Oh, their crowns, how bright they sparkle, such as monarchs never wear. But you know, the saints of God never wear those crowns either. Because the saints of God cast their crowns down at the feet of Christ. Because they know that he alone is worthy to wear a crown.

The scripture speaks about a crown of righteousness that fades away. But that's His crown. And He's given us that crown. But we're not worthy to put it upon our head. But He is. And we worship Him. And that's why we come together. We don't come together to pat one another on the back. We don't come together primarily to preach and sing about heaven.

Heaven is a place of glorious, of glory that's beyond our comprehension to understand it. But the glory of heaven is Jesus Christ. And there would be no reason to go to heaven if he was not there. Now, the general thinking of men about heaven, they talk about heaven. People, every time somebody dies, everybody says, well, they went to heaven. Well, not what the scripture says, but that's what men think and that's what men say. And even the president, he spoke about it. He's hoping he's done enough to get there. Well, if I could, I would tell him he can't.

No man ever has. Never been a man that's entered into the gates with mortal glory that's done so by anything that he did. And by the grace of God, there's no sinner. that ever came there either, who was not covered in the righteousness of Christ, because he couldn't come there by any other means, regardless of how good he might have been, as men say so, or how wicked he might have been, according to man's judge of such things. The righteousness of Christ, the only thing that will suffice in the courts of heaven.

What a glorious thing. You know, that's a glorious thing to see that and know that. And to desire to be there. Not so that we might escape damnation. Surely we would not want to be damned, but our desire is to be there that we might exalt him. I mean, that's the reason why we won't go to heaven when we die. It's not so we can go fish for the rest of our life and have a good time and do all the things we couldn't do while we was down here. But it's to give glory to Christ. To see Him there in His glory, undimmed by all of the things that surround us and the weakness of our flesh that corrupts even the very precious and holy things of God. but to see him with undimmed eyes.

The scripture says we shall see him as he is. How is he? Oh, he's reigning in glory. He's the mighty God. He's the one who created the world out of nothing. And he's ordained it according to his good pleasure. And all things occur exactly as He determines it to be. Oh, what a glorious God He is. He's not some little weak-kneed God that's hoping you'll do something for Him. But He's a righteous God who lives and reigns and rules. What a glorious one He is. And He's revealed Himself to us as our Savior. As that one, he said that he would save sinners. He came to save sinners.

I believe he'll save every sinner that has ever been. And some people say, well, doesn't the Bible say everybody's sinned? Sure, everybody has sinned, but you see, everybody's not a sinner. A lot of people think, well, I'm not quite that. I'm not as bad as so-and-so, you know. Come along pretty good. I got a few things going in my favor. A sinner is somebody that falls down on his face before the Lord Jesus Christ and says, Lord, save me or I'll perish. I can't save myself. Best I've done, it falls far short of what's required of me. But you see Christ, he satisfied all things for the sake of his people. He obtained eternal redemption. He didn't try to get it.

Now you'll hear a lot of preaching nowadays, has been for a long time. Hadn't always been that way, but that was the predominant message. But it is the predominant message in the day in which we live. If you'll just give the Lord a chance, he'll come in and save you. He's wanting to. He sure hopes you'll let him.

But I'm here to tell you, the Lord's not hoping you'll do anything. The Lord's saving sinners. He does so by calling them. He said, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. He calls them out of darkness and into the light. He gives them a heart and a mind that seeks and desires to know the things of God.

The majority of people in the world are not interested in the things of God. They're interested in the things they're interested in. It's the way of the flesh. It's the way men are. It's a privilege to be called by God. To be called out of darkness and into the light. To see the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ because that's the only place you'll ever see it. It's the only place no man can see it. No man has seen God at any time. Jesus Christ, who's in the bosom of the Father, He hath revealed Him. He is the fullness of Godhead bodily. Oh, what a glorious Lord He is.

Now, we've been looking here in Jude for several weeks, and it begins with an exhortation, a salutation, first of all, to them that are sanctified by God the Father. Now, you know, you hear, I remember when I was a kid that there was some people, they would make a big deal out of, I've been sanctified. You hear people talk like that. Oh, brother, I've been sanctified, you know, and it's like some kind of experience that they had that, you know, It made them different. Now, you might not could have told it when you see how they act from time to time, but when in church, they've been sanctified.

