How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. Soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear. What a glorious name it is. And you know, as the Lord gives a man a heart to believe it, to believe him, That name grows more precious day by day. For he is indeed a faithful high priest over the household of God. And he does draw his people unto himself. Men think that it's an easy thing to come to the Lord. But it's an impossible thing. The scripture says that he only hath immortality, dwelling in the light to which no man can approach. That's quite a different description of God than we hear in the mainstream of religious thought today. Because most people think of God as this big puppy dog figure who's just hoping somebody will put him some feed in the bowl or pat his head or, you know, let him in the house. But our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he is pleased. He rideth upon the wings of the wind. The Son flees away in His glory. It's He who created the light because He is the light. I'm always amazed as I read the creation story to recognize that this Lord said, let there be light. three days before he ever created the sun. Men think that the sun generates light, but they're wrong. The Lord gives the sun the light, and it cannot even shine apart from that which the Lord is. Oh, that he might have praise today. You know that men might be humbled in the dust, That's the place where we belong. And again, that's quite an uncommon message today because the rank and file message that you hear is trying to exalt men. And we have no desire to drive men down further than they are, but it's impossible. I mean, you can't speak of man in a lower state than he is by nature. There's none good. No, not one. May the Lord teach us that. And not just teach us that in order to cause us to despair and be, to grovel, but to realize as he brings us to that place that there is a savior for sinners. See, that's the message of the gospel, is that there is a savior for sinners. The Lord said, come unto me, all you that are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. The gospel's designed for a certain type of person, and it's those people that the Lord's pleased to make aware of what they are by nature, sinners. Not everybody believes that. Most men think they have some righteousness of their own. They think that they can do something that'll make God happy with them. But there's not a thing in the world that a man can perform or do that can cause the Lord to smile upon him. The Lord smiles upon men by His grace according to His mercy, just like Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So too do men today find grace in the eyes of the Lord. And that's the only way that a man ever comes to know the blessed glory that there is in salvation. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. We're looking in the book of Jude. The book of Jude, the next to the last book in the Bible. You know, we believe the Bible was written with paper and ink, or parchment and ink or sheepskin or whatever, we believe it was all recorded by men. But we don't believe that men are its author. We believe that God ordained every word in this Bible. And we believe that though men put the Bible together and labeled the books and numbered the verses and all of those things, there's not one of them in there that's out of place. Not one of them that can be improved on. Not one of them that can be changed apart from incurring the wrath of him who spoke the word. And it was so. And we read in the book of the Revelation a dire warning to those that would seek to change it. You know, those that would seek to overturn it. It is not a complete book. And what I mean by that is it doesn't tell us everything that could be told. But it does indeed tell us everything we need to know. There's not a thing in the world that you need to know and understand that is not set forth in the pages of this book. Everything you need is right here. Now it's not here in such fashion that you can grasp it on your own. But by the grace of God is he's pleased to open a man's heart and understanding and to cause him to see that. See, men can read the words on the pages. A man can memorize this. It's a good thing to memorize scripture. Glorious thing. But a man can memorize all of that, the Bible. Men have done it. You know, been able to recite it. Word for word. But it doesn't make any difference if you can do all of that. If you've learned it from a child, if God is not pleased to show you the glory of the one who's revealed in these pages, then you've missed the whole thing. See, a lot of people, they go to the back of the book And it says the revelation. And men say, well, you know, here it is, the revelation. We're gonna find out what's gonna happen in the end time. And thousands of books are written. You couldn't fill this, you couldn't get in this room if you put all the books that's been written about that. But you know, in the title of this book, is the sum total. of what this whole book is about. Let me read the title to you. The Revelation of Jesus Christ. What a glorious thing. You know, John said that all the things that the Lord did were not recorded. all the things that he did, even when he walked upon the earth. He said, because he said the books, all the books in the world could not contain those things. And I don't fully complete even understand that or how that can be, but nonetheless, we do believe that everything