Okay, we're gonna be in the book
of Jude again this morning. And title or what I would like to
call this, and we'll read this, it's part of the text, is Preserved
in Jesus Christ. And the last time we looked at
the book of Jude, we made some comments and we looked at Part
of the first verse, and we said that there's three points that
this verse brings out, and we'll read these first four verses
first, and then we'll go back to that verse one. It says, 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, it was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
And for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God
and our Lord Jesus Christ." In those first four verses, there's
a lot of There's a lot to, as Mike says, unpack in those verses.
But back into the first verse, 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. And those
three points there that are made point to and bring out our salvation
is based upon work that all parts of the Trinity, God's three parts,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have to do, all of them have
completely to do with all of our salvation. And we looked
at that God's people, the church, the elect of God, sanctified
by God the Father, set apart and given to the Son. And we just had several messages
not far back in John 17 that spoke about the church, the connection
that the Lord has with His church and His people. and his prayers
to them and preserved in Jesus Christ we're looking at today
and called by the Holy Spirit. And those are three things that
describe who he's writing this to, this letters to the believers
of that particular time that this letter was given to, but
more to the point of all believers of all time, as the rest of the
Scripture is given. And the Scripture is given for
the benefit and for the knowledge and the teaching by the Spirit
of those things that pertain to the church. to the salvation
of the church, of the things that we are shown about God himself
and about man and the connection there and about having a people
and the redemption of those people. All the scripture is given, especially
to the church. All men can read it and see it
and have it. But it's only for the church. The only benefit
of it is for the church. Others are going to not benefit
from it. And those that we're going to
look at tonight are those that are preserved in Jesus Christ. preserved and kept by God's covenant,
we're gonna see, those whom the Father gave to the Son were to
be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. These are things that we know
the words of, but only the Spirit can reveal them to us and make
them real to us. He was to bear the full weight
of all the church of all time, and the weight of their sin of
all time, make full atonement for them, He was to endure the
full outpouring of God's wrath against sin, but not his own
sin. There was no sin of his. It was
for others that we know. He will bless in Christ all the
sheep. Christ took our place. Now we
share his place. His righteousness is ours. His
life is ours. There is no condemnation, as
we read in Romans and other places, not one single condition to be
met by the church. No responsibilities that must
be met to be with him in glory. We have a never-changing, unconditional
standing in the everlasting covenant in Christ. All this depended
upon what he did for us. We're going to take a look at
what the scriptures have to say about those things. And it's
preserved in Christ. That covers everything. It covers everything that we
need and have and will have. And as that psalm that we looked
at part of said in the bulletin, His mercy endureth forever. And
that has to do with the keeping of the church, and the keeping
of the church is all in our Lord Jesus Christ, and that's in the covenant that keeping
was given to him. And he took on that responsibility
and indeed has fulfilled that responsibility. So let's look
at a couple of places, actually a lot of places, starting in Isaiah. And there's
no There's no shortage of passages
to look at how God's people are kept and who keeps them. And
we're gonna, in Psalm, or Isaiah, sorry, chapter 46. in verses three and four. And
this is the context in Isaiah, all the context of Isaiah is,
comfort ye, comfort ye my people. And that's the gist of all the
scripture is, that's the theme of that, in him we can be and
are comforted. But in chapter 46 of Isaiah,
starting with verse three, it says, hearken unto me, O house
of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which
are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb,
and even to your old age I am he, and even to whore hares will
I carry you, I have made and will bear even I will carry and
will deliver you." And there's times that we read in the Scripture
that they were, as a nation, as they were traveling and doing
different things and come against different ones that they warred
against, There's scriptures that speak about his protecting them
and delivering them from those enemies, which he indeed did
do. But the prime import to the church
is that he's delivered us and delivers us from all spiritual
enemies, sin and all the effects of that, that he has delivered
and does deliver his people from in Isaiah 49. a lot about God being near His
people, and bringing salvation, and redeeming, and forgiving
iniquity, and those things that pertain to God's people in all
of Scripture, all of the book of Isaiah. And in chapter 49,
starting with verse 13, It says, Sing, O heavens, and
be joyful, O earth, and break into singing, O mountains. For
the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his
afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord hath
forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Verse 15, can a woman forget
her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? Yea, they may forget, but I will
not forget thee. Behold, verse 16, I have graven
thee upon the palms of my hand. Thy walls are continually before
me. And verse 17, that thy children
shall make haste, the destroyers, and they that made thee waste
shall go forth of thee." And here that in a physical sense
can do people, mothers say forget their child. That may happen
and that does happen, but God does not forget or Abandoned his own. A couple more
places while we're in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 51. Isaiah chapter 51, starting with
verse four. It says, Hearken unto me, my
people, and give ear unto me, O my nation, for a law shall
proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light
of the people. My righteousness is near, my
salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people.
