thought when we consider that he ever lived to make intercession for us. And he gave us this table that we'll partake of, and he told us to remember his death. But he said, until I come again. And so we rejoice today that he did die, but that he's not dead. Because if he was dead, he could not come again. If he was dead, he could not ever live to make intercession for us. But he does. And he has commanded us to remember that. And all of those things, by his grace, we will remember today. We're looking in the book of Jude. And I'll read the first two verses. We looked at the first verse last week. 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 told, mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. Now we'll look at those verses. Of course, we looked last week at the first verse, three very important words that he spoke there, says, as he wrote to the children of God, and he said, them that are sanctified, by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. There's a lot that's in those three words, sanctified, preserved, and called. Anything that's sanctified is set apart. That's why when Moses saw the burning bush and he approached unto it and the voice came to him from the bush and said, take your shoes off. For the ground whereon you stand is holy ground. And that word holy is the same word, although that's in the Hebrew, this word here is in the Greek, but the thought is the same. The word means set apart. It means that which is uncommon. It means that which is not to be mixed with something else. When the Lord told the children of Israel, he said, thou shalt have no other gods before my face. He meant that because He's holy, he's set apart. He said, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Now the way that men think about that usually is, well it's all right to have other gods, as long as you put God first. And, you know, we were in a, we were at a racing event yesterday and I saw a guy had a shirt on And I know what he meant by it, and I'm not trying to come down too hard on him, but I got to thinking about it, and I believe it's an error in how that thought would come across. And he had on this shirt, it said, God first, family second, and the Miami Hurricanes third. Now, on the one hand, that sounds like a proper order, doesn't it? But that's not what God said. He didn't say, put me at the number one spot. He said, I'm God, and there is none else. All these other things don't mean anything. You know, as important as family is, as important as country is. You know, a lot of people, you hear this phrase a lot, God and country. God, guns, and freedom. The Lord not to be spoken of in the realm of these things. All of these other things that men, you can rank anything you want to rank. You can have a pecking order, I don't care how many spots you got in it, but God is not in that pecking order. He's totally outside of that. He's not to be compared with any of that. He's not to be spoken of in the same breath. You know, as much as we love our family, we're not speaking about God and family. The family is a wonderful thing, ordained by God, given to us, blessed by God. But we don't speak of those things in the same breath. God is God. And he said there is none else. In fact, Paul said that he only hath immortality. dwelling in the light to which no man can approach. Now it's a popular thought, and I don't want to enter into a great theological argument here, but it's a great thought that men have that the souls of men are immortal. The problem with that thought is you can't find that taught in the scripture. Now I know men can derive that from what they think about things, but it's more of a philosophical argument than it is a scriptural argument. Because the scripture plainly says he only hath immortality. Now if he only has immortality, nothing else has immortality. Men are not immortal creatures. Now by the grace of God, according to his mercy, he is pleased to bestow immortality on such creatures as we are, as whom he is pleased to give eternal life. But we still have a beginning. and would have an end except that our end is in him who has no end. And so we have been given immortality, but we are not immortal. He alone is immortal. And so we need to remember that in all of the things as we go through life and never put God in any pecking order that there is. He's just, he is. He's absolute. He's not number one. He's number all. And there's a difference. I mean, people think, oh, well, God's number one. No, He's not number one. He is. See, He's holy. He's set apart. And that's what the scripture says that has been done for the children of God. We are sanctified by God. We're set apart. Not because of who we are, but because of who He is. We're set apart in Him. How did we get in Him? See, men think they can get in God. No, you can't get in Him. He has to put you in Him. And He has a people that are chosen in Christ. And you've often heard me say, he didn't say eeny, meeny, miny, moe and pick a people out of the world. He chose his people in Christ. Now that's a deep thought, but it's a true thought. And that's the place, dear brethren, where we have our life comes from Christ. Everything we have, that goes beyond the grave come from Christ because he's holy. And we've been set apart in him, sanctified, chosen, elect, all of those words. Men don't have a problem with election per se. Even the people that will argue with you about whether or not the scripture says that God has an elect people, they believe in election because