that's in this book is about Christ. Everything that's in here, Everything that we're meant to know is about Christ. He is the revelation of God to men. You cannot know God apart from knowing Jesus Christ. Impossible. I know there's people in the world that have all sorts of religions and ideas and things and they say they worship God, but I'm telling you this. God is not worship. except in Jesus Christ. He is the truly living God. And Jude begins his book, one of the shorter books in the Bible. In fact, it is a singular book written by Jude, and it's an epistle to the people of God in general. but very much defined as to who they are. And so we'll read it. It says, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, the 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 ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 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 lascivious, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. and the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise, also, these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. Durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts, and those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perishing in the gainsaying of Cori. For these are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their mouths speaking great swelling words, having men's persons and admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on 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 of some, have compassion making a difference, and others, save 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. Now that is a As somebody might say, a mouthful. I mean, there's a lot of stuff in this short book that we will not be able to cover in a few days. So may the Lord give us understanding of his word and caused us to see those things revealed that he would have us to see. Now Jude, which as best I can tell and as things that I have read and studied about this, was one of the apostles. He was a servant, a brother of James. There's actually two Judes, Judas, whom we know, and of course, the thinking is that Jude didn't want to be known by the name Judas because of who Judas was, so he was as referred to in the scripture and as he writes here as Jude, but he was a brother of James, not James who was the brother of John, but another James. whose, the names escape me right now, of what their names were, as they were called as apostles. But that's immaterial, in one hand. I mean, the Lord raises up men, and we, you know, a lot of times people place a lot of emphasis on who the preacher is. And in the Lord's purpose, he has a purpose to raise men up and for his own reason, to send them in his own time and with his own power. They don't have any of themselves. Grandest preachers that's ever lived, those that preach the truth, they didn't do so by their own power. They didn't do so by their own understanding. They did so by that which the Lord gave them. And that's the only way that the Lord pleased to send his word into the earth. How shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent? And the Lord is the one who does the sending. And when the Lord sends a man, Nothing can stop him. You know, lots been said about Charlie Kirk, and I think he was a good man. I think he, as far as men go. But he's no different than either. Think of all the different men who have preached the gospel and been slain in doing so. It's not an unusual thing. I mean, all the early apostles met untimely deaths, except for John, as we say untimely, but there's no such thing as an untimely death. Because the Lord's the one who kills and makes alive. These things are in his hand. A man can't be killed until such time as the Lord's ready for him to be killed. And there's nothing that can stop a man from being killed. And we're puzzled by it. I am from time to time. I mean, you see a man like Donald Trump. I mean, he's up there and a bullet goes whizzing by his ear or by his head and just nicks him on the ear that if he'd have been that much further over, he'd have been dead as a hammer. Why wasn't he? Was it just luck? I mean, did he just happen to be at the right place at the right time? No. It was in the hand of God. Now why'd the Lord preserve him? I have no idea. But, you know, that doesn't mean anything except that it shows us the purpose of God to do as he wills in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. Because, you know, you have one man that is apparently of high moral character who is slain like that with a bullet. And then you have another man who is of the lowest moral character that a man probably could be. And his life spared all for the purpose of God. I don't know what those purposes are, but the Lord does. And so, you know, I don't try to figure it out. I just see that God's will is gonna be done. But when he sends a man to preach the gospel, that man will preach the gospel until such time as God takes his life from him. And his death cannot be a minute earlier than it is supposed to be. And he can't live a minute longer than he's supposed to. because this is the hand of a sovereign God. I'm glad that it is. I'd hate to think that things were randomly occurring in the world and that it just, anything might happen. No, anything can't happen. What God wills can happen. And I'm rejoicing in that today. But Jude, I'd get off on that. Well, I was talking about Jude as a man whom the Lord chose as one of the apostles. kept him, I