The isles shall wait upon me, and upon mine arm shall they
trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish
away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment.
and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But my salvation
shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken
unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is
my law. Fear ye not the reproach of men,
neither be ye afraid of their violings. For the moth shall
eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like
wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation
from generation to generation." Again, God's people, and not
only His salvation, but He's He is holding them and keeping
them. It's not just a, here's a good plan, believe in this,
and there you are. You're on your own. As it says
there, read again in that Psalm 136, His mercy to us endures
forever. It's not just a one-time experience
that people have and then they're on their own. God has to keep
us and does keep us from day to day all the time. And then
one more spot in Isaiah, in Isaiah 53. just a couple of verses of it,
but the whole thing speaks about our salvation. Verses 10 through
12, it says, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put
him to grief, when thou shalt make his own offering for sin,
he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the "'Pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Therefore,' verse 12, "'will
I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the
spoiled with the strong.' because he hath poured out his soul unto
death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bared
the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." And there
in those passages of Isaiah, showing that not only is He our
salvation and made those things to us and become those things
to us, but that He keeps His people and It isn't just a plan
of salvation, as people say, but it is redemption in Him. It's not just a plan, but it
is a decree and covenant that He's determined that these things
will take place, and they indeed do. In the book of Malachi, we're
going to be in other places, back in the Psalms just a bit. But in Malachi chapter 3, and
we know this passage through here, and we spent some time
in the book of Malachi. that God is going to be glorified
and there is, judgment is coming and it is a sure thing. But in chapter three, Malachi
chapter three, in verse six, and Read the rest of this passage
on your own, but here, for the thought here, it says, verse
six, for I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed. even from the days of your fathers
ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return
unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.
But ye say, wherein shall we return?" And it goes down, and
God, as it says in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, the rest of
the scriptures, He causes His people to come to Him. They don't
just come to their senses, as it were. They come to their right
mind when the Lord opens the eyes and the Spirit causes life
to be in there. But because He does not change, we have a sure foundation that's
built upon, and it isn't a changeable God. If he were, we'd be like Mike says, we'd be turned
to cinders pretty fast if it was not for his faithfulness.
Turn to the book of James for just a minute. James 1. It says in verse 17, Every good
gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from
the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. of his own will begat us with
the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his
creatures." And that verse goes along with what we saw in Malachi. He doesn't change. God doesn't
change. And here it says, no variableness, neither shadow
of turning." And that's, there's, God doesn't have a different
take on things or different thought of things from day to day. And it's, when that covenant
was made to create a people and to have a people and to give
a remnant to our Lord, those things were done from a foundation
that says it's laid in for us in His Word, and those things
are not here today and gone tomorrow, or good today and not quite so
good tomorrow. That's one thing that God's people,
that He causes that to be in us and see those things, that
He is our rock. And it says, in the parts it
says, our rock is not their rock. or their rock is not our rock,
rather, and ours is, our God is as that rock. It doesn't change. And all blessings that we get
from Him. These things God has to reveal
to His people, to believe that, to believe that We are secure, and there's a
song that says, that we sing that, I'm trying to think of
the verse of it, but what it says is that we're not any less
secure than those in heaven. That they are there, but we are
that secure in that. In Hebrews, Well, we'll go to there a little
later. These things having not... never changing, they're unconditional,
and our standing we have in Him, and we'll look at a verse later
that speaks about our inheritance in Him, those are... The words
are not hard to read. The words are not hard to understand
the meaning of the words in the language. But it's a different
thing to see what it has to do with us and where we stand and
to understand those things and to wrap our mind around some
of those things. Turn to Psalm 119. We're going
to look at it several places in the Psalms. Job speaks about this too, about
our God's faithfulness and His assurances from Him. Let
me get over to the right psalm first. 119, Psalm 119, and this
whole Psalm through here in the top of my Bible. I don't know who put the notes
across the top of my Bible, just little heading things on here.
It says, confidence in the law. And I don't know where that came
from. And then it says, love for God's law on the next page. We love God's law in that it
no more has a hold on us, that we know one who has taken care
of that and has done that law. And in that way, we can have
confidence that the law does not slay us. We're dead to that. But confidence in the law, there
were several of those that the Lord came into contact with that
had confidence in the law. That's pretty thin ice to stand
on. There's only one that could deal
with that law adequately, and we know that He is the Lord Himself. Anyway, in Psalm 119 and verse
89, It says, Forever, O Lord, thy
word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all
generations. Thou hast established the earth,
and it abideth. They continue this day according
to thine ordinances, for all are thy servants. And this speaks
to the church and to us individually, but all things are created by
Him, and for Him they have their being and consist, and He upholds
all things, whether it be of nature or or whatever you want
to see that way, but particularly to the church, he upholdeth his
people in his hand. And it says, we're going to look
at another place, we're graven on the palms of his hand, and
we're kept by him, not kept by us, and not kept by other things. And Paul says, well, being we
can't keep the law, and we're under grace, now do we have a
free ticket to ride and just do what we want to do? And he
says, no, God forbid. that it is not, and that's not
the attitude God's people have, is that now that we're, we have
a get out of jail free card kind of a thing that I'm sure there
are those that look at that, but God's people are thankful
for him having a people and for him dealing with those things
that needed to be dealt with. And now we can say that sin,
death, hell, and the grave have no hold on his people. The grave
does temporarily. We're going to, if he Terry's,
we're going to die and go to the grave, but that's not the end of the story, as it were.