Now, what is it to be sanctified? It means be set apart. Sanctified, the word for sanctify is the word for holy. God is holy. God is sanctified. He is set apart from men. He dwells in the light to which no man can approach. He's set apart. See, God's eternal. Men are not. Now you'll hear a lot of people talk about man's eternal soul. Well, I'm telling you, you don't have an eternal soul according to what the scripture says. The Lord said to Adam, in the day that you eat this, you're going to die. And apart from the gift of life from Jesus Christ, that's the state in which a man will stay. He'll never escape that death. Oh, he'll live on in this body for a while till the appointed hour when he dies.

But he says those who are sanctified, set apart, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. That's a glorious set of circumstances there, isn't it? Sanctified, preserved, and called. And not a one of those things has anything to do with what the man does. All of them have to do with what God does. See, he sanctified his people, he set them apart. We were set apart in Christ, the scripture says, from before the foundation of the world. Now we didn't know anything about that. In fact, we wasn't even around insofar as having a conscious existence. But the Lord loved us before we were ever born. He knew us when we were in the womb if we belonged to him. We were set apart. And now we're preserved. See, nothing can destroy the sons of God. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It's God that justifies. We're preserved, we're kept, even as he says here in the end of this book. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling. You know, if you belonged to him, you'd fall every day. If he removed his hand from you, you can't stand, you won't stand. You'll depart from the faith that you profess unless he keeps you. But you know the glorious thing is that those whom he has sanctified, until the end. And they're called.

Now when we were born into the world, we didn't have any idea about any of the stuff. I had no idea about anything I'm telling you right now. When I was born into the world, the only thing I wanted to do, first thing I wanted to do was get me something to eat. And then I wanted to be as cantankerous as I could. And I succeeded. But there came a time known only to the Lord, but prophesied by him. He said, I will bring my people in a way which they knew not. You didn't know anything about what I'm talking about. You may still not. But you couldn't have known anything about it. when you was coming along. I mean, all you wanted to do was what kids want to do. The one thing you didn't want to do is what your mom and daddy told you to do. You know, if you could do anything in life, you figured that wasn't what you wanted to do. You wanted to do whatever they told you. You figured if what they told you not to do had to be good, so you wanted to do it. Because why? That's just the way of this old human nature.

But God, who's rich in mercy, calls his people out of the darkness and into the light that they might see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And so that's the place where God's people are, when he calls them out. Not a way they knew, not a way they figured out. See, a lot of people think you can go to class and you can learn about Jesus Christ and that you can become a Christian. You can't become a Christian. God has to make you one. That's the way it happens. You don't come that by learning stuff. You come by the Spirit of God visiting you and giving you a mind and heart to call upon his name. He does that. He calls his people out.

And so he begins with that salutation, and a prayer for them, mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. See, we want the best for God's people. We want God's people to be blessed. Now, I want all men in the world. I'm not against any man in the world, but I know and understand that the Lord has called his people out and he's given us a special love, one for the other. In fact, John said that if we don't love the brethren, it's evidence that we don't love God. Because the Lord alone can give a man love for the brethren.

So a lot of people, they look at coming together and together with God's people like some kind of obligation that they have and they gotta meet it and it wouldn't be there if they could get out of it. I mean, if they can find anything else to do, you know it's just more important than that. But when the Lord moves in a man's heart, he desires to be around God's people. They're the ones he most wants to see. because he gives us a love one for the other.

And so he said, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful that I exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. We are to contend for it. We're to hold on to it. We're to run after it as something that's just out of our grasp, but something we want to hold on to. Paul said that he would run the race that is set before him, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. See, our faith is not what comes within. People talk about, well, you need to get faith. You need to work up faith. You need to have faith. You need to do all these things. Well, face the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Faith's not something you came up with. If you have faith, it's because God gave it to you. I can't give it to you. I can't tell you how to get it. I can tell you who the Savior is. I can tell you that he saved sinners. I can call out to you and I can plead with you. I can desire that you might come to know him. But the Lord alone can give you faith.