don't know exactly what year this was written, the book, but the Lord gave it and he gave him a message. The Lord gives to all of those preachers whom he calls a message. And that message must be delivered. And that message will, as the scripture says, accomplish the thing whereto the Lord sends it. Now I don't know what it might be. It might be a word of condemnation to some and a word of life to others, but it's a word the Lord sends according to his good pleasure. And so we have that from Jude who says he's a servant of Jesus Christ. Gladly, that's the first thing he tells us, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ. Isn't that what we desire to be? I mean, if the Lord works in us to be called by His name, to say He is our Savior, do we not desire to serve Him, to be His servant, even as He was our servant? You know, He said that if the one who's greatest in the kingdom of God is the servant of all, He demonstrated that. So you can't exceed his servitude to his people. The brother of James, James the Less, I believe he's called in the scripture to distinguish him from James the brother of John. And then he addresses this to them that are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. Now those are three words that are very important to our understanding of what salvation is. He says here they are sanctified, they are preserved, and they are called. Now I would notice the first thing that comes to my mind each time that I read this is that these words are about something that takes place upon them and in their behalf rather than something they do. Now today you hear most preachers, I mean, you'd think that salvation's something men do. Something men cooperate with, something men participate in. But that's not what Jude's writing, that's not those to whom Jude, that Jude describes here. He said, to those who are sanctified by God the Father. Now, what's the word sanctified mean? Now, of course, you know, that's a word that has been abused and misused so many times. And basically, the word sanctify means to set apart. It's the same word that's used when the Lord gave the model prayer. Now, this is what most people call the Lord's Prayer, but it's not really the Lord's Prayer, it's the Lord's Model Prayer. The Lord's Prayer's in John 17, if you wanna read the Lord's Prayer. But this was the Lord's Prayer that he gave to his disciples when they asked him how, they said, Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us how to pray. And he said, when you pray, say this. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And that word that is used there for hallowed is the first time that this word, the same word, the same Greek word that is translated as sanctified is hallowed. is used there. Hallowed and sanctified means the same thing. So it means set apart. It means that which is not the same. When Isaiah saw the Lord in the sixth chapter of the book of Isaiah, he said he saw those three creatures, seraphim, that flew around the throne of God. And they cried out day and night without ceasing, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And what happened was that when Isaiah saw that vision, what did he do? Did he say, well, Lord, I'm glad that you brought me in here so I could sit down with you and talk. You know, you hear these people talk about the Lord came and sat on the edge of the bed with them or something ridiculous, something like that. No, he said, oh, woe is me. Why was that? Because his eyes were cast upon, and in a very limited fashion in reality, upon one who was beyond his comprehension. Just like John in the opening of the book of Revelation, when the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, the same one that he walked with day after day, the same one who he has described as the disciple whom Jesus loved, when the Lord Jesus appeared to him, when he saw him as he is, What'd he say? He said, I fell at his feet as a dead man. Because there is a separation between God and man that cannot be crossed. There's no way that a man can, as some false teachers and religions in our day say, that man can become God. No. God is God and the creatures are creatures. And we can't ever arise out of being a creature. But this is a glorious thing here. Because he says here that they are sanctified by God the Father. Now what does that mean? That means they are set apart. Now how did they get set apart? Did they get set apart because they did something? No, they're set apart because it pleased God to do so. They're sanctified by God the Father. Now we read in the scripture of a people which were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. This is that same people, they were sanctified, they were set apart by God the Father. In the prayer of the Lord Jesus in Psalm 2, when the Father is speaking, he says, ask of me and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance. the Lord Jesus Christ has a people that were given to him by his father. Now we're not gonna go into a big deal about trying to, you know, as some men do, divide all that up and how that was, but suffice it to say that the Lord has set apart a people in Jesus Christ. They're sanctified. That's their position. When you read about sanctification in the scripture, I believe it is always speaking about that position that are given to the people of God. Now, it may also describe what the Lord is doing, but to them and in them, Just like when the scripture speaks about that they sanctified the