they believe they can choose God. See, men don't have a problem with somebody choosing something, they just don't like that God does the choosing. They want them to be the ones that do the choosing. How foolish. Because God is. and we're sanctified by God the Father. Preserved in Jesus Christ. Kept from falling. Where? In Christ. See, that's why the children of God can't fall. Why? Because they're in Christ. Whenever he died, he died for them. Whenever he rose from the grave, he rose for them. And if he gives them eternal life, they have it. It can't be drawn back from them, why? Because their life is hidden where? In Christ. Now some of the old theologians and Bible teachers and people blessed of the Lord spoke of this as an eternal, vital union. Now there's some aspects of that terminology that I don't particularly care for, and of course some of the arguments. It's like, you know, everything that's true, man takes it and he keeps messing with it till it becomes something that it shouldn't be. I mean, it's just always the way it is. Man can't leave something alone. He's got to figure it out. And I wouldn't be able to tell you ever out or explain to you in detail how all of that is, but I do believe that God's people were in Christ from before the foundation of the world. They were created in Christ unto salvation. And that is an eternal vital union, as far as I understand it. Because Christ is living. See, the vital part of it doesn't have anything to do with us, has to do with Him. The vital union is Christ. He's the one that gives us life. We live in Him. We're preserved in Jesus Christ. And called. Now that's a glorious thing. We ought to rejoice each time we read that. Remember what Peter said on the day of Pentecost. He said that this promise is unto you and to your children. And then he didn't stop there. He said, as many as the Lord our God shall call. We read in Romans 8, 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them who are what? The called, according to his purpose. Now when you read that in some of these modern translations, they leave off an important word in that. And if you like modern translations, that's all right, but if you'll, many times, if you'll read things, they leave out stuff that ought not to be left out. Most of the modern translations, I call them, rather than versions, I call them perversions, but they leave out the word thee. Now that doesn't seem all that important, does it? But it says those who are called. Well, that's great that we're called, but you see the scripture says to thee called, That's a specific people. And they're called by his voice. He said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. He calls them out of the darkness. He calls them by name and they hear his voice. What a glorious thing, called. sanctified, preserved in Jesus Christ and called. And so that's a specific people that he's writing to. It's not everybody because everybody's not called. Now everybody that's not called's glad of it. You know, people often present the, when you get to talking about God's election, and his choice of people, and they become worried. And they say, oh, well, you know, what about all these people that never got a chance? Well, in the first place, salvation's not by chance, it's on purpose. But how many people who are not the elect of God are seeking him? How many of them are hungering after righteousness? How many of them are desiring to give honor and glory to Him? I'll tell you how many, it's zero. Because those who are the called, according to His purpose, are those who seek Him. They are those who desire Him. The most painful thought in their mind would be to be separated from Him. to be without him. Thank God that he calls his children. Because if he didn't call men to himself, nobody'd ever come. You know, I guess most people, they have the idea, well, you know, you got this thing sitting out here, and you can take it or leave it, and it's just this big offer that's sitting up here. Won't you come and take it? The problem is nobody would. Isn't that what the Lord illustrated when he told about the feast? That he invited, you know, many called some to come and nobody came and he said, go out and gather up a crowd. Isn't that what it is? I mean, nobody would come. Everybody has an excuse. Everybody has their own thing. Everybody's glad. Now they might speak about God, just like the fellow with the shirt, and I don't know anything about the fellow. He might be a fine guy, he might be one of the Lord's people, I don't know. But people are satisfied, oh, we got God number one. Now we got God number one, so we'll go out here and just do whatever we want to, because God's number one. No, he's not number one. Oh, that the Lord might teach us what it is, the joy and glory that it is to be the called. What a privilege. Count it not a light thing. You know, if you have in your heart a desire to know Jesus Christ, count that a glorious thing. Because that's a privilege that's not bestowed on everybody. It's a privilege that's bestowed on those who are called. Those who are sanctified, set apart, and preserved in Jesus Christ. What a glorious standing for the sons of God. And then he says, mercy unto you. Peace and love be multiplied. Mercy. Now, we would most often associate that word mercy with kindness. That is literally what the word means. If you show mercy to someone, it means you show kindness. But whenever we think about mercy, we often associate it with worth. You know, we say, oh, well, he's