Now the glorious thing is he does. Why should he? I don't know. He shouldn't really. He shouldn't just cast us all off and start again like he did with Noah in the flood. Now, he could do that, but he gives men faith. And he says that it is once delivered to the saints. It was once delivered to the saints because Jesus Christ came once in the end of the world. See, this is the end of the world, brother. You didn't know that. This is the end of the world. Now, you got a lot of these guys out here trying to sell prophecy books that tell you the end of the world's coming. Well, I'm telling you the end of the world's here. Because Jesus Christ came once in the end of the world. This is the last time. There's not coming another time. There's not another age that's gonna unfold. This is the last time. This is the day of salvation. And this is once delivered to the saints.

See, we hadn't got to a three effort thing. Well, you know, well, you can believe this or you can believe that or this idea, you know, we got the denominations and all this and they believe this and we believe that and all of this stuff. No, there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism and it's been delivered once unto the saints. And it's a common salvation. It doesn't mean it's worthless. I mean, you know, we think of something common. We think of that as not worth much, but it's common in that it is the same faith that works in all the sons of God. See, all of God's people, all of God's people confess two things, that they are great sinners and that Christ is the great Savior. See, that's a common salvation, is it not? It's not Christ plus something else, but it's Christ. It's not me having sinned but done a lot of good along the way and hoping the Lord will bless me because of it, no. The common salvation is I'm a sinner in need of a Savior, and Christ is that Savior. That's the common salvation.

But then he gives a warning. And he says, but there are certain men crept in unawares. In other words, he said there's deceivers that have come among the children of God. Now you don't have to worry about the, you know, all the stuff that's going on that has no mention of Christ. We know the error of that, we can see it. The error is when men come preaching about Christ, or mentioning Christ, but they don't preach Christ. Now that might not make sense to you, but just because somebody mentions his name doesn't mean they are preaching Christ. Because to preach Christ is to preach Christ and him crucified with nothing else. It's not Christ plus baptism. It's not Christ plus your faith. It's not God doing his part and you doing your part. If it is, you're in trouble. Because you can't do your part. But what the gospel is about is about Jesus Christ and what he has done in the behalf of sinners. And so this, dear brethren, is that which we need to beware of, is any that come preaching something else.

I mean, there's a million things. You know, you don't need to know all the things. I couldn't begin to tell you all the errors that's out there. I'm not trying to tell you about all the errors. You know, we could spend all day talking about this error and that error and this one and that one and what's wrong with this, that, the other. Doesn't matter. What matters is Jesus Christ and him crucified.

See, never a man perished at the foot of the cross. Nobody ever perished at the foot of the cross. Because Christ is the Savior. And there is none else.

But there are certain men crept in unawares. They're stealthy. See, they said, well, we'll make this sound good, but we wanna be sure we keep people, you know, we wanna keep God's people in line, so we're gonna lay this burden on them, or we're gonna lay that, or we're gonna say, now, you need to do this. Not only do you need to believe, which believing's good, but you know, you need to do this.

Certain men are crept in unawares. And the scripture says, they were before of old ordained to this condemnation. God determined it, that this would happen. When Adam sinned, did he do so just on a whim? No, he did so by God's design.

Now does that make Adam not accountable? Absolutely not, why? Because God made him accountable. And he said, Adam, I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen here. He says, you're going to eat this tree that I told you not to eat of, and the day you eat it, you're going to die. Did Adam believe him? No. He didn't believe him. Because when Eve brought that fruit, she was deceived, see? Serpent deceived Eve. And she came down and said, man, you know, this is good. We need to eat this. Old Adam said, man, I've just been looking for the opportunity. God said don't do it, but buddy, I'm gonna do it because I want to be as God.

And that's the place men have been from the beginning is seeking to make God in their own image. See, men are not, men don't rebel against a sovereign God. As long as they're the sovereign God. See, men want to be sovereign. They say, well, God can't choose men, but men can choose God. My dear brethren, that's backwards. See, it's not up to you to choose God. God doesn't need you to choose Him. You can't choose Him. He chooses His people. He calls them. He sanctifies them. He preserves them. They belong to Him.