But all through this psalm, it speaks of God's mercy to us,
His judgments being right. And in that way, we can know
that we are safe in Christ because God's judgment is right. And
he did that that was judged and was not found wanting, but fulfilled
all those things that needed to be done for his people. And
so in that we have a safety and we know that we are kept in that. In Jeremiah-turn to the book
of Jeremiah. We're going to be back in the
Psalms too, but in Jeremiah there's just one spot I want to look
at. And we know in the book of Jeremiah and Ezekiel there's
much spoken of about how salvation comes about to his people. that
it's by God's doing and not by our doing. It goes along with
several passages in other scriptures that said, I was found of them
that weren't looking for me. I found them. They didn't find
me. And the passage is where they
were called not my people, and I give them life, and I call them
my people. So in Jeremiah chapter 31, for
instance, in verse 3 it says, The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." And this
here spot and down, it speaks about the remnant being saved,
God saving the remnant. But here, with an everlasting
love and with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. And that speaks
to how long and what view that God has of his people. And if
his attributes don't change, and he doesn't love sometimes
and then not love sometimes, if his love was set on a people
from everlasting to everlasting, and then that little bit we read
there in the Bolethin that says, His mercy endureth forever, and
if that's not long enough, there's more forevers. I mean, it's just
there's never going to be. There's never going to be a time
that that we're not. Covered in his love and in his
in his hand in God's hand. In. Isaiah 54 I missed that when we were there,
but Isaiah 54. And for good reason, Isaiah's
been called another one of the books of the gospel. And as we've
seen over the years, all the books that we have are the gospels
according to whoever they might have as a title, but in all of
the gospel to God's people. And here in chapter 54 of Isaiah, in verse 10, and above and below this in this
passage. But verse 10 says, for the mountains
shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall
not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace
be removed, saith the Lord that has mercy on thee. And here,
the covenant of my peace. And he is the one that has, as
we read in another passage, gives us that covenant of peace, and
that covenant is only in the Lord Himself. Any other covenant
that we would have been subject to or could have been by the
Father would not have been one of peace. That law that stood against us,
that law of sin and death that stood against us, it was like
Mount Sinai. You can't approach to that. There's
no comfort in that. There's no life in that. It is
just condemnation. And in our Lord Himself, that
was done away with and taken away with. And anything that
we stand in, it has to be in Him. And we have to be, as we've
seen many times, covered with His robe of righteousness. That's
the only place that safety is. And God's people, if they're
covered with that robe of righteousness, there's no uncovering that. It's not covered today and not
covered tomorrow. And we know that he died for
his people's sin, past, present, and future. It's not just things. And we know that, as Paul says,
I can't seem to do the things I'd like to do, I'm determined
to do, and I do those things I'm determined not to do. And
he said, dude, save me from this. And he says, I thank Jesus Christ. our Lord, and that's the only
way that we are not only saved, but are kept. And it's a complete
redemption, a complete salvation. It wasn't partly cleaned up and
then said that you're on your own. We know that that is just,
that would be death to us. Turn to the book of John. And we just, not far back, we
spent some time in the book of John. But we're going to look at a
few passages. In John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Okay. Let me get down to the
right verse. Start with verse 35 in John 6,
and this is speaking about the bread of life. It says, And Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
But I said unto you that ye also have seen me, and believe not.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I come 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 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 every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." And the Jews had a problem with him saying
he's the bread of life, but here Several things are brought in
this few verses here by the Lord Himself, that He came down to
do the will of the Father, and the Father, that His will was
that all those that were given to Him, He would lose none of
them. He would redeem them all and should raise it up, it says,
at the last day, and that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on Him may have everlasting life. And I'll raise Him up at the
last day. And that seeing the sun is not just reading the words
of it, but understanding by the Spirit, understanding some of
these things and given spiritual life. And Norman has a painting,
maybe several, a painting that this lady does and there's a
thicket of aspen trees or something. and you look at it, and I don't
recall the details, but there's supposed to be horses in that
thicket of trees. I cannot see the horses for the
forest. It's a painting of trees. And
I've looked at that sideways, and it kind of cocked my head,
and I'm sorry, but I have to take your word for it that they're
there. And knowing him and Mike Baker, it could be pulling my
leg a little bit. It could be one of those that really doesn't
have anything in it. But it's the same thing. The spirit has
to give eyes to see it, or you just cannot see it. You can read
the words of it. and you-of the Scripture, and
you can say that, and many people claim those things, but they
have no-they don't see any of it. Now, it's seeing that by
the faith that God gives us is not the same as understanding
all the details of it. I can tell you that. We don't-there's
much that we cannot grasp fully and understand, but we believe
it because he said these things are so. And there's a lot of
the scriptures that we believe wholeheartedly, but we cannot
get to the root of it exactly or wrap our minds around them.