deserving of mercy. You know, you see somebody out here that's a bum and he's begging by the side of the road and he says, we'll work for food. And you know he won't work for food. Because if he'd work for food, he'd be working. So, and you look at him and you say, I ain't gonna have nothing to do with him. He's not worthy of my consideration because he's just a bum. But then, you know, somebody comes up to you in the parking lot with a sob story. I got my children, you know, I got laid off from my work and I don't have any money and my children's at home and they're hungry and I'm just trying to get some food for them. Would you buy me some bread and some sandwich meat so I can feed them? And you think to yourself, well, you know, this may be real. He's worthy of my mercy. But see, that's not how God bestows mercy. Because that's not really mercy. Mercy is an undeserved. Mercy is shown to those that don't deserve it. That's what mercy is. When you can't earn it, and you can't deserve it, That's what mercy is. And the Lord said this, he said, I will show mercy. Now that is a glorious thought. The Lord of heaven, who created a vast creation, and the creation that he made has rebelled against him and hated him at every turn that it could. And yet he who has power, the power of life and death, and as men we'd think, well he should have just destroyed the whole thing. He said, I will show mercy. Think on that, I will show mercy. Now most people think, well he ought to. I mean, you know, he made this creation of men, and we're all, you know, we're all created in the image of God, and we're all, you know, these creatures out here, and it wouldn't be right if God didn't show mercy. No, it's an amazing thing. The most amazing words in the scripture is the Lord told Moses, I will show mercy. And then he said, I will show mercy. to whom I will show mercy. Now, would you believe that you have a power that God does not have? Now, just in the illustration that I gave you a moment ago, you choose, do you not, who you will show kindness to and mercy to, what you call mercy? Sure you do. And would God be any less able and right? I mean, do you feel condemnation? Should you feel condemnation because you choose to bestow kindness on one and not another? Of course not. Why? Because you in that respect are a sovereign, you have a sovereign choice in that respect. Should God be any less? Would we think that He should be any less? No, see, people think God's obligated. Oh, well, God's gotta show mercy. No, He doesn't have to. But He does. He says, I will show mercy. But he says, I'll show mercy to whom I'll show mercy. And it won't be on the basis of that they needed it, that they deserved it, that they should have it, or anything else. It'll be because I determined that it would be so. What a glorious God he is. But the fact that there is such a thing as mercy overrides any thought that man could ever have of God withholding mercy from some, because he does. He surely does. Mercy unto you. Now this is Jude's prayer for those to whom he writes. Mercy unto you. He says, may the Lord's kindness be upon you. Isn't that what we desire for the sons of God? For the people of God? For men in general. I mean, in our lack of understanding of things, I mean, I don't want anybody to be destroyed because I know I'm just like everybody else. I mean, I can't get up on my high horse and say, well, he ought to be destroyed. I mean, he probably should. I mean, every man ought to be destroyed. I mean, when somebody's going to the electric chair, do we rejoice and say, man, I'm glad that guy fried? No, we ought to think about, you know, that could have been me. Apart from the mercy of God extended to me, I could have been in that position. And so we never have any place to rise up and pat ourselves on the back, but we look at the mass of humanity and as the rains fell and destroyed all the living things on the earth, I don't imagine that Moses was rejoicing No, he was, I say he wasn't rejoicing because the world was being destroyed. His rejoicing was that the Lord showed mercy to him because he knew that he had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's the only reason he was in the ship. I mean, he preached, the scripture says he was a preacher of righteousness. He preached, I suppose that he preached as he was building the boat. You know, and he set forth before men, but nobody heard him. They didn't want it. See, everybody that died in the flood wanted what they got. Now, if they'd have been able to have changed it after the fact, they would have. I mean, regret is surely a true thing, but you see, the mercy of God precedes regret. It doesn't follow it. In other words, what I'm saying is, because a man regrets, that doesn't cause God to show mercy. He shows mercy. ahead of time, and he shows men what they are by nature. That's the work of mercy. See, the mercy of God is that which leadeth thee, what? To repentance. I mean, you'd never come to repentance if God in mercy didn't show you what you are, because every one of us believes we're right. Every one of us believes everything we think is right. And I know we'll say, we'll say, oh, no, no, I know I'm wrong. But secretly, we think, well, maybe, you know, I might be the one exception to that thing. And in reality, you know, cause everything to me that I do and think seems right to me. And Solomon knew it, he wrote it down. He said, there is a way. which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And that's that thought