See, that's the work of God. It's not the work of men, that's not a boast. How can a man boast in such a thing? I mean, could Paul boast of being something better than somebody else when he was going down the road to Damascus with a desire to destroy the work of God in the earth? Destroy the people of God? But God, who's rich in mercy, appeared to him. And he called him out of darkness into the light. And so every day of his life from then forward, he could not help but declare the glory and mercy of God to save a sinner. And that's all. That's all we're trying to do today, is just tell you about the one who comes to save sinners.

But there are certain men Ungodly men. Now, you know, ungodliness, men think they can define that. Well, that's the folks down there at the bar. Yeah. That's the folks at the gambling house. That's the folks doing this, or that's the folks doing that. That's the ungodly. Now, I'm telling you who the ungodly are. The ungodly are any who come saying that there is some other savior than Jesus Christ. The ungodly are those that come preaching another Christ that would confuse men and seek to add to that which Christ has done. Those are the ungodly. The ungodly are those that do not believe. The scripture says they're ordained unto condemnation. And so then the whole rest of this chapter, the book itself, since it only has one chapter, he's describing them. And we've gone through it, we've looked at them, and the things that he says about them. And so we come down to verse 19, and I wanna read these verses.

It says, these be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit. But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith. Now notice he does not say believing in your most holy faith, or building yourselves up in your faith. But he says, building up yourselves on your most holy faith. your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And if some have compassion, making a difference, others say with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and ever. Amen.

And so he says in his final description of those whom he began speaking about there in verse four, these certain men crept in unaware. He said, these be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit. They separate themselves. They say, you know, it's all right to every now and then go and listen to one of them old guys that says God's absolutely sovereign, that he chooses people. according to his own good pleasure, that he saves whom he will, that Jesus Christ died for them, and them alone. They separate themselves from that. They say, wait, look, this is not how it is. This is how it is. If you want to, you can let Jesus into your heart right now. All you gotta do is walk down this aisle, and you can just let him in. He's standing up there like a puppy dog with his tongue hanging out, wanting you to come. Won't you do it for him? I'm telling you, that's sensual.

You see, they separate themselves from that which is spiritual. What I'm telling you about today, it doesn't fit well with the flesh. I'm telling you, the flesh hates the message of the gospel. Now it doesn't hate the message of Jesus died on the cross and he tried to save all the world and he's waiting for you to let him do something. They don't hate that. They love that. Why? Because it puts them in charge. But see, they separate themselves from that which says God's in charge. He's an absolute God. You can't take a breath if God doesn't give it to you. You can't walk one step out of this building unless God ordains that it be so. He knows our down sitting, the scripture says, and our uprising, our going out and our coming in. He numbers the hairs on our head. How foolish is it for men to think that they can either let God do something or keep Him from doing something. I'm glad. You know, that doesn't make me mad, that makes me glad. Because I want to fall down and worship a God like that, I don't want to worship some God that needs me. God doesn't need us. Much as you might think He does, He doesn't. Your life is but a vapor, the scripture says. We live our lives as a tale that is told. It's not even ours, it's his to do with. He said, can't a potter take the same lump of clay and make one vessel to honor and one to dishonor? And who can say anything about it? Nobody. Not a thing in the world. They're sensual, they're not spiritual. They're carnal.

It's just like when we're talking about heaven. Most people's idea of heaven is just a place where you have a big time. You know, you hear, I've been to enough funerals in my life to know how it goes. You know, old brother so-and-so, he loved to hunt. I mean, and buddy, he's up there today, you know, and he's got the biggest buck in his sights that you've ever seen. And he's just having a big time hunting. That's sensual. That's not having the spirit.

Now, you know, the Lord, he's made us flesh and blood for his own purpose. And according to what the scripture says, in the day of the resurrection, he's gonna raise these bodies out of the ground. Now they're going to be spiritual bodies according to what the scripture says. I don't know exactly how all that is. I don't know what that is. But I know this. The Lord made man and he breathed into him and the scripture says that he became a living soul. But then he died.

But the Lord Jesus came and he said to Nicodemus, he said, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said, Lord, how can this be? How can I, can I being old, can I go back into my mother's womb and be born again? He said, Nicodemus. He says, you're a master in Israel and you don't know this. He said, the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, which you cannot tell from whence it comes. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit of God.