utensils that were in the tabernacle and later in the temple. It said they sanctified them. Now, what they did was with ceremonial washings, they cleansed them. But the purpose of the cleansing was not the cleansing. The purpose of it was to show that these items were set apart. So you see, sanctification is always about setting apart. And so that's what we read here about these to whom Jude writes, they are sanctified by God the Father. That is, they're set apart. They're different. You are a chosen generation, Peter writes, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Now, how did we get like that? We didn't get like that by doing something. See, a man doesn't become one of the elect of God because he does something. He doesn't become one of the elect of God because God looked down through time and saw who would and who wouldn't, and there on that basis, he set them apart, no. They were set apart before they ever drew breath, before they ever knew anything. Just like he gives the illustration of his election in the case of Jacob and Esau. He said before they had ever done any good or evil. He said while they were yet in the womb, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Now a lot of people get all upset about that. They say, well that don't seem quite fair. Well I'll tell you what to me doesn't seem quite fair. It's not that God bypasses some and shows mercy to others. The thing that's amazing to me is that he shows mercy to anybody. I mean, what always calls us to fall down on our faces before Almighty God is to recognize that it's God who shows mercy. See, that was the first thing that he told Moses when he appeared to him. He says, I'll show mercy to whom I will show mercy. But he will show mercy. See, that's the glorious thing. The first thing, I will show mercy. Now, the way people think today, by and large, is that, well, he just should show mercy. I mean, he's just merciful. But then bypass the whole idea of what mercy is. You see, mercy is that which is visited upon those that don't deserve it. If you deserve something, then it's not mercy. And if you can do something to achieve it or attain it, it's not mercy. Mercy comes to those that don't deserve it. It comes to those who are unworthy. It comes to those who ought to be cast away. But Jude says these that are sanctified by God the Father. The Lord determined before the foundation of the world that these would be his people. And he chose them in Christ. He didn't say any, many, mighty, mo out of all the people in the world, but he created the people in Jesus Christ unto his glory. He set them apart. There's nothing they can do to get in. There's nothing they can do to get out. Now a lot of people take that and they run off to all kinds of error with it. I can't help them. We can't help it, that's just what men are. Men always are gonna run contrary to the way of God, by nature. But I'm telling you this, the Lord has a people who are sanctified. They are set apart in Jesus Christ, they belong to him. And preserved in Jesus Christ. Preserved. You know, my mama used to put up vegetables and fruits and things like that. And they were preserved. And what did that mean? It meant that if you let this fruit set out just on the shelf, it would rot. If it was left to itself, it would rot. But if you went through the process, whereby you cook this thing and added some things to it and whatnot. I don't know all the ins and outs of preserving stuff. Never done any of it myself, but I know basically how it's done. But there's a process by which you can take this fruit that left to itself would rot. If you put it in through this process, it becomes preserved. And it'll last. Now, of course, anything that men mess with, even the best of cooks and whatnot, their preserves ultimately will go bad. Because the seal on the bottle won't hold up or, you know, I don't know, all kinds of stuff. The idea is that they are preserved, they are kept. And so it is that those who are set apart, the same ones, not different ones, the same ones, the specific ones that he has set apart, he says, you are not only set apart, but you are preserved in Jesus Christ. Now that's where our salvation is. Our salvation's not in our sanctification being set apart. Now, that was a glorious thing. See, a man can't be saved without being one of the elect, but he's not saved by being one of the elect. He's saved by the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He's preserved in Jesus Christ. Because you see, God would be both just and the justifier of them which are in Christ Jesus. Notice that he always talks about being in Christ. We were chosen in Christ. We're preserved in Christ. Because we're in Christ according to the blessed union that we have given to us. Not earned by us or gained by us, but by that which he is pleased to give us. Oh, what a glorious thing. And then he says, and called. And that's the, you know, that's the final work of God in manifesting his people. See, he has called us from before, or he has sanctified us before the foundation of the world, set apart in Christ, according to what the scripture says. We're preserved in Jesus Christ in the realm of time. These are hard things to describe because we don't have any way of knowing about this. But before creation, we were set apart. In creation, we're preserved in Christ because Christ came into the world. for the same people that were set apart and he has preserved them through