process, you see. The thought process that believes I'm always right is that which leads a man to destruction. But by the mercy of God, he is pleased from time to time to open a man's eyes to see what he was. He did so with one of the thieves on the cross, didn't he? I mean, both of those men thought they were right. I mean, right up to the end, they thought they were right. Because they were criticizing the Lord Jesus Christ. They mocked him. Said, well, you know, if you really be the Christ, why don't you bring us down off these crosses here? I mean, we were right. We didn't do anything that was all that terrible wrong. And if you got all this power, but you see, something happened to one of those thieves. and the Lord opened his eyes. I don't know exactly how it happened. I don't know what thought came into his mind, but I know this. I know that he repented because of this reason. He looked on the Lord and he said, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. See, something changed in his mind. Something happened to him. The Lord in mercy worked upon him. Mercy unto you in peace. Oh, that the Lord might teach us what mercy is, that we might remember when we're dealing with other people, that we might remember that we are objects of mercy. And if we're objects of mercy, ought we not to show mercy and kindness? to men as we go through this world. Peace and love. The Lord said, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives peace, give I unto you. Now there's a lot of talk these days about peace. And our president, not to be overly critical of him, he knows what he knows and he can see what he can see. And that's all that any of these people in these government positions can do. There's not gonna be peace brought about by signing a paper. Now, I know they know that on the one hand. Surely they don't think that because they get these people to come and sign these papers that now all of a sudden they're gonna love one another and help one another, no. Maybe even before the ink's dry on the page, they'll be calculating and figuring ways they're gonna kill one another. Why? Because that's the way of men. It's the way of the world. The Lord said so. He said there would be wars and rumors of wars at the times of the end. There's all these politicians, they always got this pie-in-the-sky idea that they're gonna be the one that's gonna bring about world peace. There's nobody gonna bring about world peace. Now you can say that's a negative thought. Well, maybe it is. It's a Bible thought. I mean, wars and rumors of wars to the time of the end. Always gonna be wars. Why? Because that's the nature of men. Men are not gonna change. Hamas is not gonna love the Jews. And the Jews are not gonna love Hamas. Unless one thing happens. And that is that the Prince of Peace visits them. calls them, opens their eyes to see what they are by nature, and that Christ alone can give peace. But that's the peace we're looking for, is it not? I mean, I have no confidence whatsoever in any peace agreements between any country. Some of them have lasted insofar as peace among countries can be. But that's not peace we're looking for. I mean, if they tomorrow, if everybody quit shooting at one another, it'd be something else would happen. And men would fall out with one another about it. I mean, it's just the nature of man. But Christ is the author of peace. He's the God of peace. And he gives peace to his people. See, we can have peace in the midst of war. We can have peace when things are going completely haywire all around us. Because it's what the world can't understand. It's what the scripture says is a peace which passeth understanding. I can't explain it to you. You know, I can't tell you. How it can be that when everything seems to be going wrong and your whole world's turned upside down, I can't explain how it is that God, who's rich in his mercy, can bring peace in the heart so that we're satisfied, so that we're as the Apostle Paul said, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be to be at peace, why? Because he is our peace who has broken down the middle wall of partition. See, that is the only peace that will ever take place that will bring about true peace in the world, is that which Christ brings to his people and which Jude asks or prays that that peace might be multiplied, he said, peace and love. Because those two things go hand in hand, don't they? I mean, you never heard of anybody loving somebody to death, did you? I mean, you know, we use that term, oh, I love him to death. That's like, that's an oxymoron, like military intelligence or something like that. You know, it's a thing that doesn't exist. You can't love somebody to death because you won't preserve their life if you love them, do you not? I mean, is there anybody you love that you want them to die? No, you want them to live. You hold on to them till the very last instant. Why? Because you love them. And that's what love is. And love brings about peace. And there can't be any peace if there's not love. May the Lord help us, may he give us, may he cause these things to come to us in our minds and hearts, peace and love, and he says, be multiplied. You know, people think that we have arithmetic, for our benefit. And in a measure we do, the Lord gave men numbers and all these things. And we got addition and subtraction and multiplication. And we have that taught throughout the scripture. The Lord added, he added to the church daily such as should be said. He took away many things. throughout