See, the word for wind, the word for breath, is the same word in the scripture as spirit. The Lord, by his Holy Spirit, comes and causes a man to be born anew, made alive, quickened, the scripture says. You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now let me ask you something. What did you have to do with your natural birth? I mean, did you plan out who was gonna be your parent, when you was gonna be born? What you was gonna look like? No, you didn't have anything at all to do with it. You just was born. So too is everyone that's born in the spirit of God. They're born by God. You see, he's the one that brings the birth to pass.

Oh, what a glorious thing it is. But those who are sensual, they deny that. I've heard men, in fact, I was taught this. You can be born again. You can do it. You know how you can do it? You just decide to follow Christ. You make your decision. And buddy, you're gonna be born again. That's put the cart ahead of the horse. See, because unless the Lord quickens a man and causes him to be born again, he will never seek the Lord. He'll never call on the name of the Lord.

Now the glorious thing is that the Lord does do that. He's still doing that. How do I know that? Because the world hasn't come to an end yet. And he's calling his people. He's still got some people. that Jesus Christ died for, that he paid for their sins and he will call them and they will hear his voice and they will arise and come and fall down at his feet and say, Lord, save me or I perish. Just like that thief that hung on the cross. What happened to him? Two thieves hung on the cross with him. Both of them, the scripture says, mocked him. But one of them, something happened to him. What happened to him? I'll tell you what happened. He was called. He was sanctified. His eyes were opened. And he said, Lord, when thou comest Remember me. See, he wanted to be in the kingdom with Christ. He didn't just want a kingdom. He didn't say, Lord, give me a kingdom. He said, Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom, remember me. I want to be where you are.

These be who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit. And I thought we was gonna get through with this today, but we're not. But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. So he gives an exhortation to the sons of God. He said, this is who you are. You've been called. You've been preserved. You've been sanctified by the Lord. He said, build up one another. See, that's the whole purpose of this book is to call God's people together to help one another. See, we need one another. We're not independent.

Now, this is one of the worst things that's happened in our day and time among those that call themselves Christians is we got a bunch of freelance People had, oh, I don't need the church, you know. I'm good enough, I can just go worship the Lord if I want to go, you know, worship the Lord out, sitting in a chair and just looking at the sun. I can do it or I can, you know, go fishing or whatever. And it's just, you know, I'm just kind of like on freelance and go along and do whatever I want to do. But the Lord said, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. And so much the more so as you see the day approaching. What is the day? It's the day of Christ's return or the day of your last day, because they're both one and the same thing, I believe. I mean, you are passing from this world. The Lord's called His people.

And I think one of the worst things that's happened, and you've got all these churches and a lot of them, you know, I can't say this one belongs to the Lord or that one doesn't. That's not for me to say. I don't know. I told you what the common salvation is. Anything else is stuff. I mean, I don't know what it is. These churches, they're just like mills where people come in and sit down and listen to something and then they go out and then come back next week and do the same thing over and over again. But those things have no effect on their life. They're not brought to the place of loving one another. building one another up in the most holy faith. They want to come and sit through the program and then go home. And they're satisfied. That's not the place God called his people to be. We're a community of believers. We depend on one another. We're to build one another up, that's what he said. Building one another up in the most holy faith. helping one another, esteeming one another above ourselves.

May the Lord be pleased to bring it so, and we exhort you. Just like the scripture exhorts. See, the scripture exhorts the people of God. Scripture doesn't exhort the world. I mean, the world can't be exhorted because they're not moving towards Christ. God's people, however, desire to walk in the way of Christ and the exaltation comes to them as a bit of encouragement and to point them in the right direction. Encouragement, we need it, I need it. I need for you to pray for me. Praying for one another in the Holy Ghost. There ain't no other kind of prayer. And you talk about these people that shake and jitter and jump and jive and claim that it's the Holy Ghost, and I don't know. I'm not saying that that might not ever happen, but I'm saying that's not what it is to pray in the Holy Ghost. Praying in the Holy Ghost is praying as the Spirit of God leads you. call upon the name of Christ first of all, and then to lay up your petitions before him, to bear one another's burdens. See, we're put together as a church that we might bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. May the Lord give us a mind and heart to do so. May he teach us what it is to believe Jesus Christ, and nothing else. I don't want you to go out of here and say that I told you that anything was necessary for your salvation other than the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He's the Savior, and He saves such as call upon His name.