the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ and will keep them until the end. Would it make any sense for him to do all these things only to lose some? He said, I have lost none that the Father gave me. Lord, they were thine, and you gave them to me. And he says, I have what? I have kept them. He preserved them. But oh, there's a glorious manner in which the Lord's pleased to manifest those whom he sanctified and those whom he's preserved. Not only did he do those things, but he has called them. He said, my sheep, hear my voice. I know them. He says, I know who they are. And when he goes out on the hillside, he's not just calling sheep. There's a lot of sheep out there, various shepherds. He said there's a lot of shepherds out here. and there's a lot of different kinds of sheep. But he said, I tell you this, he says, I know who my sheep are. He said, when I call them, they hear my voice and they come unto me. See, that's what the call of God, the call of the gospel to the sons of God is not just some general Cole, you know, I've shared this illustration with you, but it sticks with me. You know, back when I was just a kid, and I'd be, Cole, I'm still a kid in many ways, but back when I was young, and I'd be playing, you know, I'd be doing something important. I mean, you know, I was interested in doing that, and I'd hear my mama call, and she'd call my name, Mike. Time to come in. Well, that didn't mean much. I heard her call, you understand, but didn't mean anything. Because I knew I still had some time. And so I kept on, because I was doing stuff that was important. And so that went on a while, and then next time I'd hear a little louder, my, time to come in. I heard it. I knew time might be drawn short, but I still was doing what I was doing because it was important. I kept on going that way, my way. But then, she would say, Michael Anthony McInnes, you better get in this house now. But I knew that it was time then. I knew that, because you see, what was the difference? That was an effectual call. It was a call that was designed to bring the desired result. Now she probably knew that the first time she called, I wasn't gonna do anything. Because she knew how I was, you know? But she knew. that when she actually, when it was down to the wire and it was the time, and she made that effectual call, she knew that I was gonna come. Dear brethren, that's the way the gospel comes. I don't know how many times God's people hear the gospel message before they believe it. And when I'm saying hear it, I'm talking about hear it with these ears. You know, there's children that grow up in the church and they hear the gospel over and over and over again. And a lot of times we don't think to hear anything. But you know, they did hear something. But there comes a day according to the mercy of Almighty God, because they are sanctified and preserved, that he calls and they hear his voice. And only the Lord can bring that past. But when he does, his sheep hear his voice. And the scripture says another shepherd they will not follow. You know, there's no doubt then. And the Lord manifests his people through calling. How can you know that a man's a child of God? Well, you can't, really, because he may be faking it. I mean, religious people fake religion all the time. But the Lord knows them in their head. And those that believe the gospel manifest that they are the sons of God. Because how else could they believe it? How could you ever believe the gospel? How could you ever hear his voice? Except in his mercy, he opened your ears and gave you a mind and heart to follow him. I believe he's calling today. his sheep unto himself. And I believe that they hear his call sometimes in a faint way, but if they belong to him, the day will come when they will hear his voice and they will arise from whatever it is that they're doing that's so important. And they will run to him. Because he's their shepherd. And he knew them when they were playing in the dirt. He knew them when they were in rebellion. But they were his. Just like my mama. She loved me even when I didn't heed her voice the first time. But because she loved me, she would not let me go. And she made sure that I came to her. Oh, that the Lord might Teach us what it is to be sanctified, preserved, and called. May He burn these things in our heart and give us a love for Him who has done all these things, and why should He? See, that's the thing that ever causes us the amazement. Why should the Lord have cared for us? Why did He not just cast us off? when we didn't heed his call. Where is Jonah? Old Jonah. Oh, if old Jonah had just obeyed the Lord. That's what they used to teach us in Sunday school. See here, boys and girls? Now, if old Jonah had just done what the Lord told him to do, see, he'd have avoided all that. No. You see, the Lord ordained how Jonah was gonna get to Nineveh. Now Jonah thought that he wasn't going to Nineveh. He was going to go the other way. But the Lord had already booked his passage to Nineveh. Long before Jonah ever knew anything about it. But in the Lord's time, see he called Jonah with a factual call. And it was in the belly of a fish. that he prepared to take Jonah to Nineveh, exactly where he told Jonah to go in the first place. What a glorious Lord he is, full of mercy and kindness to all who call upon his name. Because you see, only those that know him in spirit and truth will call upon him in spirit and truth. And he will not let them go. A glorious Savior.