the scripture. And now he multiplied and he divided all of a sudden. He said, I came to bring division. But see, he didn't come to bring division among the people of God. Doesn't mention that here. He said, be multiplied. Because we are counseled, taught, to love one another even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. We must love one another. Esteeming one another above ourselves, that's what he says here, be multiplied. And we all know what multiplication is. It's an amazing thing when you think about something being multiplied. He told Noah to go forth and multiply upon the earth. And look what's happened out of eight people in the ark is now a world of, I don't know how many billion, many billions of people in a relatively short period of time. And I know the scientists all tell us it happened over billions of years, millions of years or whatever. I don't believe that's true. But the Lord can multiply something. He can take, you know, if you add one and one, that becomes two. But if you multiply two plus two, it becomes four. Or two times two becomes four. Two times three becomes six. and on and on and on. As the Lord is pleased to multiply things, then they get greater beyond our imagination. It's like compound interest. That's an illustration. Now, we all want some compound interest on any investment we have. That's a good thing, we think. But the compound interest that we really desire more than that is the mercy and peace and love which comes from the Lord. And it is multiplied because one little act of love and kindness, one to the other, becomes a great thing. As the Lord illustrated, and as we come here today to remember the Lord's death, till he comes again, he has multiplied See, one man's death has been multiplied. And it applies to all of those who are in Christ. That's a glorious thing. The death of Christ is indeed the reason that we have come here this morning. And were it not that he had come into the world as a baby and walked among men, we would never have had any salvation. Now that, his birth didn't give us salvation. But we would never have had salvation had he not been born, had he not walked among us as a man, tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. But he multiplied that which he came to do in every action. Think of him as a young baby. It almost boggles the mind to consider Well, it does boggle the mind to consider that in the mind of this baby was all of the knowledge that exists in the world. And yet, the script says there was things that he didn't know. But the scripture says there was things that he did know. And he, as he grew and he multiplied, see, in his mind, which was already perfect, but yet not yet insofar as that human capability was concerned, it wasn't yet manifest. So that when he was a young child going to the temple, He could dispute with the men that were standing there, but yet he was still a child, and he still had the thought processes of a child, and yet he had a wisdom which was given to him beyond measure, but it was multiplied in him for our sake. Now I don't know how old that is. I can't even begin to imagine it. But it comes down to the fact that he came into the world not to be a baby that people celebrate at Christmas time. That wasn't why he came into the world. That's about the sum total of what a lot of people think about when they think about Christ. That he came, you know, and he was a baby. And we have this big holiday. But He didn't ever tell us to do that. Why? Because that's not what brought us salvation, even though salvation came in Him when He came. Because what brought salvation to us is what we're looking at right here, the death of Christ. And that's what He told us to remember, not His birth. Not even really his life, although we can't help but remember his life. And he said, do this in remembrance of me. Remember that I laid down my life for you, poured out my blood, and my body was crushed in the winepress of God's wrath for your sake. And so we come here today to remember his death, till he comes again. And this is precious to the people of God. We take this not lightly. That's why Paul said, let a man examine himself. Not examine to see if he's, you know, fit some profile or something, or he's good enough. Oh, you'll never be good enough. But examine yourself to see why it is that you take this. Don't take it offhandedly, because everybody else does, but take it because you believe that the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ is your hope of eternal life. You believe that. You believe that he died. You believe that all the things that he said are true. I never understood how it is that a man can say, well, I believe most of what Christ said and taught, but I just can't handle some of that. Well, brethren, if you don't take all of it, you can't take any of it because He couldn't be the way, the truth, and the life if part of what he said was not true. Everything he said was true. And so we come today remembering, I mean, right before us in this bread and in this wine is the truth of God, the way of God, the life. May the Lord give us a mind today to examine ourselves. See if we be in the faith. And what does the faith say? That Jesus Christ alone is our righteousness. We don't have anything else. We have no hope. We don't have a pecking order. We don't have a list. at which God is at the top, but rather we believe God. We believe that all that we need and have is found here in Jesus Christ. May the Lord give us such a mind.