does when I'm reminded of that? It reminds me of His grace. That's the whole thing about the gospel. Unmerited favor. It had nothing to do with you, John. God loved you from before the world was. He says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I call you. That's the call. That's the very ones that Jude is talking to us about. Those who are preserved in Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 2 of our text. Mercy to you. Oh, what did that publican say? Remember? You had the two men who went into the temple. Remember that? The Pharisee stood up there and he says, Thank You, Lord. Thank You. It says in His Word. He prayed unto himself. Thank you, Lord, for making me unlike this guy over here. He prayed unto himself. Oh, the self-righteousness of that religious man. Folks, I don't care how religious you get. I don't care if you're the pope who's sitting at about, maybe some would call the most religious man in the world. He knows more scriptures than anybody else. I don't care. If you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way to your salvation, you are lost and going to hell. And if God doesn't do something about it, before you go through that door marked death, we're going to hell. But thankfully, oh, the glory of God that He has done something. Mercy. He says, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. He's going to have mercy on you whether you like it or not. He's going to come to us when we're dead in trespasses and sin and give us life that we can see the light of His Son. He's going to move that old stony heart out and give us a heart of flesh and move in. Move in to a temple that's not made with hands. You can take that this way. You can take that as a temple that was not weighed with hands, or you can take it as a new heart that can't be touched, cannot be moved by the hands of men. Pretty wild, huh, Mike? Pretty wild. Mercy unto you, and look what comes with mercy. Peace and love. Oh, oh Lord, I just had a thought go through my mind, and You know it, because You know all things. Yet my Savior, the Lord Jesus, went to the cross and died my death for that thought that just went through my mind. That's peace. I don't have to run down to the church and say, Pastor, tell me how I can be saved again. Tell me what I can do. I know I came down to the front yesterday. I know I prayed the prayer yesterday, but I need something again. That prayer didn't work. I still am guilty of the sin that comes into my life. But when you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the One who died in your stead, the One who loved you so much that He laid down His life intentionally. Nobody took it from Him. He laid it down that He might pick it up again. to sit at the right hand of the Father on high right now until the day he returns. Peace and love. You know, you folks who have been here for a while, you know this. This is nothing new to you. Kathy and I have been married now for going on 48 years. Oh, that man must love his wife. Folks, I'm telling you, I don't love her near as much as I wish I did. so often, it crosses my mind that she'd have been so better off with someone else. She'd have been so much more happier if she'd have been with somebody else than me. But I love her as best I can. But when Christ moved in, remember, you know, I went five years before the Lord called her out of darkness. When the Lord moved into my heart, I'm telling you, this is no lie. forgiveness swelled up in me. The things that used to separate us in our lives, the things that would come between us, all of a sudden didn't matter much anymore. All of a sudden, I had a love for her because God forgave me. And I pray that this is the way with her. Because God forgave me, I can be forgiving of her. Do I do it perfectly? No! There's nothing in John that's perfect. That's why I need a Savior. But oh, the different type of love I have for her now is so much more. But here's the big deal that this is talking about. This is the love of God that He has for His people. It's not my love for her. It's the love that God has for me. Not always. There are still times when somebody cuts me off on the road and I get quite upset. But there's other times where I look over and I think to myself, God forgave me, I'm just going to let it go. That was not John Reeves before. Every time I would look back after being upset about that, I thought this to myself, thank God I had one who stood in my stead at the judgment of God. and love be multiplied." That means that there's room to grow. There's room to become more. Oh Lord, help me to become more loving to my neighbor. Oh Lord, help me to become more loving to my God. Oh Lord, help me. See what it does? It brings me to my knees, crying out for help from the One who will give me help. The very one that when I start to sink in those waves of sin that will splash up over our heads, will reach down like He did to Peter when Peter began to sink, and He grabs him by the arm. And He says, I'm your God. I will not let you go. That's what it says there. And preserved in Jesus Christ. Verse 3, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation. What does that mean? That means there's no other, there's no multiple ways. It's the same. It's not common as in, oh, you know, the common people. You're not the royalty, you're just the common folk out there in the fields and stuff. No, it's the same salvation. This is what we come together with. This is what we come to love each other so much for. When we were over in Marysville the last two nights, you should have seen the love. Wayne and Joanne Todd wanted to send their love, for those of you who remember them. Art and Gene Olive wanted me to send their love to you, for those of you who know them. We love each other because we have the same salvation. You're sinners. You're all sinners. And you all come to one place, the truth. Not to this building, not to this congregation, but to this, the truth of God. I write unto you, I speak unto you, I preach unto you today of the common salvation. It was needful for me to write unto you and to exhort you. Are you feeling weak in the faith? Are you feeling left out that God's not hearing your voice? Our Lord says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Now you may think He does at times. You may be so weak in faith at times that you're just down and you're like, Lord, don't you hear my cry? I want to exhort you with this. He's loved you with an eternal love. That's an everlasting love. It never started. It never ended. It's always been there. That's God. That's the eternal Son of God who gave Himself for us. that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. This young lady who's come to visit us today, I'm going to assume that this is the first time she's ever heard a message like that. I don't know of anybody else who preaches like that in this state and around here. Well, not in this state, Perrysville, there's some over there. The faith we're talking about is the faith that God gives his people. Ephesians chapter 2, we are saved by grace through faith. The gift of God. Contend for it. I may even preach again on these next verses after that. There's a warning coming up next. I don't know. We'll have to see where the Lord leads me next week. I may preach this whole book. I don't know. The whole book of Jude. I'm not sure yet. But it says to contend for the faith. That means don't sit by idly on your hands and think, now I'm saved and I'm okay. If we're preserved in Jesus, Jesus Christ, we'll turn to no other place. Watch for that. Am I turning to a religion? Am I turning to something I have done? We're supposed to examine will point us to Christ. As we go through this world, we're only in the church listening to a preacher for a couple of hours a week. That's a whole lot of time we're out into the world going around doing our duties to raise our families to whatever our careers are, whatever it might be. Look to Christ. Turn to Christ. Remember this, that whatever faith He's given you, It's from Him, and what God gives is perfect, even if it's a small amount. I can't explain everything. There are certain things that are just beyond this man's small little pea brain, like, for instance, God becoming a man. For instance, God, the Lord Jesus, being made sin. But I know what? I know this. I can't explain it, but I believe it.