They're great things. And as Lauren said last week,
we just can't wrap our minds around some of these thoughts. Okay, we're going to move on
in John. In chapter 17 of John, and we spent some time here recently
in John 17 with a series that Brother Wayne spoke to us, a
wonderful passage and words in here of our Lord. And just picking
out a few of them, starting with verse six, chapter 17 of John,
it says, I have manifested thy name to the men which thou gavest
me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them, I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine,
and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father.
Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition,
that the scripture might be fulfilled." And here's some very key, important
things that we have from the Lord Himself saying to us that
there's a people were given to Him not the whole world, as those
special, the Church of God, the true Church, the true Israel
of God were given to him, and those are the ones that he died
for. Those are the ones that he kept. And as it says up there, I have given them, verse 8, the
words which thou gavest Me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and that they
have believed that thou didst send Me." That is the horses
and the trees stuff. He has to reveal it to us. We
can't...and it says that they have...that I came out from thee, and they
have believed it. It's not that he said, yeah, I hear what you're
saying. Because I've talked to people
before and they say, yeah, I hear what you're saying. He said,
you don't understand me. And it's not just the words that
he said, but any part that it says that we have believed is
not from us. What did you have, Peter? flesh
and blood didn't reveal these things to you, but my Spirit
which is in heaven." That's the only way we can understand spiritual
things. Romans and other passages speak
to us about being in the Spirit and those things that we are
like. And we look at them and we say,
well, we're not exactly like that. But only in the Spirit,
or we like that. And we worship Him, as it says,
He has to be worshiped in Spirit and in truth. And if those things
are not shown to us, we can't understand them. We can recite
the words of them. We can know a catechism or a
confession of faith, but that does not reach very far. That
can only reach into the intellect as far as understanding the words
and the language of it. Sometimes we think we have a
grasp on things, then we find out that we don't necessarily. And we, Lord, help our unbelief. He helps us to believe, and we
say, help our unbelief, because we don't, of ourselves, we don't
know these things. in same chapter, 17 of John,
verse 24. And down a couple of verses,
it says, Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given
me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which
thou hast given me. For thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known
that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, that the love for with thou hast
loved me may be in them, and I in them." And here again, this
speaks to those things that these have known that thou hast sent
me." And that is only by revelation of God that we can say we know
those things. We cannot understand God. We have a lot of Scripture that
speaks of Him and tells us about Him and what He is like in words
that we can understand the words of it, but we see such a little
piece of things. And as I said, we see darkly
now, we see very, very darkly now, or through the lattice,
we see parts of things, but he causes us to believe that and
not to always understand the words exactly or the thoughts
of them, but we do. believe what he says to us and
what the Lord has said. In chapter 18 of John, just one
verse. No, it isn't. That doesn't, okay. In, Let's go to the book of Romans
for just a couple of minutes, another couple of things, and
then we're going to... In Romans, chapter 7, much in the book of Romans dealing
with what we are like by nature and how we what God does to His
people and for His people and in His people. But in Romans
chapter 7, starting with the last couple
of verses of chapter 7 and following it. It says, O wretched man that
I am, verse 24, that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh law of sin. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Pretty important stuff to God's
people. There is therefore now no condemnation. What do you say to these things,
if God before us, who could be against us, as we'll read? But
here, in the flesh, we can do nothing. We know that it's all
of Him, and as it says here, who are in Christ Jesus. That's the only place that we
are kept. That's the only safe place. The stronghold, as he
says, our high tower, those things that he is to God's people, that's
the only place that we are safe. And then down in chapter 8 just
a bit. Okay, chapter 8, and I'm going
to start with verse 26. Romans 8. It says, Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered." And he that searches the heart
knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. I
am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creatures shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." That
covers a lot of ground. That covers anything that we
can conceive of and things that we cannot conceive of. We're going to just about run
out of time. I'm going to call it a day for
right now. Think of the passages, some of
those passages. We are heirs of God and joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. The position that we have in
Him, and we can't, the only position we have is in Him. And as it
says, it's an everlasting, enduring covenant that God has that we
are in. And that is the people who, Jude is writing to here,
to God's people that are in Him and preserved in Him. And as
Mike would say, thank you for your attention and be free.